“Natural laws sounds interesting, I think I will dig a bit deeper into that,” said Connie.
She keyed in to the section on theory as the set gathered round. Gary read the theory.
“All sets are presumed to be non-deviant when a state of contentment exists as defined by the psychological acceptance limits of their members as indicated by their social, emotional and physical parameters. The social system of a community and the nation will remain stable so long as all sets are non-deviant.”
“So where do we go from here?” said Jose.
“I’ll try deviance, remedies for,” replied Connie.
This output revealed that there were three legal remedies for deviance, namely Reversal by Testimony, Social Reconstruction, and Grounds for Dissent. Gary read the procedures for each of the three methods.
“Reversal by Testimony. Should a person of known good character be satisfied that the underlying cause of the deviance in question has been addressed and rectified to such a point where there was unlikely to be a recurrence, then the defendant may apply for Reversal by Testimony. The defendant must publicly revoke the Declaration of Deviance before the Social Standards Committee.
Social Reconstruction. For more serious cases or where there are repeated complaints made against a citizen, such that mere Reversal by Testimony is deemed insufficient, then the Social Standards Committee may apply for a further investigation of the offence or intended offence or habit, and, if deemed appropriate, may recommend a course of Social Reconstruction, which, if successfully completed to all concerned, will provide the necessary evidence for the Declaration of Deviance to be overturned by the Social Standards Committee. In such cases the Social Standards Committee must agree to address the underlying cause of the deviance on behalf of the defendant should the defendant accept the cause but consent that he or she needs help in order to remedy it.
Grounds for Dissent. Any person who is served with a Declaration of Deviance may contest that the Declaration is unfair or illegitimate before the Appeals Division of the Social Standards Committee should they have grounds to believe that the said Declaration has been wrongly applied, applied maliciously or applied for political rather than social reasons. The Appeals Division will then rule as to whether the Grounds for Dissent will be accepted.”
“So where does that leave us?” asked Lars.
“Reversal by Testimony presumes that we know the reason why we have been declared deviant,” commented Yvonne. “But we don’t so I can’t see how we could apply for Reversal by Testimony, and the same would be true for Social Reconstruction.”
“I don’t think anyone actually applies for Social Reconstruction,” said Connie. “It has a section all to itself and exists in many forms, mostly educational, requiring a regular attendance by the defendant. Prison is the next step on from Social Reconstruction, but it looks as if there is no such thing as a prison sentence here. Social Reconstruction merely leads on to prison through a succession of failures, which would only happen if the convict adamantly refused to take the course, treatment or whatever seriously. It never happens, however, because we are all trained to think in such a way that it never would. It looks like there is at least one prison though, as it has to exist by law even though there may be nobody inside.”
“So the Island has one prison somewhere in Kamchatka with nobody in it?” said Michael.
“That’s what it looks like,” said Connie. “Although there are records of people going into detention as part of Social Reconstruction, like a sort of sin bin. The other remedy that is more common is that of Directed Labour, which has its own Ministry that is attached to the Ministry for Law and Order. It’s all explained in the study module.”
“What’s Directed Labour?” asked Elena.
“There are three types,” explained Connie. “According to the online study module there are Directed Labour Volunteers, who voluntarily agree to sign up for a fixed term of Directed Labour, a bit like old-style regular soldiers. Then there are Directed Labour Convicts, who are sentenced to a fixed term of Directed Labour, usually for short periods as part of Social Reconstruction for public order offences like drunkenness. These are under the control of the D.L.V.s. Then there are the Directed Labour Conscripts, who are aged 16 to 18 and expected to serve one year as a form of national service. These are also under the D.L.V.s, but are separate from the convicts. All of this Directed Labour is required in order to ensure that one way or another all of the less popular tasks that people do not otherwise choose for their employment, and are not absorbed into job descriptions, do actually get completed.”
“So I suppose they will work mending the roads or cleaning things?” said Elena.
“That sort of thing,” said Connie. “Quite a lot of people apparently do sign up for it for the lifestyle and the comradeship that it offers, as well as knowing that they are making a valid contribution to society, a desire that pretty much seems to be indoctrinated into The Island’s citizens.”
“Useful to know about, but leaves us no further forward with our assignment,” Anne commented. “I can only see Grounds for Dissent to overturn the Declaration.”
“Then,” said Terry. “We must decide what grounds we have and to whom we must apply. Who is in charge of the Social Standards Committee?”
“I could key in to Grounds for Dissent and find out what the procedure is,” suggested Connie.
The set nodded and Connie pressed the appropriate key. Gary read the text.
“An application for Grounds for Dissent should be made to the Social Standards Committee Appeals Division within fourteen days of receipt of the Declaration. The Application may be submitted in person at the local Council Chambers or applied for online. The application must state clearly who issued the Declaration and whether the Declaration has been issued singly, jointly or en masse. Careful consideration should always be given, especially with en masse cases, as to whether the issuer has acted within or outside his or her authority. Grounds for Dissent will always be granted where the Social Standards Committee Appeals Division rules that the Declaration has been made for strategic or political gain.”
“That sounds as if it could be relevant,” suggested Claudia.
“It’s about the only thing that is,” affirmed Anne.
“The text goes on to say that no one is above investigation,” added Gary.
“That means even The Prime Minister?” said Graca.
“Right,” said Connie.
“So that means that whoever is in charge of the Appeals Division of the Social Standards Committee can, at least sometimes, even override The Prime Minister in certain circumstances,” Terry added.
“Who is in charge of it though?” asked Elena.
“That’s what I mean to find out,” continued Connie. “I’ll key in to Social Standards Committee Appeals Division and see what it says.”
“The Social Standards Committee Appeals Division is a division of the Social Standards Committee that is responsible for the handling of all appeals on behalf of the Social Standards Committee,” Gary said, as he read from the screen. “Both Committees are appointed to ensure the continued wellbeing of the community and are jointly a responsibility of the Welfare Ministry and the Health and Safety Ministry.”
“Health and safety, that’s it,” shouted Lars.
“What do you mean?” said Anne.
“The Deputy Prime Minister is next in line to The Prime Minister,” Lars continued. “and he is responsible for health and safety on The Island. I think we should go and have a chat with him. His is that big grey building that is set back from the road at the bottom of the hill from The Great Dome”.
“And his door is always open, like the PMs,” Elena said.
“And he can override anyone if he thinks health and safety might be compromised,” added Michael.
“Then let’s go,” suggested Carl.
The set left Angel Cottage and they made their way to The Deputy Prime Minister’s residence. Th
ey had no need to ring as the white regency-style door opened automatically. The Usherette greeted them expectantly, leading them into an entrance hall where two other sets were also waiting to see the same person.
“So at last you have come to see me,” said the square faced, slightly balding fifty-year-old man. “Well you three dozen had better come into my office.”
The thirty-six setmates sat around the large oak table ready to be briefed.
“Well,” he continued. “I am pleased to tell you that you have come to the right place, but for the wrong reasons. I know that you are here to tell me that you have Grounds for Dissent against the Declaration of Deviance which The Prime Minister has conferred on you all. You would be right in alleging this except for one thing, and that is that technically you are in practice deserving of a Declaration. It is unfortunate that none of you conducted a thorough enough examination of your own status of learning to recognise this. Only one set appears to have done so and I will be contacting them shortly to congratulate them.
I have to tell you that there is quite a lengthy list of offences for which a Declaration of Deviance can be served. One of these I can state is a failure to update one’s health and safety training on a monthly basis. Had you been working for Kamchatskiy today the Health and Safety Officer would have been well within his rights to issue a Declaration of Deviance en masse to all of those who had neglected this important duty. This does happen, as to neglect one’s health and safety training is deemed to be a neglect of social principle and it is an easy offence to commit. Do nothing and you will automatically commit it.
I am, however, prepared to accept that you are fully and openly willing to put right this deficiency forthwith. I therefore, in the absence of the full Committee, am prepared to grand to each of you a Reversal by Testimony for the Declaration that has been served upon you by my superior. Arrangements have been made for you to ratify the Testimony before Mitsumoto-san in the boardroom when you next attend for training.
This is not, however, the end of the matter, because there is one other thing that no sets actually appear to have spotted, and that is that when a Declaration of Deviance is issued the issuer, especially if he or she is a senior member of the community as The Prime Minister is, is required by law to give a reason for the issuing of the Declaration. Failure to do this is also breach of social principle, and therefore there is a case to be answered by her also. In a real situation she could expect to be heavily criticised for this.
You should now go back to your cottages and decide for tomorrow how you propose to serve a Declaration on The Prime Minister to remind her of the protocol that she herself should be obliged to follow. For the purposes of this exercise you should assume as from now that the Social Standards Committee has suddenly become corrupt and is no longer approachable, and also that The Prime Minister has become power-crazed and is behind the corruption, which is in need of exposure. I will remind you that Deviantism is a mechanism that is intended to prevent accidents and disharmony by revealing unsatisfactory behaviour, not an instrument for power or control. You should network with other sets so as to collectively contrive a solution.”
The three sets dispersed as three more entered to receive the same message from The Deputy. Armed with the knowledge that had been given to them all of the sets now began to converse through Commander. They later met in the bars to consider what they had come up with. The networking process quickly led all of the sets toward a common understanding of what Deviantism was and what the legal remedies were for it.
The next day Connie and the others again gathered around the computer. Connie sent all of the observations that her set had made and these appeared to correspond with those that other sets had pinpointed and sent to them. They brainstormed online for solutions to the final problem which they had to solve collectively.
“Our set believes that the media should be involved to expose the corruption,” said Carl reading an incoming email.
“We thought of that, but ascertained that the media is also corrupt,” Gary said, reading another.
“It’s a clear abuse of power on the part of The Prime Minister,” he continued, reading another. “So no one set can act independently. We must all act together. This is obvious if the Social Standards Committee has effectively been taken over.”
This networking exercise was designed to introduce the sets to a method of policing abuses of power, and to the grapevine that formed the basis of The Island’s defence system. By acting in unison they would effectively be able to restore social equilibrium following the disturbance that The Prime Minister had introduced.
“What about contacting some of the staff for their suggestions,” another email suggested.
“No good. We have ascertained that all of the staff are corrupt,” came another. “The PM has a complete stranglehold on power. A police state is being formed.”
“The staff will turn more on our side as this situation progresses,” another email suggested.
“The PM has to be isolated,” Connie said as she fed this suggestion into the twittering.
“Agreed,” came a response. “We need a way of doing this.”
“We have watched the diskette of Big John,” came another message. “It states that in such cases the despot has to be brought out into the open.”
Other messages affirmed that there was support for this, but no consensus as yet on how to bring the corrupt leader to face the people. When the time was right the PM, reverting to her old teaching role, unlocked the concluding section of the diskette so that they could use the prescribed method to displace the corrupt leader.
This decreed that each set would send one setmate to The Great Dome to request that The Prime Minister make an appearance at the Gloriette at four o’clock the next day. The method stipulated that every set had to do this. These selected setmates would then draw lots in order to ascertain which of them should actually make the formal request to The Prime Minister to convey the message that all of her people had turned against her.
“No animosity must be used, just a plain request. We must use gratitude rather than animosity to coax her to the stand,” a further email stated.
“She cannot refuse to go public because all actions taken by Deviants to remedy Deviance have to be acknowledged by law. If we are required to act, then so is she,” came another.
“The staff have agreed to be ready with the drums at the end,” another stated.
The draw decreed that French girl Marie would thank The PM formally in The Great Dome and request her public attendance. Brazilian Mario would then accompany her to the Gloriette and make the stage-managed announcement.
*
At half past three the next day the twenty representatives from each set entered the Great Dome to deliver their ultimatum to The Prime Minister. Naturally she was unresponsive to any requests to see her, given that her role at this point was to mimic the role of a dictator rather than to be the benevolent Joanie that they all knew.
The representatives, including Anne from Gary’s set, who waited to see her naturally represented the voice of the people and once the people had turned there was no way back for a dictator as many examples in history had demonstrated. With the exceptional levels of trust and cooperation that existed amongst The Island’s people, superior to that of any other in the world, it was obvious that The Island was not the sort of place where a despot could emerge and hope to survive. So, in the end she had to concede.
“Enter,” said The Prime Minister, as she turned to face them with a defiant expression. “So, what have you come to tell me?”
“We have come to thank you,” answered Marie humbly as she stepped forward and bowed her head.
“To thank me?”
“Yes, to thank you for bringing to our attention our lapses in updating our training requirements. Now, in accordance with our rights we would like to thank you publicly.”
“You need not do that. In fact I would prefer it,” said Joanie, sti
ll acting the part.
This placed Marie on the spot, Joanie secretly, and for the training purposes, eager to see how she would handle it.
“Yes, we appreciate that, but I believe protocol allows for us to thank a person in authority such as yourself in public in such cases?”
“You are right. It does. So what? I’m the dictator. I’m in charge. What can any of you do?”
Marie now had to use her improvisation skills
“Your people have turned, not just some, but each and every one. You have no choice but to step down. Your orders have become meaningless. Your presence before the people is awaited.”
“As you have stated your case in such a way, protocol gives me no choice. I congratulate you,” said The PM, as she suddenly reverted back to her old role.
Marie and Mario led The Prime Minister out to the Square. Mario was ready with his speech, which he had specially adapted from the diskette and the study module. Staff and setmates intermingled and the representatives who had been in attendance to back up Marie and Mario returned to the throng. Their presence was to demonstrate that every set was behind the scheme that was about to unfold.
“Fellow citizens,” said Mario. “Please applaud our Prime Minister. Through her astute judgment she has brought to attention a very important omission, a lapse on our part, that of updating our training in health and safety matters. Thanks to her we have secured Reversal by Testimony for everyone for this. For this we are truly grateful as until this point we were all Deviants endangering this our fine community. But her methods have done us a disservice. Her departments have turned on the people. For this they must be exposed. We stand united. We will not fall. The Prime Minister is deviant.”
At this point there was silence for a few moments before Joanie, now back to her old self, concluded the test by holding Marie’s and Mario’s hands aloft.
“So, good people, this is how it is done,” she said. “This is how you can take it upon yourselves collectively in small groups to prevent opportunists from getting a grip on power. Yes, we still have crime, mostly petty, mostly insignificant, and the system has been found to work well in preventing people from becoming negligent or reckless in what they do, but it can never be taken to excess as long as we have our checks and balances, as you have now learnt through this exercise. Social disorder, drunkenness and the like are well controlled by Big John’s system, The Self-policing State, removing the need for mass inspection to police the streets and secure harmony within sets and families.
The Island of Dreams Page 12