The largest election the world has ever seen, you spend the hour with indian novelist and essayist Arundhati Roy. She is just out the new book called, capitalism a ghost story. After the opening up of the economy, we are in a situation where 100 of indias wealthiest people, their combined wealth is 25 of the gdp, whereas war that 80 of its population is less than less than one dollar a day. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A standoff continues in ukraine where prorussian separatist have seized government buildings in eastern areas. Demonstrators have barricaded themselves and and readied fuel bombs. The government in kiev has warned of sending in troops to restore order. Testifying before senate panel in washington, secretary of state john kerry accused russia of direct involvement. Everything we have seen in the last 48 hours, russian provocateurs and agents operating in eastern ukraine, tells us they have been sent there determined to create chaos. And that is absolutely unacceptable. Are as hamhanded as they are transparent, frankly. Quite simply, what we see from russia is an illegitimate effort to destabilize a sovereign state and create a contrived crisis with paid operatives across an International Boundary engaged in this initiative. Russia has denied planning military operations in eastern ukraine. John kerry said to hold talks with counterparts from russia, ukraine, and the European Union next week. In his testimony, john kerry sparred with his former Senate Colleague john mccain of arizona over the Obama Administrations handling of ukraine and other areas of foreign policy. Ukraine, mysue of hero, Teddy Roosevelt, used to say im a talk softly but carry a big stick. What youre doing is talking strongly and carrying a very small stick. In fact, a twig. Your friend Teddy Roosevelt also said credit belongs to the people in the arena youre trying to get things done. We are trying to get something done. That is a Teddy Roosevelt maxes him. And i abide by it. The United Nations is warming warning of the hunger crisis. Here is a received less than half the average rainfall since the fall. Likely forcing the need to import more food. The shortfall could bring the number of syrians rely on food aid to 6. 5 million up from 4. 2 million. The yuan has cut the size of food rations after receiving a 16 of its budget needs from international donors. The top human rights official has renewed calls for the prosecution of syrian officials at the International Criminal court. Speaking to reporters, she said the regime of Bashar Alassad is responsible for most of the atrocities in syria. But both the commission of havery and my office insistently pointed to Human Rights Violations by both sides. But you cannot compare the two. Clearly, the actions of the forces of the government far outweigh the violations of killings, cruelty, persons in detention, disappearances, so you cant compare the situation. It is a government that is mostly responsible for the violations. All of these perpetrators should be identified. The u. S. And iran are locked in a new dispute over tehrans proposed ambassador to the United Nations. The senate has voted to bar Hamid Aboutalebi from entering the u. S. Because he allegedly belonged to the group behind the 1979 hostage crisis in tehran. The measure would prevent him from taking up his new post at u. N. Headquarters in new york. Jay carney said the u. S. Has informed iran of its opposition. While we shared this in its concerns regarding this case and find a potential nomination is extremely troubling, the u. S. Government has informed the government of iran that this potential selection is not viable. The legislation passed by the senate underscores just how troubling this potential nomination would be. Carney stopped short of saying the Obama Administration would bar Hamid Aboutalebis entry to the u. S. He has previously served as irans ambassador to belgium, italy, australia, and the European Union and has denied playing a direct role in the hostage crisis. Has taken newa steps aimed at closing the gender pay gap. Two new actions will bar them from punishing workers who discuss their pay and force them to disclose data about what their employees earn by race and sex. Speaking tuesday, obama pressed lawmakers to pass the paycheck fairness act to help and is permission based on gender. He noted the wage gap is even wider for women of color. Today the average fulltime working woman earns just . 77 for every dollar a man earns. For africanamerican women, latinos, it is even less. That is an embarrassment. It is wrong. And this is not just an issue of fairness, but also a family issue and an economic issue because women make up about half of our workforce. And theyre increasingly the breadwinners for whole lot of families out there. Data,ording to africanamerican women earn just . 64 and latino woman just . 56 for every dollar earned by a white man. Could except pointed out the white house may have a pay gap of its own. The client uconn women at the white house are . 91 for every dollar men make mcclatchy found women at the white house earn . 91 for every dollar men make. Jailedican contractor for over four years in cuba has launched a Hunger Strike to protest his treatment by both the cuban and u. S. Governments. Alan gross was arrested in 2009 a suspicion of being a u. S. Spy after handing out equipment to cuban opposition groups. A spokesperson for his family said hes refusing meals to call attention to mistreatment by cuba and inaction by his own government. The spokesperson also said the recent disclosure of a u. S. Backed fake social Media Network in cuba has undermined his cause. I know all of his family and friends have been extremely concerned about his ability to survive the conditions in prison there before going on this Hunger Strike, so at this point, were all very worried he is not going to last through this. Alan learned about zunzuneo before he started his Hunger Strike and was not happy about it. His attorney, scott gilbert, said he felt that usaid put alan in greater peril by starting that program than he had been before. U. S. Agency for International Development created the socalled cuban twitter project and what the Associated Press called an effort to undermine the cuban government. It masqueraded as a twitterlike platform to collect users private data and spread political content that would trigger unrest. Under questioning from senator Patrick Leahy at a hearing tuesday, the usaid minister ater denied the program was covert. Working on creating platforms to improve communications in cuba and in many other parts of the world is a core part of what u. S. Aid has done for some time and continues to do usaid has done for some time in continues to do. Our policy is to support efforts to allow for open communications. To the extent the ap story or any other, creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other alter your purposes, that is simply inaccurate. Is it a Covert Program . Absolutely not. Edward snowden suggests the government has spied on leading human Rights Groups inside the United States, appearing by video link before the council of europe, snowden said the nsa has targeted either leaders or Staff Members of civil and nongovernmental organizations within u. S. Borders. Snowden did not specify which groups, but asked whether they include Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch he replied, yes, absolutely. In his comments to european lawmakers, snowden urged International Action to rein in mass surveillance. Trillions ing of and i mean that literally, trillions of private communications with the biggest indication of association or some other nebulous precriminal activity is a violation of the human rights to be free from unwarranted disappearance, to be secure in our communications and private affairs, and it must be addressed. The opposition have agreed to hold talks after two months of political unrest. Around 40 people have been killed from both sides in a series of protests and clashes. The talks were brokered by a group of Foreign Ministers from neighboring south american countries. West africa has been grappling with a deadly an unprecedented outbreak of ebola. At least 100 people have died over the past several weeks will stop it is the first outbreak ever hit the west africa region. In geneva, the World Health Organization said the outbreak is one of the most challenging ever faced. This is one of the most challenging ebola outbreaks we have ever faced. Right now we have documented liberiath in guinea and. The reasons why this is one of the most challenging outbreaks is that, first, we see a wide geographic is percent of cases. This is coming from a number of districts as well as a large city in guinea. A u. S. Marine has been shot dead by a colleague at the Camp Lejeune Military base in north carolina. The gunman is in custody. The shooting comes just days after the rampage by u. S. Soldier at fort hood, texas that left four dead including the gunman and 16 wounded. Africanamerican man wrongfully convicted of murder has been released after nearly 25 years behind bars. Jonathan fleming was convicted of a 1989 murder in brooklyn, but he was actually more than 1000 miles from the crime in florida visiting disney world with his family at the time of the murder. Investigators unearthed ample evidence of his innocence. Fleming said the receipt was in his pocket at the time of his arrest, but none of the evidence was turned over to the defense before his trial. Fleming spoke to cnn after his release. I waited for this day to come come in 24 years and its finally here. I am finally a free man. And some of those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Voting has begun in india will stop in the largest election the world has ever seen. About 815 million indians are eligible to vote over the next five weeks. The number of voters in india is more than 2. 5 times the entire population of the United States. The election will take place in nine phases at over 900,000 polling stations across india. Results will be known on may 16. Preelection polls indicate Narendra Modi will likely become indias next Prime Minister. Bjp, a the leader of the hindu nationalist party. He served as the chief minister where one of indias worst antimuslim riots occurred in 2002 that left at least 1000 people dead. After the bloodshed, the u. S. State department revoked his visa saying it could not grant a visa to any Foreign Government official who was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, ridiculously severe violations of religious freedoms. Narendra modi has never apologized or explained his actions at the time of the riots. His main challenger to become Prime Minister is rule gandhi of the Ruling Congress party. Gandhi is heir to the nehru gandhi dynasty that has governed india for much of its postindependence history. Several smaller regional parties and the new anticorruption Common Man Party are also in the running. If no single party wins a clear majority, the smaller parties could play a crucial role in forming a coalition government. Today we spend the hour with one of indias most famous authors and one of its fiercest critics, Arundhati Roy. The bookery won prize for her novel, the god of small things pair out since then, she is focused on nonfiction. Her books include, an ordinary persons guide to empire, field notes on democracy listening to grasshoppers, and walking with the comrades. Her latest book is titled, capitalism a ghost story. Nermeen shaikh and i recently sat down with Arundhati Roy when she was in new york. We began by asking her about her new book and the changes that have taken place in india since it opened its economy in the early 1990s. What were always told is that there is going to be a thatledown revolution, kind of opening up of the economy that happened in the early 1990s that will lead to an inflow of foreign capital and eventually, the poor would benefit. Being a novelist, i started out by standing outside this 27story building that belonged with its ballrooms and six floors of parking and helipads and so on. Verticalis 27story long lawn. Bits of grass had fallen off. I said, well, trickledown had up had. Ked, but gush after the economy, we are in a situation where 100 of indias wealthiest people, their combined wealth is 25 of gdp where as war than 80 of its population is less than one dollar a day. The level of malnutrition, the level of hunger by the amount of take, all of these aile india is shown as growing economy which has slowed down dramatically at its peak, what happened is this new Economic Policy created a big middleclass, which given the population of india, gave the impression it was a universe of its own with the ability to consume cars and conditioners and mobile phones and all that. That huge middleclass came at a cost of a much larger nt evenss, which was being looked at. Millions of people being pushed off their lands. Either by the development projects, or just by land which had ceased to be productive. 250,000 people committing suicide. If you even try to talk about, lets say, on Indian Television channels, you actually get insulted. 250,000 farmers who have killed themselves . Let me say that figure doesnt include the fact that if it is a woman who kills her self, she is not considered a saying,r now they start it wasnt suicide it was depression or, you know. Why are they killing themselves . Because theyre caught in a death trap. What happens is the entire face of agriculture has changed. So people start growing cash crops, crops which are marketfriendly which need a lot of input. And alld pesticides kinds of chemicals, and the crop fails or the cost they get for their product doesnt match the amount of money they put into it. And also you have situations which was called the rice bowl india in the north. Yes, in the north. It is supposed to be indias richest agricultural state. Many have so many farmers people,suicide, ironically, the way they commit suicide is by drinking the pesticides. What ist from the fact being caused by all of this, emco panjabi, call the cancer express. People come in droves to be treated for illness. And the train is called the cancer express because of the pesticides . Yes. This is the richest state in india. There is a crisis there. Nevermind the west where farmers are killing themselves almost every day. I was wondering if you could read from, capitalism a ghost story. In india, the 300 million who belong to the new postimf reforms middleclass, the market, live sidebyside with the spirit of the netherworld. Wells, bald dry mountains and diluted forced. The ghosts of 250,000 dead farmers who have killed themselves in the 800 million who have been impoverished and dispossessed to make way for us. And who survive on less than half a dollar, whic a day. Personally worth 20 billion. He holds a majority controlling share in Reliance Industries limited, ril, a company with a market capitalization of 47 billion. In Global Business interests that includes petrochemicals, oil, natural gas, polyester fiber, special economic zones, fresh food, retail, high school, life and Science Research in stem cell storage services. Sharesently bought 95 in a Tv Consortium the controls 27 tv news and entertainment channels analyst every region and language. Ril is one of a handful of corporations that run india. Are the others spilled across central asia, latin america. Invisiblesible and overground as well is underground. They run more than 100 companies in 80 countries. Theyre one of indias oldest and largest privatesector power companies. They own minds, gas bills, steam plants, telephone and cable tv and broadband networks, and they run townships. They manufacture cars and trucks and own the taj hotel chain, an drove her land rover chain of bookstores, the major brand of iodized salt, in the cosmetic giant which i think that sold now. The advertising tagline could easily be you cant live without us. According to the rules of the gush up gospel, the more you have, the more you can have. Arundhati roy reading from her new book, capitalism a ghost story. We will be back with her in a moment. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we continue our conversation with the worldrenowned author, Arundhati Roy. Voting has just begun in india in the largest election the world has ever seen with about 815 million indians eligible to vote over the next five weeks. The number of eligible voters in india is larger than the total population of the United States and European Union combined. Arundhati roy won the booker prize in 1997 for her novel, the god of small things. Her latest book is called, capitalism a ghost story. s Nermeen Shaikh and i spoke to Arundhati Roy about the changes in india she describes in her latest book, and the implications for the elections. Im talking about how when you have this kind of control over all business, over the media, over essential infrastructure, then you just politicians and right now, for example, what is happening in india is one of the reasons it is being attributed to the slowdown of the economy is the fact there is a tremendous resistance to all of this from the people on the ground, from the people who are being displaced. In the forest, it is the maoist guerrillas. All of whom are being called maoists. These economic policies, these new economic policies cannot be implemented unless except with coercive state violence. So you have a situation where the forests are full of paramilitary just burning villagers, pushing people out of their homes trying to clear the land for Mining Companies to whom the government has signed hundreds of memoranda of understanding. Outside the forest, this is also happening. There is a kind of war which, of course, always existed in india. Since when . Since independence, since 1947. And now the plan is to deploy them, now it is the paramilitary but this new election is going to be who is the person the corporate shoes who is not going corporates choose whos not going to blink about to play in the indian army against the poorest people in this country and pushing them out to give over those lands, those rivers, mountains to the major mining corporations. This is what we are being prepared for now. The air force, army, going in to the heart of india now. One of the operations you spoke about his operation green hunt. Could you explain what that is, when it started, and who it targets . Inoperation green hunt 2004, the current government signed a series of memorandums of understanding with a number of mining corporations and Infrastructure Development companies to build dams and do mining, to build roads, to move india into the space where the home minister at the time said he wanted 75 of indias population to live in cities, which is moving social engineering, really, moving 500 Million People or so out of their homes. Thisthey came up against very, very militant resistance from the ground. As i said, in the forests there were armed maoist guerrillas, outside the forest, there are militants all kinds. Theres a whole diversity of resistance. Strategically, they had different ways of dealing with it. But all fighting the same thing. Wheren in the state res a Huge Population and central india. In central india. The first thing the government did was, very similar to places like peru and colombia, they started to army section of the indigenous population and create a vigilante army. They along with local paramilitary went in and started decimating villagers. They basically chased some 300,000 people out of the forest and some 600 villagers were emptied. Then the people began to fight back. And really this whole experiment failed. At which point, they announced operation greenhouse where there was this official declaration of war. And there is so much propaganda in the media. The media is owned by the corporations who have interest. The Prime Minister came out and said, they are the greatest internal security threat. There was this kind of conflation between the maoists with the ski caps and all of these people that are threatening the idea of india. What the government wasnt prepared for was the fight back. Not just from the people in the forest, but even from a range of activist and a range of people who were outraged by this. They passed these laws which meant that anybody could be called a maoist and a threat to security and even today, there are thousands of people in jail under the unlawful act and so on. But that was operation green hunt. But that, too, ran aground. It is difficult to rein in. So now the idea is to deploy the army. And now the corporations feel that they did not have the nerve to send out the army, that it blinked. The Congress Party. The Congress Party and its allies. To the big corporations are backing the threetime chief minister of the state for the western state, who has proved his mettle by being an extremely coldblooded chief minister who is now i mean, he is best known for having presided over a program against muslims. Talk about who Narendra Modi is. This moves us into the election of april. It will be the largest election in the world, who the contenders are, who this man is who could well become the head of india who the United States has not granted a visa to in years because of what youre describing. I think modi is changing his idea of who he is. He started out as a kind of activist in the selfproclaimed ,ascist organization, the rss which was founded in 1925, the heroes werent whistling and hitler. Even today, the bible of the rss said the muslims of india are like the nazis of germany. The idea of a hindu nation, very much like the hindu version of pakistan nursing the muslims should be eradicated where they were saying the muslims should be eradicated. Secondclass citizens. Or moved to pakistan. That they should just be killed. Did is a very old modi not invent it, but he and even minister jp from Prime Minister, all of these are members of the rss. The rss is an organization which has 40,000 or 50,000 units across india. At one point they were banned because a former member killed now there of course are not a banned organization. Killed mahatma gandhi. Yes. Assassinated him. Modi started out as a worker for the rss. Prominenceto great in 2002 when he was already the chief minister of gujarat but have been losing local municipal elections. This was at the time when the had run this big campaign they had demolished the old 14thcentury mosque in 1992. But they are now saying, we want to build a big hindu temple in that place. A group of pilgrims who were returning from the site or this temple was supposed to be built, the train in which there were traveling, the compartment was set on fire and pilgrims were burned. No one knows today who said that compartment on fire and how it wasened, but of course, it immediately blamed on muslims. Then they followed an unbelievable program in gujarat where more than 1000 people were lynched, burned alive, women were raped, their abdominals were slit open and fetuses were taken out and so on these were muslims . These were muslims. By these hindu mobs. It became very clear that they had support. The police were on the side of the mobs. 100,000 muslims were driven from their homes. This happened in 2002, which was 12 years ago. Subsequently, the killers themselves have come on tv and boasted about the killing in sting operations. But the more they boasted, the who it became for people thought other people would be outraged, in fact, it was election propaganda for modi. Even now, though he took off his red and putron in on a sharp suit and became the development chief minister, and yet recently when he was interviewed by reuters and asked whether he regretted what happened in 2002, he more or less said, even if our driving a i, iand i drove over a pap would feel bad. But he expressly has refused to take any responsibility or regret what happened. That is one of the extraordinary things you describe in the book, is that following liberalization in the growth of this enormous middle class 300 million was a simultaneous shift, gradual shift, for more rightwing exclusive, intolerant conception of india is a hindu state. Simultaneously, this class embraces neoliberalism in india and also more conservative hindu ideology. Can you explain how those two go together and how, in fact, along with what you said now about modi, how that might play out in this election . Whenever i speak in india, i say that in the late 1980s, what the government did was they opened two locks. One was the luck of the indian market which was not a free market, not an open market will stop it was a regulated market. They opened the lock of the market. They opened the lock which have been a disputed site. They opened it. Both of those locks, the opening of both of those locks ofntually led to two kinds the toll it terrorism totalitarianism. The lock of the open market led to what are now been described as the maoist terrorists, which includes all of us. Anybody whos speaking against this kind of economic the deleterious him is a maoist whether you are or not economic totalitarianism is a maoist, whether you are or not. Both the Congress Party and the bjp had different prioritize priorities. Whoever and say election, they always have an excuse to continue to militarize. The two main parties were contesting this election are congress, the ruling party now, narendrajp, of which modi is the head. He said the only difference is that one does by day with the other does by night. As far as these policies are concerned, you can see no difference, or respective of who wins. When it comes down to the , i agree with what i said and yet, there is something to be said for hypocrisy, for doing things by night. Theres a little bit of tentativeness there in the shortness of we want the hindu nation and we want the rule of the corporations and so on. Is, yes, what happened Everybody Knows it is like whoever is in power gets 60 of the cut and whoever is not in the power gets 40 . That is how the corporates work. They have enough money to pay the government and the opposition. All these institutions of democracy have been hollowed out. We continue this sort of charade in some ways. Indian writer Arundhati Roy, author of the new book, capitalism a ghost story. India is in the midst of the largest election in world history. We will be back with Arundhati Roy in a minute. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. , wether with Nermeen Shaikh sat down with worldrenowned author Arundhati Roy when she nsas last week. She won the booker prize in 1997 for her book the god of small things. She begins with a reading from her new book, capitalism a ghost story. Knows whos going to cast the first stone . Not me, who lives off royalty from corporate publishing houses. We all watch the sky and surf tatar hotelstay in and stir with two spoons made of tatar books and buy the books and eat tatar salt. We are under siege. If the sledgehammer of moral purity is to be the criteria of stonethrowing, the only people who qualify are those whove been silenced already. Those who live outside the system, the outlaws in the forest, or those whose protests are never covered by the press or the well behaved dispossessed to go from tribunal to tribunal bearing witness and giving testimony. Becauseing about this as i said, for the poor, india has the army and the paramilitary in the air force and the displacement and the police and the concentration camps. But what are you going to do to the rest . And there i talked about the exquisite art of corporate philanthropy. And how these very mining corporations and the people who are involved in really the not just the poor, but of the mountains and the rivers and everything. Have now turned their attention to the arts. Apart from the fact they own the tv channels and fund all of that, for example, they fund the the biggestre writers in the world, and discuss free speech and the logo is shining out there behind you. But you dont hear about the forest, the the bodies are piling up, you know . The public hearings where people have a right to ask these corporations what is being done to their environment, to their homes from a theyre just silenced. They are not allowed to speak. There are allusions between the dutch collisions between the companies and the police. There are collisions between the companies and the police. The whole way in which capitalism works is not just as simple as it seems to be. We dont even understand the longterm gain. Is there. Rse america it began in some ways with foundations like the rockefeller and carnegie. What was their idea . How did it start . Now it seems like part of your daily life like cocacola or coffee or something. In fact, it was very conceptual week of the business imagination when a small percentage of the massive profits of these steel magnates and so on went into the forming of these foundations, which then began to control public policy. They really were the people who for the seed money u. N. , for the cia, for the Foreign Relations council. Then when he is capitalism started to move outward to look for resources outward, what role did the rockefeller and ford and all of these play . For example, the Ford Foundation was very, very crucial in the imagining of a society like america which lived on credit. And that idea has now been imported to places like bangladesh in the form of microcredit, in the form of and that, too, has led to a lot of distress, to a lot of killing , micro capitalism. These foundations, how are they evidenced in india . Which ones . Like the ford, the carnegie, rockefeller. About the ive talked role not just in india, but even in the u. S. Example, how do they even how do they deal with things like political people movements . How do they fragment the Civil Rights Movement . In history, what happened with the Civil Rights Movement having looked at how to manage governments, political parties, elections, courts, the media, and liberal opinion, the neoliberal establishment faced one more challenge. How to deal with the growing unrest, the threat of peoples power . How do domesticate it . How to turn protesters into pets . How do you vacuum a peopless fury and redirect it into a blind alley . Here foundations and their allied organizations have a long and illustrious history, revealing example is their role in defusing antiradicalizing the black Civil Rights Movement in the United States in 1960s and the successful transformation of black power into black capitalism. The rockefeller foundation, in keeping with jd rockefellers idea, had worked closely with Martin Luther king senior father of Martin Luther king junior. Rise influence waned the of the more militant organizations, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the black panthers. The ford and rockefeller foundations moved in. In 1970, they donated 15 million to moderate black organizations, giving people grants, fellowships, job Training Programs are dropouts, and seed money for blackowned businesses. Repression, infighting, and the trap of funding led to the gradual atrophying of the radical black organizations. Martin luther king, the firm in connection between capitalism, imperialism, racism, and the vietnam war. As a result, after he was assassinated, even as memory became toxic to them, a threat to public order. Foundations and corporations worked hard to remodel his legacy to fit the marketfrom the format. The Martin Luther king center for nonviolent social change within operational grant of 2 million was set up by, among others, the ford motor company, general motors, mobile west electric, procter gamble, u. S. Steel, and monsanto. Maintains the king library and archives of the Civil Rights Movement. Among the many programs that king center runs have been projects that work closely with the United States department of defense, the armed forces, chaplains board, and others are go it cosponsor the martin the freeg junior enterprise system, an agent for nonviolent social change. They did the same thing in south africa. They did the same thing in indonesia. You know, with [indiscernible] and very much so, in places like india, where they move in and idealize the feminist movement. You have a feminist movement, which was very radical, very vibrant, suddenly, getting not fundedit is organizations are doing terrible things. They are doing important things. Whether it is working on gender but in theirs funding, they will gradually make a little border between any movement which involves women which is actually threatening the economic order, and these issues. In the forest when i went and spent weeks with the guerrillas, yet 90,000 women who are members of the revolutionary womens organization, but theyre threatening the corporations and economic architecture of the world by refusing to move out of there. So theyre not so how you domesticate something and in like a tiger on a leash that is pretending to be resistant, but it isnt. But before we conclude, you have not written a novel since the god of small things. Said you may return to novel writing as a more subversive way of being political. The ge to talk about what you intend to write or what you mean by that . I have been writing state for political essays for almost 15 years now. Interventions in a situation that seems to be closing down, whether it was on the dam are about privatization or whether it was about operation greenhunt. I feel now, in some ways through this very urgent political essays, which are all interconnected, not just separately issues, all interconnected separate issues, they are all connected and presenting a worldview. Now i feel i dont have anything direct to say without repeating thatbut i think understanding, which was not just an understanding i had in the past and i was just preaching to my readers, i was learning as i wrote and i grew. And i feel that fiction now will complicate that more. I think the way i think has become more complicated than nonfiction straightforward nonfiction can deal with. So i need to break down those and write in a way i dont have to write to politically because i dont believe i mean, i think what we are made up of, what our dna is and how we are wired will come out without making a great effort. Before we end and before you come out with this next novel we will add you to ask you to read the next time you come to the United States, was wondering if you could read from an earlier essay, an excerpt that you read at the new school when hundreds of people came out to see you here recently. Firstwas really the the end essay called , when the Indian Government conducted a series of Nuclear Tests in 1998. Thearly may from a before bomb, i left home for three weeks. I thought i would return. I had every intention of returning post op of course, things have not worked out quite the way i planned. By which i meant and it wasnt the same anymore. While i was away, i met a friend ,f mine who have always loved from an other things, her ability to combine deep affection with a frankness that borders on several jury. I have been thinking about you, she said, about the god of small things, what is in it, what is over it, underage, around it, above it. She fell silent for a while. I was not at all sure i wanted to hear the rest of what she had to say. She caught a however, was sure she was going to say she cant do however, was sure of what she was going to say. She said, less than a year, youve had too much of everything. Condemnation,ey, ridicule, love, hate, anger, envy, generosity come everything. In some ways, it is a perfect story. Perfect in its success. The trouble is, it it has or can have only one perfect inning. Her eyes were on me, bright with slanting, probing brilliance. She knew i knew what she was going to say. She was going to say that nothing that happened to me in the future could ever match the buzz of this, that the whole of the rest of my life was going to. E vaguely unsatisfying therefore, the only perfect ending to the story would be death. My death. The thought had also occurred to me. Of course it had. The fact that all of this will will dazzle, the lights in my eyes to the applause, the flowers, photographers, the journalist feeding a deep interest in my life yesterday to get a single fact straight, the men in suits falling over me, the shiny Hotel Bathrooms and in less towels. None of it was likely to happen again. Would i miss it . Had i grown to need it . Was i a fame junkie . I told my friend there was no such thing as a perfect story. Was an in any case, hers external view of things. This assumption the trajectory of a persons happiness, lsa fulfillment, had peaked. Because she had accidentally stumbled upon success. It is premised on the unimaginative belief that wealth and fame or the mandatory stuff of everybodys dreams. You live too long in new york, i told her. There are other worlds, other kinds of dreams. Dreams in which failure is feasible, honorable, and sometimes even worth striving for. Worlds in which recognition is not the only barometer of brilliance or human worth. There are plenty of lawyers that i know warrierors that i know and love, who go to war each day knowing in advance that they will fail. True there are less successful in the most bald percents of the world, but by no less means pursued. The only dream of having, i told her, is to dream that you will live while you are alive and die only when you are dead. Which means exactly what . I try to explain, but did not do. Very good job of it sometimes i need to write to think. So i wrote it down for her on a paper napkin. To love, to be loved, to never forget your own insignificance, to never get used to the unspeakable violence in the vulgar disparity of life around you, to seek joy in the saddest to as, to pursue beauty slave, to never simplify what is complicated or complicate what a simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch, to try and understand come in to never look away, and never, never to forget. , reading fromoy her essay, the end of imagination. She is the author of the new book, capitalism a ghost story. To read an excerpt of that new book, you can go to democracynow. Org. We will also linked there to our full archive of interviews with Arundhati Roy as well as her speeches. Democracynow. Org. To watch this broadcast, to listen to it, to rita transcript of what Arundhati Roy said, you can go to democracynow. Org as well. That does it for our show. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] this is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace rick ward, asking you to go to the phones and support link tv. You have appreciated todays broadcast, we are asking you please to make the call that makes the difference. Please let us know you are in the house. The number again 866359 4334. It really