BTW, how are the rights of Indian citizens somehow distinct or less important than the rights of the Indian State? And why, in this case, should we side with the state instead of of subsistence farmers? I don't know enough about Roy's involvement in the cause, but it seems like it wouldn't be completely inconceivable that she had a bit of integrity in trying to raise awareness about them. I guess I don't understand why the default position should be that valleys should be flooded and people should be removed from their land with little other possibilities of earning a similar livelihood, and that only in the face of some pure force of resistance, untainted by "western environmental groups" should we reconsider this position. And I really don't see how, in the face of some indigenous struggle, you'd say that we should rethink support because someone from the outside is funding it. To seal the whole thing with a sanctimonious "though I don't guess that many on this list would have shared [my doubts]" is just preposterous posing.
To me, it sounds like you've learned just enough to figure out why it's not worth your time and effort to think about it. Which is fine as a personal choice and I don't think you should feel guilty or be chastised or anything for not learning about it; but this hardly qualifies you to judge the people who did get involved, least of all Roy who I'm sure had her own, much more nuanced contradictions to work through when deciding whether she should support the villagers resisting "progress" or the ever helpful, always well informed, never misdirected World Bank. Perhaps you have a much more robust sense of it based on your own knowledge of Indian history and politics than Roy could ever manage with her blinkered concern for the voice of the subaltern, but it certainly seems a little too casual a dismissal of something that is obviously a very big deal for millions of people on the subcontinent (and, as Joanna points out, in China as well.)
s
On 3/27/07, James Heartfield <Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> I remember having my doubts about the Narmada Dam campaign that Roy got
> involved in - though I don't guess that many on this list would have shared
> them.
>
> There seemed to me to be some evidence that the anti-Dam campaigners were
> being sponsored by western environmental groups. Also, I was not sure why
> the World Bank (which pulled out of the project) should value their rights
> over those of the Indian state to generate electricity.