Power to the people, not the government, a panel of three Ventura College faculty members and administrators told about 30 people at the Oct. 18 screening of the film “1984.”

The film, based on George Orwell’s novel, was shown in the VC LRC reading room.

A panel discussion of the film and life under totalitarian regimes immediately followed the screening.

The panel included Dean Alex Miranda, Ph.D., Professor Simon Waltzer, and department chair Mayo de la Rocha. All panel members urged the audience to vote in this election, noting that there was no democracy in “1984.”

Waltzer said he is very leery that if Americans don’t exercise their right to vote, they could lose our freedom and ability to vote.

Miranda, who lived under Operation Condor in Latin America, discussed his experiences growing up under a dictatorship. “It was beyond me to even think of democracy,” Miranda said. “At fourteen you were mandated to go to the army to serve your country for three years.”

He also told listeners that his country had a curfew and he served several stints in jail for breaking curfew. Although the film was extreme, he said, it did evoke a sense of the system he grew up under.

Miranda said that the film was chosen to help students “appreciate the notion of freedom.”

Two literary discussions of the novel will be held Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the LRC – one at 12:30 p.m. and one at 5:30 p.m. The discussions are free and open to everyone.