Shauna L. Shames - Survive and Resist

SURVIVE AND RESIST

SURVIVE AND RESIST

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO DYSTOPIAN POLITICS

AMY L. ATCHISON
SHAUNA L. SHAMES

Columbia University Press

New York

Columbia University Press

Publishers Since 1893

New York Chichester, West Sussex

cup.columbia.edu

Copyright 2019 Columbia University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Atchison, Amy L., author. | Shames, Shauna Lani, author.

Title: Survive and resist : the definitive guide to dystopian politics / Amy L. Atchison and Shauna L. Shames.

Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018058580 (print) | LCCN 2019006482 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231548069 (e-book) | ISBN 9780231188906 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231188913 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Dystopias in literature. | Authoritarianism in literature. | Politics and literature. | Fiction20th centuryHistory and criticism. | Fiction21st centuryHistory and criticism. | Dystopias. | Authoritarianism. | Popular culturePolitical aspects. | World politics21st century.

Classification: LCC PN56.D94 (ebook) | LCC PN56.D94 A73 2019 (print) | DDC 809.3/9372dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058580

A Columbia University Press E-book.

CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at .

Cover image plainpicture/Cultura

Shauna: In memory of Rebecca Faery, who first inspired me to love dystopian fiction

Amy: For my dad, who watched World News Tonight with me every night and taught me why it matters

Contents

T he authors gratefully acknowledge input and assistance from Lisa Alston, Jane Atchison, Dawn Bartusch, Phil Carbo, Caelyn Cobb, Chelsea Coccia, Anna and Susannah Ettin, Johanna Ettin, Kim Fields, Steve Gowler, Marc Grossman, Carter Hanson, Richard Harris, Cathy Jenkins, Annalisa Klein, Julia Kudler and the other Vaughn-Kudlers, Howard and Susan Levinson, James Loxton, Jane Mansbridge, Nicole Niemi, James Old, Kathryn Owens, George Pati, Jennifer Piscopo, Beth Rabinowitz, Richard and Karilee Shames, Gabriel Shames, Gigi Shames, Robert Sheppard, Jim Spencer, Miranda Stafford, Daniel Tague, Sue Thomas, Louise Tindell, Andrea Tivig, Shelby and Chris Topping, Vanessa Williamson, Christina Xydias, and Rebecca Yowler. We would also like to thank several anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments, our classes at Valparaiso University and Rutgers UniversityCamden, and the Valparaiso University Faculty Writing Circle. The authors would also like to thank each other; author listing is alphabetical.

Are you:

• Wondering if your government is inching (or hurtling) toward dystopia?
• Interested in the concept of dystopian government but lacking the time to read the hundreds of excellent works in this ever-growing genre? Wanting to connect them to real-life examples?
• Pondering that eternal question of human existence, how in the world can we create a government for ourselves that is neither totalitarian nor useless?

This book is for you.

We are two feminist political scientists who have a passion for democracy, good public policy, and horribly depressing visions of the future. Let us guide you through some of our favorites, tying them to real-life examples and pointing out key patterns and trends.

Dystopian government happens all the time, in both fact and fiction, and it has all kinds of recognizable hallmarks and major weaknesses that you should know about. Some of these examples are truly terrible, but there are also some useful examples of resistance that are important and uplifting. These are what give us hope for the future of democracy and, well, the human race.

Ultimately, this is our message to you: Be not afraid.

Maybe that is overstated. Okay, be a little afraid. This is not a normal moment in modern history or politics. Right-wing populists are gaining strength in the United States and Europe, and left-wing populists have done fairly well in Latin America. Both have done a lot of pandering to peoples worst instincts to stir up fear, hatred, and resentment. But dont let the fear overwhelm you. Worse threats than this have been faced down and overcome, and the human spirit has a way of shining through in the darkest moments.

The resistance has already started. All over the world, regular citizens are standing up for the basics of democracy, like free speech, freedom of religion, rule of law, the right to vote, and checks and balances. Their strength gives us courage for the battle ahead.

I ts no coincidence that two dystopian classicsGeorge Orwells 1984 and Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale shot to the top of best-seller lists in the wake of the 2016 pro-Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Novels, like other art forms, can help people make sense of the world around them. In this case, it is political fiction helping readers parse the political world, with frightening futuristic visions serving to amplify, explain, or warn us about current trends. The government that controls Oceania in Orwells 1984 is a Stalinesque communist nightmare centered in what was formerly London, England. The Party, led by the dictatorial Big Brother, keeps its members under control through constant surveillance and intensive language and thought policing. In Atwoods The Handmaids Tale , the Republic of Gilead is a theocratic (religion-based) totalitarian government that controls the Northeast of the former United States; it parcels out its most precious resourcesfertile womenamong powerful men for purposes of enforced reproduction.

Key themes link Orwells and Atwoods otherwise quite different visions of totalitarian government, including surveillance, fear, hierarchy, rules about sex and reproduction, violent repression, and a deep concern with language and its connection to thought control. This is also not a coincidence; these are some of what we will later discuss as hallmarks of dystopian government. A good dictator, if he or she knows whats what, will be concerned with all of these. And those who might want to resist such governance should also know and understand key concepts about dystopian government.

Democratic self-governance is difficult, tedious, easily corrupted, and prone to failure. History is littered with failed democracies (ancient Greece, Rome, multiple Italian city-states, current abortive attempts at democracy in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Russia and the list goes on). As Aristotle noted more than two millennia ago, democracies often devolve into dictatorships, which can then be overthrown in favor of democracies, and so on; political scientists refer to this as regime cycling.

Since Aristotles time, many political theorists and philosophers have helped us clarify the negatives of both tyranny and mob rule and tried to form political philosophies that would strike a balance. No government, they have concluded, is perfectbut even so, some government is better than no government at all. In these sentiments, political theorists are joined by writers of dystopian fiction, who delight in pointing out the myriad problems both with the presence of government and with its absence (the pure state of nature). It is a paradox: we need government, but it often sucks. Democracy, however, can be seen as an attempt at stopping dystopia.