RECANT!!
On Silencing the Truth
michael lee
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth | Madhouse
The thing you oppose isn’t me.
Nor is it heretics.
It is truth itself.
It spreads like an epidemic.
Not even the host can control it.
It’s not the sort of thing that can be tamed by any organization.
In Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, the young Rafal is taken by the beauty of the theory of heliocentrism. In 15th Century Europe, to go against the Catholic Church’s teachings—and here in particular to go against the belief that the Earth was the center of the universe—was considered heresy. Rafal can’t quell his curiosity. He wants to prove the validity of heliocentric theory, he wants the truth about the universe to be revealed so that folks no longer have to live in fear of God and the teachings of the Church. Rafal sees his seeking of the truth—and the sacrifice he is willing to make in seeking that truth—as an act of love, done to inspire curious minds everywhere, for people he hasn’t met, and will never meet. An act of love born out of his humanity. He wants people to see the same beauty in the natural world that he does. Rafal comes up against the Polish Inquisition who are waging a grotesquely violent war against those they deem to be heretics. Intimidation, torture, murder in the name of God to silence dissenters. The Church’s word is absolute, and any narrative counter to that is heresy which must be recanted.
While the context and framework may be slightly different, the parallel is certainly there, if we think about the current media landscape and the genocide in Gaza.
That we can even draw comparisons to the barbaric campaign against scientific truth by the Catholic Church in the fucking 15th Century is unreal in and of itself, but here we are. History really is doomed to repeat itself.
As the genocide in Gaza passes the one year mark, with hundreds of thousands of lives snuffed out, the unrelenting terror campaign continues against the Palestinian people, who are being crushed literally and figuratively under the weight of Israeli apartheid. War crimes are a constant. International laws are broken daily. Not long ago, documentation of genocide and torture reaching the public would lead to the western world acting swiftly to stop the slaughter (or at least deploying some kind of diplomacy, though the effectiveness of said diplomacy might be lacking). Yet to speak out against the aggressors here, by pushing for the truth to be seen by the world, one commits an act of heresy against Israel and the larger hegemony of the western world and its insatiable military industrial complex. Why is the narrative like this?
You hear it in the dialogue of Nowak, the Inquisitor assigned to tail Rafal in Orb, that this is all about maintaining power, and keeping those who challenge that power subjugated. He engages in small talk with someone deemed to be a heretic. The man has a son, and Nowak has a daughter. “Love for my child has become my reason to live. I don’t want her to suffer. So any research that will disrupt that peace can’t be overlooked… There’s nothing I won’t do.” He doesn’t want his daughter to suffer some kind of imagined hardship, for her to lose her position of power Nowak seems to think she is entitled to, so he inflicts suffering on someone else, he inflicts suffering on the man’s young son who walks in as his father is being tortured. How will this boy view the Church if this is what it has done to his father? How will orphaned Gazan children view the state of Israel that has murdered their parents?
The International Federation of Journalists estimates that at least 140 journalists have been killed since October 7. Keep Hassan Hamad, Ismail Al-Ghoul, Hadi Al-Sayed in your thoughts.
Murder.
Murdered for wanting to spread the truth, and to expose the lies shielding a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing and colonial expansion. These brave folks are the same as Rafal in Orb. They have the knowledge, they have the truth, and yet, somehow, they are the ones being persecuted, being murdered. They are the heathens who must recant or be sent to the afterlife. Because the truth they would reveal would take Israel’s power.
When journalists are killed, it is a big deal. It is something that is usually condemned internationally. And yet western journalists can’t even acknowledge that their foreign colleagues—those who bravely put on the press vest to bring to light the horrific crimes being committed—are being targeted because they seek to reveal the truth. Western journalists are told to read from the aggressor’s playbook, lest they want to be without a job. Again, it is power that is at play. Write what we tell you, report what we tell you, or it will be your livelihood at stake.
Intimidation.
Rafal’s teacher Potocki is questioned about students who might be heretics, implying his association with these undesirable types could land him in trouble, seeing as he had once been charged with heresy himself in the past. Don’t cover for someone who believes in heliocentrism or we will have to execute you. Potocki is rattled, he recants reflexively in front of Nowak. Now say the line. “Israel has a right to defend itself.” That’s a good boy. Keep that up.
This is no different than when a Palestine-sympathizing guest is given time on a news program for an interview or panel discussion. “Do you condemn Hamas? Yes, yes, it’s all tragic, but do you condemn Hamas?” Recanting is not up for debate. It is required.
Look at the backlash that Chappell Roan, Ta-Nehisi Coates, or Javier Bardem have seen for taking a stand against genocide. They’ve been metaphorically flagellated for it. Burned at the mainstream media stake. For daring to humanize the other, one is seen as heretical. What kind of barbaric logic is that? Those in power see Palestinian and Lebanese (and Syrian and Yemeni) lives as less than, and to think otherwise is utterly unimaginable to them. How could you think that way? You too must be an unperson. And if you aren’t an unperson yet, we’re going to make you one!
What becomes clear in both the world of Orb, and our own world, is that those in power, or those who cling to power, become deranged by their relationship to power, and how they view those they see as sub-human. As Rafal awaits his trial in a jail cell, Nowak pays him a visit to try to “reason” with the kid. Take the plea, recant… otherwise… it’s here that Nowak begins to describe what he will do to Rafal using his favorite tool, the pear of anguish. “Four turns will split your cheeks open, you won’t be able to talk for a year” he explains to the young lad. He gleefully tells Rafal that this world is full of tools designed to inflict pain. A man who thinks he is on the right side of history, on the side of benevolent God himself, is explaining how he will forcibly rip someone’s cheeks apart to silence the truth.
Torture.
The UN Convention Against Torture was adopted in 1984, stating that all members of the human family have certain unalienable rights that make up the foundation for freedom, justice and peace in the world. And that committing acts of torture against people is an unjust denial of those rights. The UN has published reports of the torture and abuse sustained by Palestinians at the hands of the IDF, including mass rape (something Zionists are quick to accuse Palestinians of doing). In previous cases where torture and prisoner abuse came to light, the reaction was immediate condemnation. The soldiers responsible for what occurred at Abu Ghraib in 2003 were court martialed, sentenced to jail time, and dishonorably discharged from service. It made international news, and people were aghast. The same level of torture and mistreatment is happening right now, and yet not a peep. Instead, we have Knesset members saying that it should be legal for IDF soldiers to rape and torture enemy combatants. This is deranged.
What’s happening here relates to Gramsci’s writing on hegemony, and the way in which cultural forces are deployed by the ruling class—in conjunction with the physical violence of the state—to force or coerce consent to allow the ruling class to keep doing what they are doing. You see this in the wording of headlines describing the atrocities in Gaza. Palestinians “die”. Israelis are “killed”. IDF Soldiers become “teenagers” when a Hezbollah drone strikes their military base. Palestinian toddlers become “young men & ladies” when murdered by IDF soldiers. Major news networks spew Zionist talking points as part of maintaining cultural hegemony. Manufacturing consent by force feeding us this twisted narrative.
But. As Rafal says to Nowak, “the truth spreads like an epidemic.” And nowhere is there a more clear cut example of this than the genocide in Gaza. Once the truth gets out it cannot be contained. Especially in this age of social media. Cultural hegemony struggles against the immediacy of information available through social media channels. I have seen more videos of blown up children, grandparents flattened under rubble, and patients burned alive in hospitals, than I have ever wanted to see. But I don’t look away. That is the truth of what is happening in Gaza. I must be a witness to it.
If cultural hegemony can no longer be maintained by the ruling class, the physical force deployed by the state may become more violent to compensate, in a desperate attempt to hold onto power. We see Netanyahu doing this, flailing more each day, warning that he will be forced to kill UN peacekeepers if they don’t move out of his way in Lebanon. Openly declaring that he will starve the people of North Gaza. Bombing civilian targets. Threatening Iran. These are the death throes of a failed state.
Just as heliocentrism could not be denied in the Medieval Period, the truth of what is happening in Gaza cannot be denied now.
In the third episode of Orb, the end of the first story arc, Rafal is put before a Church tribunal to recant his belief in heliocentrism. He is told that he will be treated with leniency if he does so. He will be allowed to go to university, study theology, and become a respected member of society. All he must do is recant.
He tears up his university acceptance letter, and declares that he will not renounce his belief in heliocentrism.
Nowak is flabbergasted.
“Do you think this stance you’re taking is the right answer for your future?”
“It is not. But even a wrong answer is not meaningless.”
“So you intend to die?”
“I guess.”
Rafal commits suicide before he can be burned at the stake, a brave final showing of disrespect to the Church not allowing them to exact their twisted sense of justice on him. Through his sacrifice, Rafal wants to be an inspiration to others to carry on his work on heliocentrism. To not fear the Church. To pursue something beautiful.
One can’t help but think of Aaron Bushnell, the Air Force serviceman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC in February of this year. Was his stance the right answer for his future? No. He knew his actions would result in death. Rafal knew that not recanting would result in death. But like Rafal, Bushnell’s “wrong” answer is not meaningless. His sacrifice was not in vain, it continues to inspire people to speak out against the injustices being committed by the state of Israel.
That an anime about barbaric Inquisitions and heliocentrism in 15th Century Europe would have the most to say about our current state of affairs was not on my list for 2024, but here we are.
Watch Orb.
Free Palestine.
Michael Lee is the Editor of KOSATEN, and writes in other places as well. His work looks at video games, anime, and Japanese fandom, with a particular focus on doujinshi and other fan-created media.
