Walking with the Comrades Paperback – October 25, 2011

Walking with the Comrades Ms. Roy describes the desperate fight in the forests of India by very large groups of people trying to save their way of life and their environment. The exploitative forces of international capitalism have come to India where, as we see in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe, profit and greed rule. While people in the U.S. may think the fight of the so-called Maoists in India has nothing to do with them, they need to think again. The battleground between international corporations and the people is everywhere. It's also a fight to save our planet from moving into runaway climate change that will change life as we know it today. Ms. Roy describes the hardships and suffering of ordinary people pushed to the edge of existence by powerful corporate/government forces attempting to exploit every last resource of the forest and land in India. What we see today in the U.S. with massive exploitation of our environment in coal mining, fracking operations, tar sands mining in Alberta, may create an environment here where ordinary people will need to fight back as they are currently in central India. The ominous message of Ms. Roy's book, "Walking with the Comrades" is that a low level war against the corporate/government forces may be in our future here in North America. A must read book, beautifully written, for those who care about justice.

Although much of the information in Comrades was in Roy's "Capitalism a Ghost Story" it was exceptional because of her experience with the Maoist and their supporters. Nowhere have I seen anything like this story. It exposes the superficiality of stories such as the (horrible) rapes on buses.It was as if I was reading about the First Nations of the Americas (as they were being slaughtered and driven off the land which they needed to survive) in real time. The historical data about former (Naxalite etc) struggles was essential.Roy is courageous in her writing and in her travels with the rebels. She has reinforced in me the fact that I, by my own lifestyle contribute to the murderous international consumer capitalist insanity....and therefore remain an armchair socialist and a hypocrite.

This is one of those narratives that are consistent with facts from several independent sources and sheds light on real issues impacting India today and impeding progress in the world's largest democracy. I got the sense from reading this (I believe rightly so), that the war between the maoists and the government is in reality a proxy war between the upper caste Hindus and the Indian tribals. It has morphed into a capitalism vs maoism fight because Upper Caste Hindus have had constant interaction with the Western world and have assumed capitalistic habits through osmosis. While the tribals cut off from the rest of the world found themselves receptive to the maoist tactics of prolonged rural warfare.So a centuries old conflict now has a modern skin. This conflict will end when the tribals embrace capitalism. Capitalism knows not nor cares about caste, it knows only of money. When the tribals understand money, their influence will be enhanced in mainstream Indian society. Centuries old caste based values will take a back seat as caste barriers begin to crumble. India will experience yet another economic resurgence. Like in China, old maoists will become the new Capitalists. And as Tribals and Upper Caste Hindus freely interact in under the new capitalistic regime, caste boundaries will dilute even further.But Arundhati Roy will still remain a leftist. So she won't solve any problems. She is an indicator that there is one.

I found this book eye opening. There are so many parallels which can be drawn between the situation in India and in so many other countries where native people and poor peasants are being dispossessed and exterminated in the name of "civilization" and economic gains which ar in the hands of a few.I would highly recommend this book. It shows the way in which general opinion is manipulated and the public is made to believe an alternate reality which is non existant.

Roy is brilliant and effective in championing the right to tribals to live like they have done for so many centuries and the conflicts they face

Arundhati Roy is a courageous, compassionate writer who is a great storyteller. I had no idea that India was waging a massive war against its poorest people living in the jungles for their corporations. A very tragic story that many more need to know about. The question that kept running through my mind as I read: what would Gandhi do?

By hanging with these courageous people and understanding the necessity of supporting them, Roy, had to confront her own views on the violence / non-violence question. Her challenges to herself become challenges to us, her readers, because of her facility with her craft and willingness to expose herself. Arundhati Roy is a gift to the living.