Published in Overland Issue 206 Autumn 2012 · Uncategorized Editorial Jacinda Woodhead ‘Dear capitalism,’ began one of the handmade, cardboard signs floating above the sea of occupiers in Toronto, ‘it’s not you it’s us.’ Then, scrawled below: ‘Just kidding, it’s you.’ Over the past year and a half, events have highlighted a growing suspicion that capitalism is becoming a threat to anyone not a stockbroker, politician or CEO. This widespread movement had made itself felt in Tunisia, Egypt, Greece and Spain, in the crumbling of Wall Street, and in the people’s occupations transforming public spaces into tent cities. It’s certainly the thesis running through this issue of Overland: realisation dawning that, as Žižek once identified, ‘the link between capitalism and democracy has been definitely broken’. In Overland 206, we’re excited to publish part of regular columnist Alison Croggon’s futurist opera about revolutionary poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky (to be performed by Victoria Opera in 2013), and another in our CAL–Connections emerging essayist series, this one from young African-Australian writer Tariro Mavondo on visibility or lack thereof in Australian culture. This edition also features the winning entry from the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets, as well as the usual mix of provocative essays, stories and poetry, including a piece from the late Kerry Leves, a longtime friend of Overland. It’s an issue that allows for much musing over the futures of capitalism and democracy and where they might lie. Jacinda Woodhead Jacinda Woodhead is a former editor of Overland and current law student. More by Jacinda Woodhead › 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 21 February 202521 February 2025 · The university Closing the noose: a dispatch from the front line of decasualisation Matthew Taft Across the board, universities have responded to legislation aimed at rectifying this already grim situation by halting casual hiring, cutting courses, expanding class sizes, and increasing the workloads of permanent staff. This is an unintended consequence of the legislation, yes, but given the nefarious history of the university, from systemic wage theft to bad-faith bargaining, hardly a surprising one. 19 February 2025 · Disability The devaluing of disability support Áine Kelly-Costello and Jonathan Craig Over the past couple of decades, disabled people in much of the Western world have often sought, or agreed to, more individualised funding schemes in order to gain greater “choice and control” over the support we receive. But the autonomy, dignity and flexibility we were promised seems constantly under threat or out of reach, largely because of the perception that allowing us such “luxuries” is too expensive.
