Overland 254 is the first in a set of four special editions dedicated to commemorating 70 years of Overland. This issue also launches a new design and format by Common Room Editions, inspired by Overland’s trove of radical literature spanning from 1954 to today. Andrew Brooks and Astrid Lorange consider the asymmetrical responses to two events: the wearing of keffiyehs by three cast members during the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Anton Chekov’s The Seagull, and, on the same day in the US, the shooting of three Palestinian men wearing keffiyehs. Jeff Sparrow uncovers the Sydney Herald’s legacy of Terra Nullius, and Daniel Lopez writes on Marx, Meredith and the festival as an inversion of modern life.
The #BanSpitHoods collective is led by Aboriginal and Māori scholar Latoya Aroha Rule in the legacy of their brother Wayne Fella Morrison, who died in custody following restraint with a spit hood. The collective’s work has been done by Latoya, and by Natalie Ironfield, Roxy Moore, Amity Mara, Lauren Caulfield, Amanda Porter, Fatima Mawas, Laura O’Connell Rapira, Charandev Singh, Alison Whittaker, Haus of Hellmutti, and the Department of Homo Affairs. The collective have been aided by numerous supporters and community groups over five years.
