An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire

Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Successor to Moore, Chomsky, and Zinn
Review: Arundhati Roy is an accomplished writer. This much was established early in her writing career when she won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her first book, a novel called "The God of Small Things."

Subsequently, she began to nurture an instinct for activism and has never looked back.

Her first non-fiction piece, published in 1998 in response to India's juvenile nuclear test explosions, lambasted India's BJP-led government for acting irresponsibly toward its impoverished and illiterate citizens.

Roy masterfully pointed out the sheer absurdity of aiming for the 6th slot on the list of overt nuclear powers while occupying the 127th rank on the UNDP human development index (2004).

In the event, Roy had also expressed disgust at the hypocrisy evident in Western expressions of alarm at the prospect of colored peoples with WMD.

In "An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire," Roy continues in that trajectory and directs the might of her rebellious pen at America's irresponsible use of power worldwide.

Contrary to John Zxerce's simplistic review (Amazon, October 25, 2004), Roy makes no blanket statements such as "Democracy is a sham."

Roy's arguments have nuance, which George "War-monger" Bush supporters brought up on a strict diet of Fox News sound bites aren't competent to grasp.

Arundhati Roy, trained as an architect, is a spectacular blend of Michael Moore's wit, Noam Chomsky's intellect, and Howard Zinn's hands-on approach to activism.

Rating:
Summary: Querulous musings from the lunatic left
Review: Arundhati Roy, celebrated Indian millionaire novelist posing as an "ordinary person," here regurgitates an unsavory stew of half-digested, fake-profound insights for her salivating brood of likeminded leftwing wannabe unfledged nestlings, who will likely swallow it whole without questioning its nonnutritive properties.

One would have thought making Michael Moore look sane an impossible project, but Roy, wielding a dizzying array of florid metaphor linked to a Spockian (Dr. or Mr., it doesn't matter) pseudo-logic in service to a sledgehammer sharp wit, manages it with aplomb. Granted, this approach can be quite amusing in the short run, say, for three or four or ten pages. Soon, however, it begins to pale for all except true believers. True, there's a kind of kinky intellectual frisson for the thinking impaired, but the lack of substance eventually begins to gall.

Mildly interesting as a cynical deconstruction of Western democracies, the book nevertheless fails miserably as informed critique. The author, almost completely clueless in face of true politics, economics, theology, and historiography, instead unleashes a sustained rant of wacky armchair liberal proportions seldom if ever before encountered. Imagine an East Indian female Al Franken on steroids in possession of an occasional admittedly nice turn of phrase and, yes, considerably more functional brain cells, and you get the picture.

Rating:
Summary: If you care about people, read this book
Review: At first I wasn't sure how all the dam construction in India related to me, a U.S. citizen. Then it hit me, and I've never been the same.

Rating:
Summary: Passionate, informed, articulate
Review: Continuing where her earlier non-fiction books left off, Roy once again speaks around the world holding up a harsh light to leaders of economic and military might and power. One thing to note is Roy's wholistic view of resistance to injustice and progress by societies has evolved since her last writings. Many of her earlier speeches and essays stuck to a single issue- this book's speeches create links between economic power or powerlessness, racial or religious violence and the growing worldwide police state, and argues forcefully for a movement to stand up to these linked worldwide trends as a whole.

The speeches have the eloquence Roy's fans have always looked to her for. They also name names and provide numbers for those like me who like more than generalities. An all around great book. Just wish it was longer.

Rating:
Summary: Bring to a Boil, add Oil, then Bomb
Review: In this fine collection of speeches and essays, Roy stridently argues against the global injustice of imperial democracy, narrow-minded nationalism, corporate fascism, the military industrial complex, privatization, and the ideology of those who would bomb civilians as part of a war campaign with unparalleled passion, clarity and rhetorical flare. Hers is a voice confronting the powers of empire.

With the accuracy of someone weilding linguistic pruning shears, Roy deftly shreds our most sacred doctrines. "Flags", she reminds us, are nothing more than "bits of coloured cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead." They are the symbols of our government's imperialist ambitions.

'Freedom' is the mask government wears to "murder, annihilate, and dominate other people." It is the freedom "to finance and sponsor despots and dictators across the world. The freedom to train, arm, and shelter terrorists. The freedom to topple democratically elected governments. The freedom to amass and use weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, and nuclear. The freedom to go to war against any country whose governments it disagrees with. And, most terrible of all, the freedom to commit these crimes against humanity in the name of 'justice', in the name of 'righteousness', in the name of 'freedom'."

Another word Roy takes issue with is 'Liberal Democracy' - a word the US government and its corporate cohorts have twisted, besmirched and spread over the world like an incurable STD. Liberal Democracy is simply a codeword for the type of imperialist market the US foists upon the world. It is a product we in the US sell to other countries, like Iraq, whether they want it or not, and death "is a small price...to pay for the privilege of sampling this new product: Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (bring to a boil, add oil, then bomb)."

"Meanwhile," while we all sit around debating the fate of the biosphere, "down at the mall there's a mid-season sale. Everything's discounted - oceans, rivers, oil, gene pools, fig wasps, flowers, childhoods, aluminum, factories, phone companies, wisdom, wilderness, civil rights, ecosystems, air - all 4.6 billion years of evolution. It's packed, sealed, tagged, valued, and available off the rack (no returns). As for justice," she says, "I'm told it's on offer too."

Roy also takes aim on the War on Terrorism - not for what it is, but for how it's conducted. "The underlying logic of the terrorist attacks, as well as 'retaliatory' wars against governments that 'support terrorism', is the same: both punish citizens for the actions of their governments." Neither Bush nor Osama bin Laden can face this fact, though, which speaks to their overriding similarities: "They both hold people responsible for the actions of their governments. They both believe in the doctrine of collective guilt and collective punishment. Their actions benefit each other greatly." Furthermore, they both converse with with a god who has sanctified their war against 'evil doers' - ie, each other.

The only thing not for sale, it would seem, is Roy's voice. Of all her books, this is by far my favorite. And of all the great social critics - Naom Chomsky, Edward Said, Howard Zinn, Edward Herman, Amy Goodman, Michael Albert, Chalmers Johnson, William Blum, Anthony Arnove - she writes with the most urgency and passion. Her talent is unmatched, her critiques scathing, her prose sublime.

A MUST READ

j. william krueger
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: 'Resisting Empire' the Euphemism of Death
Review: Let me convey a summary of Roy's argument against 'Empire' and her rationalization for the solution she prescribes. These are her statements in brief...

1. Capitalism is bad. Corporations are overflowing with greed. They oppress the world's poor, and are in effect raping the land. The rift between the oppressed and the oppressors is growing at an alarming rate.

2. Democracy's a sham. It may appear people can vote for change, but they cannot. Democracy has sold out to corporate interests. Bush and Kerry are both equally maniacal in their thirst for power and have both sold out to corporate interests.

3. The system is broken. People are trapped if they try to work within the system. There is no hope for reform through voting. It may seem otherwise, but all political choices are equally corrupted by corporate greed.

4. Empire is taking over. Capitalism's need for more and more resources is driving the governments of the West to take over other countries in order to plunder their resources.

5. Empire must be fought. The only hope is to resist Empire. The need for real resistance movements is greater now then ever - it's our only chance at fighting against the world's misery.

6. Civil disobedience fights Empire. However, the media has turned a deaf ear to this type of resistance. It's old news. Additionally governments often brutally and murderously squash demonstrations.

7. Empire brings terrorism onto itself. Because Empire does not respond to nor honor nonviolent resistance, it then by default privileges those who turn violent.

8. Islamic resistance is effectively fighting Empire. The radical Islamic militants in Iraq are fighting the frontlines battle against Empire - so are those in Kashmir, Chechnya, and Israel.

9. Terrorism should be praised. It's absurd to condemn the rebel resistance. These are simply people fighting Empire for their freedoms.

10. "There's no alternative but terrorism." Terrorism. Armed struggle. Insurgency. Call it what you want. Terrorists are people who don't believe the state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.

Do you think I'm exaggerating? I'm not. I've just summarized the entire book for you as fairly and honestly as I can. If you've read the book and disagree with any of the summary, please tell me why (via e-mail) and I will make changes.

Roy is honest. She's clearly not ashamed of her liberal ideals and doesn't hide it when those turn hard-progressivist, nor violent/eco-terrorist. And clearly she asserts the validity of terrorism. Here's the bold-faced justification for the death of innocents - men, women, children.