Meanjin Vol 80, No 2

'The world knows that the Australian immigration process is very tough.' In the magazine's cover feature Still Lives, five people now resident in Australia and New Zealand tell in vivid first-hand accounts the stories of lives stilled by statelessness or detention, and lives settled in a new home and a sense of belonging. Their stories are matched with luscious images by artist Sarah Walker. Anna Spargo-Ryan looks at recent cases of sexual harassment and violence in and around the national parliament and concludes 'This government cannot deliver action on sexual violence. They have told us to our faces: they simply do not understand how.' Mark Pesce considers the recent battles between the Australian Government and the world's major players in social media and the online world, an epoch-defining clash, he argues, between state sovereignty and technological monopoly. Historian James Curran has a long conversation with that legend of well-chosen Australian letters, Don Watson. In the first of two pieces looking at allegations of war crimes made against Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, Bobuq Sayed argues that 'The war crimes detailed by the Brereton Report are endemic to a growing culture of white supremacy in Australia that has also clearly taken root in the ADF.' Caroline Graham looks at the very long history of 'regrettable incidents' involving Australian soldiers, a story of 'warriors, bad apples and blood lust'. Plus: Clementine Ford on women's anger, Tom Griffiths on the great environmentalist and walker John Blay, Sara Saleh considers Australia in Three Books, Dennis Altman and Alistair Kitchen give two perspectives on 'cancel culture', and Kenneth Hayne writes on our troubled institutions. New fiction from Bri Lee, Bella Li, Shannon Burns and Jocelyn Richardson. New poetry from pO, Rebecca Jessen, John Kinsella, Graham Akhurst, Jennifer Maiden, Helene Pantsis, Cailin Maling, Liam Ferney, Aidan Coleman, Jane Downing, Geoff Page, Tracy Ryan and Derek Chan. A review section featuring Zowie Douglas-Kinghorn, Mindy Gill, Raelee Lancaster, Gabriella Munoz and Stephen Pham.