The truth with a mask

It is the word of the author of the moment in literary and all other terms that defines the present and cultivates the thought patterns of the future that will come when all the excitement of the moment is gone and reality begins to set in. Oftentimes prophetic (but not always acknowledged as so), the words of some of the best literary writers have through the ages gone to portend the future to a depth only the Nostradamuses of the age can fathom. From William Shakespeare’s incisive observations of the human condition, to Christopher Marlowe’s youthful observation on human depravity and greed, the works of the times across history have always somehow served as predictors of what the current attitudes can do to influence the future behaviours of the human race. When Miguel de Cervantes, for example penned Don Quixote, many did not realise that the tale of the forgotten knight was a warning to humanity to learn to forget the past because the change that comes with the future cannot be impeded. There is need to heed the word of the author, and there is need to know that the ‘fiction’ is oftentimes just the truth with a mask. A brief synopsis of the 1949 George Orwell dystopian novel 1984 that was written as a warning against totalitarianism is set in 1984 in Oceania, one of three perpetually warring totalitarian states (the other two are Eurasia and Eastasia). Oceania is governed by the all-controlling Party, which has brainwashed the population into unthinking obedience to its leader, Big Brother. The Party has created a propagandistic language known as Newspeak, which is designed to limit free thought and promote the Party’s doctrines. Its words include doublethink (belief in contradictory ideas simultaneously), which is reflected in the Party’s slogans: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and “Ignorance is strength.” The Party maintains control through the Thought Police and continual surveillance. Recent developments in the formulation of a draft Bill gagging the media’s publication of classified documents and information sounds like Big Brother and the Thought Police. It is not the fault of the journalist that a classified document falls into their hands. It is the fault of the government that it does not teach its civil servants to practice prudence and etiquette when it comes to handling sensitive documents . We all (as citizens) hold the basic right to know, withholding information in the manner in which the government so intends is the result of an autocratic mentality in a state governed by technocrats. Lesotho is where it is today because of a mentality of exclusivity: the type of exclusion that excludes the very people that put such a government into the seat of power. The Orwellian book’s hero, Winston Smith, is a minor party functionary living in a London that is still shattered by a nuclear war that took place not long after World War II. We are living in a world that is still struggling in the throes of COVID-19. The hero in the George Orwell novel belongs to the Outer Party, and his job is to rewrite history in the Ministry of Truth and to bring it in line with current political thinking. This role is very similar to that of the journalist that has to aid the world around him or her to be conversant with the predominant truths existent in the given society. Society cannot live without information, because such information aids in the making of appropriate decisions or reaching the right conclusions. We are in constant search of the trending truth that enables us to find our bearings in the world given the diverse circumstances within which we have to live. In the case of the Orwell novel, Winston’s longing for truth and decency leads him to secretly rebel against the government. In the case of the civil servant that leaks the classified document, one can safely guess that it is a sign of the fatigue the citizenry experience in the light of the rampant acts of corruption that shamelessly go on unprosecuted. The protagonist in the novel embarks on a forbidden affair with Julia, a like-minded woman, and they rent a room in a neighbourhood populated by Proles (short for proletariats). This is no surprise as people (especially of the thinking sort that have to deal with information) naturally establish an elective type of affinity with those they can share their opinions and points of view with. This is to say likeminded individuals will under normal circumstances rally together against what they interpret to be a common enemy. Africa after independence created a political class that consciously or unconsciously adopted the ways of the colonist, often playing the role of the brainwasher that sought to be seen as the saviour of the people while in the same process emptying the fiscus for personal gain. Chris Hani spoke of this, and he died, but his words have now come to be revealed as the truth. We have come to a point where the people are increasingly getting fed up with being led around with lies like donkeys led with a carrot of empty promises by lobbying politicians. There were nonsensical censorship laws in previous regimes including South Africa’s apartheid that prevented media freedom. We somehow see those laws coming into effect once again under a thinly–veiled guise. The figure of Winston also becomes increasingly interested in the Brotherhood, a group of dissenters. The dissatisfied educated unemployed are likely to form their own cliques of dissension given the prevailing circumstances. The call by the government to prosecute whoever publishes a classified document is similar to what one sees in Orwell’s 1984. Unbeknown to them, however, the two lead characters are being watched closely (with ubiquitous posters throughout the city warning residents that “Big Brother is watching you.”). The laws installed seem to follow the same vein that forces the individual reporter and journalist, civil servant and ordinary citizen to always look over their shoulder and understand that there is someone always watching, infringing on the right to access information and in the process impeding the freedom of expression. The government should gag its officers, not the media that stands as the watchdog that ensures that the opinions and ideals of society are observed by the government as promised in the lobbies. When Winston (the protagonist) is approached by O’Brien, an official of the Inner Party who appears to be a secret member of the Brotherhood; the trap is set. This is because O’Brien is actually a spy for the Party serving the deplorable role of being on the lookout for “thought-criminals,” and Winston and Julia are eventually caught and sent to the Ministry of Love for a violent re-education. This ministry of love can be likened to a lesson in patriotism where the people are forced to worship state and government without regard to personal freedom and basic human rights addressed in the constitution. The government is threatening prosecution, and like in Orwell’s 1984 there is the likelihood of imprisonment, torture, and re-education for those that dare or find themselves at odd-ends with government policy with regard to the circulation of information. The torture in 1984 is not intended merely to break the protagonist and partner physically or to make them submit. The sole purpose is to root out any sense of independence and to destroy his dignity and humanity. Autocratic as we are slowly becoming, we are becoming figures in 1984, this time around threatened by disease, poverty and starvation. Orwell posits:   In Room 101, where prisoners are forced into submission by exposure to their worst nightmares, Winston panics as a cage of rats is attached to his head. He yells out for his tormentors to “Do it to Julia!” and states that he does not care what happens to her. With this betrayal, Winston is released. He later encounters Julia, and neither is interested in the other. Instead Winston loves Big Brother. It is said by Cathy Lowne that George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-four as a warning after years of brooding on the twin menaces of Nazism and Stalinism. The novel’s depiction of a state where daring to think differently is rewarded with torture, where people are monitored every second of the day, and where party propaganda trumps free speech and thought is a sobering reminder of the evils of unaccountable dictatorial governments. Winston is the symbol of the values of civilised life, and his defeat is a poignant reminder of the vulnerability of such values in the midst of all-powerful states. We have seen an increasing trend where the government becomes a law unto itself, even sometimes creating scenes that lead one to make the assumption that even the judiciary is captured. There are several cases of high-profile political figures being named in scandals and scams without prosecution following such mentions. It has come to a point where some of the figures in the government do not feel they owe the masses explanations or any form of account in the spending of the state’s money. The recent increase in the number of protests in the middle of the pandemic should be a sign to the leadership that autocracy born of the comforts of reaping benefits because of position shall soon come to an end. The Tsars of Russia couldn’t have thought their reign could come to the violent end it did when it finally came to the close. And Idi Amin did not think he would meet his end in a foreign land. Jacob Zuma and Robert Mugabe did not think they would be gone either; such is the unfounded basis of the autocrat that gives in to the temptations of megalomaniac pride that says that their reign shall last a thousand years. Hitler and Mussolini fell despite having had the most glorious twenty or so years in power and influencing the most comprehensive campaign against autocracy and racism: World War Two. Changes shall always come; this is what the literary author knows as the true critic of the times and the painter of the changing landscapes of history. It is no accident therefore that George Orwell and other authors of his period saw the dangers posed by the leadership that led to the war rear their ugly head once again after the last cannons silenced their bark. Communism and capitalism would once again be at war after the Second World War, with the start of the Cold War, the Korean War, the space race, Vietnam War, the black civil rights movements in the Americas, and the general fights for independence and liberation in Africa. Orwell had seen all of this in a way, and he had somehow figured out that the advances in communication technology would give birth to Big Brother, the Eye in the Sky and many other tools of The Man meant for the subjugation of the human mind through the cultivation of paranoia. It is a word of warning to the current crop of political leaders governing on the continent from the lips of a literary man; you all need to be aware that your type of leadership is coming to an end. The Utopia Karl Marx spoke of shall soon be here after the wars you fan have ended. It does not make sense that one continent can have claim to having the most abundant reserves of natural resources but still remain the beggar of the world. It does not make sense that we are a continent that can easily claim to be the most educated but still remain the most backward and regressive. It does not make sense why such large numbers of graduates have no visible role in governance and progress because they have been pushed to the back of the line and into the shadows by uneducated politicians. We have just spent too long nursing this pile of turd we call African politics of fear and intimidation: threatened with joblessness if we do not bow to an illiterate political class, threatened with death if we do not agree with the nonsense politicians spew everytime they speak, and threatened with extinction by a class of people whose sole interest is pillaging the fiscus at all times. You must understand that your average politician on this continent is an illiterate motormouth paying lip service to con you out of your vote. Of progress, the politician does not know because he or she is not educated in the ways of the world. Of fear, the politician understands because it is his most basic tool of oppression. Of poverty and joblessness, the politician knows because he caused it. We need a leader class, not a class of illiterate dimwits pushed into roles they do not understand. There is just no sense in gagging the media on the basis of the staff in the civil service being unprofessional. Maybe it is time the government should spend the taxpayers’ money doing something meaningful: teaching their affiliates hired in the civil service to be more professional in the handling of sensitive information. The cheap political ruse driven by petty political jealousies needs to end before we burn country and continent to the ground in pursuit of the political lies: because politics is a game of lies anyway. Tšepiso S. Mothibi