1984: Torture

Saturday 4 July 5-6pm, Trafalgar Studios

Clare Algar | Glen Newey | Chaired by Jean Seaton

We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

The interrogation scene at the end of 1984 is a chilling lesson in torture, its effect on the one being tortured, and its effect on the one doing the torturing. 60 years after Orwell wrote 1984 in the aftermath of the Second World War, torture is again at the forefront at the news agenda. Why does an individual, and why does a state, turn to torture? Can it ever be justified? How surprising is it that in 2009, it is still being conducted, and will it continue? And what else in Orwell’s work – notably his concern with the misuse of language – is relevant?

Clare Algar is the Executive Director of Reprieve, which represents prisoners facing execution at the hands of the state both within the conventional criminal justice system and those being tried outside of it. After studying law at Cambridge University and St. Mary’s College, London, Clare worked with the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center for 9 months, where she gathered evidence in support of a suit against the State of Mississippi, requiring it to provide legal representation for those on its death row. She then worked for a commercial law firm before joining Reprieve.

Glen Newey is Professor of Politics and International Relations at Keele University. He is currently conducting a research project, ‘Toleration, Terror and Security’ at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. His main research interests are in political philosophy, and how the preconditions of politics relate to ethical demands. He has contributed a number of articles to the London Review of Books, including a review of three books dealing with torture (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n02/newe01_.html).

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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