Apartheid vs. Ingsoc
“George Orwell’s 1984 is the expression of a mood, and it is a warning” (Fromm 313). Despite Orwell creating the haunting dystopia of Oceania as a warning to humanity of our self-destruction, the world seemed to go blind to its recreation in South Africa. Britain colonized South Africa and created a white minority rule, just as Orwell depicts the Big Brother and the Inner Party running Oceania in 1984. Both Orwell’s Oceanic world and the South African government formed bigoted class systems with a small, minority rule to maintain their power. After power was obtained and secured, the governments exercised unfair trials and created laws skewed to their advantage. This persecution paved the way for the practice of extreme …show more content…
First, South Africa implemented an unfair class system with a minority rule just as Orwell depicts in 1984. In 1984, the Oceanic system is run completely by the Inner Party, a select group of the most esteemed individuals in the society. Comparatively, South Africa was run by the white minority rule of the Afrikaners, those who ancestry derives from England after South Africa’s colonization (“South African Racial Formations”). The Population Registration Act enacted in South Africa in 1950 further solidified this racial segregation by creating four distinct classifications of South Africans: White, Asian, Colored, and Native (“South African Racial Formations”). This law became the epitome of the Afrikaners push to preserve “Afrikanerdom,” or the belief that white-supremacy must uphold itself for the benefit of all South Africans (Beinhart 148). From there, the Afrikaners developed a militant police-state in which they monitored every action of the indigenous people and prosecuted them accordingly (Frankel). Similarly, Orwell’s fictitious world in …show more content…
Both worlds formed bigoted class systems with a small, minority rule to maintain their power. After power was obtained and secured, the governments exercised unfair trials and created laws skewed to their advantage. This persecution paved the way for the practice of extreme torture techniques on the government’s people. As haunting as it may seem, South African Apartheid has brought George Orwell’s worst fears following World War II to life while the rest of the world turned their
“George Orwell’s 1984 is the expression of a mood, and it is a warning” (Fromm 313). Despite Orwell creating the haunting dystopia of Oceania as a warning to humanity of our self-destruction, the world seemed to go blind to its recreation in South Africa. Britain colonized South Africa and created a white minority rule, just as Orwell depicts the Big Brother and the Inner Party running Oceania in 1984. Both Orwell’s Oceanic world and the South African government formed bigoted class systems with a small, minority rule to maintain their power. After power was obtained and secured, the governments exercised unfair trials and created laws skewed to their advantage. This persecution paved the way for the practice of extreme …show more content…
First, South Africa implemented an unfair class system with a minority rule just as Orwell depicts in 1984. In 1984, the Oceanic system is run completely by the Inner Party, a select group of the most esteemed individuals in the society. Comparatively, South Africa was run by the white minority rule of the Afrikaners, those who ancestry derives from England after South Africa’s colonization (“South African Racial Formations”). The Population Registration Act enacted in South Africa in 1950 further solidified this racial segregation by creating four distinct classifications of South Africans: White, Asian, Colored, and Native (“South African Racial Formations”). This law became the epitome of the Afrikaners push to preserve “Afrikanerdom,” or the belief that white-supremacy must uphold itself for the benefit of all South Africans (Beinhart 148). From there, the Afrikaners developed a militant police-state in which they monitored every action of the indigenous people and prosecuted them accordingly (Frankel). Similarly, Orwell’s fictitious world in …show more content…
Both worlds formed bigoted class systems with a small, minority rule to maintain their power. After power was obtained and secured, the governments exercised unfair trials and created laws skewed to their advantage. This persecution paved the way for the practice of extreme torture techniques on the government’s people. As haunting as it may seem, South African Apartheid has brought George Orwell’s worst fears following World War II to life while the rest of the world turned their