Totalitarianism. Living under oppression to such extent that you are not allowed to own your life.

Currently, we are supposed to live in a world where we are free to do anything we want. We can choose what people to meet, interact, and relate to emotionally. Moreover, we can freely make comments about any topic or wear any kind of clothes we want. Above all, if we take as an example the Chilean society, we first-hand know that we are living in a society with that freedom. Even if there is any problem that prevents us from doing whatever we want, there exit certain Human Rights that supports our choices. In those circumstances, we can say that we have a life; that we are living a decent life. However, what about when you are not allowed to make your own decisions? What about certain totalitarian governments which rules a country through oppression? What about the fact that some countries do not consider Human Rights? What about the feeling of being oppressed regarding human’s choice? What about the feeling of being a sort of robot who has to do whatever you are made to do? And what about the fact that you are not allowed to meet the people you like to, wear the clothes you like to; or give the opinion you would like to, this is what is known as Totalitarianism. Aspect which became one of the basis of Orwell’s novel 1984 and Moore’s V for Vendetta.

In both novels, totalitarianism as well as oppression are taken and developed deeply regarding different realms. Despite the fact that what it is stated in both novels tend to be more associated to fiction than reality, in real world, we can find many examples regarding the past as well as the present ,  of authoritarian government with political systems that are very close to the reality exposed in both novels.










To begin with, I would like to start defining what totalitarianism and oppression are, then how these concepts are related to past and present society, and finally how they are present in Orwell’ novel and Moore’s work.
 On the one hand, totalitarianism refers to the idea of “a government that takes total, centralized, stated control over every aspect of public and private life”.  As Todd (2002) states the concept of totalitarianism was first developed by Giovanni Amendola in 1923. He was a politician who opposed Mussolini’s Fascist Party. As Fascist Party´s ideology demanded, everything should be ‘fascistised’ in order to create a situation which could be described as “everything within the state, nothing outside the state and nothing against the state. (Todd, 2002)


Also, according to Todd (2002) there are five main aspects which are said to be central to any totalitarian regime, which are:• A distinctive, ‘utopian’, all-embracing ideology which both dominates and attempts to restructure all aspects of society.• A political system headed by an all-powerful leader, around whom a deliberate cult of personality is created, and in which party, parliament and the state are under the control of the leader.• The deliberate use of censorship and propaganda aimed at controlling all aspects of culture and at indoctrinating all sections of society, especially the young.• A systematic use of coercion and terror to ensure total compliance on the part of the people, with all decisions made by the leader and the regime.• The establishment of absolute state control and co-ordination of the economy, which is subordinated to the political objectives of the political regime.

On the other hand, according to David (2014) oppression occurs “when one group has more access to power and privilege than another group, and when that power and privilege are used to maintain the status quo”. Therefore, oppression tends to be highly connected to the differentiation of people, for instance dominant and dominated, oppressor and oppressed, superior and inferior. It is said that oppression can be imposed by imposition and deprivation. According to Hanna, Talley, and Guindom (2000), oppression by imposition has to do with “the act of imposing on others a label, role, experience, or set of living conditions that is unwanted, needlessly painful, and detracts from physical or physiological well-being, such as, demeaning hard labor, degrading job roles, ridicule, and negative media images and messages that foster and maintain distorted beliefs”. On the other hand, oppression by deprivation “involves depriving people of desired jobs, an education, healthcare, or living conditions necessary for physical and mental well-being such as food, clothing, shelter, love, respect, social support, or self-dignity”.




Thus, by already having some information regarding the concepts of totalitarianism and oppression themselves, it is necessary to contextualize those concepts in relation to our History.



It is said that Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler have been the first totalitarian rulers that our world has seen. On the one hand, Stalin gained control of the Soviet Union in 1924. In Italy, Mussolini founded the Fascist Party and named himself as Prime Minister in 1922 and finally Hitler, in 1920, gained control of the nationalistic, anti-communist and anti-Semitic Nazi Party.

Now, let´s take a look at today´s reality, is it different 
or pretty much the same?

Unfortunately, despite world is constantly changing, it is still possible to find countries which have a totalitarian government system. Countries such as Iraq, China and mainly North Korea come to our minds when it comes to authoritarian regime. It is known that for instance that during Chairman Mao Zedong´s government in China, many crimes were committed. Same situations happened in Iraq, while Saddam Hussein´s government. Human rights organizations apart from reporting severe abuses against human rights, they also denounced hundreds of thousands of civilian executions. Finally, perhaps the most recent example of totalitarianism in today´s society, Kim Jong-un totalitarian regime have signified for North Korea constant human rights abuses including torture, slave labor, infanticide and public executions. 




Therefore, having contextualized what totalitarianism and oppression stand for and their significances in History, now it is possible to connect these terms with Orwell’s and Moore’s work.
In 1984 as well as V for Vendetta, it is possible to notice that some of the main concepts which are part of totalitarianism are present. On the one hand, both novels deal with the fact of an authoritarian and imposed ideology for everyone. Such ideology in both novel is imposed by an all-powerful and omnipresent leader, Adam Susan in V for Vendetta and the figure of “The Big Brother" in 1984, who take total control of everything.
 

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. Ifthat is granted, all else follows." (Orwell, 1983)


This quote refers to the idea of being free of thinking, of being free of manipulation. When you can decide by yourself, make your own choices you can truly feel that you are free. That is what it means to be free, to be alive. As Orwell states in 1984, the two main characters, Winston and Julia  after being discovered together and being accused for opposing the government, are tortured and manipulated to some extent that they are no longer themselves. They could not continue with their lives. They could not be together anymore. Their lives changed, their minds changed to the point of believing that two plus two equals five. Not for trying to avoid any problem associated to rebellion, but they believed that it was actually the correct result. At the same time, this idea of being free takes place in V for Vendetta during the whole story. As we are reading , we realize that "V" is free since he does whatever he wants. He can make his own decisions and decides what to do with his life.
 

“Our masters have not heard the people's voice for generations and it is much, much louder than they care to remember.” (Moore, 1988)


That is to say, the people is always demanding what they need; what they deserve. However in some cultures, countries, societies they are not heard. The “superior” ones do not care about people’s demands. They just impose limitations on people’s lives and needs just by doing it by force.







“Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The blackmoustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston’s own. Down at street level another poster, torn at one corner, flipped fitfully in the wind, alternately covering and uncovering the single word INGSOC”.(Orwell, 1983)



As states above, one of the aspects related to totalitarianism is to arouse terror through propaganda. In both novels we can see how propaganda plays an important role throughout the development of each story. In 1984, the slogan “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" implies the concept of doublethink which refers to the idea of accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs, opinions as correct. By doing so, the totalitarian government wanted to make people think that they already have what they need. Moreover, the slogan "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU", appealing directly to the feeling of being observed and judged by any action that you can take. On the other hand, in V for Vendetta the slogan “STRENGTH THROUGH PURITY, PURITY THROUGH FAITH” also implies sort of subjugation and indoctrination, since the government wanted people to think that the only way to be strong and be united is trough faith, in this case a common and imposed faith for everybody. 




Who imprisoned me here? Who keeps me here? Who can release me? Who's controlling and constraining my life except...me?”(Moore, 1988)

To be oppressed must be felt like the previous quote. You are under oppression to such extent that you do not even know why you are in that state. As stated above, oppression can be triger either imposition or deprivation aspect which are relevant and present in both novel. As Manipulation has taken control of your life, you cannot control your actions, you cannot even make your own decisions. In both novel, we can see how tyranny has taken control of people’s lives, due to corruption, surveillance and police brutality. “Thought Police” in Orwell´s 1984 and “The Finger” in Moore’s V for Vendetta are in charge of committing the crimes and atrocities imposed by the authoritarian government.

 



To sum up, it is clear that the concepts of totalitarianism and oppression apart from being connected to fiction in Orwell´s and Moore’s work, they are also highly connected to our reality. For instance, North Korea’s case tends to be a recurrent topic on everyday news broadcasting. Despite the fact that sometimes we want to forget about that, we know that atrocities like the ones exposed in both novels occur, have occurred and will probably be occurring in the next years. It is necessary a change of mentality. It is impossible to understand the eagerness of some countries to torture, mutilate, and kill people in order to change their minds, in order to impose nonsense ideologies.

References.

E.J.K.David. (2014). Internalized Oppression: The Psychology of Marginalized Groups. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Fred J. Hanna, W. B. (200). The Power of Perception: Toward a Model of Cultural Oppression and Liberation. JOURNAL OF COUNSELING & DEVELOPMENT, 431.

Moore A. and Lloyd D. (1988). "V for Vendetta". New York: DC Comics.

Orwell, G. (1983) Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcout.

Todd, A. (2002). The European dictatorships. Cambridge: Cambridge university Press.