The Article
The article stood on the hill outside the capital city of
each member land. It was visited every year on the date of its creation by the
great and the good, stood in serried ranks to salute the symbol of peace and prosperity.
It had been there for fifty years, a testament to the modernity of the people
of the lands and their superiority to those who had gone before with their wars
and their destruction, their prejudices and their lack of fellow feeling.
At first the article had been universally popular. Those
outside the lands had looked on with envy at those who lived under the article’s
benign gaze, an invisible power to protect and nourish the people. Those allied
to the lands, with their own articles and shared experience of the horrors of
conflict had applauded the lands for their commitment to a better way of life.
In the lands of the diktat, the naysayers who were imprisoned and disappeared had
pointed to the article as a beacon of hope, as something to aspire to and fight
for. The lands of the article had consistently supported these refuseniks. When
the lands of the diktat collapsed under the falsity of their theory, the lands
of the article had welcomed them with open arms, leaving only a bruised and
distressed rump outside their new and improved community. It seemed that the
lands of the article were destined to be the saviours of humanity.
All were in favour of the article. Those who weren’t simply
didn’t understand the power of the article. So great was the support for the
article that those who insisted on publicly denying its power within the lands
were called ‘shovers’ and laughed at for their crazy theories. Some compared
them to the ‘smashers’ who had caused chaos in the time before the article. The
article provided jobs and new technologies that made life better for all. No
one was left behind. Those who seemed to be left behind were not there because
of the article but because they were ‘idlers’. The ‘idlers’ were obviously that
because people from the new lands of the article and those who escaped from
lands beyond it (for there were still many places where the article was
resisted) came to the lands and found work and contributed to the good of all.
The ‘idlers’ only had themselves to blame. The ‘shovers’ hated the ‘idlers’ but
they recognised that the ‘idlers’ hated those they called ‘pushers’; the
believers in the article, the establishment, the experts and the people in
control. So the ‘shovers’ stared to
whisper in the ears of the ‘idlers’, promising them great things if they helped
overturn the article.
As time past, the wars that created the article became a
thing of first memory and then history. The towns and cities were rebuilt, the children
and grandchildren of the people of the lands travelled throughout and learnt
the language and customs of their fellow citizens and forgot the disagreements
and distrust that, only decades before, could have seen them shooting each
other rather than sharing conversation. Some began to wonder if the article was
really all powerful. There seemed to be more and more ‘idlers’ wherever you
looked. Some of the ‘pushers’ suggested that the article needed to be
considered anew, that the ‘idlers’ were not to blame, that the article itself
was creating them. But the majority of the ‘pushers’ were doing ok, they had
their new things and their settled lives, they had forgotten what could happen,
what had happened in the past and they ignored the pleas for the ‘idlers’,
electing to pursue them further. They forced the ‘idlers’ to work for their
bread and took their houses from them if they didn’t work. The ‘shovers’ saw
this and they smiled. With each push the ‘idlers’ came closer to them and there
were more and more ‘idlers’.
So it came to past that as time went on the voices of the ‘idlers’
and the ‘shovers’ combined became so loud that the ‘pushers’ decided to shut
them up for once and for all. In the lands of the article one by one the ‘pushers’
in charge decided to ask the people to say that the article was good for all.
On that day in each of the lands the people spoke. And some of them said that
the article was not good. Enough of them said that the article was not good for
the article to be removed. The ‘pushers’ were aghast. How could the article not
be good? It had kept them safe for five decades, made life better for all. The ‘pushers’
repeated that the ‘shovers’ were crazy. The ‘shovers’ said that they were now
in charge. Some ‘pushers’ pretended to be ‘shovers’. The ‘idlers’ were the
happiest. They had told the ‘pushers’ where to go and now their protectors, ‘the
shovers’ would make it all ok.
Years of strife followed. The ‘shovers’ shoved and the ‘pushers’
pushed. The people of the diktat lands saw their chance and made their empire
anew, the lands of the former article too busy fighting each other to stop
them. The ‘ilders’ soon realised that the ‘shovers’ didn’t really care about
them. Soon they became ‘smashers’ and the lands of the article were again
ravaged by strife and war and misery.
After decades of ‘smashers’ smashing and ‘pushers’ pushing and ‘shovers’
shoving whilst all around the people of the diktat lands gorged themselves on the weak and the defenceless a peace was
declared. And on a hill outside each of the capital cities of the former
article lands was erected the declaration. And the declaration promised peace
and prosperity and all were happy to be people of the declaration. Except for
those who weren’t but they were just crazy.
