The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Conversations with Arundhati Roy

200 Pages·2004·20.42 MB·English

by  David Barsamian

eckbook
Cruise Missile
-t»
Arundhati Roy
INTERVIEWS BY DAVID BARSAMIAN
^
3-
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://www.archive.org/details/isbn_9780896087118

Praise for David Barsamian's interviews
David Barsamian is the Studs Terkel ofourgeneration.
—
Howard Zinn
DavidBarsamianisoneofthegreatjournalistsofourera,
and agiant ofcommunity and public radio.
—
RobertMcChesney
Praise forArundhati Roy's essays
The scale ofwhatRoy surveys is staggering. Herpointed
—
indictment ofIndia's hydroelectric industry which has
—
verylittle to show for the destructionithas wrought is
devastating.
—
New York TimesBook Review
Arundhati Roy combines brilliant reportage with a pas-
sionate, no-holds-barred commentary. I salute both her
courage and her skill.
—
Salman Rushdie
W.B. Yeatswrote that"the bestlackall conviction,while
the worst are full ofpassionate intensity," but Roy is an
exception. She overflows with Passionate Conviction.
—
SanFrancisco Chronicle
ArundhatiRoy's essays evoke astarkimageoftwoIndias
being driven "resolutely in opposite directions," a small
Indiaonitswayto a"glitteringdestination"whiletherest
—
"melts into the darkness and disappears" a microcosm
of much of the world, she observes, though "in India
yourfaceis slammedrightupagainstit."Tracedwithsen-
sitivity and skill, the unfolding picture is interlaced with
provocative reflections on the writer's mission and bur-
den,andinspiringaccounts ofthe"spectacularstruggles"
ofpopularmovements that "refuse to lie down and die."
Anotherimpressive work bya finewriter.
—
Noam Chomsky
Writers have provedwhen theyturn theirbackto power
and start to feel the pulse and pain of society, they be-
come powerful. This is the power beyond power that
Arundhati Roy brings forth in PowerPolitics.
—
Vandana Shiva
THE CHECKBOOK AND
THE CRUISE MISSILE
CONVERSATIONS WITH
ARUNDHATI ROY
Interviews by David Barsamian
South End Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
©2004byDavidBarsamianandArundhatiRoy
Preface©2004byNaomi Klein
CoverdesignbyEllenP.Shapiro
Coverphoto©byJasonFlorio,"Afghanistan,2000," [email protected]
MapcourtesyofZoltanGrossman,[email protected]
Anyproperlyfootnotedquotationofupto500sequentialwordsmaybeused
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pleasewritetoSouthEndPressforpermission.
Firstedition.
Printedbyunionworkersonacid-free,20%post-consumerrecycledpaper.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Barsamian,David.
Thecheckbookandthecruisemissile:c—onversationswithArundhatiRoy/
byDavidBarsamianandArundhatiRoy. 1sted.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandi—ndex.
ISBN0-89608-710-7 (pbk. : alk.paper) ISBN0-89608-711-5 (lib.bdg. :
alk.Paper) —
1. —Globalization. 2. World poli—tics 1989- 3. Internation—al relations. 4.
India Polit—ics and government 1977- 5. —United States Politics and
governm—ent 2001- 6. Roy, Arundhati Interviews. 7. Indian
authors Interviews. I.Roy,Arundhati.II.Title.
JZ1318.B3662004
327^c22
2003025639
SouthEndPress,7BrooklineStreet,#1
Cambridge,MA02139-4146
www.southendpress.org
09 08 07 06 05 04 12 3 4 5 6 7
CONTENTS
Foreword byNaomi Klein VI
Knowledge andPower
Terror and the MaddenedKing 41
Privatisation andPolarisation 59
Globalisation ofDissent 129
Glossary 159
Map ofIndia 162
Notes 163
Index 175
Foreword
ARUNDHATI ROY:
WORD WARRIOR
BY NAOMI KLEIN
OnMarch7,2003,twoweeksbeforetheUnitedStatesin-
vaded Iraq, Arundhati Roy sent me an essay she had just
written. The subjectlinewas "MyLastWords: A Submission
inAnger." It arrived at the perfect time: despite the unprece-
dented outpouring of opposition to the attack, the cable
stations were giddilycountingdown towaras ifitwere New
Year's Eve. If there was ever a moment when the world
needed a dose ofArundhati Roy's rage and wisdom, it was
now.
IttookonesentencebeforeIrealizedthatthearticlewasa
fake, notwrittenbyRoybutbysomeoneoutto discredither.
ThegiveawayswerephrasesHkethis: "zombie fascists" to de-
VI