Eighties Week opens in Sirocco

RETRO REWIND: For the next week, Siroccans will exchange grey flannel suits and hi-fi record players for neon workout gear and cassette players, as part of an initiative to open the nation to adopt more decades of the 20th century into its culture. (Picture courtesy OregonLive.com)

Havilland, WE, Apr 1 · Pri 17 – The cultural landscape of Sirocco will look markedly different for the next week with the beginning of the first annual ‘Eighties Week’ today.

The seven-day celebration of the 1980s will run from today through Thursday, 7 April, and will include commemorations of notable 1980s events, technology, and people.

Events scheduled include open-air 1980s music concerts, a televised debate on the merits of neoliberal economics as opposed to those of the post-WWII years, and demonstrations of Apple Macintosh and IBM PC computers.

A proposal to re-enact the narcotics boom of the era was dismissed due to expenditure.

The organisers of Eighties Week, the 20th Century Commission (20CC), say that they hope to start a “national discussion” on Sirocco’s cultural identity, and ultimately open the door to more parts of the 20th century forming part of the nation’s culture.

“Sirocco is very well known for having a culture based on 1950s America, but despite calling itself a ‘nation of the 20th century’, there’s not much to celebrate outside of 1945 through 1965,” 20CC founder David Muldoney said.

“We hear the seventies and eighties on [SBC] National Radio, and we see nineties technology in our computer museum, but that’s it. There’s a good forty-five years we haven’t even examined as a nation, and it’s time to address that.”

Inspiration for the event came from a number of similar events, such as last year’s first Civil Defence Week, which aimed to educate citizens on how to prepare for, and survive, a nuclear attack. In February and March 2014, a National Health and Sanitation Week promoted cleanliness, with a poster produced linking dirty hair to communism.

The Commission is confident that the first Eighties Week will pave the way for further “decade celebrations”, and is already drawing up plans for a 1920s-themed week in October, which will culminate in the collapse of the Siroccan economy and plunge the nation into a decade of turmoil.

“We’re very excited,” Muldoney says. “Full-scale celebrations of the 20th century like this could very well make Sirocco great again.”