Ch.19 : Campaigns : Part 2 (Marta and Gallanol In The Modern Age)

Campaigns : Part 2

14/7/99

    Pontius is awake early, as ever, and out of bed by the time dawn washes over his large home in the ‘suburbs’ of the great City, as they are still called. Once large numbers of people used to live in the suburbs. There was even a time, a century or two back, he thinks, when the majority lived in them. But then there were problems with property shortages, and at the same time, an unwillingness by people to take up ‘inner city’ property. Parts of the ‘inner cities’ became wasteland or cheap and badly looked after property for the poor. Government and developers together had to intervene, along with the market, to restore the ‘inner cities’. The idea of building on disused land and renovating the ‘inner cities’ to make them attractive for people to live was encouraged, and soon large numbers were persuaded to live in the ‘inner cities’ again. But at this time they were the young and upwardly mobile, not initially families. The family was already a dwindling unit of household by that time. Then, as the city expanded ever wider over Martainia, the inner cities became larger in area, and high apartment blocks made a return into popularity. The true suburbs, such as that in which Pontius lived, were now the domain of high income earners such as himself.

     His wife is in her own room along the corridor, and as she never wants sex in the mornings any more, and prefers to stay late in bed into the morning, he does not disturb her, but breakfasts alone. The maid will come in when he is gone, and tidy his dishes away. Pontius prefers a traditional breakfast to the modern ones of protein and vitamin pills. He actually enjoys the act of putting fresh milk on cereals, and savouring real tastes, although it is MIOST which has, over the years, been involved in the development of some of these modern foods in its space and non space programmes. It is strange that such a progressive man can be so traditional.

     He watches news reports on Vidnet as he breakfasts, flicking from general popular news to financial and business news irritably, searching for the important and significant of both types of news, but not wishing to waste his time on anything which could have no use for him. But most information has some use, he admits, even if it appears useless. The latest Vidstars’ lives and a knowledge of society weddings can be of great use in persuading the public, and his opposites in other large corporations, that MIOST is awake to all aspects of the modern world, and that he has his finger on every pulse. If MIOST, or himself, were ever seen to be lacking in up to the minute knowledge they would start to lose contracts or the investor clients which were their lifeblood, and he could potentially lose his own position. The Board was still collectively more powerful than he in the organisation, and of course the various shareholding interests, ranging from institutional investors to the Imperial Government itself, and the banks, could easily pull the rug from under his feet at any moment.

    He sees there is a report on one programme about demonstrators against the proposed tunnel to Cidrith Island. Apparently they have collected a thousand people from somewhere and blocked traffic on the new road bridge over the estuary of the Senl near Seaward City. They were blocking road traffic there by standing on the bridge, queues of haulage vehicles and private cars backing up along the route, back to the main Marta – Seaward road connection. The story gets attention because it is unusual. Demonstrators? Who demonstrates about anything these days? The processes of lobbying and democracy are far more effective ways of putting viewpoints across. And why demonstrate against the building of a link tunnel? And why have the demonstration on a bridge which has been up for years? Surely everyone wants more tunnels and bridges to be built.

     Pontius cannot remember when he last heard about a demonstration in this region, or anywhere for that matter; certainly not one which is supported by a thousand people. He cannot remember such a demonstration since his youth, by crazy Maneddonists and rabid Nationalists. The Communalists have not been active since well before he was born, although there was occasionally the spectacle of a lone ’spokesman’ or ‘apologist’ for that best forgotten aberration of the natural principles of social organisation and economy. When the proposed tunnels were built it would become much easier to visit Cidrith and the other islands. There would be a huge increase in the economic output of the islands as they would become more closely locked into the infrastructures of the mainland. Also there would be more mainlanders able to visit, a stimulant to the old tourist heritage of the islands, where once Martans and Seawardians had visited in droves. Who would want to argue about such benefits? Pontius does not see the point of the demonstration so he listens for a bit longer. This may potentially be useful information to him. This year’s tunnel demonstrators could be the next’s anti MIOST demonstrators. That had not happened for a long time, but being aware of such possibilities, anything which could affect the image of MIOST, was his responsibility. If he had understood the arguments of the demonstrators he would have flicked over to another channel to see what he was missing there, but this is new so he gives it a bit longer.

    “We object to our resources being spent on something so unnecessary,” says a spokesman, a handsome man, sporting a moustache and unkempt hair (Jairis). “Men who could be enjoying life are set to work hard on these projects, which serve no useful purpose, working long hours to tight deadlines. They might have shared your work,” he gestures towards the viewers, “and made your lives a little easier. You could all have gone home an hour earlier if these men had been employed in your office or your factory. Instead they work long hours and you work long hours, and what purpose do we all work longer for – to build a long tunnel which no one needs. Will you ever use it. Most of you don’t have the time to use it, you’re too busy working. How many of you have ever been to Cidrith, or ever will go, as long as holiday time allowances are so short.”

    At this point, in a speech which looked as though it might go on for longer, the news team presumably, and understandably, had decided that the viewers would not be able to understand any more such long and mystifying arguments. What were these demonstrators – philosophy students or comedians? Pontius had never heard such a preposterous argument before. What relevance could the building of a tunnel, which had been determined by economic needs and the market, possibly have to the working hours of ordinary employees elsewhere. He had been about to switch over himself, but the argument was so unusual he decided he had better listen to it even if it made no sense.

   Now the reporters  explained the background to the demonstration for him. “The group who organised this demonstration call themselves the ‘Neo Creadds’. Apparently this is the first major demonstration they have carried out, but their spokesmen insist that it will not be their last. They say they have a number of target demonstrations planned, which they say, are aimed not at destruction or physical prevention, but to making points to the government and to the people. We interviewed another member of the group at a publicity address in Marta City, where many of the organisation reside.”

     At this point the newsdesk picture switched to the interior of a typical Marta City apartment. Pontius could see the skyline of high rise apartment blocks through the window. “This is Jon Varlis speaking from the home of Julia Relis, a spokeswoman for the ‘Neo Creadd’ organisation.” Pontius stayed on it, although he wished the reporters would get their act together and stop wasting time. He wanted to see this interview, find out who these people were and what they really wanted. And then he wanted to find out the rest of the day’s news, and get on with his busy schedule.

     That first interview with the unkempt looking man on the bridge had him perplexed. He still did not know what these people were after, and it bugged him to be left out of any knowledge that was to be had. The argument of the man had seemed quite nonsensical, and also very unfamiliar, that was why he wanted to find out who these people were. What a kooky idea, that anyone should not want a tunnel to be built. He had called the tunnel ‘unnecessary’ but it created work and stimulated the economy, so why should these ‘Neo Creadds’ oppose it. It was a huge technological success story. He wondered who these people were and what they were. He couldn’t imagine the Maneddonists concerning themselves with a tunnel, and there were no Communalists any more. Even if there had been he doubted they would ever have opposed the building of a tunnel. They would have been more likely to have demanded the building of more tunnels. This was not a Nationalist issue of any sort, as far as he could see, and terrorists and strange cults were largely phenomenons of the past. So who were these people, and what was this strange name of theirs, which he had never heard of before.

      The woman spokesperson came on screen now, this Julia whatever her name was. Ah, the name was pasted onscreen too now – Relis – Julia Relis. She was a pretty woman, very attractive actually, a type of slim tall woman which he liked. One or two of his mistresses were like that. She had long black hair, nicely cut, framing a fragile and intelligent face. He would have kept the Vidnet on for her anytime, whether he wanted to know anything about the organisation she represented or not.

    “Julia we’d like to know a little bit about your organisation. The Neo Creadds? We haven’t heard of you before. What are you all about?”

    “We’re about bringing common sense back to this economy of ours. We’re asking your viewers whether they think they get rewarded fairly for all the long hours they work. I don’t just mean do they get paid fairly, but are they rewarded with a good quality of life,” expounded the young woman.

     The reporter, who was very familiar to Pontius (in fact he’d been interviewed himself a number of times over the years by him), was a little taken aback by the sudden thrust of the woman’s arguments. “Common sense,” he blustered. “I see so you want to bring common sense back to the economy. What do you mean by that?” He fell back onto the only way he knew how to handle interviewers who are giving you information you’ve not heard about before. He was throwing the ball back into her court, getting her to explain what she meant, so he could sort his follow up questions out.

     “Well what I mean is just that. There isn’t much common sense in the way our economy is run today. Economies are supposed to serve us aren’t they? I mean feed and clothe us, provide us with homes, a few entertainments, a place in society, a job, and that’s about it, right.”

     “Yes, I suppose so.”

     “Well our economy does a lot more than that doesn’t it. It makes us work long hours as if we were no better than slaves. It gives us products we have no space for, or time to enjoy, and, for many people, money we can’t spend because we don’t have time to spend it where we could gain fulfilment from it. It gives us tunnels and bridges we don’t need, and space exploration and research far in excess of our needs. It puts millions of us to work in pointless, thankless number crunching tasks or vidnetcall sales tasks, which are meaningless to us. It makes real money, serious money for people who don’t deserve it and haven’t earned it the hard way. Basically the economy has grown well beyond common sense. That’s what our organisation is about. We want to let people know that the economy doesn’t have to be this way. There are alternatives, and if they want to choose alternatives they should join us or start to vote for people who will bring us back to common sense.”

    “So you want to point out by your demonstration today that major investments such as the Cidrith Tunnel are unnecessary, and that the economy should not include that kind of activity?” the reporter asked, finding his feet now that he had more to go on.

    “Yes, that’s right. We’re not saying we oppose the building of all tunnels or bridges, or other building or infrastructural investments, just the unnecessary ones. We’re also saying that if capital projects such as this are unnecessary, how many other tasks performed in our economy are unnecessary. If we as a population merely performed the necessary tasks then we wouldn’t have to work so long or so hard. We could all relax a bit more and share the workload. We’d lead much better quality lives, far more balanced, and a fair bit closer to the nature we all came from.”

    “I’d like to ask you a few more questions about your organisation and where you all come from. First I’d like to know about this name you’ve chosen for yourself. Neo Creadd? Neo means new doesn’t it, but what is ‘Creadd’? Where does that come from?” asked the reporter.

    “The Creadds were an ancient movement in Galancia from the time just before our Martan Empire was formed. Indeed that was when Marta City and the rest of today’s Empire were not yet settled by the Martan people. The Senl River valley was Galancian in those days. They were a movement which took over the culture and politics of Galancia in those days, believing in our human place as part of nature, and also in the value of all of us. They believed in the end of warlike and aggressive behaviour, which had previously existed in that society, and in greater self expression and freedoms than had hitherto been the case. We’d like to return society to those kind of values, so we have used their name and called ourselves new or ‘Neo’. We don’t pretend to be the same as them but we think that our new movement needs a name which is not wrapped up in the petty politics of the last few hundred years, but something older which represents the reawakening of our humanity.”

     “I see, so you’re all historians,” said the reporter unexpectedly. It was a cheap jibe, but it got Pontius smiling. Jon Varlis was on new territory with this one. It was clear that he’d never heard of the ancient Creadds before. Pontius couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t either. Julia Relis too was smiling. If she was new to this, which Pontius thought she probably was she was handling it pretty well. He could do with someone of her abilities on his public relations team. She was quite natural, and he would not have minded meeting her either. But he imagined that her views on Space Technologies and discovery were as negative as her view on the Cidrith Tunnel. He had found out something about these people now anyway. There was little new to him in this world, but here was a group of people he’d never heard of before, who were looking back into history to another group he’d never heard of before. He doubted this Neo Creadd organisation was of any importance really, but they had certainly turned out a sizeable demonstration against this tunnel. They were also getting some pretty good coverage from the media, if this channel was anything to go by. This length of coverage would have cost thousands if they’d had to pay for it themselves, as MIOST often did. And a pretty spokeswoman like this Julia would certainly help the viewing figures enormously.