Dubai: Authoritarian policies of US President Donald Trump will turn the world upside down, said the legendary British radio presenter and novelist James Naughtie as he presented the Orwell Lecture at the Emirates Literature Festival on Saturday.
Addressing a packed hall in his trademark tone laced with wit and sarcasm, Naughtie pointed out the grave danger the likes of Trump present to liberal thinking and democratic values.
“The kind of change or challenge to the system that Donald Trump promises is likely to bring the world upside down. He presents a challenge to liberal thinking and our values need to be defended,” said Naughtie, who is the author of several bestsellers including ‘The Rivals’ and the ‘The Accidental American: Tony Blair and The Presidency.’
Referring to Trump’s continued battle with certain sections of American media, which he calls ‘fake news,’ Naughtie said that “for journalists this is the best of times and the worst of times. The best times, of course, because the world is in turmoil and you don’t know what to expect. It is the worst of times because the journalists are targeted, locked up and even killed for doing their jobs.”
Naughtie, who has covered every British and American election for BBC Radio for more than two decades, said that freedom of speech has never been under greater threat in America.
“The President of the United States, elected to preserve, protect and defend the constitution that guarantees freedom of speech, decides what is fake news and what isn’t, when he is logged in to twitter account. Never has an American journalist been subjected to this. Because this is happening in the world’s most powerful democracy, this matters to everyone,” said Naughtie, referring to Trump’s tweets criticising certain sections of media as well as the barring of some reporters from the White House.
Lashing out against the Trump’s attitude towards opposition and his attempt to project any objection to his policies as anti-national, he said that the opinions that are expressed in the major newspapers “are not pretending to be news. They are neither fake nor true, they are attitudes which are described and stated with passion, inviting you to make up your own mind. If the President of the United States thinks that’s a bad thing then I am not sure where we are.”
Naughtie added that at the heart of the argument are the fundamental values of democracy and the relationship between individuals and the state that go far beyond the Western ways.
“In the universal declaration of human rights, there are values that need to be defended wherever you are and that should be our goal. People should have the freedom to speak, to report and discuss what is reported. That is what humanity tells us, history teaches us and [George] Orwell has reminded us through his searing pieces,” said Naughtie, pointing out that Orwell’s classic masterpiece ‘1984’ shows that the totalitarian system can never work.
The Orwell lecture is an annual event that celebrates the memory of 20th century British author George Orwell, acclaimed for his political satires ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm.’
Naughtie said that Orwell holds a very special place in the English literature of the latter part of the 20th century, speaking the truth and doing it in remarkably compressed and wonderfully clear English, which is one of his great legacies.
Hailing the Emirates Literature Festival for providing a platform for freedom of speech, he said: “It is wonderful to see the meeting of minds and people enjoying freedom to discuss ideas in fiction and non-fiction, which is the essence of individual freedom, wherever you live.”
