1984: Thoughtcrime

Saturday 27 June 5-6pm, Trafalgar Studios

Maajid Nawaz | Chaired by Jean Seaton

Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference. Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed -- would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper -- the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed for ever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.

Thoughtcrime – crimethink in Newspeak – is one of the most terrifying of Orwell’s conceits in 1984, where even thinking in opposition to the regime is a treacherous offence. 60 years after the novel was written, and 25 years after the year in which it was set, is thoughtcrime a reality? Are there certain thoughts and beliefs which should be punished? How should society deal with those who thoughts go beyond accepted political and social norms? And what does it feel like to think the unthinkable, controversial and uncomfortable?

Maajid Nawaz is the Director and co-founder of Quilliam, the world’s first counter-extremism think tank. Maajid was formerly on the UK national leadership for the global Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir and was involved in the organisation for 14 years. He was a founding member of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Denmark and Pakistan before being imprisoned in Egypt for belonging to the group. In prison, he was adopted as an Amnesty International ‘prisoner of conscience’ and began to change his views. He now engages in counter-Islamist thought-generating, writing, debating and media appearances, and holds degrees from the LSE and SOAS.

Jean Seaton (Chair) is Director of the Orwell Prize and reports co-editor of Political Quarterly. She is Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster, and has written on the history and role of the media in politics, wars, revolutions, religion and childhood. Her books include Power Without Responsibility: the Press and Broadcasting in Britain (with James Curran), Carnage and the Media: the Making and Reporting of News about Violence, and What Can Be Done? Making the Media and Politics Better (with John Lloyd). She is working on the Official History of the BBC between 1974-1987.

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