George Orwell was one of the greatest 20th century novelists, famous for such works as Animal Farm and 1984. The latter especially is wrenching, and the film (starring John Hurt as Winston Smith) even moreso. The setting for the film is a bombed out city in Oceania - one of the principal regions of the world - which has been fighting a war with Eurasia for decades. Below are some of his ruminations distilled from '1984'.
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"The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labour power without producing anything that can be consumed.."
"In principle the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. In practice the needs of the population are always underestimated, with the result that there is a chronic shortage of half the necessities of life; but this is looked on as an advantage."
"It is deliberate policy to keep even the favoured groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another."
"War, it will be seen, accomplishes the necessary destruction, but accomplishes it in a psychologically acceptable way. In principle it would be quite simple to waste the surplus labour of the world by building temples and pyramids, by digging holes and filling them up again, or even by producing vast quantities of goods and then setting fire to them. But this would provide only the economic and not the emotional basis for a hierarchical society."
"What is concerned here is not the morale of masses, whose attitude is unimportant so long as they are kept steadily at work, but the morale of the Party itself. Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph."
"In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality appropriate to a state of war. In past ages, a war, almost by definition, was something that sooner or later came to an end, usually in unmistakable victory or defeat. In the past, also, war was one of the main instruments by which human societies were kept in touch with physical reality... But when war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous."
"When war is continuous there is no such thing as military necessity. Technical progress can cease and the most palpable facts can be denied or disregarded... The war, therefore, if we judge it by the standards of previous wars, is merely an imposture... War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair... war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact."
-George Orwell
Friends,
Over many years, I have had the extraordinary privilege of working with Japanese and other atomic and hydrogen bomb survivors. These are people who have endured and transformed the worst imaginable physical and emotional traumas into the most influential force for nuclear weapons abolition. Their fundamental call is that “human beings and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.” Their courage, their call, and their steadfast advocacy of nuclear weapons abolition earned them the Nobel Peace Prize last December. In awarding the Hibakusha the Nobel Prize, the Nobel Committee sent the world a powerful message: With the possible exception of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the world is closer to catastrophic nuclear war than it has ever been, and we must act for nuclear weapons abolition.
Being invited to join Nihon Hidankyo’s Nobel Peace Prize delegation in Oslo was a privilege and honor beyond words. It was thrilling to see these men and women being recognized and honored. I will also confess to some feelings of sadness as I thought about Yamaguchi Senji, Taniguchi Sumiteru, Watanabe Chieko, and other courageous founders and leaders of Hidankyo who did not live to enjoy the recognition and international platform they so rightly deserved. They do live on and inspire us as we remember them.
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