Similarities Between Big Brother And The Party

Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, usually shortened to Mobutu Sese Seko or just Mobutu, ruled what is now Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997. Although the atrocities Mobutu committed as dictator are real, one can draw several comparisons to the fictional rule of Big Brother and the Party in Nineteen Eighty-Four’s Oceania.
Firstly, both leaders secured power by obliterating all references to the past. As the old Party slogan goes, “Who controls the past goes the future; who controls the present controls the past.” In the novel, this slogan manifests in the form of renaming Britain to Airstrip One, destroying cultural buildings and sites, and having an entire government ministry – the Ministry of Truth, or minitrue – dedicated to altering records of the past to reflect Party
Posters bearing the likeness of Big Brother, or B.B., and the slogan “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” were ubiquitous in Oceania. Even more disturbingly, the Two Minutes’ Hate, a daily orgiastic ritual of controlled rage, typically concluded with the audience chanting his initials as his image ‘saves’ the viewers from the foreign enemy and the heresy of Emmanuel Goldstein. Likewise, Zairean news broadcasts often began with an image of Mobutu “descending through clouds like a god descending from the heavens.” His portrait adorned many public places, including the lapel pins of government officials. Titles included "Father of the Nation", "Messiah", "Guide of the Revolution", "Helmsman", "Founder", "Savior of the People", and "Supreme Combatant". In fact, even his chosen African name expressed dominance: “The all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake." Mobutu was always seen in his national costume: a grey abacost adorned with medals, thick glasses, and a