00:00 Outlook brings to you excerpts from its latest issue titled Cinema Politico.
00:06 The issue explores politics and cinema and the ever-blurring lines between the two.
00:12 Ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a slew of propaganda movies have hit the big screen and OTT platforms amid much criticism and approach,
00:22 while many more films are slated to release in the coming weeks, stirring even a bigger debate.
00:28 The latest issue of Outlook looks at the genre of nationalist and propaganda films in the Indian context
00:35 and also continues with the exploration of the ideology question in the context of upcoming general elections.
00:42 Both themes are contextual and linked in many ways.
00:47 Ideology by Dilip Simian, a public intellectual and scholar of history of labour.
00:53 He explores how public opinion will never be devoid of ideology by recalling certain historical events,
01:01 locating the presence of ideology in them and in the way they are understood.
01:06 Waiting. Are we in a post-ideological age? No, we are submerged in it.
01:14 The term post-truth is merely an example of the impact of ideology on our speech habits.
01:21 What does it mean? We can approach the meaning of the term ideology by recalling certain historical events,
01:28 locating the presence of ideology in them and in the way they are understood.
01:34 But we need to be cautious. The self-image and justifications of rulers across the world are certainly weakening.
01:43 Their proclamations carry less conviction.
01:46 We could call this ideological implosion, a phenomenon indicated by names such as the USSR, Brexit, Zionism and MAGA.
01:57 Establishments are grappling with self-made crisis.
02:02 This does not signify the end of ideology.
02:05 It shows us that faced with political disintegration, rulers are ramping up hateful and militarist propaganda.
02:14 Now, ideologies which celebrate violence can unleash a reckless momentum that can be very dangerous.
02:22 I call this tendency nihilist because the term has the same root as annihilation.
02:29 Turning points. On 20th June 1791, France's monarchs attempted to flee from Paris towards the German border.
02:38 They were recognized and arrested at the village of Venice, not far from their destination.
02:45 The crucial factor was the slow movement of their coach, heavy with the Queen's possessions.
02:52 Their arrest ended the chances of a limited monarchy and strengthened the proponents of republicanism.
02:59 It also led eventually to their execution.
03:03 On November 7, 1917, the Bolshevik Party seized power in Russia in the name of the working class.
03:12 Soon after, 44 million Russians voted for a Constituent Assembly, a long-awaited milestone for Russian democracy.
03:21 But the results did not give Lenin's party a dominant position.
03:26 When it met on January 5, 1918, the members refused Lenin's demand that they limit their own power.
03:34 On January 6, the Assembly was forcibly dissolved, thus ending the possibilities of a moderate turn in Russian history and igniting a bloody civil war.
03:47 The whole affair was an ideological contest about the legitimate representation of Russian workers and the Russian people.
03:55 people.
03:56 For this and more, read the latest issue of Outlook.
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