Published 25 August 2009 · Main Posts Overland undercover in the Oz (and elsewhere) Jeff Sparrow Yesterday the Australian ran an interesting story about independent filmmaker Carmela Baranowska, who won a Walkley for her documentary Taliban Country. The Oz‘s feature begins: FIVE years later people no longer stop me in the street and ask: “What happened? Did the Taliban kidnap you? Why are you still alive?” In the beginning, the plan was simple: I would embed with the US military. I had an official letter from SBS’s Dateline current affairs program requesting military accreditation. I would live with a US military Provincial Reconstruction Team; I would be in a remote part of Afghanistan; I would be away for two months. At the Forward Operating Base, the C130 transport plane, nicknamed “The Bird”, landed in complete darkness. We were in one of the most remote and inaccessible parts of south-central Afghanistan, in what the marines called “Taliban country”. I spent the next three weeks living in a city of dirt and sleeping on rocks. Nowhere did the reader learn that this gripping piece had previously been published, that, in fact, the whole thing was a light edit of Carmela’s essay from the most recent Overland. Yes, we are happy to extract articles to newspapers; no, we are not happy if it’s done without any attribution whatsoever. On a related note, Radio National’s Late Night Live recently featured Overland contributor Thomas Shepherd discussing his experiences as an undercover ASIO operative infiltrating the Left. You can hear his tale here. If you like either of these stories, you might consider subscribing. Overland is a not-for-profit publication, and it depends on community support. Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley Award-winning writer, broadcaster and former editor of Overland. More by Jeff Sparrow › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 28 March 202428 March 2024 · Main Posts Why we should value not only lived experience, but also lived expertise Sukhmani Khorana In the wake of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I want to extend the central idea of El Gibbs’s 2022 essay on 'lived expertise' and argue that in media accounts of racism, analytical expertise and lived experience ought to be valued together and even in the same body. First published in Overland Issue 228 5 March 2024 · Main Posts Andrew Charlton’s school assignment Alex McKinnon Australia's Pivot to India exists for three reasons: so that when Andrew Charlton is interviewed on the radio or introduced on Q+A, his bio includes the phrase "he has written a book about Indian-Australian relations"; to fend off accusations that he is another Kristina Keneally engaging in electoral colonialism in western Sydney; and to help the Albanese government strengthen economic and military ties with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.