Bush's Orwellian Address

>>Seventeen years later than expected, 1984 has arrived. In his address to
>>Congress Thursday, George Bush effectively declared permanent war -- war
>>without temporal or geographic limits; war without clear goals; war against
>>a
>>vaguely defined and constantly shifting enemy. Today it\'s Al-Qaida;
>>tomorrow
>>it may be Afghanistan; next year, it could be Iraq or Cuba or Chechnya.
>>
>>No one who was forced to read 1984 in high school could fail to hear a
>>faint
>>bell tinkling. In George Orwell\'s dreary classic, the totalitarian state of
>>Oceania is perpetually at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia. Although the
>>enemy changes periodically, the war is permanent; its true purpose is to
>>control dissent and sustain dictatorship by nurturing popular fear and
>>hatred.
>>
>>The permanent war undergirds every aspect of Big Brother\'s authoritarian
>>program, excusing censorship, propaganda, secret police, and privation. In
>>other words, it\'s terribly convenient.
>>
>>And conveniently terrible. Bush\'s alarming speech pointed to a shadowy
>>enemy
>>that lurks in more 60 countries, including the US. He announced a policy of
>>using maximum force against any individuals or nations he designates as our
>>enemies, without color of international law, due process, or democratic
>>debate.
>>
>>He explicitly warned that much of the war will be conducted in secret. He
>>rejected negotiation as a tool of diplomacy. He announced starkly that any
>>country that doesn\'t knuckle under to US demands will be regarded as an
>>enemy.
>>He heralded the creation of a powerful new cabinet-level police agency
>>called
>>the \"Office of Homeland Security.\" Orwell couldn\'t have named it better.
>>
>>By turns folksy (\"Ya know what?\") and chillingly bellicose (\"Either you are
>>with us, or you are with the terrorists\"), Bush stepped comfortably into
>>the
>>role of Big Brother, who needs to be loved as well as feared. Meanwhile,
>>his
>>administration acted swiftly to realize the governing principles of
>>Oceania:
>>
>>WAR IS PEACE. A reckless war that will likely bring about a deadly cycle of
>>retaliation is being sold to us as the means to guarantee our safety.
>>Meanwhile, we\'ve been instructed to accept the permanent war as a fact of
>>daily life. As the inevitable slaughter of innocents unfolds overseas, we
>>are
>>to \"live our lives and hug our children.\"
>>
>>FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. \"Freedom itself is under attack,\" Bush said, and he\'s
>>right. Americans are about to lose many of their most cherished liberties
>>in
>>a
>>frenzy of paranoid legislation. The government proposes to tap our phones,
>>read our email and seize our credit card records without court order. It
>>seeks
>>authority to detain and deport immigrants without cause or trial. It
>>proposes
>>to use foreign agents to spy on American citizens. To save freedom, the
>>warmongers intend to destroy it.
>>
>>IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. America\'s \"new war\" against terrorism will be fought
>>with unprecedented secrecy, including heavy press restrictions not seen for
>>years, the Pentagon has advised. Meanwhile, the sorry history of American
>>imperialism -- collaboration with terrorists, bloody proxy wars against
>>civilians, forcible replacement of democratic governments with corrupt
>>dictatorships -- is strictly off-limits to mainstream media. Lest it weaken
>>our resolve, we are not to be allowed to understand the reasons underlying
>>the
>>horrifying crimes of September 11.
>>
>>The defining speech of Bush\'s presidency points toward an Orwellian future
>>of
>>endless war, expedient lies, and ubiquitous social control. But unlike
>>1984\'s
>>doomed protagonist, we\'ve still got plenty of space to maneuver and plenty
>>of
>>ways to resist.
>>
>>It\'s time to speak and to act. It falls on us now to take to the streets,
>>bearing a clear message for the warmongers: We don\'t love Big Brother.
>>
> >Jacob Levich (jlevich [at] earthlink.net) is an writer, editor, and activist
>>living
>>in Queens, New York.