What we learn in these moments of eclipse is that democracy is a flimsy basis upon which to mount a defence of Israeli violence, or, as numerous world leaders put it at the time of the October attack by Hamas, “Israel’s right to defend itself”. In fact, the democracies that are so invested in accentuating Israel’s democratic credentials are the same democracies that sell billions of dollars of weapons to Israel so that they can kill tens of thousands of unarmed civilians, while starving tens of thousands more to death.

Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne and supporters, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, established in 2014 and now in its ninth year, recognises the talent of young Indigenous writers across Australia.