To me, there is nothing higher than fiction. Nothing. It is fundamentally who I am. I am a teller of stories. For me, that's the only way I can make sense of the world, with all the dance that it involves.
Arundhati RoyRead
NGOs have a complicated space in neoliberal politics. They are supposed to mop up the anger. Even when they are doing good work, they are supposed to maintain the status quo. They are the missionaries of the corporate world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
NGOs play a dual role in society by addressing issues while also perpetuating existing power structures.
In this quote, Arundhati Roy critiques the role of NGOs in neoliberal politics, suggesting that while they may undertake good initiatives to address social issues, they ultimately serve to uphold the status quo rather than challenge the systemic problems. This portrayal of NGOs as 'missionaries of the corporate world' implies that their existence can distract from the root causes of societal issues, thereby allowing the broader political and economic frameworks to persist unchallenged.
Themes
NgosNeoliberalismPoliticsStatus QuoCritique
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the limitations of charity work at a social justice seminar.
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When I decided to write 'The God of Small Things', I had been working in cinema. It was almost a decision to downshift from there. I thought that 300 people would read it. But it created a platform of trust.
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In California, there are huge problems because of dams. I'm against big dams, per se, because I think that they are economically unfeasible. They're ecologically unsustainable. And they're hugely undemocratic.
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To call someone 'anti-American', indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination.
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