Public Power in the Age of Empire

Nobody expressed better the existence of an Empire than a president who said `I don't care what the facts are'. In other words, `I (can) always do what I want without any justification.' In this violent pamphlet, Arundhati Roy attacks the existent world order and the policies of terror under the helm of the one and only hegemon: `the most powerful nation in the world with its unmatchable arsenal of weapons, its history of having waged and sponsored endless wars and the only nation in history to have actually used nuclear bombs is peopled by a terrified citizenry. This synthetically manufactured fear is used to gain public sanction for further aggression.' Legislation, like the Patriot Act, curbs freedom in the name of protecting freedom. Antiterrorism laws are used to intimidate civil society. On the economic front, Western countries which together spend more than one billion dollars a day on subsidies to farmers demand that poor countries withdraw all agricultural subsidies. In the era of neo-liberalism, poverty is a crime and protesting against it is being defined as terrorism. But, for those who are on the wrong side of Empire, the humiliation is becoming unbearable. For some, there is no alternative but terrorism, albeit vicious, ugly and dehumanizing. But so is war waged by the hegemon and its allies. The alternative to terrorism is justice. For Arundhati Roy, `no amount of nuclear weapons or full-spectrum-dominance can buy peace at the cost of justice.' With her sharp pen, Arundhati Roy defends violently the mass of the wretched. Her text is a must read for all those who want to understand the world we live in.

I really enjoyed this book, the language, the expressive power, the content and the goal is fabulous. I am very impressed by the author and this book. I highly recommend this book.