Deleted member 108228
Also if anyone does a UK colony/commonwealth/dominion/etc. scenario, I created a flag template for anyone to use.
An Examination of Extra-Universal Systems of Government
- Thread starter Ephraim Ben Raphael
- Start date
- Status
This is being posted on behalf of kyuzoaoi from deviantArt.
"Actually, I am from a different dimension," I said to the colonel in Guarani. My Guarani has been rusting, and though I speak Spanish like any person from my place in most timelines, the colonel doubted if I was an escapee from a mental asylum. But then he relented.
"Oh, come on, if I can believe in spirits, then I can believe in time-travelers, am I right?" the colonel named Isaac Marquez then chewed what appeared to be coca leaves.
"Sort of. More of a parallel dimension," I replied. "I guess the situation in Peru has not improved?"
"Yes, but I cannot guarantee your safety there," Marquez warned me. "You know Peru had been ruled by the Sendero Luminoso, right?"
Of course, I heard of the Sendero Luminoso, or the Shining Path, from other timelines. Hard-line Maoists led by Abimael Guzman Reynoso, alias Comrade Gonzalo, they were extreme in their interpretation of communism, and almost overthrew the government of Peru. When I learned of a timeline where they won in the 1990s only to be overthrown, the opportunity is too juicy not to take risk.
"Of course. The government they overthrew were incompetent, but I can't believe the Sendero were that brutal," I said to the Bolivian colonel.
"Now, let me hear the Bolivian side of the story." Marquez began his tale.
On June 1989, the Shining Path had conducted a successful assassination attempt against a certain Japanese-Peruvian named Alberto Fujimori, who was planning to run as President. It was said that he alone had the secret of defeating the Shining Path. As time went on, the Shining Path's ranks swelled, until on the early months of 1990, they were able to seize whole military bases. By the end of the year, they managed to enter Lima. They established what they call the People's Republic of Peru. It was a hard-line state, and tried to be self-sufficient. They denounced the other communist states as revisionists.
"And then they started to go like...Cambodia?" I asked Marquez.
"Not quite like Pol Pot," Marquez said, "but a different beast altogether. More like the former North Korea under Kim Il-Sung, or the former Communist Albania under Hoxha."
"The Sendero Luminoso synthesized the trapping of a hard-line Maoist republic with an indigenous veneer and outlook, drawing from lessons from Carlos Mariategui. Comrade Gonzalo rationalized the forced labor in the mines, the farms, and the factories as a form of "Mita," an ancient Inca practice. Soon the Communist ideology in Latin America shifted to the what is at that point called Marxist-Leninist-Maoist-Gonzalo Thought, with the more orthodox Castroist and Soviet-aligned guerrillas feeling the pressure. Indeed, Guatemala also fell to the new Shining Path-inspired guerrillas in 1991. They also synthetized Maoism with indigenous outlook. The Quetzal Roja inspired the Maya in Mexico to rebel, only to be stopped not only by the Mexican government but by more moderate-in-comparison Communists and Anarcho-Communists in Chiapas led by Rafael Sebastian Guillen. And the Mexican government and the mainstream communists did the right thing. After all, who will associate themselves with a regime in Guatemala that tried to revive human sacrifice telecast live via satellite, but claim it as an 'anti-imperialist trial'?"
The fact that Comrade Feliciano, the Peruvian prime minister under the Sendero regime, attended one of these meetings had only hurt the Sendero cause. Mexico, fed up with the border attacks, requested American weaponry, in which Washington obliged, and overpowered the Quetzal Roja within six months.
"When the surviving Quetzal Roja fled to Senderista Peru, the other Latin American countries knew that they are now free game for Comrade Guzman, and Senderista Peru must be stopped at all costs. Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia drafted a plan to liberate Peru from Sendero rule. But of course, Ecuador had territorial disputes with Peru to solve, and so did Bolivia, to get a chance in getting a new coastline. While the anti-Peru forces have been trying to nibble away Peru, a Cuban warship was fired upon by makeshift Peruvian warships. This was enough casus belli for Havana to re-activate the pro-Castro guerrillas in Peru, who were hiding near Brazil, and institute true socialism, the fall of the USSR notwithstanding. Together under the banner of the Tupac Amaru movement, they received aid from foreign volunteers. By early 1994, Lima was retaken, but the toll of Senderista rule had been evident. Two million dead, Lima now a shell of itself, looking more like Mogadishu or Dresden after the Second World War. The Sendero leadership had been decapitated, with Feliciano being executed by being thrown out of a Chilean air force helicopter, and Guzman himself being jailed under heavy guard in Ecuador, at the request of the Bolivian government. The new MRTA regime was not fond of the Ecuadorians and Bolivians either, and they have been on Cuban and later Venezuelan life support ever since."
"If you go there in Lima," Marquez warned, "try to speak through the residents, even though it is now a Potemkin village. Don't try to speak with the government officials. They will feed you lies. Some of them are former Senderistas who switched sides."
And then I went to what the government called the VRAEM, acronym for Valle del Río Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro. There are still Shining Path remnants there, but they are not as strong as they used to be. Indeed, they are smart enough to denounce the Shining Path regime, only to say they are still true to the Maoist creed and claim that Guzman perverted the ideals of Maoism. I stumbled on a village where a doctor, clearly out of place with his rather Mestizo features, was treating the poor people of his village, free of charge.
I asked him about the Shining Path leadership, with my alibi as an escapee from Stroessner's regime in Paraguay.
"The PCP," Angel Morales Turbay declared, referring to the Shining Path, "were actually moderate in comparison with the other groups. Actually, I used to be in a cadre during the People's Republic. Since I also have a medical degree, I was also useful for the movement. Don't believe what they say about the PCP. We are not like Pol Pot, we do believe in modern medicine as long as it is available; we only use indigenous medicine as a last resort."
"Tell me about the government," I asked him.
"The People's Republic of Peru at that time was led by the Partido Comunista del Peru, as reconstituted by Abimael Guzman Reynoso, also known as Comrade Gonzalo. His approval was final at all meetings. There was a saying that 'we have no number two'. We do have such number twos, but they were not as powerful as Gonzalo. Comrade Gonzalo maintained the party with his own brain and hand, they said."
"We never closed factories as the foreign press and our enemies say. We had allies within the labor unions, after all. It is the same thing with the labor unions at the mines. We just tried to be self-sufficient in food, clothing, everything. We did not abolish TV or other forms of media either; we just made sure they are now controlled by the people instead of the oligarchs, and are faithful to the Party tendency, meaning Marxism-Leninism-Maoism-Gonzalo Thought. We did our best to implement Carlos Mariategui's insistence that communism must arose from the Indian peasantry and proletariat, and must not follow European modes of thought."
"In the end though, not all of the Party are convinced that communism can be achieved. We tried to clean the ranks, but the neighboring countries also used those class enemies who escaped to attack us and destroy the PCP."
"And you were lucky to be still alive," I commented.
"Yes, at least I never ever personally killed people, or even ordered arrests. Denouncing a traitor, yes. The new courts the Polay regime set up have been very lenient, though. I decided to concentrate on becoming a doctor again, to serve my people."
As my I bid Morales goodbye and rode to Lima, I couldn't help but feel that there was once life in Peru, but then it faded away. Buildings and houses bear the scars of battle, many of them waiting to collapse, the fields cracked under the sun and few dared to plant anything, if they have any seeds to sow, that is. Children are scrounging for food, while the MRTA leadership had been trying to implement the "socialism the Sendero and APRA failed to deliver."
My 4x4 vehicle stopped abruptly near a house in one of Lima's more well-maintained suburbs, surprisingly intact from Sendero rule. I was accosted by the driver to a man named Jovencito Quiroga. He was a professor of indigenous studies in the University of Lima, was tortured by Sendero, and survived the ordeal.
"So, you are from Paraguay?" Quiroga asked, in Guarani.
"A alternate version of it," I replied.
"Oh I see. There are rumors that there is what we call the multiverse," Quiroga said. "I know they might exist, but now you are one proof that they exist. I am also interested in history, and I am ashamed that I once followed the Shining Path. It cost my family, and my career. I regret it."
"Tell me your story," I asked him.
He says he was one of those who were radicalized by the Shining Path teachings while at the University of Lima. He said that the Shining Path will correct the losses of 'revisionism' and destroy capitalism in Peru. Quiroga never joined the Shining Path's army or its government, but he did serve as one of its ideologues and was assigned in the Ancash region. At one point, he once harangued a group of Quechua peasants into joining the group, only to be pelted away by rocks. He was ashamed ever since. After all, he is a Quechua, too.
"There, I realized how really unpopular the Shining Path was to the peasants. They say Guzman was the Peruvian Pol Pot. I knew who Pol Pot was, but being largely illiterate, how did the peasants knew about Pol Pot?" Quiroga told me. "But of course, they compared Guzman to Pol Pot and saw the similarities. Some anti-Shining Path forces, and not all of them are reactionaries, had told them about this."
"But I shouldered on, anyway. But on June 8, 1993, the Chapaqinchikkuna, our secret police, suddenly arrested me at my apartment in what remained of Lima. They say I was on the pay of the so-called revisionists. They cite my failure to convince the Indian peasants at that incident. They say I sabotaged their conversion. I was imprisoned until the Cubans came in January 1994."
"By the way, how did the Shining Path actually operate?" I asked Quiroga.
"They had a Politburo, like in the other communist countries, and they control everything. The Asemblea Popular was the rubber-stamp legislature. A third of them had been purged for having 'bourgeois' links. They had people's courts, but on the most part they are ad-hoc, composed of People's Guerrilla Army cadres and such. They had no mechanisms for defense; it is a kangaroo court. Their army is essentially a mob with Kalashnikovs and tanks; they dressed in Mao Zedong-style uniforms."
"They have a cult of personality with Abimael Guzman?"
"Of course! He was cited as the 'Fourth Sword!' Marx, Lenin and Mao were the previous swords. His face was plastered all around the country, looking like a messiah, or like Inti, the Inca god of the sun."
"Hijo de puta," I exclaimed in Spanish.
"What about your world?" Quiroga suddenly asked me. "It will be a secret among us, don't worry."
"Reveal it anyway when you feel it," I recommended to him. I told him about my past, about an alternate Paraguay under the control of a totalitarian regime spanning the globe, and the moment I stepped to a portal to another world. I decided to stay in that world, feeling that my original world was a hellhole anyway. As I studied in university, I realized that there are other worlds, some good, others bad. And even in utopic timelines they can have dystopic tendencies, and vice-versa.
"In any case, there was this saying in English. 'When the right hand giveth, the left hand taketh away," Quiroga remarked. I nodded in agreement.
"Pretty much. For every praise there is dissent."
"The Shining Path's utopia is a hell, and Victor Polay's Tupac Amaru government is like a purgatory. We all suffer for the sins of the Sendero Luminoso, which is hell. In the end, there is heaven, but it will never, ever, be perfect," Quiroga said.
"But then?"
"But the heaven we will try to achieve is like what Peru is like before the Shining Path, but with fewer inequalities. There would be still be inequality, I know, but I will try to make this inequality to be easily be conquered. I mean, I am talking about social democracy."
We then toasted with some yerba mate; Quiroga knew I am a Guarani, and I am still fond of my culture. Afterwards we talked about each other's worlds and then left on good terms. Quiroga then said to me as I left:
"I will write that book, I promise!"
Tupamarist Republic of Peru
The border between Bolivia and Peru had changed hands. Bolivian soldiers have occupied parts of what used to be the People's Republic of Peru; I have been frisked by soldiers at once. With my definitely fake Paraguayan passport, I was frisked by a Bolivian colonel, who spoke several indigenous languages fluently, and asked me about why I am going to Peru. I said it was for a book, and suddenly, the colonel invited me to his office near the border crossing.
"Actually, I am from a different dimension," I said to the colonel in Guarani. My Guarani has been rusting, and though I speak Spanish like any person from my place in most timelines, the colonel doubted if I was an escapee from a mental asylum. But then he relented.
"Oh, come on, if I can believe in spirits, then I can believe in time-travelers, am I right?" the colonel named Isaac Marquez then chewed what appeared to be coca leaves.
"Sort of. More of a parallel dimension," I replied. "I guess the situation in Peru has not improved?"
"Yes, but I cannot guarantee your safety there," Marquez warned me. "You know Peru had been ruled by the Sendero Luminoso, right?"
Of course, I heard of the Sendero Luminoso, or the Shining Path, from other timelines. Hard-line Maoists led by Abimael Guzman Reynoso, alias Comrade Gonzalo, they were extreme in their interpretation of communism, and almost overthrew the government of Peru. When I learned of a timeline where they won in the 1990s only to be overthrown, the opportunity is too juicy not to take risk.
"Of course. The government they overthrew were incompetent, but I can't believe the Sendero were that brutal," I said to the Bolivian colonel.
"Now, let me hear the Bolivian side of the story." Marquez began his tale.
On June 1989, the Shining Path had conducted a successful assassination attempt against a certain Japanese-Peruvian named Alberto Fujimori, who was planning to run as President. It was said that he alone had the secret of defeating the Shining Path. As time went on, the Shining Path's ranks swelled, until on the early months of 1990, they were able to seize whole military bases. By the end of the year, they managed to enter Lima. They established what they call the People's Republic of Peru. It was a hard-line state, and tried to be self-sufficient. They denounced the other communist states as revisionists.
"And then they started to go like...Cambodia?" I asked Marquez.
"Not quite like Pol Pot," Marquez said, "but a different beast altogether. More like the former North Korea under Kim Il-Sung, or the former Communist Albania under Hoxha."
"The Sendero Luminoso synthesized the trapping of a hard-line Maoist republic with an indigenous veneer and outlook, drawing from lessons from Carlos Mariategui. Comrade Gonzalo rationalized the forced labor in the mines, the farms, and the factories as a form of "Mita," an ancient Inca practice. Soon the Communist ideology in Latin America shifted to the what is at that point called Marxist-Leninist-Maoist-Gonzalo Thought, with the more orthodox Castroist and Soviet-aligned guerrillas feeling the pressure. Indeed, Guatemala also fell to the new Shining Path-inspired guerrillas in 1991. They also synthetized Maoism with indigenous outlook. The Quetzal Roja inspired the Maya in Mexico to rebel, only to be stopped not only by the Mexican government but by more moderate-in-comparison Communists and Anarcho-Communists in Chiapas led by Rafael Sebastian Guillen. And the Mexican government and the mainstream communists did the right thing. After all, who will associate themselves with a regime in Guatemala that tried to revive human sacrifice telecast live via satellite, but claim it as an 'anti-imperialist trial'?"
The fact that Comrade Feliciano, the Peruvian prime minister under the Sendero regime, attended one of these meetings had only hurt the Sendero cause. Mexico, fed up with the border attacks, requested American weaponry, in which Washington obliged, and overpowered the Quetzal Roja within six months.
"When the surviving Quetzal Roja fled to Senderista Peru, the other Latin American countries knew that they are now free game for Comrade Guzman, and Senderista Peru must be stopped at all costs. Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia drafted a plan to liberate Peru from Sendero rule. But of course, Ecuador had territorial disputes with Peru to solve, and so did Bolivia, to get a chance in getting a new coastline. While the anti-Peru forces have been trying to nibble away Peru, a Cuban warship was fired upon by makeshift Peruvian warships. This was enough casus belli for Havana to re-activate the pro-Castro guerrillas in Peru, who were hiding near Brazil, and institute true socialism, the fall of the USSR notwithstanding. Together under the banner of the Tupac Amaru movement, they received aid from foreign volunteers. By early 1994, Lima was retaken, but the toll of Senderista rule had been evident. Two million dead, Lima now a shell of itself, looking more like Mogadishu or Dresden after the Second World War. The Sendero leadership had been decapitated, with Feliciano being executed by being thrown out of a Chilean air force helicopter, and Guzman himself being jailed under heavy guard in Ecuador, at the request of the Bolivian government. The new MRTA regime was not fond of the Ecuadorians and Bolivians either, and they have been on Cuban and later Venezuelan life support ever since."
"If you go there in Lima," Marquez warned, "try to speak through the residents, even though it is now a Potemkin village. Don't try to speak with the government officials. They will feed you lies. Some of them are former Senderistas who switched sides."
And then I went to what the government called the VRAEM, acronym for Valle del Río Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro. There are still Shining Path remnants there, but they are not as strong as they used to be. Indeed, they are smart enough to denounce the Shining Path regime, only to say they are still true to the Maoist creed and claim that Guzman perverted the ideals of Maoism. I stumbled on a village where a doctor, clearly out of place with his rather Mestizo features, was treating the poor people of his village, free of charge.
I asked him about the Shining Path leadership, with my alibi as an escapee from Stroessner's regime in Paraguay.
"The PCP," Angel Morales Turbay declared, referring to the Shining Path, "were actually moderate in comparison with the other groups. Actually, I used to be in a cadre during the People's Republic. Since I also have a medical degree, I was also useful for the movement. Don't believe what they say about the PCP. We are not like Pol Pot, we do believe in modern medicine as long as it is available; we only use indigenous medicine as a last resort."
"Tell me about the government," I asked him.
"The People's Republic of Peru at that time was led by the Partido Comunista del Peru, as reconstituted by Abimael Guzman Reynoso, also known as Comrade Gonzalo. His approval was final at all meetings. There was a saying that 'we have no number two'. We do have such number twos, but they were not as powerful as Gonzalo. Comrade Gonzalo maintained the party with his own brain and hand, they said."
"We never closed factories as the foreign press and our enemies say. We had allies within the labor unions, after all. It is the same thing with the labor unions at the mines. We just tried to be self-sufficient in food, clothing, everything. We did not abolish TV or other forms of media either; we just made sure they are now controlled by the people instead of the oligarchs, and are faithful to the Party tendency, meaning Marxism-Leninism-Maoism-Gonzalo Thought. We did our best to implement Carlos Mariategui's insistence that communism must arose from the Indian peasantry and proletariat, and must not follow European modes of thought."
"In the end though, not all of the Party are convinced that communism can be achieved. We tried to clean the ranks, but the neighboring countries also used those class enemies who escaped to attack us and destroy the PCP."
"And you were lucky to be still alive," I commented.
"Yes, at least I never ever personally killed people, or even ordered arrests. Denouncing a traitor, yes. The new courts the Polay regime set up have been very lenient, though. I decided to concentrate on becoming a doctor again, to serve my people."
As my I bid Morales goodbye and rode to Lima, I couldn't help but feel that there was once life in Peru, but then it faded away. Buildings and houses bear the scars of battle, many of them waiting to collapse, the fields cracked under the sun and few dared to plant anything, if they have any seeds to sow, that is. Children are scrounging for food, while the MRTA leadership had been trying to implement the "socialism the Sendero and APRA failed to deliver."
My 4x4 vehicle stopped abruptly near a house in one of Lima's more well-maintained suburbs, surprisingly intact from Sendero rule. I was accosted by the driver to a man named Jovencito Quiroga. He was a professor of indigenous studies in the University of Lima, was tortured by Sendero, and survived the ordeal.
"So, you are from Paraguay?" Quiroga asked, in Guarani.
"A alternate version of it," I replied.
"Oh I see. There are rumors that there is what we call the multiverse," Quiroga said. "I know they might exist, but now you are one proof that they exist. I am also interested in history, and I am ashamed that I once followed the Shining Path. It cost my family, and my career. I regret it."
"Tell me your story," I asked him.
He says he was one of those who were radicalized by the Shining Path teachings while at the University of Lima. He said that the Shining Path will correct the losses of 'revisionism' and destroy capitalism in Peru. Quiroga never joined the Shining Path's army or its government, but he did serve as one of its ideologues and was assigned in the Ancash region. At one point, he once harangued a group of Quechua peasants into joining the group, only to be pelted away by rocks. He was ashamed ever since. After all, he is a Quechua, too.
"There, I realized how really unpopular the Shining Path was to the peasants. They say Guzman was the Peruvian Pol Pot. I knew who Pol Pot was, but being largely illiterate, how did the peasants knew about Pol Pot?" Quiroga told me. "But of course, they compared Guzman to Pol Pot and saw the similarities. Some anti-Shining Path forces, and not all of them are reactionaries, had told them about this."
"But I shouldered on, anyway. But on June 8, 1993, the Chapaqinchikkuna, our secret police, suddenly arrested me at my apartment in what remained of Lima. They say I was on the pay of the so-called revisionists. They cite my failure to convince the Indian peasants at that incident. They say I sabotaged their conversion. I was imprisoned until the Cubans came in January 1994."
"By the way, how did the Shining Path actually operate?" I asked Quiroga.
"They had a Politburo, like in the other communist countries, and they control everything. The Asemblea Popular was the rubber-stamp legislature. A third of them had been purged for having 'bourgeois' links. They had people's courts, but on the most part they are ad-hoc, composed of People's Guerrilla Army cadres and such. They had no mechanisms for defense; it is a kangaroo court. Their army is essentially a mob with Kalashnikovs and tanks; they dressed in Mao Zedong-style uniforms."
"They have a cult of personality with Abimael Guzman?"
"Of course! He was cited as the 'Fourth Sword!' Marx, Lenin and Mao were the previous swords. His face was plastered all around the country, looking like a messiah, or like Inti, the Inca god of the sun."
"Hijo de puta," I exclaimed in Spanish.
"What about your world?" Quiroga suddenly asked me. "It will be a secret among us, don't worry."
"Reveal it anyway when you feel it," I recommended to him. I told him about my past, about an alternate Paraguay under the control of a totalitarian regime spanning the globe, and the moment I stepped to a portal to another world. I decided to stay in that world, feeling that my original world was a hellhole anyway. As I studied in university, I realized that there are other worlds, some good, others bad. And even in utopic timelines they can have dystopic tendencies, and vice-versa.
"In any case, there was this saying in English. 'When the right hand giveth, the left hand taketh away," Quiroga remarked. I nodded in agreement.
"Pretty much. For every praise there is dissent."
"The Shining Path's utopia is a hell, and Victor Polay's Tupac Amaru government is like a purgatory. We all suffer for the sins of the Sendero Luminoso, which is hell. In the end, there is heaven, but it will never, ever, be perfect," Quiroga said.
"But then?"
"But the heaven we will try to achieve is like what Peru is like before the Shining Path, but with fewer inequalities. There would be still be inequality, I know, but I will try to make this inequality to be easily be conquered. I mean, I am talking about social democracy."
We then toasted with some yerba mate; Quiroga knew I am a Guarani, and I am still fond of my culture. Afterwards we talked about each other's worlds and then left on good terms. Quiroga then said to me as I left:
"I will write that book, I promise!"
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Tupac Amaru was one of the last descendants of the Incan emperors and led a rebellion against Spanish rule in 1780, before the Latin American Independence Wars. He is seen as a symbol of native resistance and independence across Latin America, including many in the left.
I love this project and I have been following closely. I can't wait for more. I've noticed a lack of Green governments though. How about some suggestions?
- Germany has been taken over by Green parties, as well most of Europe. It remains a rather standard democracy ruled by aging hippies, though with some quirks like meditation and spirituality incorporated to health-care, the ban of meat production (to the dismay of bratwurst fans) and animal captivity, mass restoration of natural enviroments, pacifism, and citizenship for dolphins and simians.
- Rojava takes over Syria, or even the Levant. The Democratic Confederation of the Levant tries to heal a region broken by civil war and terrorism with the principles of libertarian socialism. It doesn't always succeeds, and it has problems with members of the Confederation who implement extreme sharia law.
- A Mercosur that joined together on the principles of Communalism. Borders and previous administrative areas are replaced by subdivisions based on biomes and watersheds and municipal confederations; national football confederations still exist though, of course. There are concerns about Portuguese speakers dominating, the blurring of nations and inefficency after the administrative changes, but things are working out.
- Japan does not surrender in WWII. The subsequent allied invasion devastates them. After a period of poor goverments (the economic miracle never happens) the new government is an traditionalist one that rejects technology and warfare, and governs with a strange mix of Shinto, Buddhism, Japanese traditions and quasi-socialist anarchism. Japan isolates from the world and becomes almost preindustrial, but most of the people seem willing to do it. The People's Republic of Hokkaido becomes a minor industrial power like Taiwan, and host refugees that do not share the primitivist worlview.
- A Khmer Rogue that actually sucessfully deindustrializes against all odds, and avoids the genocide. Most of the population lives in rural communes or small towns and the government is neutral and isolated of the rest of the world. But people are seemingly happy and have enough to eat, though they lack access to modern technology, even vital medical supplies.
- Surviving Inca Empire. It is a hermit kingdom on an industrialized world, think of China during the 16-17th centuries. Inside the empire, a careful system of traditional use of the land and natural resources, together with a widespread bureaucracy and religion, ensure that (mostly) nobody suffers from want. But not all subjects are happy with the Inca (especially minorities that sometimes have to send their children as sacrificies to the mountain gods) and foreigners on the treaty ports are causing trouble.
- An ecofacist USA ravaged by climate change and ecosystem collapse, from our worst predictions. People are drafted to the U.S. Ecological Corps, who repair and maintain the infrastructure needed to survive climate change, as well as protect and restore the last pieces of remaining nature. They uphold harsh laws and are dissproportionately influential on politics (which remain nominally democratic, but actually guided by the USEC). Whole populations are transferred by the directions of the government, and those involved with fossil fuel companies and other industries have been executed. Most nations are similar and accept this as the burden they have to bear.
- An Anarcho-Primitivist guerrilla that holds some territory in some inacessible nature of an industrial nation (like the Appalacchians or the Carpathians). They fight against all civilization and bomb high-tech infrastructure and symbols (like tech conventions), and defend their own twisted conception of nature. The people under them, willing or not, cannot use any technology beyond the industrial revolution (except for weapons). The leaders, of course, enjoy the latest technology.
Ephraim Ben Raphael
Banned
Good thinking- we haven't opened a "Green" chapter yet. Those are some good ideas for when we do.
Deleted member 108228
I have been working on that idea for a while now, do you want to help?
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Maybe I'll do a write up then, if it's alright! I'll try to make it the fit the original style as much as possible.
Go ahead, I'd rather do Green Pacifist Japan. The ideas of this guy are very interesting.
It would be interesting to see how the Khmer Rogue could transtion to actual ideological primitivism (or agraniarism). Khmer Vert?
How about a literal wellfare state?
Like, a state whose founding document and system of rule is dedicated to health-care providers and such people making the decisions with the goal of providing the best care, housing, and quality of life to all citizens, ensuring that nobody goes hungry or without care. Not necessarily with explicit socialist leanings--I was thinking something like, Pakistan's government collapses after the war with India in '71 and someone puts Abdul Sattar Edhi in charge, and he by right of ASB accepts and basically restructures Pakistan's government to be one giant charity for its people?
The flip side could be a totalitarian regime that's basically North Korea except preaching stereotypical rhetoric that right-wingers ascribe to their Socialized Medicine bogeyman.
Does that sound interesting at all?
Like, a state whose founding document and system of rule is dedicated to health-care providers and such people making the decisions with the goal of providing the best care, housing, and quality of life to all citizens, ensuring that nobody goes hungry or without care. Not necessarily with explicit socialist leanings--I was thinking something like, Pakistan's government collapses after the war with India in '71 and someone puts Abdul Sattar Edhi in charge, and he by right of ASB accepts and basically restructures Pakistan's government to be one giant charity for its people?
The flip side could be a totalitarian regime that's basically North Korea except preaching stereotypical rhetoric that right-wingers ascribe to their Socialized Medicine bogeyman.
Does that sound interesting at all?
Kind of like a country-sized kindergarden? Interesting to see such a social justice-oriented non-socialist state.
You wouldn't happen to have read Kage Baker's Company novels, would you?
The United States of America In Exile
When I had arrived in Honolulu I knew I’d only have a few hours there. The capitol district was bustling with European and Japanese tourists as well as residents, who were distinguishable by the fact that in the mild February weather they were the ones wearing jackets. After a short guided tour of the capitol district I sat down at a small cafe called Queen Coffee, just five minutes from ‘Iolani Palace, where a government representative was supposed to meet me. A man wearing a khaki service uniform approached me, a cordial smile on his face as he sat down opposite to me and removed his garrison cap. It figured that the government representative was a member of the navy.
“Professor Chana, thank you for waiting. I’m Lt. Huntley, of the Department of General Affairs. It’s my honor to welcome you to the United States of America.”
We shook hands, a young waitress took our orders, and our conversation began in earnest.
“During my tour I’ve seen ‘Iolani Palace.”, I said, looking down the street where I could see a statue of the old Hawaiian monarch Kamehameha, a statue right opposite to the palace shielded from my view.
“It’s a beautiful building, though the construction of the Presidential Manor is currently underway. You have certainly been made aware that the president has resided in that palace for almost one hundred years, mostly as a provisional measure, but President Gibson will soon move to the Presidential Manor we’ve been building in the Kalihi-Palama neighborhood. The seven executive departments will remain in the capitol district. It’s only a ten minute drive in case anything needs to be communicated.”
I nodded. “I’m fascinated that this provisional abode has been in use for so long. The tour guide mentioned that the palace had previously been the governor’s office, the presidential residence during the Republic of Hawaii, and the royal palace back when these islands were under the native monarchy.”
“This long history is the reason why it’ll cease to be the seat of government soon.”, Huntley replied. “We plan to turn it into a museum of American history.”
“That is very admirable. You have previously mentioned the six executive departments. Could you tell me more about them?”
Huntley nodded. “The most important one is the Department of General Affairs, my own. It was created shortly after the evacuation by merging the State Department, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Agriculture. Then we have the Department for Economic Affairs, it’s responsible for matters such as commerce, labor, energy, the postal service, and infrastructure; the Department of Health, Welfare, and Education, which should be self-explanatory; the Department of the Treasury; the Justice Department; and finally the Defense Department. All departments are headed by a secretary, appointed by the president. However most of these appointments used to also require approval by the Joint Board. Now only General Affairs and Defense require that approval.”
“The Joint Board?”, I asked curiously.
“The Joint Board of the Army and the Navy. The evacuation of the government was mostly a military affair and due to the special circumstances the presidency was very much dependent on the Joint Board for support. This special relationship can still be felt today, if I may be frank, by the strong presence of servicemen and veterans in government positions.”
“Like yourself?”
“Like myself. This is also reflected in the presidential election. You might already know that the United States has two districts and five territories. During the presidential election only citizens residing in the two districts can vote, but active servicemen employed in the territories can also vote.”
“How come you joined your department, by the way?”
“It’s common protocol for servicemen to get trained for post-service employment in the downtime. College level courses on economics, political science, administrative tasks, those sorts of things. While I was deployed on Guam I took several political science and administrative courses and after my deployment got offered a position at the district government of Hawaii. After three years I got a promotion to the General Affairs department.”
I sipped on my tea before asking my next question. “Could you tell me how the districts and territories are governed?”, I asked.
“The districts are very similar to the old concept of US states. They have an elected governor, an unicameral district assembly, and they have their own local laws. We pride ourselves in our democratic traditions which we’ve even maintained during the Second American Civil War. The territories have varying forms of government. The Outlying Islands Territory and the Leeward Islands Territory don’t civilian populations, and are governed directly by the Department of General Affairs and the Department of Defense, since they’re only home to about 350 members of the military in total. The other three territories meanwhile have their governors appointed by the President and a territorial assembly to advise the territorial governor.”
“The districts are Alaska and Hawaii, correct? What are the three populated territories?”
“That’d be Guam, Seward, and American Samoa. Seward is north of Alaska, home to about 3,000 people. It’s our ice box and its territorial assembly is only seven people strong, believe it or not. Guam is home to almost 160,000 people and thus the most populated of our territories. It’s also home to our second-most important naval base after Pearl Harbor. American Samoa, home to 55,000 people, is our most remote territory but even so they’re good patriots.”
“Could I ask you about how deployment affects voting? I’ve seen most democracies treat soldiers overseas as voters from their home region, and I presume it’s similar here. But what about soldiers stationed in American territories? Can they only vote for territorial assemblies or can they vote in other elections, too?
“If an Alaskan is stationed in American Samoa, he can vote for both regional elections, if he wanted to. Since the the territorial assemblies are advisory bodies, it isn't regarded as voter fraud and since nobody can control their deployment, it's fair.”
“What sort of powers do the district governors and assemblies have?”
“The districts have their own local governments, with both divided into boroughs, their own justice systems, and they are responsible for areas such as maintenance of infrastructure, regulation of businesses, distribution of welfare, and education. Territories have to follow federal law, which is why the Department of Health, Welfare, and Education is still so important to this day. Of course I need to mention that the districts didn’t exist at the outbreak of the Second Civil War and were originally mere territories, too, and thus under the direct control of the federal government.”
The young waitress returned to the table and delivered to small sandwiches, according to her “on the house”. Both Huntley and I accepted ours, took a small bite, and he asked me a question. “I’m guessing you will eventually ask me about the Second Civil War, correct?”
“I was planning to.”, I replied. “I’ve seen the statue of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. during my tour and the plaque made me curious. Fascinating to see a statue to a Secretary of the Navy, it’s fairly unusual.”
“Secretary Roosevelt was crucial in coordinating the efforts to evacuate President Coolidge first to the Guantanamo Naval Base and then Honolulu when the Revolutionary Front was closing in on the District of Columbia. Roosevelt later even became vice-president after the evacuation under President Wilbur.”
“How did the Second American Civil War start?”
“You could look at a school history book if you're so curious.”, he replied with a smile on his face. “But the basic gist of it was a combination of the Great Depression breaking out in 1922 and the general unpopularity of President Harding. Strikers popped up all over the Midwestern states and in California, lynchings all over the South, it was a mess. When the national guard shot protesters in Buffalo Socialists all over the continental United States rose up, supported by black allies in the South. In about eighteen months large portions of the country were under the control of the so-called Revolutionary Front.”
“So the federal government decided to abandon Washington, D.C.?”
“Yes. Philadelphia was seeing battles in the streets, and West Virginia was also under Revolutionary Front control. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and North Carolina were the main holdouts of the federal government, along some cities along the Rockies and large chunks of Texas. The Philippines and Puerto Rico were also becoming restless at that time.”
“What did happen to the Philippines and Puerto Rico? I know they were US territories but are they part of the Federation of American People’s Republics now?”
“No, they aren’t. Though Puerto Rico is closely allied to the regime on the mainland, the Philippines gained formal independence in 1929 when the Honolulu government agreed to let them go. We couldn’t waste military resources on pacifying them. We have good ties, but the government in Manila is closer to the Empire of Japan than us. Old grudges die hard.”
Considering I’ve seen many civil wars and independence movements throughout my travels, this doesn’t seem surprising. As I finish my sandwich, topped with tuna and pineapple, Huntley continues.
“The Federation also keeps close ties with Mexico, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Iberia. Their ties with African socialists are less prevalent and the Russians are a completely different beast due to Russia’s bad historic experiment with the far left.”
Huntley did stress the last two words rather strongly.
“After all the Russian Republic barely defeated those Bolsheviks after the Great War.”, he elaborated.
“Which nations does the United States consider allies?”
“Russia and China are our closest allies, though we also maintain good ties with the British and Australians. Canada is our go-to intermediary if we want to discuss things with the Federation, and we are also important trading partner to the small Pacific nations, like Fiji, Tuvalu, and Samoa. Only Australia is a bigger trade partner to them.”
“Is there no direct link of communication to the Federation?”
“There has been one by 1990. But most meetings still take place in Vancouver because it’s much easier to talk on neutral ground.”
“Lt. Huntley, I’d like to return to national politics instead of international ones.”
Huntley laughed. “Of course, what else would you like to know?”
“How many political parties are active in the United States? How many are in the legislatures?”
“President Gibson, as well as Governors Cole and Nakamura are all members of the Unity Party, which has been the most successful party in our current system. The Nakamura’s predecessor was a member of the Liberal Party. The Unity Party and the Liberals are in general the two parties which had genuine electoral successes. Hawaii and American Samoa also have members of a third party in their assemblies, the Greens. They're mostly concerned about Polynesian rights and environmentalism.”
“When you speak of the Unity Party being the most successful, can you give me some numbers?”
Huntley didn’t look comfortable with this question and answered hesitantly. “The territorial and district assemblies have 154 seats total and currently 114 seats are occupied by Unity Party delegates, 37 by Liberals, and 3 by Greens. In the New United States Congress there are 45 seats, and 31 of them are Unity.”
I sat aside my tea glass from which I was taking a sip while Huntley was listing the numbers. Those were some very high percentages for the Unity Party, which, combined with the awkward disposition of the thus far lighthearted lieutenant showed me that he wasn’t proud of the lackluster political diversity in the country. I didn’t decide to press the issue further.
“The New United States Congress… What’s so new about it, if I may ask?”
Huntley sighed with relief at the change of subject.
“The New Congress is yet another example of a provisional solution which stuck. Due to the loss of the mainland the old bicameral Congress became an impractical institution. A few senators and members of the House of Representatives evacuated with President Coolidge to Hawaii and continued to serve as the representatives of the American people. When it became clear in 1932 that the mainland was lost these politicians voted to merge both chambers into one. That was also when the districts of Hawaii and Alaska were formed, replacing the old territories, same with the current electoral districts. Besides the New Congress there’s the Council of the Thirteen, which is the closest we have to the old Senate. Is thirteen members are elected nationally, even by the folks in the territories, and it’s a non-partisan body. The Council is also located in the New Congress, but it’s a mere advisory body to both Congress and the President. It was formed ahead of the 1988 election to strengthen American democracy.”
I smiled at Huntley’s and his answer.
“Thank you. Now I have one last question. You mentioned that the Greens campaign for Polynesian rights? How is the situation for the minorities of the United States?”
Huntley looked uncomfortable again. Yet another question he likely deemed to be too partisan and thus uncomfortable for him to answer.
“All men are created equal according to the US constitution, Professor, but of course some citizens do not feel equal. Quarrels over land ownership, for the most part, as well as some old wounds are still brought up by a handful of radicals, nothing serious. If it were, there’d be popular interest, and most of our minorities are good patriots, like the Governor of American Samoa, Linda Gabbard, who’s our second Samoan-American governor. Furthermore it’s obvious that their complaints are trivial and don’t reflect what other American minorities could tell you. The Japanese and Filipino communities of Hawaii are well-integrated into American society. Look at Governor Namakura, who has had a long career as a politician despite his ancestry. And the Chamorro are also very proud American patriots, and there is a debate about turning Guam into a district, too. This is a great nation and every true American is a patriot.”
While Huntley was talking he was slowly getting more confident, and his last few sentences were oozing with patriotism. I thanked him for his time, left the cafe, and took a simple stroll towards the docks. The waves were rolling against the concrete walls, when I could hear the sounds of sirens wailing in the distance. It seems that there are less “true Americans” in the United States than Huntley and the American government would like to have the global public believe, because I could faintly hear an amplified voice telling protesters to return to their homes.
Maybe the ultimate irony is that this is a corporate state with extensive “employee benefits.”
Thankee, I'm quite happy with the idea. Just having the US continue the 48/50 star flag would be kinda silly, so I wanted a bit of a replacement and that particular version of the Eye of Providence was just too pretty to pass up as an alternative.
We don't spend much time there, and when we do it's mostly with people who have the means to live outside the system, but the future versions of at least Britain and the US are totalitarian PC nanny states.
City of London
I must admit a weakness for microstates. Perhaps it is the appeal of the underdog: a state the size of a city block facing off against a hostile world. Maybe it is the interesting logistics of putting all of the apparatus of state in such a small area. I confess that part of my love affair is that I like the idea that I can explore an entire country in an afternoon.
The next destination on my adventure is small, it is far from an underdog. Although known as the Square Mile - an apt name, given its total metropolitan area is 1.12 square miles - its colonial empire is significant, and its financial power unmatched in power.
The City of London certainly showed off its wealth. The Square Mile was covered in interlocking buildings, such that the entire Square Mile could be counted as a single building. The Port District took up nearly half of the City's territory; I saw now why London maintains colonial holdings for its massive fleet. With no room to build outward, the City build upward, and it towered over neighboring Westminster. I sat by a large glass window overlooking the Thames River, and watched ships of every flag move to and from the Port District.
I meet my contact, Mr. Henry Gates, a councilman for the City of London Corporation. He grabs my hand and pulls me in for one of the most aggressive handshakes I've ever had inflicted on me, patting me on the back as he goes. Mr. Gates' thick Midwestern American accent was far out of place in the middle of Westminster.
"It's been a while since I've talked to someone from the Nutshell. Is it still, eh, nuts?"
Perhaps that explained the accent. I ask Mr. Gates if he's done business in the Nutshell.
"Yes, I've made a pretty penny turning over refurbished Kwamunian KF7s and Pactist surplus. That business got too hot for me to handle so I 'retired' here. Switching to a monoworld silk market upped my life expectancy considerably."
I asked how a foreigner could become a councilman for London.
"Foreigner? Sir, I'll have you know I redeemed myself, er, got my citizenship, same as everybody else. Paid for it all up front in solid gold."
While such a statement may be considered a bold admission of corruption in most societies, I understood that in the City of London, anyone could become a freeman and buy their way in, a process known as "redemption." The price, I knew, was onerous. I thought better of asking Mr. Gates what his was.
"Not just anyone, friend, you have to be at least twenty-one years of age and give up your old citizenship, if you had any. And the Freedom of the City doesn't let in just anybody. The Court of Aldermen has to approve your application, and Common Council has to approve your freedom through a resolution. I had to grease a few palms to get them to vote for me, being a foreigner, you know. They let in some French nobility a century ago, and they were loaded. You also have to have the approval of every Livery Company in the City, or at least none of them can object."
The Livery Companies of the City of London are the collection of guilds, corporations, and other businesses that are based in London. During my visit, there were over a thousand, and they dominate this world's commerce. Tea, silk, diamonds, oil, - if it is moved via ship, there's a good chance it ends up under a Londoner flag.
Mr. Gates and I walk out of London Tower - a distinct building from the Tower of London - down and out into the City itself. Hardly anything remains of the old city, thanks to Cromwell, but Mr. Gates tells me the Guildhall has survived. As we make our way to the Guildhall, our conversation momentarily turns to the state of the Nutshell, before I move the conversation back to the topic of freedom.
"When you get your freedom, you have the same right as any Londoner who was born with it. There aren't a lot of us, and most of us live in the colonies. You can vote for councilmen of the Common Council, if you reside in the City itself. I'm here because of my duties as a councilman."
As we approached Guildhall, it seemed as if part of another timeline were dropped right in the middle of the glass jungle around me. The medieval building was gutted during the Great Fire, but the City of London was able to repair it. It was difficult to believe that this was the hub of commercial power in this world.
I was curious as to what a foreigner would gain from being councilman. Couldn't Mr. Gates get what he needs here with his freedom alone?
"What, is civic duty to my new home not enough?
I wordlessly expressed my skepticism.
"Alright, alright, you got me. When things got too hot for me in the Nutshell, I needed protection. Most places will take your loot, but they'll leave you out to dry if some goons come knocking. But here, I could buy my citizenship real quick. Being a government official buys me protection, and boy howdy, does London give good protection for your coin."
I wondered how much protection a place called the "Square Mile" could give a marked man.
Mr. Gates held up three fingers. "Three letters, friend: E. I. C. London has the largest fleet in the world, because we have the East India Company and a dozen of the largest shipping companies in the world. All part of the Worshipful Company of Traders. We rule the waves, so if anyone fucks with me, they fuck with the world's merchant marine, and nobody wants to piss off folks that can shut you off from global trade."
The City of London began as the Roman trading outpost of Londinium. After the fall of Roman control on Britain, the Anglo-Saxon invaders built settlements around Roman London, and the city was periodically sacked by the Vikings. Seeking shelter behind the old Roman walls, the City of London developed its own unique government, separate from the settlements beyond the London Wall. The Normans established new fortifications outside London, and with them the surrounding urban areas grew. London remained part of the Kingdom of England, but retained its unique government.
London would gain its independence in the aftermath of the chaos that was the English Civil War. Beginning as a dispute between the English king, Charles I, and the Parliament, the English Civil War tore apart England and its neighboring kingdom of Scotland. The Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell would triumph for a time, successfully deposing and beheading Charles I, and establishing the Commonwealth of England under Cromwell and several major-generals across England. The system would not survive Cromwell's death, which led to the second phase of the English Civil War. The major-generals fought one another for control, and a revitalized Royalist movement under Charles II joined the fray. In the chaos, London was burned to the ground by the forces of Richard Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell's son, in an attempt to deny the city he was about to lose to his Royalist foes.
The English Civil War would end with no decisive winner, fracturing England and the devastated areas around the City of London. Angered by the City's treatment during the war, London had no desire to reunite with any of the factions, particularly the Protectorate of England which surrounded it. London was able to maintain its independence by enlisting the loyalty of the East India Company, which wanted to be able to trade with all of the post-war English states and thus could not join with any of them. With command of one of the largest fleets in the world, and control of trade with Asia, the City of London was unassailable.
I asked Mr. Gates what his duties are as a councilman.
"The Common Council is in charge of 'the police duties' of London. This used to mean walking around looking for troublemakers, but ever since we started getting colonies, it also means military power. The shipping companies are usually in charge of their own defense, but we do have a Londoner Navy in charge of patrolling the Thames and the colonial ports. Most of my real responsibility as councilman is voting to appoint members of committees. They're the bureaucrats who keep everything in the City itself running. Schools, public utilities, the works, the City of London's committees take care of everything here."
And outside the City? This elicited a grin.
"Did I ever tell you I was a liveryman?"
I shook my head.
"Yep, liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Traders. That's where the real fun is."
I didn't quite get Mr. Gates' meaning, and he explained what he meant.
"In my capacity as a liveryman, I represent the Worshipful Company of Traders. Not every freeman is a liveryman - most freemen aren't - but I managed to become enclothed because I could offer a lot to the Company."
And why would Mr. Gates want to become a liveryman.
"We're the ones who vote for the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor is elected by liverymen - we call the electorate Common Hall - who in turn represent the interests of their company. If a liveryman doesn't vote for what his company wants, he can expect a pink slip. The Lord Mayor doesn't have much power in the Square Mile, but he is responsible for governing the colonies. He calls all of the shots there: he appoints governors and bureaucrats, sets taxes, the whole shebang. And while the number crunching all goes on in the Square Mile, the money is made in the colonies."
I asked Mr. Gates how he managed to gain such an honor so quickly.
"I knew where the big money, and power, was: the Worshipful Company of Traders. The East India Company's part of it, and so are the next twelve or so shipping companies on the planet. So of course, I established myself as a businessman with experience in trade. When words didn't do the trick, gold did. Proof positive I know how to make a buck, right? So they let me in."
I felt the urge to ask Mr. Gates how he became a councilman, but I suspected being a liveryman in one of the most powerful livery companies in the City helped. Impressed by the power the companies held, I asked Mr. Gates what checks existed on the livery companies.
"None, when you're this loaded, nobody can tell you what to do. Technically, the Court of Aldermen can create more livery companies, which would dilute the power of the existing companies. But there's no way that will happen. The Aldermen are elected by the different wards in the City, and guess who votes in those elections?"
Mr. Gates answered his own question by pointing at himself.
"Everyone in the City works for the livery companies. There hasn't been a new livery company in nearly two centuries."
Finally, I asked Mr. Gates about his primary political concerns.
"Making sure the Worshipful Company of Traders gets what it wants. Ideological disputes aren't much of a concern here; the most you'd get is arguments over how much autonomy and democracy the colonies should have. The important fights are over specific policies. Do we stop trading with the Malay Caliphate because of piracy, or do we help that government fight the pirates? Things of that sort."
Was the democratic movement popular?
"Hell no. The City of London is a corporation. It represents the interests of the livery companies, and they are the only reason London means anything in this world. If the colonials want democracy, they can vote with their feet."
- Status