The BASE

Heather Stroud’s fascinating novel The Base is a must read. Set in divided Cyprus, a four-generation extended family lived complicated lives through colonial upheavals and separation in diverse nations in the Middle East and Britain. You are immediately absorbed into the lives of all the characters and unable to stop following them till the very end. War and injustice create resistance which in turn results in more repression. Into this evolved military surveillance bases—high tech and impersonal are planted. The advance of modern technology has made it possible to track, create profiles and direct killing remotely such as in the case of Gaza. It is Big Brother is watching you and killing you through remote surveillance… War technology could be neutral, but the controllers are not. The technicians who enabled the killing are not guilt-free.