[Reader-list] SAGARIKA GHOSE INTERVIEWED ARUNDHATI ROY

[Bipin Trivedi]

ARUNDHATI ROY'S SINCERITY AND INTELLECTUALITY EXPOSED IN SAGARIKA GHOSE
INTERVIEW BELLOW

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/maoists-being-forced-into-violence-arundhati/1132
85-37.html?from=search

 

Sagarika Ghose: You wrote your article 'Walking with the comrades' in The
Outlook before Dantewada happened. In the aftermath of the Dantewada, do you
still stand by the tone of sympathy that you had with the Maoists cause in
that essay?

Arundhati Roy: Well, this is a odd way to frame before and after Dantewada
happened because actually you know this cycle of violence has been building
on and on. This is not the first time that a large number of security
personnel have been killed by the Maoists. I have written about it and the
other attacks that took place between the years 2005-2007. The way I look at
is often you know people make it sound that oh on this side of people, who
are celebrating the killing of CRPF jawans and that side of the people who
are asking for the Maoists to be wiped out. This is not the case. I think
that you got to look at the every death as a terrible tragedy. In a system,
in a war that's been pushed on the people and that unfortunately is becoming
a war of the rich against the poor. In which rich put forward the poorest of
the poor to fight the poor. CRPF are terrible victims but they are not just
victims of the Maoists. They are victims of a system of structural violence
that is taking place, that sort to be drowned in this empty condemnation
industry that goes on which is entirely meaningless because most of the time
people who condemn them have really no sympathy for them. They are just
using them as pawns.

Sagarika Ghose: Who then will break the cycle of violence? The state argues
that the reason why the state has to cleanse the area or sanitize the area
is because whenever it initiates development works on bridges or starts
school; those are blown up by the Maoists. Is it that the cycle of violence
according to you can only be broken by the states and if the state pulls
back is that what you believe?

Arundhati Roy: There is some simple sort of litmus test for that, is it the
case that there are hospitals, schools, low malnutrition and lot of
development in poor areas where there aren't any Maoists? That's not the
case. The fact is even if you look at the studies that have been done by
doctors in a place like Bilashpur. What Vinayak Sen describes as nutritional
aids is happening. When you go into the schools, you see that they are used
as barracks. They are built as barracks so as to say that Maoists blow up
schools and they are against development is a bit ridiculous.

Sagarika Ghose: But you condemn state violence and the charge against you is
that you don't condemn Naxals violence and also you don't condemn Maoists
violence. In fact you rationalise it and even romaticising violence? That is
a charge made against you and in fact if I can read from your essay where
you have written that, "I feel I want to say something about the futility of
violence but what should I suggest they do? Go to court, a rally, and a
hunger strike that sounds ridiculous; which party they should vote for,
which democratic institution they should approach? You seem to be saying
that non-violence is futile?

Arundhati Roy: This is a strange charge on someone who is writing about
non-violence and non-violence movement fro 10 years now. But what I saw when
I went into the forests was this - that non-violence resistance though it
has actually not worked; not in the 'Narmada Bachao Andolan' and not even in
many other non-violence movements and not even in the militant movements. It
has worked in some parts of the movement. But inside the forests it's a
different story because non-violence and in particularly, Gandhian
non-violence in some ways needs an audience. It's a theater that needs an
audience. But inside the forests there is no audience when 

a thousand police come and surround the forest village in the middle of the
night, what are they to do? How are the hungry to go on a hunger strike? How
are the people with no money to boycott taxes or foreign goods or do
consumer boycotts? They have nothing. I do see the violence inside that
forest as a 'counter violence'. As a 'violence of resistance' and I do feel
terrible about the fact that there is this increasing cycle of violence that
the more weapons the government arms the police with those weapons end up
with the Maoist PLGA. It's a terrible thing to do to any society. I don't
think that there is any romance in it. However I'm not against romance. I do
feel it's incredible that these poor people are standing up against this
mighty state that is sending thousands and thousands of Para-military. I
mean, what they are doing in those forests against those people with AK-47
and grenades.

Sagarika Ghose: But Maoists have AK-47 too? They have pressure bombs too?

Arundhati Roy: They snatched it from cops.

Sagarika Ghose: Should people like you for not been raising their voices
against the cycle of violence or should you actually been trying to find out
rationalization for it because your been called as 'apologists for Maoists'.
BJP has called you the "sophisticated face of naxalism'. If you don't raise
your voice against their violence and simply say it as a morally acceptable,
as a morally legitimate counter to the state then are you not actually
failing as member of a civil society?

Arundhati Roy: No, I'm not. Because I think it suits the status-quo to have
everybody saying.this is terrible and all. So just let's just keep on
without taking it into account the terrible structural violence that
actually is creating a 'genocidal situation' in those tribal areas. If you
look at the levels of malnutrition, if you look at the levels of absolute
desperation there; any responsible person has to say that the violence will
stop when you stop pushing those people. When you have a whole community of
tribal; which by the way, is a population larger than the population of the
most countries, is actually on the brink of survival, fighting for its own
annihilation. I can't equate their reactions, their resistance to the
violence of the state. I think it's immoral to equate the two.

Sagarika Ghose: Let's bring you to the other point in your essay, where you
are particularly harsh on Gandhi. You said party founder Charu Majumder has
kept the dream of revolution real and present in India. Imagine a society
without that dream, for that alone we can't judge him too harshly.
Especially not while we swaddle ourselves with Gandhi's pious humbug about
the superiority of non-violent way and its notion of trusteeship. You also
say do you know what to do if we come under fire..Do you think Gandhi is a
figure to be mocked?

Arundhati Roy: I think there are something about Gandhi, which do deserved
to be mocked and I think there are something about him which deserve a great
deal of respect. Particularly, his (Gandhi's) ideas of consumption,
minimalist and sustainable living. However, let me read what he said in his
thing of trusteeship. This is a quote of his notion of trusteeship, "the
rich man will be left in possession of his wealth of which he will use what
he reasonably requires for his personal needs and will act as a trustee for
the remainder to be used for the good of the society". I think that is one
statement which can be mocked. I have no problem mocking it.

Sagarika Ghose: In a lecture in US in March at the Left forum you said
'India is a fake democracy' that ties in with your justification or your
quasi-justification of violence to some extent. Do you feel that because
Indian democracy is 'fake' there is no hope that Indian democracy can holds
out to the Maoists?

Arundhati Roy: No, certainly I feel that India is a oligarchy where it does
work as a democracy for the middle classes and the upper classes.

Sagarika Ghose: But it's a fake democracy?

Arundhati Roy: Yeah, because it doesn't work for the mass of the people it's
a fake democracy. So you have institution which has been hollowed out, you
have institution to which poor have no access and when you look at the
institution of the democracy, look at the elections, at the court, at the
media and you look at the judiciary. You have a very dangerous system
building. If you increasingly excluding a vast section of the poorer people
in this country and that's why I say it fake. It works for some and it
doesn't work for others depending on where you want to place your feet; your
politics is defined. If you stand in Greater Kailash; sure it's a great and
vibrant democracy but if you stand in Dantewada- it is no democracy at all.
You have a Chief Minister who basically said that those who don't come out
of the forests and live in Salwa Judum camps are terrorists. So looking
after your chickens and tending to your fields is a terrorist act? Is that
democracy?

Sagarika Ghose: If you have to come up with a solution to this. What would
your solution be? What would be your way to break the deadlock?

Arundhati Roy: Well there are two things. First on a philosophical level I
would say that I don't believe that the imagination that has brought to the
planet to this crisis is going to come up with an alternative. So the least
we can do is to stop and enlighten those who we think of as keepers of our
past but could be people who have the wisdom for the future. 

But on "Operation Green hunt", I would like to say three things, I think
government should come clean on all these MoUs, infrastructures projects;
declare them and tell us what they are and freeze them for now. Insist that
all the villagers that have been pushed out, we are talking of hundreds and
thousands of people be rehabilitated. Guns need to be pulled back.

Sagarika Ghose: Every country uses mineral resources to grow. Growth is
something our country needs. The present dispensation in Maoists, earlier
they used to deal with Posco; the rate of compensation was 30 Lakh per year
that they used to pay to the Maoists. Now its no deals all bets are off. Are
you advocating that all projects from all those areas should wind up and go?

Arundhati Roy: You see what's happening now with that the privatization of
the mining industry that there is a very sort of false understanding that
mining is going to push up growth. It will push it up in strange way which
has nothing to do with the real development. But if you look at the
royalties that the government gets e.g for iron ores Rs 27 for 5,000 tonnes
profit for the private company. We are paying without ecology of other
people's economy. So it's a myth of this thing called growth. 

Sagarika Ghose: Are you willing to mediate between the Maoists and the
government because they have put your name as well as Kabir Suman to
mediate. But you declined. What are you afraid of? Why don't you go ahead
and mediate?

Arundhati Roy: I'm afraid of myself. These are not my skills. I don't trust
myself. If you are a basket ballplayer you can't be a swimmer. So I think
there are people who would do a good job but I don't think I'm one of them.
But I think one question we have to ask is whom do we mean when we say
Maoist? Who does the 'Operation Green Hunt' want to target? Because for this
there has been a discrete separation been made that here are the Maoists and
here are the tribal. On the other hand some people say Maoists represent the
tribal. Neither of which is true. The fact is that the about 99 per cent
Maoists are tribal. But all tribal are not Maoists, still numbers turn into
tens and thousands of people who would officially call themselves Maoists.
Among them 90,000 women belong to women organisation. 10,000 belong to the
cultural organisation. So are they all going to be wiped out?

Sagarika Ghose: What is your message to Home Minister P Chidambaram? What
kind of message would you like to give him? Do you think he is fighting this
war for ego?

b>Arundhati Roy: I think he is fighting for hue brisk and fighting with an
imagination that is chained to the corporate companies that he wants served
to Enron to Vedanta, to all the companies that he has represented. I'm not
necessarily accusing him of being corrupt but I'm accusing him of having an
imagination that is driving this country into a very serious situation and
it's going to effect all of us.

Sagarika Ghose: Are you worried about the case that has been filed against
you? There has been a complaint filed against you under Chhaatisgarh Special
Powers Act (CSPA) and police are investigating on that for lending your
support to the Maoists after your article. Are you worried about the state
prosecution?

Arundhati Roy: Obviously I would be a goon not to be worried. But I won't be
the first one they have gone after. I think what they are trying to do is to
sell out a warning to the people because I feel they want to intensify this
war. I think we are going to see drone attacks on the poorest people of this
country. Moreover they want to cordon off the theater of war and trying to
warn people who might have a different view from that of the government not
to go in the air.

Sagarika Ghose: Why do you think your writings are as controversial as they
are. Why does India love to hate Arundhati Roy? Why does there are so much
hate mail directed at you? Why do people think you say things that people
don't agree with? Why are you the writer that India loves to hate? 

Arundhati Roy: I think it is very presumptuous of you to represent India. I
feel the opposite. Like somebody, who is embraced wherever I go whether it
is to Orissa or Narmada; it is just the people with the voice, the people
with a huge stake in the things I'm writing about where that stake is
threatened - that hate me. But if I did feel that whole of India hated me; I
have been doing something terribly wrong. As a political writer I be crazy
to carry on what I'm doing? The fact I I feel very deeply loved, that's the
real issue.

Sagarika Ghose: But do you think there is a problem. Do you think the
government, the media, the kind of dominant culture is targeting
intellectuals, is targeting people like human right activists? Is this
dangerous?

Arundhati Roy: Of course this is very dangerous. I read one article that
says Dantewada comes to Delhi in the charge against Kobad Ghandy. People
union for democratic rights..all institutions are being called front
organizations. There is this manic barricade like accusation to any one who
has a different view that they are Maoists. Hundreds of people who are not
known have been picked up and jailed. There is whole bandwidth of people's
movement from the non-violent ones outside the forests to the arms struggle
inside the forests which have actually held of this corporate assault, which
I have to say has not happened in anywhere else in the world.

Sagarika Ghose: Let me just ask you what a viewer wrote to me, " when I see
a 16-year-old with a gun, I would feel scared and mourn that. Why would
Arundhati Roy when look at a 16-year-old look with a gun celebrated and say
she is so beautiful, she has a lovely smile"?

Arundhati Roy: Because if I saw a 16-year-old being raped by a CRPF man and
watching her village being burnt and watching her parents being killed and
submit to it. I would mourn that. When I see one standing up and say I 'm
going to fight this. I would feel terrible. I think it's a terrible thing to
come to that. But it's better than having her accept her annihilation.

Sagarika Ghose: Let me read out some of the criticisms that have been made
against you fellow thinkers and activists, who said " she equates their
cynical quest for power with genuine demands, rights and concern of the
people who live in the forests. She give new meaning to the binary logic
something which she ridiculed George W Bush for. She is at the moment a
victim of Stockholm Syndrome. And another par lance is that she would be
described as an embedded journalist". How do you react to this criticism?

Arundhati Roy: I think embedded is not in itself a bad thing, it depends on
who your are embedded with, whether you are embedded with the media or with
the corporate? Or are you embedded with the side that sees itself in
resisting this. Here I don't refer to the Maoists. Who are the Maoists? Of
course the Maoists ideologues are that it is there aim to overthrow the
Indian state when people who form there fighting forces don't know what the
Indian state is? But surely there is a coincidence of aims and the moment;
both are using each others. I want to say that Maoists are not the only
people who are trying to overthrow the Indian state; whereas Indian state
has been thrown already by the 'Hindutva' project and by the corporate
project.

Sagarika Ghose: So you believe that Constitution has ceased to exist?

Arundhati Roy: I believe it's been deeply weakened.

Sagarika Ghose: Do you think of ever giving up India and living up in
somewhere else?

Arundhati Roy: Absolutely not. For me that's the challenge, that's the
beauty, that's the wonder because the people in this country are staging the
India's most difficult struggle anywhere in the world. I feel so proud. I
really salute them on what's going on here. As I belong to here even if CSPA
wants to put me into jail and I'm not going to live in Switzerland.

Sagarika Ghose: Thank you Arundhati Roy.

Arundhati Roy: Thanks.