Overland is aware of reports regarding the addition of a false signature on a petition we’ve published in support of Australian University students’ right to protest—what others might call their freedom of speech. We have since deleted the name of a journalist at the request of the ABC, following the publication of defamatory statements by an ’organisation’ with a consistent record of blatant disinformation. 

We affirm the validity and importance of the many open letters we’ve published in recent months. Our process is to provide support and publication for the organisers of these letters, whose signatories are collected through grassroots networks, professional associations and community collaborations. The petitions and letters we have published in solidarity with the Palestinian people and protest of the Australian Government’s complicity are expressions of the natural response of informed communities to witnessing a genocide.

Open letters and petitions are effective tools of political organising that testify to the breadth of support for issues such as Australia’s complicity in the ongoing violent oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli government. They create a record of advocacy and resistance by the public to undemocratic political systems of human rights violations that purport to represent the people. We hope all who sign the open letters we publish do so with courage, conviction and integrity. 

We note that in recent months we have received requests to remove names from open letters, following threats of retaliation from signatories’ workplaces. We know these letters would include many more signatures without this intimidation. 

Following the false submission of a signature, we express concern regarding malicious attempts to align individuals with convictions and positions they are opposed to or are unwilling or unable to identify with publicly. As the subjects of previous disingenuous, organised and tragicomically incompetent Zionist campaigns, we suggest that those expressing their outrage and concern in identical cadences might better use their energies to halt the slaughter of Palestinians, if criticism makes them uncomfortable.