1984: Fiction or reality in Venezuela? (Translation - Original author: @orianaalej )
The following is an authorized translation from Spanish of @orianaalej's post titled: 1984: ¿Ficción o realidad en Venezuela?.
Translated by: @jorge-caceres.
While I was driving around my hometown and watching the government’s propaganda, I came up with what I thought it would be an original idea: write on my blog about the frightening similarities found in both the dystopic novel by George Orwell 1984 and some nuances related to the propaganda madness evilly applied by the Venezuelan government.
The truth is I would not like to regret not doing it, so I will do it anyways but trying to be more graphic. After all, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
Chavez’s eyes
The first thing I will refer to, because of its shocking nature, are Chavez’s eyes. Quoting the book, we can find "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."
In Venezuela, you may see the figure and the sinister concordance in buildings, houses, billboards, t-shirts, graffiti, vehicles and others. It resembles a way to show Hugo Chavez’s "Omnipresence" and send a clear message: "I am watching you". If there is an attribute authoritarian governments share, it is control, persecution and surveillance, whether you approve it or not. That is precisely the government’s goal: make their citizens feel like they are being monitored at all times.
Photo taken by @orianaalej
Photo taken by @orianaalej
Two Minutes Hate
It is as simple as the fact that an authoritarian regime must make up enemies to keep on exerting their authoritarianism. For that reason, they needed to devote time hating the party’s biggest enemy, and thus keeping the resentment intact within the people. Above all, hatred and fear do a better job in binding a nation together tan love.
The biggest promoter of hatred across Venezuela is the state television channel, throughout shows such as: Con el mazo dando (Hitting with the Mallet), Zurda conducta (Leftist behavior) and La Hojilla (The Razor). Here is a sample of how they showcase such hatred on an open signal during hours of supervised viewership.
Mario Silva (La Hojilla host). Quality English captions are not available for this video.
The three slogans of the Party
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength."
In my country, a Minister of Education was capable of saying: "it is not like we are going to draw people out of poverty and take them to the middle class so they can pretend to be squalid (adjective used by the government to refer to their opposition)".
Watch:
Héctor Rodríguez (Minister of the People’s Power for Education, period 2014 - 2015). Quality English captions are not available for this video.
Despite the fact that I only bring up these three similarities, there are many more. Frightening resemblances which make you think: "Will this all be part of a script?"
Thanks for reading me.
This is true more and more all around the world. But we don't have a dead presidents eyes looking at us. Just cameras and "smart" appliances that spy on us.
It is very true the world is almost like 1984. Only difference is the scenes in the movie otherwise we are living in it. Everyone on the internet or have a cellphone/handy/mobile/smartphone are monitored and watched.
As you noted the English translations of the videos are not great and hard to follow. The party slogans are pure mental 1984.
Only because you have natural resources is why Venezuela has been pushed and prodded by CIA to be a basket case and it is not fair. Or perhaps it is a test case for South America.
Being under constant surveillance is terrifying. But being in a country where most of people make less than $5 a month is outrageous. Not exagerating here. In my current job, people make 2,500,000 bolivars. 1 USD equals 2,000,000 bolivars under current black market prices (the only way to find dollars). At least 120 USD are needed to sustain a family of four with the most basic goods. So just imagine the bad situation.
And let me tell you something, it is not the CIA's entire fault, if at all. It is a direct consequence of a negligent communist governmet whose thirst for power has overshadowed all of our sufferings.
I'm very grateful for this post, my friend!
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