THE SHAPE OF THE BEAST
by
ARUNDATI ROY
{ REVIEW
BY
P.JEBARAJ }
Tracing the shape of the beast of neo-imperialism,
globalisation and
communal-ism, is the attempt made in the latest book by Arundhati Roy
, wherein she had joined together her views expressed earlier in her
writings over a decade,taking on the powers as a political activist
and writer treading controversial topics after she got her Booker's
Prize for her debut "- The God of Small Things." As a collection
of the transcripts of 14 interviews , she gave to seven different
journalists between January 2001 and March 2008 ( all previously
published,) there is nothing inherently new in the book. However,, the
book documents the process of taking stock — of both past and future
—in a typical way, of viewing national and international developments
i n a unique personal passion, which provides adequate fodder for
both the fan and the political scientist.
The answers
to questions on burning issues, are as varied but controversial,
ranging from 9/11 and the War on Terror to the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal,
from the judgments and protests that have shaped the ' Narmada Bachao
Andolan '(NBA) to the Gujarat riots, and reveals her thought
process in confronting the challenges facing India. She also
answers deeply personal questions — on her childhood, about her family,
spats with fellow intellectuals, her reaction to fame, the writing
process and her plans for the future— many of which have helped shape
her thought process over the years.
The
beast she pro-trays is NOT a powerful animal but a creature
begotten by power itself and thus subscribes to the adage
"Power Corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely ".She
believes power infects political, corporate and religious entities,
even the NGO world, separating them from any ability to identify with
the powerless and leading them to attitudes and acts of horrific, yet
often camouflaged bestiality. Ultimately, whether she’s discussing
religious riots in Gujarat, war hawks in Washington or New Delhi, or
economic repression in the Narmada Valley — , all of them are merely
the many heads of a single beast. in her opinion.
Common beast
Quoting
Iraq and Argentina as examples for her theory.she opines 'At first
glance, the war in one has nothing to do with the economic collapse in
the other. Looking closely, a common beast emerges." “Once you
understand the process of corporate globalisation ', she surmises that
what happened in Argentina; the devastation of Argentina by the IMF, is
part of the same machine that is destroying Iraq. Both are efforts to
break open and to control markets. And so Argentina is destroyed by the
chequebook and Iraq is destroyed by the cruise missile. If the
chequebook won’t work, the cruise missile will. " Hell hath no fury
like a market scorned,” she says.
Similarly,
she warns activists that in Pokhran, Ayodhya and Enron, it makes no
sense to fight the one while condoning the other. “Indian intellectuals
today feel radical when they condemn communal ism,most of them are
silent about the link between privatization, globalisation and
communal-ism. Globalisation suits the Indian elite. but Communal ism
doesn’t. as it doesn’t create a good ‘investment climate’. They have
to be addressed together, not separately,” she says.
While
passionately exposing and denouncing the causes behind the emergence of
the beast as well as the dire results of its many-headed actions, Roy
also explores the range of responses available to those who fight the
beast. And while lauding the non-violent protest laid at the heart of
Indian democracy by Mahatma Gandhi's method when undertook his salt
march, Roy has doubts whether they are relevant for our difficult times.
“Non-violent
movements have knocked at the door of every democratic institutions in
this country for decades and have been spurned and humiliated,” she
says, pointing fingers at elected representatives, the judiciary etc
and laments“it’s ironic that hunger strikes are used as a political
weapon in a land where most people go hungry anyway. We are in a
different time and place now. Up against a different, more complex
adversary,”., pointing to the insidious ways in which the powerful have
co-opted the tools of the powerless.
Progression of thought
This
is one of the areas where the book’s interview series format works
well. One can track Roy’s take on violent protest from the NBA protests
of 2001, through the anti-war protests in Iraq and the U.S. from 2003
onward, right up to the rise of the Maoist and N