We: Arundhati Roy
Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide of the twentieth century. Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead. When independent- thinking people (and here I do not include the corporate media) begin to rally under flags, when writers, painters, musicians, film makers suspend their judgment and blindly yoke their art to the service of the Nation, it’s time for all of us to sit up and worry.
This is an unusual kind of underground production. An anonymous sympathizer has edited a video recording of Roy’s speech over 64 minutes, interspersing an impressive array of archival footage to illustrate themes and specific historical events. Contemporary music overlaid throughout the piece shifts the mood and quickens the pace. The result is a visual essay rather than a traditional documentary, perfectly suited to its creator’s intentions, which is to spread the anti-imperialist, social justice politics of Arundhati Roy everywhere.
Watch the full documentary now
Another great documentary that features Arundhati Roy’s activism pertaining to India’s Dam building projects is “Drowned Out.”
That was very well made and her speech was amazing. I never even heard of her before. Think I would have seen her on another documentary before, cause I watch a lot and it seems someone would have clipped some of that speech in. I would have. lol
Any idea, where did she deliver this speech?
she’s so clear and amazing. Arundhati Roy is a gift.
“start reading…or we’re all screwed” totally agree. although i must say that this website tdf has deeply cut into my reading time :) knowledge breeds ideas, & ideas breed action, and organized action changes the world & reality…
brilliant..well spoken ..gentle and assertive ..a beautiful and truthful documentary…ive been watching alot of things about corporations and the banking elite lately..and this speech and image montage was the most imformative and thought prevoking …i hope she is not silenced ..her thoughtful honesty will educate the public and slow the manufactured progress that thrives on suffering in exchange $$$$$…i will be talking about this woman and looking for more insight in the future ….i hope you do the same!!
Thank you very much for this documentary! Her speech is brilliant and clear. The message is clear and the video montage it’s exactly how I would have done it: by contrast with what is really happening around us and what others want us to think about the world we live in. But history reveals all. Read and get information so you don’t make the same mistakes again.
There is only one problem here: there is even a bigger picture. This all is happening for a reason and maybe this is the only way the world can function: with good and bad. The truth is hidden indeed because truth hurts. All this talk about who is behind what and world peace and nature and stop the killing is great for me and I would really like the world to change that way. But if you put an end to some things that seem bad, even worse things can arise. It’s hard to find equilibrium.
Arundhati Roy did a great job making the message clear an I hope it reaches many minds and opens many eyes. And what then? Do you have a new system that works, did you find the balance in all things? We have the truth but can we act upon it? Can we really change the world? what is the replacement? what’s the new policy? If someone has a good philosophy and good politics that would work…then we act.
Phenomenal. Very compelling, relevant, and non-idealogical. This is a must-see, a wake-up call for anyone who still thinks that America is a beacon of peace and morality.
“The American way of life is simply not sustainable, because it doesn’t acknowledge that there is a world beyond America.” Well put.
lol Arundhati Roy, another silly Inbred funded by Saudi oil money to speak rubbish for the guillable inbred minds which belive any nonsensible rubbish.
The funny thing is, Arundhati after being an Indian, goes off to her trips in Pakistan and criticizes India and the Indians, when the Hindus and Buddhists have been bearing the brunt of the Islamic Extremism for the last 800 years.
Great Job arundhati, make sure your Burkha is on tight, or else the peaceful Muslims will publicly stone you.
my advice for the people of palistine is dont throw stones at tanks
…. and down at the mall there is a SPRING SALE ….. she is a great soft spoken entertainer and inspiration and the music itself is worth the wathc and listen to .
Only point I contend with is on Human Nature ..
Luckly human nature is on the vast average good and altruistic , it is the use of this that the Pyschopath expresion continues to raise itself , empire after …
great vid.
arun di we love u soooooooo mch just dont leave us di .
a genuinely spiritual ruler/king, to organize the people.
like Lord Rama in Indian Vedic culture. Since there actually IS a GOD, the world’s people need to be ‘in tune’ with that; or else simply more of this same; whatever form of gov’t.
Before I move on to the subject matter of my comment, I would like to state that there is nothing that I would like more than to see lasting peace in the world. In addition, I know how corrosive the military-industrial complex is to that goal.
Six and a bit minutes into the documentary, Roy claims that the Indian and Pakistani populations have been brainwashed by their respective governments. We are speaking here of a population of almost 2 billion people. It may not be supposed to be taken seriously however, given that the speech is a summarised version of the 80 years preceding the speech, she could have set a better tone. I will speak for myself. I find it hard to believe that this many people can be brainwashed. In addition, that she has some how been the only one to immune herself from it.
Why is it important? If you have discussed matters, as I have, with an Jewish man relieved to have finally had a Jewsih state established in the world, the section on Israel and Palestine obviously becomes a focus (he had seen this documentary). What Roy said was brought into question and, indeed, generated opposition to her views.
Now, I was able to put my view forward (that is the only thing I am responsible for) however I put it to Roy that she may not be promoting her views through this documentary as effectively as she would like. In fact, it may be having the reverse effect. I suppose this is the cost of releasing something to an audience which is not, realistically, able to hold a conversation with you. The sheer number of viewers is what I am refering to here.
Everyone will no doubt draw their own conclusions about the value of this video but I felt that my experience was relevant to that discussion. To “read up or we’re all screwed” is a fair point but it is also important to engage and communicate with each other – as meaningfully as possible. I will be the first to acknowledge that that is not always easy. Regardless, it is important.
Regards.
Thanks for a wonderful documentary. John Pilger, in my opinion is great journalist whose documentaries expose the tyranny of the superpowers against the beleaguered(watch War on democracy). The most unfortunate aspect is the complicity of the mainstream media.
wow this girl has a world of understanding..
BUT she maybe right in a way……. but im sorry to say she’s also wrong. the reason
1. the USA is also hit by globalization. one of the reason dollar is weakening, economic inflation, and the prime reason why china will surpass USA in the next 25 years is due to GLOBALIZATION!
2. USA is on a bad position its like damn if you do, damn if you dont. if this country did some intervention in a conflict the leftist and history will call them a police state in a very bad manner with their flag burning. if they didnt do nothing and something extremely bad happen. they will be morally blame by the rightist and history, and their goverment be called weak willed.
3. the were their slave thing..ha!! if she work on some extremely manual job without pay and appreciation of the people she’s working for then i will take what she said in face value.. i think almost half of the worlds goverment are lucky the US and the britz didnt do what the russain did during the end of the war.. if that happen we have a right to call are self oppress slaves of their goverment
4. their always a bad thing and a good thing in every goverment. and with the scale of their power i personally think their moral scale of good and evil is very good.. well american people have the ability to remove, corrected the wrongs, and the crimes of the bush and the neo con administration. and last see their mistake
5. but the palestian/oil thing she’s 70% right(the others only 50%)… why 70% only cause many of the environment movement, the search for technology that will destroy the oil monopoly, organization/wellfare group/people againts whats happening in palastain are base and live in the states. so its always yin and yang theirs no absolute wrong(except genocidal thing).
She’s just f@#$%&* naive, oh and plain wrong about 50% of the time. Let’s all live together peacefully…hmmm jeah right, because there are no problems in this world, because everything can be settled with words, because you can allays find a common ground.
Although she is right about most of the wrongdoings of America and Britain.
I’d like to know her solution for Palestine. The Palestinians will only be happy when the Israelis are gone it seems, but that is not an option. Even if one where to try that one would first have to fight the Israelis, then one would have to move them to an different place…question is where? Impracticable. Plus it’s not like the Israelis are not trying to settle the matter peacefully.
All I hear from her is criticisms but no alternative. No solutions, no options. The easiest thing in the world is to just go on ranting about all the things you think are wrong with the world, s@#$$% thing is: that doesn’t solve anything.
So in the end she doesn’t say anything new, nothing revolutionary nothing that wasn’t already said. Her point of view isn’t even particularly interesting…
I was bored, almost to death. :/
looks like a good doc then? excellent!
Oooh. Looks to be a good one. Something to round out my day.
Not sure why this is attracting the controversy that it is. Roy is a woman putting forth her view of things and people are able to decide for themselves whether and/or what they want to take away from it.