Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Covid Trials at an International Court? Seriously? Bush and Blair destroyed a whole country with hundereds of thousands of people killed a consequence of sanctions, war and civil war aince 1990... and we did not see any trial. Trump will stand trial for mismanagement? I don't think so. Americans will wait for the next election, the big ritual, as a solution. In Yemen the Saudi monarchy, a Western friend, has played a significant role in the biggest humanitarian crisis propably since the Korean war. Will we see Mohamed Bin Salman and Co. at international court? After the lockdown, we need a reckoning

Arundhati Roy, Pakistani military, 1971 genocide Two years ago, Arundhati Roy made a blunder , and some blunders are unforgivable.  "The Pakistani military was never used against its own people in the way the Indian army was," she declared.   In 1971 the Paksitani army carried out a genocide , with  U.S complicity .

Essays by Arundhati Roy

Generally a good piece, but saying that the US "has destroyed Iraq, Libya and Syria" is not accurate from Roy. The US has contributed in the destruction of Libya and Syria. In both countries the main destruction has been carried out by local and regional forces. That also ignores the role of Russia. Literature provides shelter By Arundhati Roy

What I do worry about is the fact that writers have become so frightened of being political. The idea that writers are being reduced to creators of a product that is acceptable, that slips down your throat, which readers love and therefore can be bestsellers, that’s so dangerous. Today, for example in India, where majoritarianism is taking root – and by majoritarianism, I don’t just mean the government, I mean that individuals are being turned into micro-fascists by so many means. It is the mobs and vigilantes going and lynching people. So more than ever, the point of the writer is to be unpopular. The point of the writer is to say: “I denounce you even if I’m not in the majority.” "The point if the writer is to be unpopular"

I think this is a very good interview. "And we get our delicate fiction and our sophisticated analysis of identity without mentioning caste, without mentioning Kashmir — the upholding of this nation as the land of Gandhi and yoga and nonviolence, when in fact there has not been a single day since August 15, 1947, when India was declared independent that the Indian Army has not been deployed “within its own borders, against its own people.” Whether it’s Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Hyderabad, Punjab, Goa, Bastar, you know? It’s just a nation that is nailed together by military might, and we try to avoid thinking about it." Arundhati Roy on literature, India, Kashmir, violence, Ghandi, Dalits, resistance, Obama, Trump, and more