Oceania

Oceania is composed of the Americas, Britain (called "Airstrip One"), Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa below the River Congo. It also controls—to different degrees and at various times during the course of its eternal war with either Eurasia or Eastasia—the polar regions, India, Indonesia and the islands of the Pacific. Emmanuel Goldstein, Oceania’s declared Public Enemy Number One, describes it in //The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism// as resulting from the merging of the British Empire and the United States. Goldstein's book also states that Oceania's primary natural defense is the sea surrounding it. This may be the reason why the Party highlights the Floating Fortresses. Oceania lacks a single capital city, although what could be seen as regional capitals, such as London and apparently New York City, are in place. The ruling doctrine of Oceania is **Ingsoc**, the Newspeak term for English Socialism, which is ultimately devoted to the naked exercise of power. Its nominal leader is Big Brother, who is believed by the masses to have been the leader of the revolution and is still used as a figurehead by the party, but may now be dead, or may have never existed. The personality cult is maintained through Big Brother's function as a focal point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions that are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organization. The unofficial language of Oceania is English (officially Oldspeak) and the official language is Newspeak. The restructuring of the language is intended to eliminate even the possibility of unorthodox political and social thought, by eliminating the words needed to express it.
 * Ingsoc** gained control of the United Kingdom, the Irish Free State, the British Commonwealth, and the Americas, in an historically-short period (some 30 years, although it is entirely possible that more time has passed and the Party has covered over this fact as well) is not established. In his book, Goldstein (although this is only a nom-de-plume) says that Oceania was created “with the absorption of . . . the British Empire by the United States”. However, as Goldstein's book was actually created by the Party, it may be subject to the same historical revisionism as the Party's propaganda, and so a highly unreliable source of information for every person living in Oceania

Airstrip One is on the edge of Oceania's border with Eurasia. It is located in what had been called England or Britain. Britain is a province within the superpower Oceania that roughly corresponds to the modern day continents of Americas, Southern Africa, and Oceania (as explained in chapter 3 of Goldstein's Book).
 * Airstrip One **

The "disputed area", which lies "between the frontiers of the super-states", is "a rough quadrilateral with its corners at Tangier, Brazzaville, Darwin, and Hong Kong." This area is fought over during the perpetual war between the three great powers, with one power sometimes exerting control over vast swaths of the disputed territory, only to lose it again the next time the alliances switch. Control of the islands in the Pacific and the Polar Regions is also constantly shifting, though none of the three superpowers ever gains a lasting hold on these regions. The inhabitants of the area, having no allegiance to any nation, live in a constant state of slavery under whichever power controls them at that time. At any given time, two of the three states are aligned against the third; however, as Goldstein's book points out, each Superstate is so powerful that even an alliance of the other two cannot destroy it, resulting in a continuing stalemate. From time to time, one of the states betrays its ally and sides with its former enemy. In Oceania, when this occurs, the Ministry of Truth rewrites history to make it appear that the current state of affairs is the way it has always been, a perfect example of doublethink. Goldstein's book states that the war is not a war in the traditional sense, but simply exists to use up resources and keep the population in line. Victory for any side is not attainable or even desirable, but the Inner Party, through an act of doublethink, believes that such victory is in fact possible. Although the war began with the limited use of atomic weapons in a limited atomic war in the 1950s, none of the combatants use them any longer for fear of upsetting the balance of power. Relatively few technological advances have been made.
 * Disputed area **
 * [[image:BB2.jpg align="left"]]International relations **

In London, the Airstrip One capital city, Oceania's four government ministries are in pyramids (300 meters high), the façades of which display the Party's three slogans. The ministries' names are antonymous doublethink to their true functions: "The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation". (Part II, Chapter IX — The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism)
 * Ministries of Oceania **

// Ministry of Peace (Newspeak: Minipax) reports Oceania's perpetual war. // The primary aim of modern warfare (in accordance with the principles of doublethink, this aim is simultaneously recognized and not recognized by the directing brains of the Inner Party) is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living. Ever since the end of the nineteenth century, the problem of what to do with the surplus of consumption goods has been latent in industrial society. At present, when few human beings even have enough to eat, this problem is obviously not urgent, and it might not have become so, even if no artificial processes of destruction had been at work.

// Ministry of Plenty (Newspeak: Miniplenty) // The Ministry of Plenty rations and controls food, goods, and domestic production; every fiscal quarter, the Miniplenty publishes false claims of having raised the standard of living, when it has, in fact, reduced rations, availability, and production. The Minitrue substantiates the Miniplenty claims by revising historical records to report numbers supporting the current, "increased rations".

// Ministry of Truth (Newspeak: Minitrue) // The Ministry of Truth controls information: news, entertainment, education, and the arts. Winston Smith works in the Minitrue RecDep (Records Department), "rectifying" historical records to concord with Big Brother's current pronouncements, thus everything the Party says is true.

// Ministry of Love (Newspeak: Miniluv) // The Ministry of Love identifies, monitors, arrests, and converts real and imagined dissidents. In Winston's experience, the dissident is beaten and tortured, then, when near-broken, is sent to Room 101 to face "the worst thing in the world"—until love for Big Brother and the Party replaces dissension.


 * Doublethink **

The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. However, it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink. Doublethink is the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.


 * The War **

There is a perpetual war between Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, the super-states that emerged from the atomic global war. "The book" explains that each state is so strong it cannot be defeated, even with the combined forces of two super-states—despite changing alliances. To hide such contradictions, history is re-written to explain that the (new) alliance always was so; the populaces accustomed to doublethink accept it. The war is not fought in Oceania, Eurasian, or Eastasian territory but in the arctic wastes and a disputed zone comprising the sea and land from Tangiers (northern Africa) to Darwin (Australia). At the start, Oceania and Eastasia are allies combating Eurasia in northern Africa.

That alliance ends and Oceania allied with Eurasia fights Eastasia, a change that occurred during the Hate Week dedicated to creating patriotic fervor for the Party's perpetual war. The public are blind to the change; in mid-sentence, an orator changes the name of the enemy from "Eurasia" to "Eastasia" without pause. When the public are enraged at noticing that the wrong flags and posters are displayed they tear them down—thus the origin of the idiom "We've always been at war with Eastasia"; later the Party claims to have captured Africa.

"The book" explains that the purpose of the unwinnable, perpetual war is to consume human labor and commodities; hence, the economy of a super-state cannot support economic equality (a high standard of life) for every citizen. Goldstein also details an Oceania strategy of attacking enemy cities with atomic rockets before invasion, yet dismisses it as unfeasible and contrary to the war's purpose; despite the atomic bombing of cities in the 1950s the super-states stopped such warfare lest it imbalance the powers.




 * Living standards **

The society of Oceania is sharply stratified into three groups, the small power-seeking and government controlling Inner Party, the more numerous and highly indoctrinated Outer Party, and the large body of politically meaningless and mindless Proles. Except for certain rare exceptions like Hate Week, the proles remain essentially outside Oceania's political control.

The society of Airstrip One lives in poverty; hunger, disease, and filth are the norms and ruined cities and towns the consequence of the civil war, the atomic wars, and enemy rockets. When travelling about London rubble, social decay and wrecked buildings surround Winston Smith; other than the ministerial pyramids, little of London was rebuilt.

The standard of living of the populace is low; almost everything, especially consumer goods, is scarce and available goods are of low quality; half of the Oceania populace goes barefoot—despite the Party reporting increased boot production. The Party defends the poverty as a necessary sacrifice for the war effort; "the book" reports that partly correct, because the purpose of perpetual war is consuming surplus industrial production.

The Inner Party upper class of Oceania society enjoys the highest standard of living. The antagonist O'Brien, resides in a clean and comfortable apartment, with a pantry well stocked with quality foodstuffs (wine, coffee, sugar, etc.), denied to the general populace, the Outer Party and the Proles, who consume synthetic foodstuffs; liquor, Victory Gin and cigarettes are of low quality. These were of low quality and often derided by the people who used them. The Inner Party is attended to by slaves captured in the disputed zone; Martin, O'Brien's manservant, is Asian.

Despite the Inner Party's high standard of living, the quality of their life is inferior to pre–Revolution standards. Regarding the lower class, the Party treats the Proles as animals—they live in poverty and are kept sedated with cheap beer and a national lottery. The Proles are freer than the members of the Party and are less intimidated than the middle class Outer Party; they jeer at the telescreens.

"The book" reports that the state of things derives from the observation that it is the middle class, not the lower class, which usually started revolutions, therefore tight control of the middle class penetrates their minds in determining their quotidian lives, and potential rebels are politically neutralized via promotion to the Inner Party; nonetheless Winston Smith believed that "the future belonged to the proles".



Welcome to Oceania Slide Show

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