Interesting cooments from Jairus Banaji on Roy's article: "This is certainly her best political intervention so far, not so much for the bit where she acts as the conscience of the Indian bourgeoisie, a role she is so good at, but for the critical distance she has tried to establish vis-a-vis the Maoists. There are (at last) repeated critical references to the politics of the CPI (Maoist) which undoubtedly reflect the impact of the debate that 'landed in her flight path' after March, e.g. a whole vocabulary that was simply not there earlier (mass politics, militarism, etc.); a much sharper awareness this time of the distinction and differences between the Maoists and 'unarmed resistance movements', mostly tribal ones; references to the Russian Revolution (including Stalin's purges as the model of how authoritarian left-wing movements will behave in future and the amusing reference to the 'great debates between Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin'; one doesn't debate with an ice-pick!); and last but not least, the significant realism in her assessment of the Maoist base, confined to the tribal areas, completely absent in urban and working-class milieux, even among landless labourers in the plains. We live and learn, good for her...."
Sukla She writes very nicely, but always pretty much hyped up. And she has lately picked up the Maoist brief. She constructs a narrative, rather beutifully. First element, the Indian state needs the war to clear lands. Though there is a large disconnect between the two - clearing/acquiring land and the Operation Green Hunt, the "war". More important, the nature of the (democratic) state which provides space for contests amongst various opposing interests regardless of the significant asymmetry obtaining. Second, there is a bio-diversity of resistance, the Maoists belong to that even if at one end of the spectrum, but then the most important element there. That's also highly problematic. First, for the Maoist it's a procative war to capture state power, not a war of resistance. Their strident critique of Nepali Maoists joining the "democratic mainstream" in search of state power by other means after their decade long "people's war" getting into a stalemate is a clear illustrator. The path straight and narrow, the path of "protracted people's war" must not be abandoned till capture of state power. Come what may. Two, the other elements don't fight to capture state power. Three, their relations with others. There is no cooperative relation at the sites of struggle. The Maoists suppress others mercilessly. Resort to physical annihilation as well. Even more importantly, Maoists' armed campaign for toppling and capture of state power tends to legitimise a generalised brutal response by the state. That's utterly detrimental to the other brand of resistance. So, to emulate Roy's colourful idioms, Maoist insurgency is very much eco-destructive. It has no symbiotic relationship with with the other brand(s) of resistance. Two more points are relevant here. One, since November 1917 in Russia in no "democracy" all over the world an armed revolution has succeeded. Armed struggles played majore roles in autocracies and colonised countries, in particular, though. Two, the last time the Maoists captured power, anywhere in the world, is back in mid-seventies in Kampuchea. And that produced the profoundly horrifying genocidal regime of Pol Pot. So, Roy's is a nice fable, nice no doubt. But, at the end of the day, a beautifully crafted hyped up fable. Sukla From: sandy singh <[email protected]> To: FOIL LIST <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 14:12:39 +0530 Subject: Re: [foil] ARUNDHATI ROY: The Trickledown Revolution On Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 2:11 PM, sandy singh <[email protected]> wrote: > Subject: The Trickledown Revolution > > > > > The Trickledown Revolution > > http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/03-the-trickledown-revolution-ss-05 > > > > By Arundhati Roy > Friday, 10 Sep, 2010 > -- Peace Is Doable -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
