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Carregando... Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy (2009)de Arundhati Roy
Haymarket Books (3) Carregando...
Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Brilliant. Something to keep coming back to, every now and then. ( ) I read this book directly after 'Democracy: A Life' by Paul Cartledge and the comparison is interesting (at least, I think so!) I would imagine that Arundhati Roy would freely accept that Professor Cartledge is a more learned source upon the subject of democracy: certainly, the Prof's book is filled with far more facts and statistics. It is, however, totally devoid of the chief ingredient of Mr. Roy's opus: passion. The prof tells us, Mr Roy lets us share his emotions. Roy's book is made up of a collection of essays upon the subject of Indian democracy: an institution which so many right wing Brits are proud to say, that we gave to them. Reading this work makes it clear how many similarities there are between the two systems. Roy bemoans the distant nature of India's ruling class; the fact that politicians are a weak bunch who cannot help themselves when faced with corruption. This is surely true of the bigger guns within British politics too and, probably inevitable from any system that passes its ruling down from above. Everybody wishing to climb the greasy pole must kowtow to those higher up. This is a series of polaroid photographs of democracy, Indian style; don't look for the quick solution: vote for X and all our problems will be over, but, like a photograph of a disfigured face, we may stare, without embarrassment and the imperfections are clear to all. A thoroughly thought provoking book. Random essays about how unbridled capitalism is undermining the destroying the livelihoods of the underclass living on the margins of Indian society. The festering sore that is Kashmir. War by fiat conducted by the neo-imperialists in the name of saving the world from the bad guys. All of these are so valid but who is listening. Juggernaut Capitalism is King, it is progress (is it really?) and anything can be sacrificed that threatens to impede it's inexorable advance. Random essays about how unbridled capitalism is undermining the destroying the livelihoods of the underclass living on the margins of Indian society. The festering sore that is Kashmir. War by fiat conducted by the neo-imperialists in the name of saving the world from the bad guys. All of these are so valid but who is listening. Juggernaut Capitalism is King, it is progress (is it really?) and anything can be sacrificed that threatens to impede it's inexorable advance.
Since the two things that Roy hates most are democratic capitalism and Hindu fundamentalism, it makes sense that she would try and connect the two. Unfortunately, she has no evidence of any kind for such a connection, and so we are given passages such as this one: “It’s interesting that just around the time Manmohan Singh, then the finance minister, was preparing India’s markets for neo-liberalism, L.K. Advani [a BJP leader] was making his first Rath Yatra, fueling communal passion and preparing us for neo-fascism. In December 1992, rampaging mobs destroyed the Babri Masjid. In 1993, the Congress government of Maharashtra signed a power purchase agreement with Enron.” This is equivalent to saying that in 1995 Michael Jordan returned to the NBA and in 1996 Bill Clinton was re-elected president. Roy adds, pathetically, that “the inexorable ruthlessness of one process feeds directly into the insanity of the other.” One is tempted to remind Roy that correlation does not prove causation, but since she has not even bothered to prove correlation, the point would be futile. Prêmios
With anger and compassion, Arundhati Roy's new book maps India's turbulent present and possible futures. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)320.954Social sciences Political Science Political Science Political situation and conditions Asia Indian SubcontinentClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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