[Reader-list] Statement by Arundhati Roy

Wed Oct 27 15:14:20 IST 2010

Dear Aditya

I am sure yo know about her fictional work 1 novel & 1 screenplay. But
I am not sure if you have read her non-fictional work. Well she didn't
win booker for them but she won the "Sydney Peace Prize" and the
"Sahitya Akademi award" which she politely refused. Her body of non
fiction work is far greater (both in volume and quality) than her
fictional work. I hope you have read her work. If not please read
atleast the essential Roy viz "The greater common good", the "Algebra
of Infinite justice", "Come September", Do Turkeys Enjoy
Thanksgiving", "Peace is War", "Listening To Grasshoppers", "Shall We
Leave It to the Experts?" and my favorite  “The Ladies have feelings
so…”  You should definitely read the last one because it answers your
query about the very questions that you have raised.

Regarding a fiction writer being political, well all writers are
political. That some chose to remain silent is also a political
activity. That Ms. Roy choses to write her politics and throw it open
to ideas and criticism is the best thing I really like about her.
Besides she is also indulged in field activism, giving her voice to
the voiceless and rooting for real democracy.

Thanks
r

On 10/27/10, Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
> Are you the moderator? Just curious again. You indeed have a big hand.
>
> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 2:31 PM, Tapas Ray [Gmail]
> <tapasrayx at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ps: I mean, to Aditya.
>>
>> On 27 October 2010 14:30, Tapas Ray [Gmail] <tapasrayx at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Really intelligent comment. Let's give him a big hand!
>> >
>> > On 27 October 2010 14:23, Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >> Isn't she a Fiction writer? Or is she really a writer? Just curious.
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 2:01 PM, Rajkamal Goswami <
>> rajkamalgoswami at gmail.com
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> I am just in awe of this woman.
>> >>>
>> >>> On 10/27/10, Tapas Ray [Gmail] <tapasrayx at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> > Pheeta,
>> >>> >
>> >>> > No problem, and no need to apologise!
>> >>> >
>> >>> > Best,
>> >>> >
>> >>> > Tapas
>> >>> >
>> >>> > On 27 October 2010 09:07, Pheeta Ram <pheeta.ram at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> >> Dear Tapas
>> >>> >> Actually the statement was sent to me by somebody. I forgot to
>> >>> >> check
>> if
>> >>> it
>> >>> >> had already been published online; that's why there was no link.
>> Thanks
>> >>> >> for
>> >>> >> reminding me the etiquettes of responsible online publishing.
>> >>> >> I shall take care next time.
>> >>> >> Pheeta Ram
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 6:42 AM, Tapas Ray [Gmail] <
>> tapasrayx at gmail.com
>> >>> >
>> >>> >> wrote:
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> Pheeta,
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> Thanks for this. I think it would be good if we gave the links
>> along
>> >>> >>> with any material from online sources that we might be posting.
>> This
>> >>> >>> one's is
>> >>> >>> <
>> >>>
>> http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/arundhati-roys-statement-on-possible-sedition-case-62566
>> >>> >.
>> >>> >>> As for offline sources (e.g., printed books, etc.), a mention of
>> the
>> >>> >>> source, as complete as possible, would be very helpful.
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> Thanks again.
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> Tapas
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> On 27 October 2010 02:10, Pheeta Ram <pheeta.ram at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> >>> > STATEMENT BY ARUNDHATI ROY
>> >>> >>> >
>> >>> >>> > I write this from Srinagar, Kashmir. This morning’s papers say
>> that I
>> >>> >>> > may be arrested on charges of sedition for what I have said at
>> recent
>> >>> >>> > public meetings on Kashmir. I said what millions of people here
>> say
>> >>> >>> > every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have
>> written
>> >>> >>> > and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of
>> my
>> >>> >>> > speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for
>> justice. I
>> >>> >>> > spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one
>> of
>> >>> >>> > the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri
>> >>> >>> > Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of
>> their
>> >>> >>> > homeland; for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I
>> visited
>> >>> >>> > on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore; for the Indian
>> poor
>> >>> >>> > who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who
>> >>> >>> > are
>> now
>> >>> >>> > learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police
>> state.
>> >>> >>> >
>> >>> >>> > Yesterday I traveled to Shopian, the apple-town in South Kashmir
>> >>> which
>> >>> >>> > had remained closed for 47 days last year in protest against the
>> >>> >>> > brutal rape and murder of Asiya and Nilofer, the young women
>> whose
>> >>> >>> > bodies were found in a shallow stream near their homes and whose
>> >>> >>> > murderers have still not been brought to justice. I met Shakeel,
>> who
>> >>> >>> > is Nilofer’s husband and Asiya’s brother.  We sat in a circle of
>> >>> >>> > people crazed with grief and anger who had lost hope that they
>> would
>> >>> >>> > ever get ‘insaf’—justice—from India, and now believed that
>> >>> >>> > Azadi—freedom— was their only hope. I met young stone pelters
>> >>> >>> > who
>> had
>> >>> >>> > been shot through their eyes. I traveled with a young man who
>> told me
>> >>> >>> > how three of his friends, teenagers in Anantnag district, had
>> been
>> >>> >>> > taken into custody and had their finger-nails pulled out as
>> >>> punishment
>> >>> >>> > for throwing stones.
>> >>> >>> >
>> >>> >>> > In the papers some have accused me of giving ‘hate-speeches’, of
>> >>> >>> > wanting India to break up. On the contrary, what I say comes
>> >>> >>> > from
>> >>> love
>> >>> >>> > and pride. It comes from not wanting people to be killed, raped,
>> >>> >>> > imprisoned or have their finger-nails pulled out in order to
>> force
>> >>> >>> > them to say they are Indians. It comes from wanting to live in a
>> >>> >>> > society that is striving to be a just one. Pity the nation that
>> has
>> >>> to
>> >>> >>> > silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation
>> that
>> >>> >>> > needs to jail those who ask for justice, while communal killers,
>> mass
>> >>> >>> > murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who
>> prey
>> >>> >>> > on the poorest of the poor, roam free.
>> >>> >>> >
>> >>> >>> > Arundhati Roy
>> >>> >>> >
>> >>> >>> > October 26 2010
>> >>> >>> > _________________________________________
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>> >>> >>> _________________________________________
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>> >>> >>
>> >>> > _________________________________________
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>> >>> > Critiques & Collaborations
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>> >>> subscribe
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>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Rajkamal
>> >>> _________________________________________
>> >>> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>> >>> Critiques & Collaborations
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>> >>> subscribe in the subject header.
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>> >>>
>> >> _________________________________________
>> >> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>> >> Critiques & Collaborations
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>> subscribe in the subject header.
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>> >
>> _________________________________________
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>> Critiques & Collaborations
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>>
> _________________________________________
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-- 
Rajkamal