When the deadline fell for submissions to Philament issue #10, the theme of Surveillance still seemed important and pertinent yet already, we had to admit, a little too ‘done’. However, while we editors sent the academic submissions out to referees, the NSW Anti‐Terrorism squad was pulling students and staff of Sydney University from their beds in dawn raids, merely for protesting last year’s G20 summit in Melbourne. Frankly, it was hard not to think of the Orwellian clichés.
A few months have passed and we find cause for celebration in this new issue of Philament. The Features articles collected here defied our paranoid expectations and eclipsed the clichés. Moving beyond Foucault and Bentham, they confront us with new means to assert our autonomy in the society of spectacle. From the interrogation of ultrasonography and the ethical bind presented by ‘The Godfather’ films, through the resistance presented by open mic poetry readings, the critique in Philament issue #10 denies the ‘docile bodies’ that Foucault perceived and that Howard would have greet the APEC summit in September. With a special shout‐out to all the ASIO operatives on campus, we proudly welcome you to our Surveillance issue and invite you to celebrate ten issues of critical postgraduate voices from our burgeoning academic community.