Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire [Paperback]

Arundhati Roy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004

An utterly entrancing new collection of essays, as controversial, inspirational and passionate as anything Arundhati Roy has yet written. In this collection of speeches and essays, gathered together here for the first time, Arundhati Roy writes, with passion, clarity and urgency, about the subjects dearest to her heart, subjects which must be of the utmost importance to any of us interested in democracy, in global justice, and in the direction certain powerful agencies beyond our control are taking the world. Focusing largely on that intense period leading up to and beyond the UN's attack on Iraq, Roy systematically deconstructs the US government's argument for going to war. She brilliantly exposes the gaping errors in their thesis, the hypocrisy and false ideology behind the rhetoric that led to 42% of the American public believing that Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the attacks of 9/11 on the World Trade Centre, and that a bombed, besieged and starved country such as Iraq was a direct threat to the safety of the mighty USA. Roy opens our eyes, like no other writer can do, to the problems that our increasingly divided world is creating, highlighting the growing disparity between rich and poor, with the world's poor increasing by 100 million in the last ten years. Every article Arundhati Roy writes, every speech she gives, attracts worldwide attention and this collection, controversial, polemical, provoking but always inspirational, is an essential addition to her work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Those who fear the dry and impenetrable prose of many political essays need have no such reservations with this selection. Indian author Roy (The God of Small Things) brings a novelistic readability and immediacy to her impassioned critiques of imperialism, the corporate media and their "neo-liberal project"—what she describes as "the medium of those who have power and money." Her unequivocally critical look at the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq will likely lead American readers to label her as either brilliantly astute or strongly anti-American. Still, she carefully differentiates between governments and their people. In "Instant Mix Imperial Democracy," she congratulates Americans for standing up to their government: "Hundreds of thousands of you have survived the relentless propaganda you have been subjected to, and are actively fighting your own government. In the ultra-patriotic climate that prevails in the United States, that’s as brave as any Iraqi or Afghan or Palestinian fighting for his or her Homeland." In the same talk, Roy delivers a scathing critique of the current state of democracy: "The project of corporate globalization has cracked the code of democracy. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market has reduced them to commodities on sale to the highest bidder." In addition to observing problems; Roy suggests non-violent solutions—boycotts, protests and open discussion. Regardless of whether one agrees with her ideas, Roy crafts articulate and convincing arguments that deserve their place in any debate on globalization, democracy or Iraq.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

'Though she be but little, she is fierce. Roy is witty and moving, and her passion is focused and mordant. She is a great modern rhetorician, treading the boards of a world stage.' The Times 'Roy is excellent at putting across the rational arguments and web of facts that are necessary to back up her opinions. She has a good command of both the big picture and the small and allows people to speak for themselves, pushing those who are often forgotten into the foreground of the debate.' Natasha Walter, Guardian 'Roy should be required reading.' Marie Claire 'Roy is always passionately intense. Her controversial views on terrorism are single-minded and uncompromising. She compels you to have an opinion on matters she feels are important.' Observer 'Roy is to be congratulated for a real and personally risky political engagement at a time when many Western writers of her celebrity can respond to world events only from a debilitating aesthetic distance.' Time Out

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Flamingo (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007181639
• ISBN-13: 978-0007181636
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,444,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Passionate, informed, articulate, August 18, 2004

By 

S. L. Small (Astoria, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire (Paperback)

Continuing where her earlier non-fiction books left off, Roy once again speaks around the world holding up a harsh light to leaders of economic and military might and power. One thing to note is Roy's wholistic view of resistance to injustice and progress by societies has evolved since her last writings. Many of her earlier speeches and essays stuck to a single issue- this book's speeches create links between economic power or powerlessness, racial or religious violence and the growing worldwide police state, and argues forcefully for a movement to stand up to these linked worldwide trends as a whole.

The speeches have the eloquence Roy's fans have always looked to her for. They also name names and provide numbers for those like me who like more than generalities. An all around great book. Just wish it was longer.

115 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring to a Boil, add Oil, then Bomb, October 8, 2004

By 

J.W.K (Nagano, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire (Paperback)

In this fine collection of speeches and essays, Roy stridently argues against the global injustice of imperial democracy, narrow-minded nationalism, corporate fascism, the military industrial complex, privatization, and the ideology of those who would bomb civilians as part of a war campaign with unparalleled passion, clarity and rhetorical flare. Hers is a voice confronting the powers of empire.

With the accuracy of someone weilding linguistic pruning shears, Roy deftly shreds our most sacred doctrines. "Flags", she reminds us, are nothing more than "bits of coloured cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead." They are the symbols of our government's imperialist ambitions.

'Freedom' is the mask government wears to "murder, annihilate, and dominate other people." It is the freedom "to finance and sponsor despots and dictators across the world. The freedom to train, arm, and shelter terrorists. The freedom to topple democratically elected governments. The freedom to amass and use weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, and nuclear. The freedom to go to war against any country whose governments it disagrees with. And, most terrible of all, the freedom to commit these crimes against humanity in the name of 'justice', in the name of 'righteousness', in the name of 'freedom'."

Another word Roy takes issue with is 'Liberal Democracy' - a word the US government and its corporate cohorts have twisted, besmirched and spread over the world like an incurable STD. Liberal Democracy is simply a codeword for the type of imperialist market the US foists upon the world. It is a product we in the US sell to other countries, like Iraq, whether they want it or not, and death "is a small price...to pay for the privilege of sampling this new product: Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (bring to a boil, add oil, then bomb)."

"Meanwhile," while we all sit around debating the fate of the biosphere, "down at the mall there's a mid-season sale. Everything's discounted - oceans, rivers, oil, gene pools, fig wasps, flowers, childhoods, aluminum, factories, phone companies, wisdom, wilderness, civil rights, ecosystems, air - all 4.6 billion years of evolution. It's packed, sealed, tagged, valued, and available off the rack (no returns). As for justice," she says, "I'm told it's on offer too."

Roy also takes aim on the War on Terrorism - not for what it is, but for how it's conducted. "The underlying logic of the terrorist attacks, as well as 'retaliatory' wars against governments that 'support terrorism', is the same: both punish citizens for the actions of their governments." Neither Bush nor Osama bin Laden can face this fact, though, which speaks to their overriding similarities: "They both hold people responsible for the actions of their governments. They both believe in the doctrine of collective guilt and collective punishment. Their actions benefit each other greatly." Furthermore, they both converse with with a god who has sanctified their war against 'evil doers' - ie, each other.

The only thing not for sale, it would seem, is Roy's voice. Of all her books, this is by far my favorite. And of all the great social critics - Naom Chomsky, Edward Said, Howard Zinn, Edward Herman, Amy Goodman, Michael Albert, Chalmers Johnson, William Blum, Anthony Arnove - she writes with the most urgency and passion. Her talent is unmatched, her critiques scathing, her prose sublime.

j.w.k.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Forceful, August 27, 2005

By 

Anurag Chatrath (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire (Paperback)

I have always found Roy's writing style very very compelling. I never thought 'God Of Small Things' was much of a story but the writing style was par-excellence.

In similar vein, these sets of articles / speeches by Roy are written in a very crisp and compelling language with lots of facts (referenced properly)to back them.

Reading the book, one is reminded (or made aware of, depending on your ability to see-through the news) of the wrongs that are being perpetrated on the world today (US's illegal occupation of Iraq, Godhra riots in Gujarat, the `war against terror' charade, the Israel-Palestine conflict).

As a soi-disant responsible and conscientious citizen of the world, I somehow feel ashamed. We are unable to do anything about them. Unable to set them right. That is because, we the people, are powerless. We are reminded, time and again, by Roy how power-less we have all acted. And in doing so, we are doing a dis-service to ourselves and our fellow brethren.

Power is what the book is about. Lord Action's comment that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" seems as relevant today as when it was made in the 19th C. The people who are in power carry out deeds that are, ironically, at variance with what is good for mankind and also at cross purposes with what is beneficial for the poorest of the poor. Instead their actions are meant to fill the overflowing coffers of rich corporations and empires (people like Mr. Cheney). Their actions, which we as citizens of the world should see through and protest, are all about increasing one's power. But then, you ask yourself, don't these leaders (read rulers) derive their power from us people [go back to the lesson on democracy in political science class : demos (people) + cratos (power)]. And oddly the same people who bring cratos to these rulers are cratos-less in influencing their decisions. Why then, Roy argues, would the European countries support the US occupation of Iraq when no more than 11% of their citizens support this illegal occupation? The book is littered with compelling facts like these.

That is the question the book leaves us with. It asks us, why we don't stand up and point out and, in the process, somehow prevent the wrongs being done by our 'democratically' elected presidents and governments. If we all put our minds to it, we can, and should, prevent the blunders that are being made by the George W's of the world.

The book asks more questions than answers them. Yet isn't that what a writer is supposed to do? Bring ideas / questions / doubts in front of others and, through healthy debate, search for answers.

A must read for every citizen of the world who claims to have a conscience (yet does nothing about it).