Joya's visit to Vancouver is the first stop on a two-week Canadian speaking tour. Joya is scheduled to speak at public events in Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Halifax, following a multi-city speaking tour in the US.

Her speaking tour and book release could not be more timely, with the Harper government musing about extending Canadian involvement in the war in Afghanistan beyond 2011, the looming possibility of a US troop surge, public opinion in Canada turning further against the war, and recent revelations that President Karzai's brother is on the CIA payroll.

“In 2005, I was the youngest person elected to the new Afghan parliament. Women like me, running for office, were held up as an example of how the war in Afghanistan had liberated women,” writes Joya, an outspoken critic of the Karzai government and NATO occupation. “But this democracy was a facade, and the so-called liberation a big lie.”

Malalai Joya, often compared to Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, has emerged as a symbol of Afghans’ desire for freedom from corruption, warlordism and foreign occupation. Her father, who lost a leg fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, named her after a 19th century hero in the fight against the British Empire, Malalai of Maiwand.

Her book tells the story of her life in the context of three decades of war. Joya details her reasons for opposing NATO's war and suggests concrete steps for building an independent and genuinely democratic Afghanistan. Today, Joya brings to a Canadian audience the lessons of Afghanistan's long history of occupation and resistance. And she hopes her book will “correct the tremendous amount of misinformation being spread about Afghanistan.”

“Afghans are sometimes represented in the media as a backward people, nothing more than terrorists, criminals and henchmen. This false image is extremely dangerous for the future of both my country and the West. The truth is that Afghans are brave and freedom loving people with a rich culture and a proud history. We are capable of defending our independence, governing ourselves and determining our own future.”