Writer: Zaara Nayak
Over Winter Break, I spent the majority of my time reading 1984, which I found to be simultaneously inspiring and unsettling. Winston Smith’s civil disobedience combined with Julia’s tenacity made for a daunting yet reassuring novel. Together, they challenge a repressive, limiting government: a government with palimpsest books, photographs, dictionaries, and people. In order to do so, Winston and Julia attempt to break the rules set forth by the government, join what they think to be an anti-government alliance, and form an everlasting connection. Although they are unsuccessful in the entirety of their rebellion at the end of the novel, they make a significant dent in the system through their misbehavior and civil disobedience. Although normally used in reference to a government, civil disobedience can be pursued against other institutions as well. Historian Howard Zinn believes that "civil disobedience is not something outside the realm of democracy. Democracy requires civil disobedience. Without civil disobedience, democracy does not exist.” Now, of course the Utopian society within 1984 is nowhere near democratic; however, Zinn’s ideology can be applied to the democratically run US government. While there are a litany of issues important to Gen Z, one in particular has sparked popularity in the media over the past weeks: Covid-safe school policies. Students at Oakland, California challenged the lenient Covid-safe measures at their high school through digital petitions and by boycotting class. Additionally, students from twenty different schools in New York demanded a virtual school option through protests in the form of walkouts. Through this non-violent political pressure, these students in various parts of US have seen positive change as a result, whether it be minute or major. Gen Z’s civil disobedience sets forth an example of what can come out of passive resistance, emulating the obstinate determination of the protagonists in Orwell’s 1984.