AM - Arundhati Roy to deliver Sydney Peace Prize lecture

AM - Arundhati Roy to deliver Sydney Peace Prize lecture: "TONY EASTLEY: Like her predecessor, this year's Sydney Peace Prize winner, author Arundhati Roy is no stranger to controversy. And like last year's winner Palestinian, Hanan Ashrawi, Ms Roy's selection has once again come under attack from some quarters.

Recently she encouraged Australians to vote against John Howard because of his decision to go to war in Iraq. She also urged people to join the Iraqi resistance.

Arundhati Roy will deliver her Peace Prize lecture in Sydney tonight. Before that she spoke to AM's Alison Caldwell who began by asking Arundhati Roy to defend her suggestion that people join the Iraqi resistance.

ARUNDHATI ROY: One wasn't urging them to join the Mehdi Army, you know, but to become the resistance, to become part of what ought to be a non-violent resistance against a very violent occupation.

So that is to redefine what resistance means, you know, we can't just assume that resistance means terrorism, because that would be playing right into the hands of the occupation.

ALISON CALDWELL: The war in Iraq here hardly rated a mention during our election campaign. Rather, interest rates and the economy dominated the discussions, and the Government of John Howard was returned to office with an increased majority. What's your view of Australia now?

ARUNDHATI ROY: I think that to people outside, obviously, you know, voting for a government that actually was part of the invasion of Iraq which must rate as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought, means something different to what it obviously means here."

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