Word: totalitarianisms
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Rushdie the polemicist, however, tends to dart about these surfaces, fluently gliding over complexities. The dictator the Sandinistas overthrew, he asserts, was a rapist and a castrator; therefore, to call the Sandinistas totalitarian is "obscene." Somehow, the syllogism does not quite scan. Even criticisms of the leadership the visitor takes to be compliments, signs not of dissent but of democracy in action...
...potential legal action, though, is all too predictable. The U.N. has always thrived on intimidation. UNESCO, it's "cultural" wing, has a long and ignominious tradition of ignoring democratic ideals in the face of intimidation by the U.N.'s totalitarian members. Now its just the U.N. doing the intimidating...
...totalitarian regime has its brutal side (storm troopers set farmhouses on fire and destroy exile camps to stifle dissent; a rebellious teen is caught and brainwashed). But for the most part, the melodrama is muted, the mood somber and contemplative, the complexities rich. A KGB colonel (Sam Neill) turns out to be one of the movie's most articulate and charming characters. And, despite the anti-Communist theme, the film is a subtle refutation of Reagan-era optimism. These Americans, after all, are not can-do patriots but meek, dispirited folks who simply want to get along. "Just surviving," says...
...most part, the folks were just normal. Given a choice between poverty, loneliness and fear in a democracy, and relative prosperity, family and safety in a totalitarian regime, the returning Soviets chose the latter. Like most human beings, they eschewed ideology and high ideals for a chance to enjoy life just a bit more than before...
...country's English-language newspapers were stunned by the severity of the new regulations. Declared the financial newspaper Business Day: "Government today unceremoniously dumps this country into the totalitarian camp." An editorial in the Pretoria News began with the comment, "Well, that's it," and concluded, "This is a desperate action by desperate people who demonstrate that they are unfit to govern." Said Cape Times Editor Tony Heard bluntly: "We are clearly on the road toward being a police state." Overseas, the reaction was almost uniformly critical. The U.S. denounced the South African action, as did most of its allies...