To Tear Down the Empire

Maahin Ahmed

The Architecture of Modern Empire
By Arundhati Roy and David Barsamian
Haymarket Books, 2023, 249 pages, $22.95 paperback.

Arundhati Roy, still faces legal harassment under the Modi government.

“THE MINUTE YOU allow the state to take away your freedoms, it will. So whatever freedoms a society has exist because those freedoms have been insisted upon by its people,” says Arundhati Roy in a conversation with David Barsamian in 2002.

Two decades later her words have stood the test of time, and her appeal to people to become “extremely troublesome citizens” remains as urgent today as it was then. (37)

The Architecture of Modern Empire collects Roy’s interviews with Barsamian recorded between 2001 and 2022. The conversations take place in cities across the United States, in front of audiences at public events, and in New Delhi, India.

For those who are new to Roy’s work, this collection of interviews is a great introduction to her thought and work as it evolved over two decades. Barsamian for his part deftly weaves contemporary events and Roy’s latest writings and lectures into their conversations.

Though the conversational format doesn’t always allow for in-depth analysis of a particular issue, the compilation of interviews more than makes up for it in the range of topics covered. Thematically, the first six interviews trace the rise of the neoliberal economic order with the United States at its helm, and the ways in which the U.S. response to 9/11 and the war in Iraq were beginning to shape international norms.

The latter six conversations largely focus on India, centering the impact of rapid development, the emergence of resistance movements, and the rise of right-wing Hindu nationalism.

Over the years when these interviews took place, the world changed dramatically. The difference between armed conflict and terrorism blurred, the movement against the Iraq War exposed the U.S. empire’s excesses, undertones of majoritarianism and fascism revealed the inherent flaws of electoral democracy, and a narrow vision of development and economic prosperity propelled the world into the climate catastrophe that now threatens our very existence.

Roy’s goal throughout this time remained clear: to make the structure of modern empire legible, and to show how an intricate web of institutions both public and private, local and global, are designed to concentrate power in the hands of a few at the expense of everyone else. Roy’s ability to explain complex things clearly and simply is surpassed only by her ability to inspire action and illuminate pathways for dissent. Roy argues, and I couldn’t agree more:

“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness — and our ability to tell our own stories.” (130)

Paradox of Modern Empire

At the heart of modern empire, as Roy describes it, is the paradox that nation-states aggressively enforce their territorial and social boundaries while being firmly beholden to a global economic order that respects neither, and in fact requires free access to a country’s resources and an uncritical acceptance of a singular vision of development and prosperity.

Whether in the construction of mega dams, the Maharashtra government signing a secret contract with Enron, (7) or companies like Bechtel and Halliburton participating in the destruction and reconstruction of Iraq, (108) global corporate interests collude with states to disempower the most vulnerable populations.

Meanwhile international finance institutions, such as the World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO), facilitate such projects by prescribing policies meant to create a suitable investment environment. All this is done with the help of intellectuals who are invested in carving out their own area of expertise and guarding it “against the unauthorized curiosity of passerby,” thus creating certain types of knowledge that remain inaccessible to the average person. (74)

On a few occasions Barsamian invites Roy to respond to folks who may accuse her of being against development or of romanticizing tribal societies.

These questions help draw out the essence of Roy’s critique — she rejects any kind of development that undermines democratic processes by taking decision-making power away from the people who have to face the consequences of such decisions.

She finds it “politically unacceptable” that unelected bureaucrats in the offices of international organizations get to make policy decisions for far-flung places and peoples. (9)

While government contracts with multinational corporations remain shrouded in secrecy and international policy and legal documents are inaccessible for the ordinary person, Roy points out that empire is always made visible by the “repressive machinery of the states that it’s in — the government, the police, the army, the bureaucracy.” (109)

One of the ways that states repress free speech and dissent is by entangling dissenting citizens in legal action. Already in 2002, Roy was being tried in a district court for her novel The God of Small Things under the charge of “corrupting public morality,” and the Supreme Court of India had found her guilty of contempt due to her criticism of the court’s decision approving the construction of the Narmada Valley Dam. (25)

In other instances states try to preemptively quash resistance by “criminalizing democratic space” through anti-terror laws, which expand the definition of “terrorist” and make it harder to organize. (163)

Indeed, Roy is now facing possible prosecution under India’s anti-terror laws for her 2010 remarks questioning Kashmir’s status in India. (See Will India’s Booker Prize-winning author face jail for 14-year-old remark?” Soutik Biswas, BBC, June 17, 2024.)

For those fighting various arms of the state machinery, Roy’s words are encouraging, instructive and cautionary. When questioned about how she continues to be hopeful, she responds without hesitation that she finds her hope in people. (182) While the neoliberal world is designed to destroy the “fabric of concern and fellow-feeling” amongst people, Roy believes firmly that “ordinary people do have a conscience.” (68, 73)

Diversity of Resistance

Be it the movement against the Iraq war or the many forms of resistance that have blocked mineral extraction projects in India, (182) ordinary people have demonstrated to Roy that the public has the ability to keep power in check — or keep power on a “short leash” as she puts it.

But fighting the empire of global capital on multiple fronts is not easy, and Roy is not foolishly optimistic. She cautions readers about the many ways in which the powerful sow discord or cloud our understanding. In response to America’s war on Iraq, she questions why the American public is so frightened if their country spends $400 billion on weapons annually. (90)

Turning to South Asia, she asserts that Kashmir is not a problem for the Indian and Pakistani governments; it’s a solution, a “rabbit” that both the governments pull out of their hats whenever they’re in trouble. (51-2)

When propaganda is not enough, resistance can be co-opted through corporate funded activism and cultural events. She exposes the way governments arm poor people to fight each other, while clearing the way for corporations to plunder lands and resources. (138, 139)

Tricky as it may be to recognize the way resistance is managed, Roy offers her readers nuanced ways to think about activism and social change. She is clear that resistance must move beyond the symbolic.

Citing the example of Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt March against the salt tax under British rule, she notes that resistance must strike at the heart of empire’s economic policies for it to be effective. (84)

Symbolic resistance, for example in the form of marches and sit-ins, is easier to manage for governments; in fact, governments may promote this type of resistance, she argues.

Reflecting on how to measure the success of a movement, she offers a nuanced perspective that even when movements fail to achieve their objectives fully, the process of participating in organized resistance can help people become engaged and well-informed actors who aren’t afraid of speaking up. (123)

Towards the end of the book though, we see that Roy, despite her faith in people, or perhaps because of it, finds herself reflecting deeply on how to live morally in India in the present moment — a question on the minds of many across the globe, as populist politics is on the rise globally and the polarization of political views runs deep. Neither her ability to analyze the mechanics of power, nor her understanding of state repression, make it easier for her to face the horror that ordinary people are “willing to actually participate in the crushing of another people.” (226)

Reflecting on the Modi government’s authoritarian rule, she ends her final interview on a rather grim note, stating that things in India have come to a point that it may be too late to reverse them. “We have to go through it,” she says. (235)

Given the state of the world, I’m afraid this may be true for a lot of places. And if going through it is the only option, I’m glad we get to go through it with Roy’s words to encourage us, her stubborn insistence on finding beauty to guide our world-building, and her humility to remind us to check ourselves when we’re locked up in silos.

July-August 2025, ATC 237