I am filled with sorrow so profound
That no tears could ever release it
Li'll one, all I can give you is my emotions
My tears, trust, friendship and love
I do feel guilty, for I am a man
And this world is run by brute strength
Baby, I am tainted by that ghastly act
Guilty I am, ‘cause I failed to save
This world and you from being raped
The price we pay for chasing success
As we forget what fulfillment is all about
I know you never asked to be raped
You think that you lost what you held so dear
Baby, forgive this world, for Jesus did
The pain I feel in my soul and in every bone
And no words can ever explain the shame
My dear friend, you are the victim of a culture
That has no roots and hence cultureless
In a world where chicken is just dead meat
And never a living thing that died for us to eat
Where freedom is an expression of the might
Those three monsters were free to rape
And Gods stood paralysed, mute and helpless
'Women' to many are a 'holesome' pleasure
Not a living thing that too deserves respect
Sex, violence and evangelist shows on the screen
Mere extensions of the devilish material greed
Dinner and hard work is prose, dreams are poetry
Baby this cruel world did kill your dreams
Your poetry that touched each one of us
My sweet Angie, you are one of us
And will always be, loved
The 2004 Sydney Peace Prize lecture delivered by Arundhati Roy, at the Seymour Theatre Centre, University of Sydney.
Peace & The New Corporate Liberation Theology
It's official now. The Sydney Peace Foundation is neck deep in the business of gambling and calculated risk. Last year, very courageously, it chose Dr Hanan Ashrawi of Palestine for the Sydney Peace Prize. And, as if that were not enough, this year - of all the people in the world - it goes and chooses me!
However I'd like to make a complaint. My sources inform me that Dr Ashrawi had a picket all to herself. This is discriminatory. I demand equal treatment for all Peace Prizees. May I formally request the Foundation to organize a picket against me after the lecture? From what I've heard, it shouldn't be hard to organize. If this is insufficient notice, then tomorrow will suit me just as well.
When this year's Sydney Peace Prize was announced, I was subjected to some pretty arch rema...
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