The Great Empire--Bilingual Edition

by Joaquim Augusto Ferreira Barbosa De Melo

  With the death of the Empress, the vast empire was left to itself, abandoned and without resources. The legitimate heirs, faced with the chaotic situation of the empire, decided not to claim for themselves the rights of succession. In these circumstances, power fell to the street. The military, involved in that public disorder, had no choice but to overthrow the previous government that fell without offering any resistance. After a short period of total anarchy, the military set up a Military Council that was charged with creating a new political order. After some time the Republic was constituted, structured by a new Basic Law, thus giving the first steps to a new one-party Nation, where the people now have a major but indirect participation in government.

  As a result of these new times and political order, the military elected the first President. An ideologist, a cultured and prestigious man, but without any real power. The new President, Sud by name, had his origins in the small nobility and served as a senior official in the previous administration. In his time he was a brilliant student, having acquired the degree of Doctor and still very young he was admitted to the Literary Academy where he gained projection among his peers. For Sud, every man who exercises power has the duty to serve the people he administers. He must do so with Wisdom, Justice and respect for the Laws, providing Development, Social Welfare and Prosperity to the Nation he serves. But like the seeds that are thrown to the earth, ideas must also have a propitious time to germinate, grow, flourish and later bear the expected fruit.

  Those people lived for centuries away from the public cause, so they did not have the conscience awakened to the new responsibilities that were asked of them - to manage a nation and to know how much this involved assuming the individual and the collective. Thus, Sud’s action could never bring the (immediate) results expected by the military - it was necessary to awaken collective consciences and this would take time, which Sud did not have. Thus, the ungovernability of the empire took hold, stimulating an environment conducive to adventure and personal opportunism, especially among some military personnel more interested in personal benefits than in the collective good of an entire nation. The new situation worsened, in such a way, that Sud was eventually ousted by a military junta headed by an adventurer, who, not having the knowledge of governance, did nothing but install repression to contain the growing popular revolts. After that coup, the economic and political situation deteriorated even more, day after day. The government could no longer pay its men their wages; such was the chaotic situation of public finances that the state had reached. The foreign powers nearby were beginning to see, in that empire, a unique opportunity to annex it to their territories. Thus, attacks by foreign forces began to take place at the borders, gaining ground, in order to seize the whole nation. The military could no longer govern or defend their own territory. The situation generated a wave of repudiation throughout the empire, and malaise set in, not only in the nobility, but also among the people. As a result of all this, widespread revolt movements began to form, where a large number of young people who had passed by the school created by Li exerted a strong influence.

  Through the various imperial dynasties, the palace had always been the dynamic centre of art and culture. With the death of the Emperor these traditions were reduced to a minimalist expression. The school created by Li was now the only place in the territory where knowledge was transmitted in an organized way. Since the beginning of the school, Li sought to ensure not only the continuity of teaching, by providing it with financial resources and proper management, but above all the development of a virtuous connection to the values of work and the common good, by applying pedagogical conditions and moral principles. As time went by, the School accumulated prestige and recognition among the civil and cultured society of the time. The young people of the successive generations who passed through that establishment were today the holders of a solid culture and great social sense.

  Among all the political movements constituted throughout the empire, one stood out. The reason for its uniqueness came from its main leader, the young Song, a brilliant former student who had passed through Li’s school. Song came from a peasant family and had the privilege of being one of the many students that the school supported financially throughout his school career. In this school he shaped his character and by it he developed personal characteristics of leadership. Determined and a fighter, from an early age Song proved to be an enthusiastic speaker. It was these skills that later revealed themselves and made him a great politician - a mobilize of will and a vibrant communicator, dragging crowds. Wherever he arrived, he quickly became the centre of all attention. His charismatic attitude galvanized support and easy adherence, thanks to the enthusiasm and conviction he put into all the matters he dealt with. Song was therefore a contagious speaker, expressing his thoughts very clearly. For Song, the vast empire urgently needed to be mobilized to rebuild the glorious country that it had once been. Through different paths, it is true, but it had to emerge for a great national purpose - to flourish, to create new cultural and professional valences, to invest in education and in the revitalization of agriculture and industry. The political movement Song helped to create had these great objectives, and perhaps because of this, it was growing rapidly in supporters and activities, already representing itself at the national level as a frame of reference. The chaos of the empire grew at an alarming rate, and with it Song’s determinism for its change. The first encounters established with other movements in view of a national policy had proved disappointing for Song. The division of interests between the leaders of the various movements was enormous. Song’s personal conviction was that the solution would be a great journey of mobilization by the Empire, but this idea was too giant to be taken forward with a single movement (financial and logistical support was lacking). However, with each passing day, Song’s hope of finding a way to realize this great dream of his grew.

  A few months later...

  The one that initially was just an idea germinating in his mind had acquired the strength of a project in motion. Song was increasingly determined to lead the country to an awakening for the future, with a great national journey of mobilization of citizens. His efforts were now directed on several fronts: raising financial resources from supporters; establishing contacts with other groups available to come together; deciding on alternative routes and cost estimates; raising sympathizers and supporters of the cause, even in the most distant towns to be visited. That action, which could have been mission impossible months before, was now underway, supported by the organization and mobilization of resources hitherto considered unattainable. In Song’s mind the initial fears gave way to ever greater certainties of fulfilment. For those closest to him his enthusiasm was now stronger and more contagious. The recent affective events in his life were no stranger to all this. Among the financial support obtained for the cause were those of an Import and Export company belonging to the family of Li.

  When Song met with the school board to get financial support for his cause, he had one of the biggest surprises. The principal was now Lili, Li’s granddaughter! That unexpected encounter had awakened old memories. Song and Lili lived a platonic love, made of dreamed glances and emotions. At that time the social background differences had not allowed them to come closer, but the memories remained there. After Lili had to leave with her parents to a distant country, they never saw each other again. The reunion allowed them to relive memories that were still engraved intensely in their memories, but now without the social barriers of previous times. By meeting again, in the school’s teachers’ office, the affections, even if tenuous, were able to resume their journey, supported by the maturity of adulthood.

  - Hello! - said Lili, in a familiar tone.

  Song, not yet recovered from surprise, took a small bow as a gesture of greeting, responding with a smile:

  - How are you?!

  From the first glances it was possible to identify the questions (many) that went through their minds. Despite all those years
without seeing each other, it was still possible to foresee an approach of affections as if, by enchantment, they had said goodbye only the day before.

  - You want to talk a little bit about yourself, about your cause?!

  Despite Song’s ease of oratory, at that moment he felt a bit inhibited and shy even. The silence thus marked the initial moments of the conversation, so Lili, feeling her friend’s perplexity, started:

  - I learned the other day that the movement you are leading intends to make a journey of awareness along several villages.

  - Yes, we have an ambitious project! We hope to make a journey from the mountains to the sea. It is not only a few thousand kilometers, but also a lot of expenditure.

  - As much as we can help, count on us!

  - I don’t know how to thank you for what you’ve already done for me - I’ve owed a debt of gratitude to the school for many years. This is where I have received much of the training and the essentials values that I stand for. I will never forget it!

  - My grandmother created this school for exactly that purpose and values. It is for them that we seek to continue. I’d like to hear about you! How are you, after all these years?

  Song was once again silent - he didn’t want to externalize the feelings he still had for Lili, because he knew how much they could “mess with” his cause.

  - Right now all my efforts are directed towards one central goal: to achieve power!

  Lili, who was not expecting that answer, waned in her curiosity.

  - Yes, of course, the Nation is waiting for you! - she said, without much enthusiasm.

  Shortly after, Lili and Song said goodbye, not without first getting the desired financial support right and, above all, talking about the premises required for the opening of a new delegation of the movement in that locality. Although Song did not meet Lili’s initial expectations, that meeting made it possible to strengthen personal relations between them and enabled them to build a strong pillar in the construction of the political project. For him the dream was now beginning to become possible. The help of his friend was a powerful revitalizing force of the movement, through important contacts, awakening and mobilizing wills, which would be decisive in the future success of the campaign to be launched by Song. With Lili’s action, patriotic values in the defense of the Nation began to be reinforced, opposing foreign invasions. Thus, a growing wave of enthusiasm began to be felt throughout the region. The country could not continue in that suffocating immobilism for any longer, while destroying all hope.

  A few months later...

  Since the death of the Empress, many years had passed without anything striking and positive having been recorded in the empire. In the fields, families repeated their millenary tasks to collect the sustenance of each day aggravated now by the constant increases in taxes, without these translating into any benefit for their hard lives. When Song finally decided to start his long march for national awareness in a final effort to get the empire out of the difficult situation, the number of followers was little more than a handful of enthusiastic men. At the time he had not realized the effect of a possible trawl of sympathizers that his inflammatory words could generate - with unpredictable consequences for the group’s logistics. It was in the midst of the campaign, days later, that the multiplier effect of followers became evident to Song. The people’s reception of his words was evident. The initial group, within a few days, multiplied uncontrollably (many of those listening to Song’s speeches decided to abandon the daily routine of cultivating the fields to follow him along the villages). The movement, which bore the expenses of feeding its followers, saw the food and money earned for the entire campaign begins to be spent quickly. In order to find solutions, Song met with the other leaders. After several hours of meeting and analysis, the result was inconclusive. The commitments made to the following populations required the movement to continue under the conditions initially planned. The decision reached at the end of that long meeting was only to re-examine the situation later. Days later the enthusiasm grew and with it the wave of followers. For the first time Song felt the weight of words and their consequences. In the days that followed, with the voracious events, a significant part of the available financial resources had been exhausted, without even covering the first hundred kilometers. The question that the leaders of the movement asked themselves was a complex one: “How will it be possible to bring the campaign to an end if more than twenty times the distance traveled still remains to be won?” In their faces the growing concern was visible. At the next meeting Song considered asking the previous sympathizers for an increase in funds, which some opposed on the grounds that it was unreasonable to expect more from them, after so many contributions made in the recent past. As the situation worsened and demanded quick decisions, Song put forward another alternative - that of sending messengers to the next towns asking them for contributions to the campaign. The last proposal was unanimously accepted and some of the leaders were appointed to handle this fundraising action. In the following days the initial support from the farmers was great, however, as a result of looting suffered by the farmers in the neighboring villages, this support was systematically denied. Despite the leaders’ calls for moderation and respect for private property, the acts of vandalism continued. With the waves of enthusiasm produced by Song’s words, the first collateral and perverse consequences emerged, and after a few weeks the movement had reached such a scale that Song himself could no longer control it. When confronted with these facts, his conscience sought to attenuate the situation with the old saying: “if the work grows more than the master, the best thing to do is to let it reach its rightful dimension” - in Song’s mind his thoughts insisted on admitting that if his words echoed in the hearts of the peasants, it was because reason was on their side and that they had been waiting for them for a long time. He considered it his duty to continue the struggle begun for the good of the Empire and its people. It was with these thoughts that Song reassured his conscience faced with the perverse effects that were beginning to grow. However, reason also told him that if nothing was done, a short-term human tragedy of unpredictable consequences was looming, produced by the growing number of sympathizers who joined the campaign every day in an uncontrolled way (the organization found itself without financial resources and almost without food, so the end result could not be laughable). For Song it was therefore urgent to rethink the route and the way to campaign, seeking to reduce the disastrous humanitarian effects that were predicted. Among the various solutions presented in the following meetings, it was finally decided to carry out isolated awareness raising actions in the villages that had delegations from the movement. In this way, it was hoped to put an end to the dragging effect of the populations following the movement. It was decided that this task would be carried out by Song and, once finished, he would join his colleagues again. It was hoped that this would shorten distances and improve logistics. With the movement of the campaign they would follow the other people responsible for coordination and awareness raising tasks. After final adjustments, it was decided to change the route of the campaign as well; now much shorter, hoping that Song would join those three months later. As the acts of looting carried out by supporters of the movement continued, the weeks that followed Song’s departure were troubled for the remaining leaders, because without the oratory capacity of their leader, they had to face a growing wave of protests from farmers.

  Song’s arrival in his homeland was a surprise for everyone: family; friends; and especially for Lili. Nobody expected him! The latest news that had come from him indicated his participation in a great outreach to the people and at a long distance. Song’s passage through Lili’s house represented a mixture of enthusiasm and concern, since she suspected that his presence there could only be due to reasons of force majeure, so her uneasiness was on the rise:

  - I’m very pleased to see you here, but something tells me that your presence is due to force majeure, no?!

  - That we can c
all the women’s sixth sense!

  - I never told you, but I have a gift for guessing! Proving what I’m saying, I add it’s your birthday tomorrow, or is it not?!

  - A gift! That’s a good one! I recognize you have a keen intuition!

  - You don’t believe in my gifts, what more do you want me to say?!

  - For example, that you went to my student file to find out the date, right?!

  - You know I’m happy that you’re back, but your return is due to a strong reason that’s making me worried.

  - In fact, the situation of the campaign is very complex at the moment, as you will understand!

  - I always thought everything was going well!

  - Please, listen to what I have to tell you! A new variable has emerged in the campaign cost equation that has profoundly altered everything. When we decided to make the people aware, we started from the assumption that people would stay in their land and not join us, so the elements of the movement would be in equal numbers along the way. What happened was exactly the opposite. From the first sessions, we noticed an excessive enthusiasm from the people and a strong adhesion to our words, so that many of them followed us from village to village. Since we did not want to abandon the supporters to their fate, we contributed to their food. This drastically changed the costs, so that the financial reserves began to fall rapidly. In order to cope with the increased costs, we had to ask for financial support from farmers in the following villages, but here too our strategy failed. At first, we had good results, but with the growing number of supporters in our ranks, many of the participants started looting in the vicinity - despite all our calls to contain the excesses, the situation got out of hand. As a result of all this, farmers in the following villages stopped funding us. It was then that we made an appeal decision - to take isolated awareness actions in the villages where the movement already has delegations. With this we hope to alleviate the gravity of the situation. But these are not our only difficulties.