It was a full house when Better Waipā candidates, supporters and friends gathered for our successful Fundraising Movie Night on Sept 11th at the historic Regent Theatre in Te Awamutu. We watched George Orwell’s dystopian 1984 - a classic adaptation, close to the original book starring John Hurt and Richard Burton (his final role before his death).
Few novels from the past century have had more influence than Orwell’s 1984. It has inspired many sequels, TV shows, pop music, ballet, opera and more. 1984 is a popular set text for schools worldwide. A keyword search in our own New Zealand Parliament’s Hansard presents nearly 500 references, predictably, mainly in the context of policies that undermine our democracy. Orwell’s innovative vocabulary that describes his fictional Oceania is now everyday language.
After we watched the film, we discussed some examples in the context of Waipā District Council.
The central character, Winston Smith, points out the ‘doublethink’ of propaganda – how can we hold two conflicting ideas at the same time? For example, how can spending millions of ratepayers’ funds constructing expensive new cycleways, concrete curbs and speed-bumps, possibly reduce impact on our environment? Especially as Council debt, and the $millions paid to consultants and contractors spirals out of control?
Many of us have been ‘unpersoned’ in recent years. In 1984, individuals who didn’t comply with nonsensical rules were ‘cancelled’. Likely reflecting Orwell’s personal experience of working for the BBC, in 1984, Winston’s job at the newspaper was to alter certain articles, sending inconvenient truths down the ‘memory hole’. Likewise, those of us who repeatedly try to point out inconsistencies or ‘fake news’ published by WDC (and others) have been deplatformed on social media and our subsequent emails or letters, ignored. As I published previously, in our current-day version of 1984, ‘Newspeak’ editors (including Dean Taylor) are complicit in censoring facts, nudging our behaviour and preventing free speech.
In our Q&A at our Movie Night, a question from our audience (before we relocated to the pub for a well-deserved drink!) was about voter apathy: “How can we help our fellow residents to realise we all have the power of change - to make a Better Waipā?”
It’s understandable that over time, because of the lack of transparency and accountability and the time-consuming requests for honest answers, many of us simply give up trying. It is soul-destroying trying to overcome the challenges presented by the enormous bureaucracies our Councils have become. I’ve explained how in psychology this effect is called learned helplessness.
But Orwell reminded us of the power of the people, when Winston points out:
“But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire. They needed only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies. If they chose, they could blow the Party to pieces tomorrow morning. Surely sooner or later it must occur to them to do it? And yet…” (in the book, beginning of Chapter 7)
We are living in a technocracy that Orwell couldn’t imagine when he wrote his book after WW2. But he had some insights into the propaganda of Europe at that time and how truth was suppressed so much it (almost) ceased to exist. And now, a powerful version of a digital ‘Big Brother’ confronts us daily in the facial recognition on our phones, laptops, and surveillance cameras in every shop, council-run building, school, health-centre and street corner, harvesting our private data to sell to global impact investors.
Orwell’s book wasn’t supposed to be an instruction manual! 1984 is a profound warning and a reminder to us all that we have the power to hold on to what is real and valuable.
Thank you to all who came along to our Movie Night and helped us raise funds for Better Waipā candidates’ campaigns. Your vote counts – use it. Encourage others, too!
