Raoul Peck on today’s Orwellian world, language and democracy
The U.S. destroyed another boat in the South Caribbean, which the Trump administration alleges was engaged in drug trafficking. This is the fifth such strike since September, and Venezuela’s president has labeled this aggression. Are the strikes legal, and are both countries headed for war?Flock Safety operates more than 80,000 license plate readers across the U.S. In Texas, a sheriff’s deputy used them to find a woman who had self-administered an abortion. Filmmaker Raoul Peck is known for his unconventional biopics of people like James Baldwin and Patrice Lumumba. His latest documentary is about the writer George Orwell. “I was always suspect of the use of words, and Orwell as well,” Peck tells KCRW. “And he studied it, and he demonstrated how damaging it is. … For him, when language is being destroyed, you're basically destroying democracy. But … what I did not expect is that he would be so close to my own experience. I didn't expect that this film would have become so intimate, so organic to things that I went through in my life, and coming from … the third world. And I was really surprised that, in fact, he was not some cold British intellectual, writing on his desk and reminiscing about the world. No, he was somebody who took risks with his own life and wrote from his belly and heart and [in] a very sincere way.”The numbers 6 and 7 are taking Gen Alpha by storm. They’ve become a meme signifying nothing, yet sending middle schoolers into fits of laughter and driving math teachers nuts.Today's episode was produced by Brian Hardzinski, Angie Perrin, Robin Estrin, Jack Ross, Nihar Patel, and Zeke Reed.
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