Omar Azam
1992
The "New Age" Illusion
When Brecht was writing his Galileo plays, the world was embroiled in the largest war of history. There was genocide being committed, there were atomic bombs annihilating whole cities; the powers in conflict all had different political ideologies: Hitler and totalitarianism, F.D.R. and capitalism, Stalin and communism.... This was, in effect, a showdown of world systems. Brecht personally believed that Marxism was the way to go, but he didn't live to see Russia collapse. What he did see, though, was WWII, a fight engineered and planned by the few and powerful, and fought by the masses of poor. And the forces that ruled were science, technology, and superior weaponry. The scienctific optimism of Galileo's time was lost forever to the fear of armageddon at the hands of scientists. The outlook was bleak; a "New Age" did not seem to be dawning.
Galileo's capitulation was the symbol and the epitome of science surrendering its integrity. The consequences that Brecht saw were Hiroshima, German concentration camp scientists, and extremely bloody battle. All this occurred during wartime, but probably the most telling consequence of Galileo's capitulation can be found during the peacetime. Peacetime is as ideal for subjugation of the masses as wartime, especially because it is not so expected; there is stability, and there are more resources. For example, the U.S.S.R. in the '80's was a very unfree, undemocratic society in which a wrong word could lead you to jail. It is too bad that Brecht never saw where the U.S.S.R. and communism wound up, because it was as authoritarian as a country could have gotten. What kept the U.S.S.R. in control of its people and its neighbors was a select ruling few, who were in control of all the new technology that their scientists were spewing out. WWII was just the beginning of an age of technological suppression of the masses. At present, the world is a game in which technology and authority are the mean's to domination, and ultimately, survival.
In the U.S. today, there also exists a subjugation of the masses; the poor are getting poorer, and the rich richer. The system, the staus quo, is one that believes in power, capital, and technology, so the demand for science is making it play a very large part in the U.S.'s destiny. In this country, we also have another variable: the middle class, the bourgoisie of Galileo's time. In Galileo's time, Brecht believed that they were the force that kept the ruling class in check, and stimulated the masses into action. In the U.S., the middle class has played a similar role, but in today's "winner-take-all" system, American society is becoming polarized, and if we don't watch out, there will be no middle class, just the upper and the lower.
The text of Galileo contains two characters whose ideologies can be compared to those of people and societies nowadays. Little monk believes in the nobility of the peasant and he, through individual accomplishment, has become a monk and a physicist. He points out the merit in authority, and that without it, people would never have the motivation to work. Similarly, Ludovico's capitalistic and greedy attitude toward society translates into the world's obsession with material goods nowadays. The new age that exists today is a realization of Ludovico's ideology; Little monk's romanticism is nowhere to be found.
Brecht acknowledges that the world is in bad shape, and that there seems to be more of a shadow looming in the future than a new age dawning. Brecht is optimistic, though. He hints at what might be, and what can be. For example, the carnival scene and its ramifications are not simply forgotten. In the midst of the Inquisition and oppression, the peasantry still finds the courage to dream about radical change, even if it is not a Marxist revolution. As a matter of fact Marxism and its stress on community could not easily be reconciled with "Obedience will never cure your woe/So each of you wake up and do just as he pleases!"
In the final scene, Andrea is a symbol of free education and scientific integrity that may yet be reborn. He talks with a level head to a rude boy, and tries to point out to him the scientific method. Furthermore, the flight of the Discorsi from Italy is suggestive of international cooperation in the face of brutal persecution.
But Brecht's final glimpse of the future balances all the hope of the past ones. The children of the last scene are the citizens of tomorrow, and their behavior can be counted on as a good indicator of what Brecht believes is the situation today. The idea that the boy who witnesses the truth with his own eyes can still be swayed by his emotion and his beliefs into rejecting it is a bleak prospect indeed. But perhaps this is only a scenario of the persecution that Brecht witnessed during the war, and not a judgement of mankind's inherent traits. There may still be hope for humankind, but the first step lies in taking back control of science, and giving back its integrity. Whether this is achieved by the masses, the middle class, or even the nobility is irrelevant, because the weapon of technology must somehow be dismantled before it is too late.
Copyright 2003 Omar Azam