Arundhati Roy always has been to the ground. I guess she is one honest woman we need. And what's more, she is leaning more left, than she was while winning the brits' award. I especially like her statement, given recently: "I wouldn't feel I was doing anything right if everyone stood up and applauded."

Well, she speaks this time, on Superstars and Globalization, to zMag, and I am sure not everyone is going to applaud:

I don’t also want to go around being the Barbie doll of non-violent struggle. To confuse non-violence with passivity is one of the things that’s dangerous. And the fact is that neither am I a person who feels that I have the right, or I am in a place where I should be dictating to people how they should conduct their movements. Personally I’m not prepared to pick up arms now. But maybe I can afford not to, at whatever place I am in now. I think violence really marginalizes and brutalizes women. It depoliticizes things. It’s undemocratic in so many ways. But at the same time, when you look at the massive amount of violence that America is perpetrating in Iraq, I don’t know that I’m in a position to tell Iraqis that you must fight a pristine, feminist, democratic, secular, non-violent war. I can’t say. I just feel that that resistance in Iraq is our battle too and we have to support it. And we can’t be looking for pristine struggles in which to invest our purity.

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Tags: Saswat, India, Feminism, Capitalism, Literature

I heard today is celebrated as the Women's Equality Day.
Frankly speaking, I have never heard of such a Day existing. Nor am I aware of the reasons behind any celebration.
Which women? What equality? Prez Bush said today that

On Women's Equality Day, we recognize the hard work and perseverance of those who helped secure women's suffrage in the United States. With the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920, American women gained one of the most cherished rights and fundamental responsibilities of citizenship: the right to vote.

But I wonder if Right to Vote has anything to do with equality? With dignity? With life?

Tags: Saswat, Feminism, Bush, USA

The democratic politics of appeasement continues for the forthcoming elections. The African-Americans of course are at the receiving end of this tokenism.
Alton H Maddox Jr. writes to the AmNews
Caveat emptor: Black voters beware!
Over the next three months, the Kerry-Edwards presidential ticket will be making frequent visits to Black churches, hoping and praying that its loyal Black constituents will not look under the hood of A Strong, Respected America, the 2004 Democratic National Platform. When Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards are unavailable, Black used-car salespersons and escorts will be employed to keep Blacks distracted until November 2.

Unfortunately, most Blacks would rather listen to puffery than read the national platform of the Democratic Party. After the political season is over, these unscrupulous salespersons will resume their duties as Black Judas goats. Its all about the money and living large. This bait-and-switch gimmick repeats itself every four years. Read More...

Tags: Saswat, Black Power, USA, Capitalism

Bill Moyers, that inimitable crusader of free press throws some light on why facts are more interesting than fiction, and news are more entertaining than the movies.

Who needs a movie when you have the news?
First, a confession: I haven't seen Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. It's not that
I haven't wanted to; it's just that I have not been able to tear myself away from the
real show – the political theatre playing out in full sight right before our eyes. Who
needs a movie when you have the news?
Read More...

Tags: Saswat, Media, USA, Capitalism

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about why the hanging judge can't keep his hands to himself, in an article "Crouching Stanley, Hidden Gangsta"

I reserve the right to be a nigger—Aaron McGruder.

Stanley Crouch is a gangsta rapper. Throughout his career, Crouch has moved through black nationalism, bohemia, and places we haven't yet developed the vocab to name. But if there's one thing we've gleaned from Crouch's recent assault on novelist and critic Dale Peck, it is this—we have found Crouch's muse, and his name is Suge Knight. Read More...

Tags: Saswat, History, Racism, Black Power

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Tim Wise of LiP Magazine writes about the Black Conservatives. How the oppressed co-opt has more than individual initiatives attached. I think a social framework is needed to be created within democratic institutions to call for plurality. And the conservatives of course fit into the mold like nobody's business. The following story is a critical appraisal.

"Working for the Man Every Night and Day": Black conservatives, with their politics of self-abuse, have managed to obtain access to the halls of power - at the expense of respect from within the black community.
Read More...

Tags: Saswat, Capitalism, USA, Racism

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