“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell
By:Anna Ferreira
During a recent conversation, Alfred Decker suggested I watch the 2025 Raoul Peck documentary Orwell: 2+2=5. Released with the full cooperation of the Orwell Estate, the film is a visceral reminder that this equation is a political weapon representing the state’s power to overwrite reality.
From the rhetoric surrounding Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro, Orbán, Kim Jong Un, and Milei, for example, to the historical shadows of Hitler, Franco, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, et al., we see a consistent erosion of truth to serve the architecture of power.
This pattern is a circular, global strategy.Whether in the current genocides in Palestine, Sudan, and Yemen, the neocolonial invasions and pressures in Venezuela, or the civil conflicts in Iran, amongst others, the mechanism remains the same.
Empire, colonialism, and militarism use lies to manufacture a reality that justifies oppression.It is the same logic that drove the Balfour Declaration: the imperial arrogance of deciding the fate of lands and peoples from afar.
We are living in a synthesis of two dystopian warnings. While Orwell feared the state would conceal the truth, Aldous Huxley in Brave New World feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Huxley’s vision was that facts would become useless under the weight of noise and distraction. Today, we are being “amused to death” by a flood of data that makes it almost impossible to distinguish what is real from what is merely loud.
The documentary highlights how we participate in our own silencing. To avoid cognitive dissonance, we often align with “our side” without question. Research on Identity-Protective Reasoning and Political Attitude Polarization reveals we are hardwired to filter information that challenges our group identity.
This is the “trick” of current systems: they play on our loyalties. The architecture of power relies heavily on the deliberate engineering of division.By manipulating dichotomies and fueling hyper-polarization, the global elite — the interests that manage even the wealthiest one percent — ensure that our collective energy is spent fighting one another. This “divide and rule” strategy is a historical constant, designed to keep the marginalized distracted and fractured. From the British colonial administration’s tactical agitation of communal tensions to modern digital echo chambers, the goal remains the same: to prevent the possibility of a united front.
These powers understand that a unified movement is the only force capable of exposing their mechanisms and dismantling their control. As long as we are occupied with the shadows of our differences, the common enemy remains invisible and untouchable.
I believe one of the starting points is a refusal to let our evidence be erased. I have intentionally centered BIPOC thinkers who speak truth from lived experience: voices like Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Nego Bispo, bell hooks, Toni Morrison, Lélia Gonzalez, Davi Kopenawa, Ailton Krenak, etc. In 2026, with ecological erosion and the climate crisis accelerating, this clarity is essential if we want to save the planet for next generations and stand a chance at sovereignty.
In my work here at OGA and Language for Justice, I strive to amplify these voices. Insisting that 2 plus 2 still equals 4 is not radical; it is a necessary act of resistance.
In a world designed to make us doubt our own senses, the most radical act is to remain anchored in evidence. This requires the difficult work of revisiting our discomfort and interrogating the “certainties” handed down by those in power. We cannot afford the safety of silence while the architecture of empire manufactures a convenient reality to justify oppression.
To insist on the clarity of our own perception is more than a statement of fact; it is a declaration of sovereignty.It is a refusal to let our collective history be rewritten or our shared future be sacrificed to the interests of the few.
We must choose to see, choose to listen, and choose to speak, not just for our own sake, but for the integrity of the generations to come.
Some truths are not just worth defending; they are the only foundation upon which a just world can actually be built.
Thank you Alfred Decker for the suggestion.
Solidarity and Vision: The Art of Gohar Dashti
To illustrate these themes, I have chosen to showcase the work of Iranian artist Gohar Dashti.Specifically, the photograph “Untitled #3” from her Stateless series. I share this in honor and solidarity with the people of Iran and the profound upheaval they are navigating. Dashti’s photo is a powerful metaphor for the “purgatory” of the refugee and the resilience of those uprooted by authoritarianism.
Foundations of this Inquiry
- The Orwell: 2+2=5 Trailerprovides the visual context for Raoul Peck’s documentary.
- Recent Amnesty International briefings document the escalation of state-sanctioned violence in Iran.
- The History of “Divide and Rule” The Strategy of Divide and Conquer | Harvard International Review This analysis explores how imperial powers utilized social and ethnic divisions to maintain systemic control over vast populations.
- Expert analysis confirms that the illegality of the US attack against Venezuelais beyond debate, highlighting the dangerous precedent of global lawlessness.
