A quote from Arundhati Roy from this article (link courtesy of Harry's Place).
"Modern democracies have been around for long enough for neo-liberal capitalists to learn how to subvert them. They have mastered the technique of infiltrating the instruments of democracy - the "independent" judiciary, the "free" press, the parliament - and molding them to their purpose. The project of corporate globalization has cracked the code. 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."
I have not read her literary work, The God of Small Things.
Roy has a fine turn of phrase:
"Empire is on the move, and Democracy is its sly new war cry. Democracy, home-delivered to your doorstep by daisy cutters. Death is a small price for people to pay for the privilege of sampling this new product: Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (bring to a boil, add oil, then bomb).But then perhaps chinks, negroes, dinks, gooks, and wogs don't really qualify as real people. Perhaps our deaths don't qualify as real deaths. Our histories don't qualify as history. They never have."
I've came to Arundhati Roy through her 2004 Sydney Peace Prize lecture.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at January 10, 2005 09:34 AM | TrackBack