Hate to keep beating up on left activist/author Arundhati Roy, but this story in the Monitor struck me as important. Not long ago I criticized Roy’s claim that she is “doomed” to support violent resistance movements, including the Maoist “Naxalites” of rural India. In Anuj Chopra’s account for the Monitor, we learn of villagers’ efforts to create social change through community radio, without the help of Maoist extortionists:
When villagers in this restive corner of India realized that an official was siphoning off food and fuel meant for the poor, they had a choice. They could go to the authorities, or turn to Maoist rebels.
Worried the government would get bogged down in bureaucracy and the Maoists would only invite bloodshed, the villagers chose a new route: They broadcast their case on community radio.
Now that’s something Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! should be able to get behind. After all, she’s a community radio activist herself. It was to Goodman, however, that Roy made her comments on the Naxalites, and Goodman did not challenge her.
More from Chopra:
“They [the Maoists] come and kill the corrupt. But that doesn’t solve our problem,” Mr. Mehta says. “Community radio [on the contrary] empowers people to kill corruption.”
[…]
India’s Maoists, or Naxalites, claim to be battling government corruption and indifference in the name of those at the bottom rung of society. But that effort, many counter, has come through unlawful means. Naxalites are infamous for imposing “levies” or taxes – between 20 to 30 percent – on those carrying out infrastructure projects in their “domain.” Highway contractors, builders, and local businessmen trading in forest produce are all forced to cough up “their share.”
The Naxalites are also known to rally the masses and call general strikes – partly by intimidation of the gun.
[…]
A local Naxalite outfit has warned AID [Alternative for India Development, the NGO supporting community radio] to stop their radio program in the region. Two years ago, they gutted one of their audiovisual vans. And the rebels often browbeat local reporters from AID.
Again, let’s appreciate the irony. Maoist rebels in India are bullying independent broadcasters. Arundhati Roy claims there’s really no choice but for the left to support the bullies. Amy Goodman, a widely admired independent broadcaster, doesn’t challenge her.
From Democracy Now! we’re supposed to be getting news and views the mainstream media won’t report. But there’s no mention of AID and community radio in the Roy interview. The Monitor has put Democracy Now! to shame on this issue.
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