"Four legs good, two legs better"

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Clover (a mule) and Benjamin (a donkey) stare suspiciously at the slogan, painted haphazardly in white on the walls of the barn. In their memories, the directive did not mention a "but...".

Despite that, after a few moments, they brush aside their concerns. After all, they do trust their leader.

This is a scene from George Orwell's classic novel Animal Farm which, yesterday, celebrated the 75th anniversary of its publication.

The book tells the story of a group of farmyard animals that overthrow their human master and replace him with a collective leadership of pigs. At first, the pigs promise they will create a new society where every animal is rewarded equally for their hard work.

However, the pigs soon begin to forget their pledge and a life of brutal repression returns to the farm. By the end of the story, lead pig NapoleonThe French military commander and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. is indistinguishable from his human predecessors.

When Orwell wrote Animal Farm in the 1940s, he was thinking about real-life events in Russia. Snowball, the original architect of the anti-human uprising, is moulded on TrotskyA Russian revolutionary, politician, and communist. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1929 following the rise of Joseph Stalin.. His challenger, the totalitarianWhen a political system or leader requires complete subservience to the state. In a totalitarian system, people are not allowed to express their own opinions. Napoleon, represents the dictator StalinJoseph Stalin was the president of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953. He transformed the country from a peasant society into an industrial superpower. However, he was a brutal leader and millions of his own citizens died during his leadership..

It has been a long time since Stalin ruled over Russia. But, for some commentators today, the scenes described in Animal Farm remain strangely familiar.

American journalist Jonathan Russo believes the book "perfectly describes life in the era of Donald Trump". He argues that the way the pigs maintain control of the farm is eerily similar to the way that Trump maintains his power today.

Trump, like the pigs, is fond of a feel-good slogan. It is easy to imagine his catchphrase - "Make America Great Again" - scrawled alongside "four legs good, two legs bad" on the side of the barn.

And just as the pigs created imaginary threats to ensure loyalty in the farmyard, Trump is not afraid of warning Americans of the dangers he says they face without him - from "Mexican criminals" to "nasty" Kamala HarrisUS Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's running mate. If elected, she will be the first female vice president of the USA..

Orwell even appeared to anticipate the phenomenon of fake news. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary who used "alternative factsThe phrase was coined by Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, who said Spicer's statement about the inauguration crowd was not false, but rather "alternative facts"." to falsely inflate the size of the crowd at the president's inauguration, is reminiscent of Squealer, Napoleon's "spokespig" and the farm's minister of propaganda.

It is not just in the US that people are making the connection to Animal Farm.

For citizens of Belarus, fake news is a familiar story. After elections on 9 August, authorities proclaimed President Lukashenko had won 80% of the vote. Outside observers say the poll is a shamA thing that is not what it is stated to be..

Moreover, just as Snowball was chased out of the farm by Napoleon's attack dogs, opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was forced to flee to Lithuania for her own safety.

And, in South Africa, after armed forces officials were caught smoking - despite local lockdown laws banning the sale of tobacco - #animalfarm has become a rallying cry for those who believe the country is overrun by corruption.

So, is Animal Farm still relevant today?

Yes say some. It may be 75-years-old, but Animal Farm remains one of the most brilliant analyses of unchecked political power. Orwell anticipated some of the most defining phenomena of the 21st-Century political arena: fake news, misdirection, and authoritarian rule. It is no surprise that people all around the world are turning to his book for guidance.

Orwell was not a fortune teller, say others. If you search hard enough, anything could be relevant. Animal Farm was written about the horrors of life in Russian gulagsForced labour camps established by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, housing both small-time criminals and political prisoners. in the early 1900s, not about 21st-Century USA, Belarus, or South Africa. It is meaningless to use one book to compare three such vastly different countries on three different continents.