Most of us are familiar with ‘The Great Dictator’ a classic movie starring the legendary Charlie Chaplin made in the year 1940. It was a statement regarding those times, a visionary satire on the unfolding events, which managed to etch itself indelibly in world history. The film per se, may be nearly 70 years old but remains as relevant today as it was then.
It was recently that I came across the full text version of the speech given by the barber (Charlie) who was mistaken for the tyrannical dictator, in the movie. I was surprised by the magnanimity of the speech, which perhaps had not dawned on me when I had seen the movie during my college days’ years ago. Every word and line seemed to stand out from the speech. The protagonists may have changed, but characters like that of the barber, in the film, will be forever adored. People who personify sanity and can stand up to deliver
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This will ensure that democracy will live and prosper. Dictators and those others, who choose to rule not through love, compassion and understanding, will face subjugation if democratic means are upheld. Violence can get the better of some people for all time and all people for sometime but not all people for all time. Those who make false promises and instigate innocent people to serve their own selfish interests cannot win in the long term. Dictatorship supresses while democracy nurtures, so in the interest of the world at large it is our duty to uphold democratic values. One of the key elements for promoting such democratic thoughts and process is through education. The world needs to address not only global economic poverty but also poverty of reason and education.
The barber raises his voice and tries to make himself heard to as many people as possible. He states that the phase is temporary and will pass just as all bad things pass away. He tries to bring optimism among the