Terrorism In 1984

In the post 9/11 political environment of the twenty-first century, there is little doubt that the War on Terror, the domestic and international campaign to counter terrorism, has dominated international relations. When the Bush administration launched this war in 2001 in retribution for the 9/11 attacks, the United States and their allies across the globe repeated this infamous phrase and have continued to do so today, trying their utmost to convince the public that indeed, the West is fighting a “War on Terror.” And yet, there is something deeply questionable about this war. What exactly does it consist of? And how can it ever be defeated when, unlike traditional wars, there is no identifiable enemy?

In the novel 1984 written by George Orwell,

This acts as a pretext to radically curtail civil liberties and smooths the way for a virtual avalanche of legislation to stop this so-called threat of terrorism. The government reiterates to the people that they have a common enemy - Goldstein, who seeks to threaten their way of life and thus must be destroyed. Does this sound familiar in any way? Substitute ‘Emmanuel Goldstein’ for ‘Osama bin Laden’, ‘Saddam Hussein’ or ‘Bashar al Assad’ and all may become clearer. Of course, that is not to say that we are living under the conditions depicted in 1984 but while it’s almost been seventy years since this piece was published, it’s not too difficult to draw parallels; we too find ourselves living with a threat of Islamic terrorism and exposed to the same sort of propaganda. These evil characters who are hell bent on ** have been paraded before the Western public. It seems every few years or at least every decade, the West has a new enemy, a new Goldstein popping up on our television screens. Adam Curtis, who is quoted at the start of this introduction, has argued that the War on