Sixty-five years ago this week, George Orwell, the famed English novelist and writer, died. There are perhaps few individuals who hold such a lofty place in the 20th century history of the English language. Orwell’s style, directness and candour continue to set the standard for many authors today. I recall when I asked a rather noted writer for comments on my own prose, that person pointed me to Orwell as a model. But it is not simply his grace or elegance that inspires the English-language writer – or which is relevant today.
Orwell has inspired additions to the English language, through many now commonly used phrases, and entirely new words. Many of those come after his keen ability to identify how power provided to institutions can be used in a negative way. Were he alive today, it is likely he’d feel quite vindicated, if distressed, by his accuracy.
But the writer was not a lofty pacifist who abjured all kinds of power. Indeed, he believed power ought to be used in the world in support of what was good. He was, one might say, a part of the British left – but while substantial parts of the British left today rail against the use of power to repel evil, Orwell took up arms.
Entirely voluntarily, he travelled to Spain to fight against fascism. One wonders if a 2015 Orwell, perhaps a more cosmopolitan one, might have been a “foreign fighter” in Syria. Perhaps rather than focusing his opposition to political extremism of left and right, a modern Orwell might have focused it on authoritarianism in the Arab world – or for that matter, religious extremism. If that had been the case, what would Animal Farm, a satire centred on a farmyard but based on what Orwell saw as Stalin’s quasi counter-revolution, have looked like? What would an Animal Farm of 2015 have tried to mimic?
Ironically, Orwell’s other famous tome, the bleakly dystopian 1984, became the subject of much media attention in Egypt, when police arrested a Cairene student for filming security services. The student had a copy of it in his bag, leading to suspicions he had been arrested at least partly due to that. The irony increased when as a result of the media attention, the book became even more popular and widely available in Cairo.
1984 imagined a totalitarian future where the securitisation of the state led to a more powerful central authority. Anyone who travelled to Syria under Bashar Al Assad before the revolutionary uprising in 2011 would find it difficult not to see traces of that – not in fiction, but in fact. Orwell’s taste of the Arab world, nonetheless, was limited to six months recovering in Morocco, after being badly wounded in Spain. One imagines if he had been alive today, he’d probably be on book tours in Dubai and writing very critically about much of the region.
His political views were neither complicated nor complex – but they were consistent. Orwell was on the British left, but he rejected Stalinism and described Russian totalitarianism as a “poisonous influence” in Britain. How many times in the last four years have political ideologies become tribes of common cause, rather than based on political principles? How many faux leftists, for example, have seen fit to promote Syria’s Mr Al Assad as somehow the “lesser evil”, or worse still, a companion of the “anti-imperialist vanguard”? Indeed, such leftists have betrayed even the leftists of Syria themselves.
Unlike many of today’s writers, whether in the Arab world or in modern Europe, Orwell did not hide his thoughts behind flamboyant language. Nor did he use his skill to curry favour with regimes or authorities that he recognised as deeply flawed. Indeed, it would have been difficult to find any regime at all that would have met with his complete approval. He lived in a continual awareness that criticism of power was necessary, even the power of one’s nation. How many writers can truly say they imbibe that one value of speaking truth to power – again, within the Arab world or beyond it?
Dr HA Hellyer is an associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute in London, and the Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC
On Twitter: @hahellyer
Company Profile
Company name: Fine Diner
Started: March, 2020
Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka
Based: Dubai
Industry: Technology and food delivery
Initial investment: Dh75,000
Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp
Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000
Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months
Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Company%20profile
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Company%20Profile
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
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Company%20Profile
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How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
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SPECS
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