In this highly anticipated new issue, we encounter brilliant examples of what writing can do in a hypernormal time – whether that's Benjamin Gready on the absurdity of fieldwork on land under active occupation or Zahid Gamieldien's short story about a dancing rat who finds itself enmeshed in systems too shadowy to be true. But, as with the emotional cycles of resistance, hope and snark are features too. Dan Hogan considers the lawn as a class obsession, and π.ο. asks a question: why people hate poetry? We also read about a rakhasa family who passes on wisdom to their young kin, a story by Shefali Mathew. And you’ll find new poetry by Eli McLean, Fiona Hile and Sol Chan, among others, as well as a comic by Safdar Ahmed, plus heaps more. Co-editors Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk write in the editorial, "Writing always matters, but it matters most directly in the face of this kind of thuggish assault on language, our first and last commons. We can’t let the bastards have it.”
James Godfrey is a PhD researcher in Law at Birkbeck College, University of London and visiting at Australian National University. His research examines the Prevent requirement to report perceived radicalisation and its impacts on freedom of speech regarding Israeli Occupied Palestine in universities in England. James has been active in a range of campaigning organisations fighting for social justice, locally and internationally, including as Legal Officer of City of London Anti-Apartheid Group and helping to establish and maintain the Non-Stop Picket of the South African Embassy in London. James has worked as a trade union organiser in Sydney and London for more than a decade and in the last few years has been employed casually as an academic at Birkbeck, UNSW and University of Sydney.
