A community reading of 1984 by George Orwell
Friday, June 5, 2015 - 7:00pm
Beit Zatoun
612 Markham St. (Bathurst subway)
Toronto, ON
Canada
See map: Google Maps
Predictor of the future or Manual for the future?
This event is an opportunity to escape the solitary experience of reading a frighteningly real book. Attendees are invited to take turns reading aloud from a key chapter outlining the “Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism.” A conversation will follow the reading.
Published 66 years ago this month, in his novel 1984, George Orwell captures the arc and essence of much of the political / power developments to the present. Its relevance and predictive power seems to increase with each passing year. With Bill C-51 as recent backdrop, 1984 assumes even greater significance for Canadians.
Although the book is rightly famous for introducing words such newspeak, doublethink, and thought police to the point of cliché – how much do we truly appreciate Orwell’s contribution to understanding the modern exercise of power – economic, military and cultural/media – and the controlling ideology.
Most people past forty years old can claim to have read 1984 as high school students but how much appreciation and learning can a teenager derive that has yet to face an election and become politically conscious. Young people do not even have that chance as the book is rarely read in high schools being “too difficult / demanding.” Every person – young or old – can do well to read and reread 1984 for the reflection and insight it provides into the methods, forces and motivations behind current nightmarish realities of perpetual war and full-spectrum control.
Orwell has been rightly criticized for being an informer, a rabid anti-Communist and a homophobe among other serious failings but this does not take away from the monumental achievement of 1984. If originally intended as an attack on Stalinist / Soviet totalitarianism, it has gained an independent life as a general critique (or manual) of all modern regimes but especially western, neoliberal-democratic ones which possess the greatest power to abuse.
–
Need to know:
- Doors open at 6:50
- $5 donation (suggested minimum)
- Accessible on demand via portable ramp; washrooms not accessible
- Please avoid using strong-scented products due to sensitivities
Tasty refreshments (non-alcoholic) with Zatoun oliveoil+za’atar dipping.
This event is an opportunity to escape the solitary experience of reading a frighteningly real book. Attendees are invited to take turns reading aloud from a key chapter outlining the “Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism.” A conversation will follow the reading.
Published 66 years ago this month, in his novel 1984, George Orwell captures the arc and essence of much of the political / power developments to the present. Its relevance and predictive power seems to increase with each passing year. With Bill C-51 as recent backdrop, 1984 assumes even greater significance for Canadians.
Although the book is rightly famous for introducing words such newspeak, doublethink, and thought police to the point of cliché – how much do we truly appreciate Orwell’s contribution to understanding the modern exercise of power – economic, military and cultural/media – and the controlling ideology.
Most people past forty years old can claim to have read 1984 as high school students but how much appreciation and learning can a teenager derive that has yet to face an election and become politically conscious. Young people do not even have that chance as the book is rarely read in high schools being “too difficult / demanding.” Every person – young or old – can do well to read and reread 1984 for the reflection and insight it provides into the methods, forces and motivations behind current nightmarish realities of perpetual war and full-spectrum control.
Orwell has been rightly criticized for being an informer, a rabid anti-Communist and a homophobe among other serious failings but this does not take away from the monumental achievement of 1984. If originally intended as an attack on Stalinist / Soviet totalitarianism, it has gained an independent life as a general critique (or manual) of all modern regimes but especially western, neoliberal-democratic ones which possess the greatest power to abuse.
–
Need to know:
- Doors open at 6:50
- $5 donation (suggested minimum)
- Accessible on demand via portable ramp; washrooms not accessible
- Please avoid using strong-scented products due to sensitivities
Tasty refreshments (non-alcoholic) with Zatoun oliveoil+za’atar dipping.
