Azadi

The chant of 'Azadi!' - Urdu for 'Freedom!' - is the slogan of those oppressed by the ongoing and violent conflict in Kashmir. Ironically it has also become the chant of millions on the streets of India under the banner of Hindu Nationalism. What lies between these two calls for freedom? A chasm or a bridge? In this series of penetrating essays on politics and literature, Arundhati Roy examines this question, challenging us to reflect on the meaning of freedom in a world of growing authoritarianism. Azadi, she warns, hangs in the balance for us all. 'A kind of self-assigning war correspondent seeking out the places of maximum pain, maximum injustice, maximum state violence, Arundhati Roy is one of the greatest writers of our time.' Naomi Klein.