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Last updated on the 17/05/2007
This is an extract from an internet posted anonymous video piece called simply ’We’ which combines a speech entitled ‘Come September’ given by Arundhati Roy, with archive footage and a dramatic soundtrack. The speech was originally addressed to a US audience at the 2002 Lannan Foundation, a year after the September 11 destruction of the twin towers. It explores world colonial activities, focusing on the American hegemony that has been played out during the later half of the C20th, accumulating in the current aggressions towards Afganistan and Iraq. Roy’s lucidity and refreshing polemic style bring clarity and perspective to an often overwhelming complicated subject matter. Publication of the speech, and other writings on the frightening dominance of the state can be found in her book ‘The Algebra of Infinite Justice’.
Born in Kerala, India in 1961, Roy first trained as an architect, then wrote for the screen before she found fame with the publication in 1997 of her world acclaimed novel ‘The God of Small Things’ which dealt with an Indian family’s tragic experience of the Hindu caste system; personal, enigmatic and poetic it became a best seller and a booker prize winner. Utilizing the international exposure, which the success of the novel had brought her, she turned her eye to political matters at home and abroad. She is an active opponent of Indian dam construction which leaves thousands of indigenous farming populations landless and a dissident of the current arms race between India and Pakistan. She also speaks and writes extensively on the perpetuation of Western colonial ideology and the devastating repercussions this has for future world peace.
A website dedicated to ‘We’ and a source of more video pieces and information on Roy’s life and work can be found at Weroy.com