Reimagining the World
The news item was brief and buried in the back pages: “India: Maoists Ambush Patrol, Killing 7 Soldiers. The attack occurred in a rebel stronghold in Jharkhand State. Thousands of people have been killed in the past decade in violence involving Maoists, who claim they represent India’s dispossessed, particularly indigenous tribal groups.” You may wonder, What’s going on? Isn’t India a democracy? In India, the U.S. and other countries the actual functioning of democracy has largely been hollowed out. Yes, there are elections and people vote but the nexus of decision-making power lies elsewhere. Corporations dominate the political process. With their fistful of dollars they are able to exact outcomes that benefit them. As environmental destruction continues unabated we must reimagine a different world. One in which people and the planet are more important than profits.
Recorded at Northwestern University.
Speaker
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is a world-renowned award-winning writer and global justice activist. Tariq Ali says of her she “is both loathed and feared by the Indian elite. Loathed because she speaks her mind. Feared because her voice reaches the world outside India and damages the myths perpetrated by New Delhi.” Among her many books are My Seditious Heart and Azadi.
Terry Kester –
What an astounding speech. What an amazing grasp of the curse of consumer capitalism, Arundhati Roy just might save our depleted world if you and I listened to her world wisdom; If you and I embraced the depth of her world view. She is an eloquent blend of compassion and practicality; a mind and a voice that are not afraid of placing herself in the reality of the world wide conflict between you, me, and the corporate rape of our world. Her heart is centered in the fate of India. Her message is as universal as it is crucial. Read and listen to Arundhati Roy. Then have to courage to stand beside her re-imagining our world.