Some of you will think it bad manners for a person like me, officially entered in the Big Book of Modern Nations as an “Indian citizen,” to come here and criticize the U.S. government. Speaking for myself, I’m no flag-waver, no patriot, and am fully aware that venality, brutality, and hypocrisy are imprinted on the leaden soul of every state. But when a country ceases to be merely a country and becomes an empire, then the scale of operations changes dramatically. So may I clarify that tonight I speak as a subject of the American Empire? I speak as a slave who presumes to criticize her king.
The photography is by Sari Goodfriend of West Cornwall, Connecticut. More of her work is at sarigoodfriend.com. The words are from a speech in New York City’s Riverside Church given by the wonderful Indian writer and thinker, Arundhati Roy.
She finishes by saying, “I hate to disagree with your president. Yours is by no means a great nation. But you could be a great people.”
Posted by Jerome Doolittle at January 10, 2004 05:37 PM | TrackBack
I read Arundhati Roy's speech and it is certainly impressive and telling.
Jack gave me some grief on another post about quoting "old" folk songs.
Let me add a folk singers *current* perspective on America (April 2003) by a folk singer, Dick Gaughan. This link isn't to some wacked out folk song, its another excellent discussion of America's past as well as how we look to the rest of the world right now.
http://www.dickalba.demon.co.uk/rambling/thewar.html
Great link Jerome, and a speech every American who cares about our country's future should read.