Arundhati Roy Donates Sydney Peace Prize to Aborigines

It (untouchability) is one of the most cruel forms of discrimination, but one thing that didn’t happen to them was the attempt to genocidally wipe them out, which happened in Australia. It’s funny, I’ve spent so much time in South Africa recently, and the white South Africans have a fascination for Australia. So, I was talking to some black friends and they laughed and said, ‘Yeah, it’s because they think the Australians got it right. They just killed the blacks. The South Africans let us survive’.

I first learned of Roy with her essay Instant-Mix Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free):

Empire is on the move, and Democracy is its sly new war cry. Democracy, home-delivered to your doorstep by daisy cutters. Death is a small price for people to pay for the privilege of sampling this new product: Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (bring to a boil, add oil, then bomb). But then perhaps chinks, negroes, dinks, gooks, and wogs don’t really qualify as real people. Perhaps our deaths don’t qualify as real deaths. Our histories don’t qualify as history. They never have.


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4 responses to “Arundhati Roy Donates Sydney Peace Prize to Aborigines”

  1. JC Avatar

    I also really like her novel “God of Small Things”

  2. seyd Avatar

    I recently saw Arundhati walking with Amy Goodman on the halls of the Republican National Convention, she’s not only smart but pretty. Anyways, you’d be surprised how much she’s hated by some Indian groups, last time I read something in a blog about her she was being called a ‘verbal terrorist’, go figure…

  3. CAO Avatar
    CAO

    Her book ‘God of small things’ is an amazing exploration into the lives of families destroyed and twisted as a result of the caste system. Her characters are people I know, and the love scene that stands amidst the devastation and torment is truly the most beautiful and intense love scene I have ever read.

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