Arundathi Roy's great remarks

A. Roy

I though that I was the only one pondering that countries like China, India, Brazil... are colonizing themselves, establishing internal differences so parts of the nation (but never all nor even most) can enjoy the privileges of the First World without conquering the rest of the planet themselves. 

But I am glad to discover that others have realized the same. Indian journalist Arundathi Roy observed the same phenomenon and her vibrant English explains it much better than I could ever do probably. 

From the original article at Revolution in South Asia:

"We are living in a country where simultaneously we are trying to make the discourse of democracy sophisticated while we are colonizing ourselves". 


She said the most successful "secessionist struggle" in India is "the secession of the middle and upper classes into outer space from where they look down and say ‘what’s our bauxite doing in their mountains, what’s our water doing in their rivers, what’s our timber doing in their forests."

Also a warning on the militarization of alleged democracy, not just in India:

"We are at the moment facing the prospect of a militarized democracy, if that isn’t an oxymoron."


"Isn’t it a generic problem of capitalism?" Mr. Bhaduri.

"It is a generic problem," Ms. Roy concurred.

And on nonviolence under extreme circumstances:

When you have 800 CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force, a paramilitary force deployed to fight country’s internal insurgencies] marching three days into the forest; surrounding a forest village and burning it and raping women, what are the poor supposed to do? Can the hungry go on a hunger strike? Can people who have no money boycott goods? What sort of civil disobedience we are asking them to adhere to?

And on the empty reality of a democracy without social justice:

What if they were to turn around and say to us tell me one democratic institution in this country where I can appeal and where I can get a hearing? I can guarantee you there is no answer to that question today in India.