We met last month in the city of Ferrara in Italy at a conference organized by the Italian weekly Internazionale. Over the course of three days, thousands of Italians, among them many young people who by coming refuted the claim that the younger generation lacks an interest in politics, filled the halls for the lectures and discussions with foreign and Italian correspondents, filmmakers and writers, among them Roy. The audience was thrilled by her words and the cameras delighted in her beauty.
Roy explained there that she has started to consciously exploit her huge fame and publicity to come out against the centers of power in the society in which she lives. "I became the darling of the middle classes," she relates with self-mockery. Her status as a national sweetheart does indeed enable her to take risks. Like, for example, the risk she took upon herself at the end of September when she published the article "Scandal in the Palace," which criticizes India's judiciary.
For Roy, 46, this is nothing new: Already seven years ago, she was convicted of contempt of court after she attacked a court decision to allow the construction of a huge dam on the Narmada River in central India. The project is in fact a system of 30 gigantic dams, 135 middle-sized dams and 3,000 small dams, the construction of which is slated for completion in 2025. It is expected to uproot hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and cause tremendous environmental damage.
