Transcript of Arundhati Roy's speech, Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy

[slack]

"...when a country ceases to be merely a country and becomes an empire, then the scale of operations changes dramatically. So may I clarify that tonight I speak as a subject of the American Empire? I speak as a slave who presumes to criticize her king."
<...>
"Way back in 1988, on the 3rd of July, the U.S.S. Vincennes, a missile cruiser stationed in the Persian Gulf, accidentally shot down an Iranian airliner and killed 290 civilian passengers. George Bush the First, who was at the time on his presidential campaign, was asked to comment on the incident. He said quite subtly, "I will never apologize for the United States. I don't care what the facts are."
I don't care what the facts are. What a perfect maxim for the New American Empire. Perhaps a slight variation on the theme would be more apposite: The facts can be whatever we want them to be.
When the United States invaded Iraq, a New York Times/CBS News survey estimated that 42 percent of the American public believed that Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And an ABC News poll said that 55 percent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein directly supported Al Qaida. None of this opinion is based on evidence (because there isn't any). All of it is based on insinuation, auto-suggestion, and outright lies circulated by the U.S. corporate media, otherwise known as the "Free Press," that hollow pillar on which contemporary American democracy rests.
Public support in the U.S. for the war against Iraq was founded on a multi-tiered edifice of falsehood and deceit, coordinated by the U.S. government and faithfully amplified by the corporate media.
<...>

http://www.cesr.org/Roy/royspeech.htm#roy

Arundhati Roy's speech, Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free), presented in New York City at The Riverside Church May 13, 2003

I found this speech during the search on information about her, after reading her book "the god of small things" and she hits my mind. She's a really impressing woman with a fascinating point of view. I hope this is not a double post, i'am unable to use the search function (shame on me, my budget don't allow).

"The battle to reclaim democracy is going to be a difficult one. Our freedoms were not granted to us by any governments. They were wrested from them by us. And once we surrender them, the battle to retrieve them is called a revolution. It is a battle that must range across continents and countries. It must not acknowledge national boundaries but, if it is to succeed, it has to begin here. In America."

I think, this is an worldwide problem, it's time to change same things and work together against the real menace of democracy and freedom. hope you enjoy the speech and sorry for bad expression.
greetings :)

[berry]

1. Hi slack! Welcome to DU

and thanks for the transcript! I agree that Roy is saying important things. I saw her give this talk (with Howard Zinn) on C-Span, but it's good to be able to read it too--and pass it on to friends. We all need to be part of the necessary discussion about what America is.

[burythehatchet]

2. Besides being a writer of great brilliance

she has emerged as a voice for those of us who have long understood where we were headed, and, more importantly, what needed to be done to avert our own extinction. Her words drip with meaning, and her style is hypnotic. Listen to her words very carefully and you will understand what we must do.

[greyl]

3. i recently aquired her book " Power Politics "

Yes, she is wonderful indeed.


kick