This Word Means: Orwellian

On Wednesday (March 27), Meerut police submitted a list of eight persons to the District Magistrate, saying they violated last year’s order prohibiting namaz on the streets and initiated steps for cancelling their licenses and passports.

Jayant Singh Chaudhary, Union Minister of State and chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal that is part of the ruling NDA, reacted to the move with a post on X, saying, “Policing towards Orwellian 1984!”.

WHAT DOES ‘ORWELLIAN’ MEAN?

It relates to the seminal works of English author George Orwell, whose books (1984 and Animal Farm in particular) are known for their criticism of authoritarianism and power.

Published in the 1940s, both works of fiction are centred around societies in which political leaders emerge on the backs of revolutions but end up cornering power to the point of becoming totalitarian. The stories indicate the dangers of a world where citizens accept whatever authority figures ask them to do and the extent to which power can be used to manipulate and subjugate people.

For instance, 1984 is imagined as a time when all-seeing governments have taken hold, and follows one man as he feels more and more suffocated within the society he lives in. His attempts at charting an independent course for himself, empowered by the possibility of love, are ultimately thwarted by the state.

One of the most well-known lines from the novel, a slogan of the government, says, “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength”. It tells the reader about the kind of confusing and self-contradictory propaganda that people in this world are subjected to.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CALL SOMETHING ‘ORWELLIAN’?

In 1984, Orwell frequently employed an original vocabulary to describe the various sinister actions and processes of the government. For example, “Thinkpol” is the word for Thought Police, who are tasked with surveillance and punishing citizens who appear to be displaying critical thoughts or ideas.

“Memory hole” is a mechanism through which reports, data, or any other public information is deleted, such as economic forecasts or production targets that haven’t been met. It is done to ensure the government need not ever acknowledge its missteps or failings. Controlling the flow of information adds to its infallibility.

Perhaps it is because of Orwell’s own style of inventing new words for disturbing phenomena that his name became the template for describing something totalitarian and dystopian, like the worlds of his novels.

The novel 1984 was published in 1949, when Nazism had just been defeated, but Orwell also took inspiration from Communist parties and the personality cult around Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Today, its usage has also increased at a time when many countries are witnessing polarisation in their politics, with all shades of political groups and parties using it as a descriptor.