Product Description

Just in time for the elections, Arundhati Roy offers us this lucid briefing on what the Bush administration really means when it talks about "compassionate conservativism" and "the war on terror." Roy has characteristic fun in these essays, skewering the hypocrisy of the more-democratic-than-thou clan. But above all, she aims to remind us that we hold the essence of power and the foundation of genuine democracy-the power of the people to counter their self-appointed leaders' tyranny.

First delivered as fiery speeches to sold-out crowds, together these essays are a call to arms against "the apocalyptic apparatus of the American empire." Focusing on the disastrous US occupation of Iraq, Roy urges us to recognize-and apply-the scope of our power, exhorting US dockworkers to refuse to load materials war-bound, reservists to reject their call-ups, activists to organize boycotts of Halliburton, and citizens of other nations to collectively resist being deputized as janitor-soldiers to clear away the detritus of the US invasion.

Roy's Guide to Empire also offers us sharp theoretical tools for understanding the New American Empire-a dangerous paradigm, Roy argues here, that is entirely distinct from the imperialism of the British or even the New World Order of George Bush, the elder. She examines how resistance movements build power, using examples of nonviolent organizing in South Africa, India, and the United States. Deftly drawing the thread through ostensibly disconnected issues and arenas, Roy pays particular attention to the parallels between globalization in India, the devastation in Iraq, and the deplorable conditions many African Americans, in particular, must still confront.

With Roy as our "guide," we may not be able to relax from the Sisyphean task of stopping the U.S. juggernaut, but at least we are assured that the struggle for global justice is fortified by Roy's hard-edged brilliance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #276883 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

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.

About the Author
Arundhati Roy wowed critics with her writing debut, The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize in 1998. She has also published several collections of essays The Cost of Living, Power Politics and most recently War Talk. Ms. Roy is an outspoken critic of India's nuclear weapons testing, controversial environmental issues and the US "war on terrorism".

Customer Reviews

A Book to Make you Squirm
Roy is a controversial writer. Her insights and conclusions often make the reader, if from the west, uncomfortable about the unfolding economy and world relationships with India. Having traveled in India a number of times, and having many Indian friends, this book highlights little understood cultural and economic issues taking place in one of the world's exploding economies. Whether you agree with Roy's conclusions or not, a reader wanting to be more aware of the expanding global economy on the Subcontinent will find this book a starting point for reflection and informed connection with India and its complex cultural relationship with the west.

Illogical, Barbaric thoughts translated into writing!
I was recently reading this book 'An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire' by Arundhathi
Roy.

I have heard a lot about her writing, but this was my first read of her products.
To say the truth , I am very disppaointed.

She keeps on arguing about some childish matters, not looking at the global picture.
For example, her arguments against globalisation in India is meaningless. Indian CEOs
make profit by paying less to their employers. This has been the case for the last 50
years or so. Only when the foriegn companies entered India with their aggressive
recruitment drive, people are getting paid decently. Looks like Roy wants us to make
the India rich CEOs, richer. She is hell-bent on proving that America deserved a
september 11, saying that US participated in killings in Iraq, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.
Isn't it a cyclic argument? If US deserved a 9/11 in 2001 for those killings, then She'll
argue in her next book that Afghanistan deserves US-led invasion in 2006 for 9/11.
Now you can guess her next book's main topic.

I think she wants to act as though she does not belong to any country, or is not
behind any government. To show this explicitly, her arguments slowly move towards Kashmir
and Gujarath. She does not know what to speak of here, as her nose lengths into these
topics. She blames the government, RSS, security forces, etc. What she does not understand
is that Kashmir has been like for almost 40 years. This topic has been well-studied, and many many
books written about it. In this case, just providing incomplete data that security forces
were responsible for some killings in Kashmir by no means proves anything. I would like to ask
her the following question: "How did you define 'responsible for'? how about suicide bombings?
or number of people killed by terrorists supported from acorss the border? Don't you remeber
the fact that terrorists killed 100 people in a single night during Bill Clinton's visit? "

Coming to Gujarath incident, I agree with whatever she is saying. Though I've not checked
the figures she has provided, I do believe that the state government headed by Modi
was irresponsible.

However, I strongly condemn her again for deliberately missing the information on
Mumbai blasts. She talks about number of muslims killed, etc, but then
how about the serial blasts? Weren't they executed by the muslim terrorists?
Why doesn't Roy provide the whole figure on number of blast victims?
If She argues that 3000 innocent US Citizens deserved to die on 9/11 just because
their government did bad in many aspects in the past, then why you are against
1000 muslims dying as only the muslim terrorists organized serial blasts in Mumbai
to kill 3000 innocent people?

All she does in this book is providing information to prove whatever
she thinks is right. I have not read a write-up before such as this one,
so cruel, violent, barbaric, and illogical. Just because she has got some award, don't
assume she is good. Don't even think of buying this book, such a wast of time,
effort and money.

Extremely Hateful and Way too often Presents Completely Incorrect Information.
Since Roy mostly preaches to the converted, most likely most people who read this review will hit the 'not helpful' button. But we're all entitled to our opinions, particularly in a democracy and the opinion of this review is not in the vein of being a fan of Roy.
"You are by no means a great nation," Roy writes of the United States, "But you COULD be a great people." If an American said the same thing about the Indian people, it would be taken as a highly offensive comment. And certainly, there is much to find by no means great about the Indians, right down to the cruelty they show one another. Especially if a nationI finds some of their own so poor that they're 'untouchable' as is the case with the Indian caste. Roy makes many sweeping comments about the West and Americans in her books, comparing them to Indians, right down to what individuals think. How someone can blanket statement what individuals think is beyond me. Her assessment of the US as a whole is also way off the mark. I don't think she'd educated on American in it's individual, human truth. Too much is TV branding. If does not sound like she's been inside every community and each varying ethnic section and geographical locale, which vary greatly. How she can say an Indian's mind is a lush, wild, wilderness, which would never be found in a Westerner's mind is not only offensive, it's stupid and seeing the world with a set of wooden glasses. Besides the point that she gets so many of the facts wrong, what I think is particularly unappealing about Roy is that she is a rich and spoiled girl who has had quite a bit of opportunity, including the chance to be schooled in the US, where she married into the system, not once, but twice, thus further enjoying the priveleges, earned approximately a million dollars (which she gladly took) for her novel from a company that is tightly tied in to the 'empire' and the 'corporations' which she sneers at, and pretends to have no part at.She is lecturing us not to buy into corporations, but clearly she found a profit there. If we are really not to support the corporations, then we must not buy her books. I find Roy to be an extremely immature voice, and most of what she says on empire and government is Chomsky 101. It's been said before, and better. And if she considers herself a "citizen of the world" then what's the deal with her dual hatred of, making money off of, and continued attempts to worm her way back into the US, while pretending she's above it? Her political holier-than-thou schtick is also a bit of a joke. Remember a few years ago when she attempted to make her Big Point , by allowing herself to be imprisoned.. saying how she was going in there for the long haul to make her point further, then spent a night in jail and got scared by the REALITY of it, and thenimmediately paid the fine, suddenly concocting a story that she didn't need to make her point further? It's this kind of speaking out of one side of her mouth, and her comfort zone really being in another that comes up all too often in this book.