The Awakening - Ordo Tribus XI by Ethan Santiago

by Ethan Santiago

  Chapter 20 – The Awakening

  Spain

  Protests are growing around Spain. Morris already talked to their police chief. “Fortunately, George has never met you or you would be on his stupid log also,” Morris tells the police chief. Morris convinced the police chief to send agents in plain clothes to disrupt the protests.

  “A peaceful and extended protest is not good. It might lead to swelling of public support. But if we can inject violence into it, we can dismiss them as extremists and violent thugs, deserving a heavy handed crackdown.”

  Within minutes, violence breaks out at the same time at various protest sites in Spain. Some people get bullet wounds, some have knife wounds. Riots breaks out and fires start burning in various business establishments. The protesters quickly organize to police themselves. They also help put out the fire before it spreads. While the initial influx of violence catches them off guard, the next attempt fails as the people quickly accost anyone seen yielding weapons. Some suffer injuries in their attempts but further violence ceases. Groups starts to march to Nueva Visión del Siglo, which is broadcasting claims that the protesters are rioters almost in cue with the breakout of violence. Some march toward the police chief station.

  Morris Stark is back in his condominium. His initial smile at the breakout of violence is replaced with concerns when Nueva Visión del Siglo go off the air and protesters take over. “Nueva Visión del Siglo, the puppet of the conglomerate is no more,” says one youth who has taken over the anchor chair. The camera men decide to just let it roll and it becomes a live celebration on air.

  Morris decides he has to get out of the country quickly. He can hear police sirens going off in the street. The power suddenly goes out in his condo. But the fridge seems to be still ON and making some noise. He tries to disconnect the fridge from the network but the program and display won't respond. The thermostats are also obviously still working as it starts to get warmer and warmer inside. He runs to open the door but it is locked tight. He enters his password but it says “invalid code.” Due to his paranoia, he reinforces his door with heavy steel. So there is no chance that he could kick it open. He tries to make a phone call but there is no signal. He tries the internet but there is no connection also. He starts sweating, not sure whether it is the heat from the thermostat being set so high or from nervousness. He tries adjusting the thermostat and turning it OFF, with no effect. Suddenly the coffee maker turns on and there is a loud bang on the fridge as it breaks down and turns off. His computer suddenly turns on and displays video of the celebration at Nueva Visión del Siglo. The speaker in his house suddenly turns on to maximum volume with loud music blaring. Morris tries to open his balcony door but that too is electronically controlled and part of his networked security. The door locks have somehow been overridden to the locked position. He tries to cover his ears from the loud music. Morris then grabs onto his wooden desk and throws it out the window. The window breaks and he breathes a sigh of relief.

  The music suddenly stops and he hears the door locks open. He quickly grabs a gun as the door opens. He tries to raise his gun but is quickly shot in the wrist causing him to scream in pain and drop the gun involuntarily. Eldon is the first one in, followed by other Spanish police and Interpol's officers. Eldon quickly grabs Morris and throws him to the couch. He wants to punch him but manages to control himself. Instead he turns Morris around with such a force that Morris’s nose hit the couch as he is handcuffed very tightly. “You have the right to remain silent Mr. Caliphate.” Morris is shocked to be called by that name. His record and trace as that person should have been totally erased.

  Morris is led out by the Spanish police. “Your friend is waiting for you in the jail. He has transferred from his desk as the police chief to accompany you,” says one Spanish police officer.

  The thermostat suddenly returns to normal. The computer and the coffee maker turn off. Eldon smiles knowing exactly who was in control of Morris Condominium.

  Saudi Arabia

  The people continue their protests and all top military officials connected to the conglomerate lose credibility. An election is finally planned. In their victory party Jabaar was one of the speaker.

  “Today we reject corruption, intimidation, hatred and murder. If your leader, be it political or religious, ask you to hate because a person is of different race, nationality, religion, or background, then say no to them and show them the door out. Because we the citizens of the world will no longer tolerate corruption, hatred and murder!”

  Loud cheers break out.

  U.K.

  Protests are also held in U.K., with their prime minister and main media being mentioned in George's log. The replacement government repeals the Motherland Defence Initiative as well as their Digital Economy Bill, an MDI-ish law that was rushed through long time ago without public consultation.

  France and Germany

  French and German officials’ involvement with George's IMF plan has led to outrage and their quick dismissal. The French president was also implicated in George's log.

  Barcelona, Spain

  Angelino takes the stage in one of the rallies and declares:

  “Let no hatred and manufactured strife divide us. We will be strong and invincible if we stand united. We will vanish hate and corruption. We will silence all voices and provocations that cause us to hate and fight each other. For humans around the world working collectively, conscientiously and humanely will be the most potent weapon the world have ever seen. We will neutralize any tyranny, corruption and injustices that are the source of marginalization, and the deaths of large number of people resulting from war and poverty. Even if the good die young, the good will always outnumber the bad. If the good stays silent, wickedness and injustices will prevail.”

  Philippines

  The people gather to overthrow their president who is George's business partner in the Philippines. They start to organize voters’ education to fight against the chronic problem of vote buying and political assassination. A proposal has been submitted to create an international tribunal similar to war crimes court but it will be for perpetrators of political assassinations and for corrupt judges and officials. That effort culminates in the creation of the Global Council of Equals, a replacement for the United Nations. Its mandate includes prosecuting corrupt politicians and judges that cannot be brought to justice in their own country due to control by their cronies. Perpetrators of politically motivated killing are also tried in new international tribunal. The council works closely with Interpol to pursue politicians and executives who ran away with ill gotten wealth to tax haven countries. They are hot on the tails of George's hidden wealth and manage to sequester some in Cayman and Swiss banks after a vigorous effort of combing through the web of banking secrecy.

  All members in the Global Council of Equals have pledged at a minimum good governance and open government along with other anti-corruption measures; a non-politicized and uncorrupted justice system; respect for civil liberties and privacy; a fair election system; and a transparent and grass roots representation with a good voter education system. All members, who have met all the basic requirements got equal shares of votes in the council.

  Various Asian, Middle Eastern and European Countries

  Protests break out against politicians identified to have collaborated with George. Long brewing anger against known corrupt officials and executives result in their overthrow.

  South America

  South America, quite a few times a victim of external aggression and corruption themself, rises up in solidarity with the world. Politicians that are corrupt even if they are not on George's log are also overthrown.

  U.S.A.

  People are organizing into groups and panels to discuss how to improve their government to prevent further corruption. A melding of the minds. Open government becomes a central pillar.

  “An open government that is sincere and not evanized,” one speaker proclaims boldly.


  Reeling from the charade of partisanship from an equally corrupt parties, a group of citizens start organizing for a new party and gathering signatures and grassroots donations.

  “What are we going to call our party?”

  “Any party name would be better than the current ones. Those parties calling themselves Liberals but are not Liberals. Conservatives that are not Conservatives. Democrats and Republicans by name only.”

  The group then decides on the name The Non-Partisan Collective with the mantra to collaborate and inform. If they win, they will rule by consensus and not by causing hate and division. They will harness the power and ideas of the people or experts.

  “More emphasis should be put on planning for the long term rather than impulsive decisions, especially under duress, anger, fear, hate and corruption. Open government, transparency, clearly defined and disclosed conflict of interest shall become the norm,” says one participant.

  “We need to move away from government that is personality driven and leader-centric to more grassroots consultation. A leader leads and acts as a moderator but does not dictate. Representatives should be held accountable for leaving voters uninformed or for misleading them. Each representative votes and make decisions on behalf of their constituents. But the authority is given by proxy only and any voter can take away the proxy to vote for themselves anytime, especially on specific bills that are personally important to them. These measures are necessary because it is not a real government of the people, by the people, for the people if you have no way of making them accountable in between election. Waiting for next election will be too late. The damage would have already been done. These votes on individual bills can be made online in a non-anonymous and verifiable manner. Anyone that engages in intimidation and harassing of a voter for the way they vote will have their voting rights taken away plus any applicable criminal laws. Representing the people is not an entitlement but an obligation.” one speaker suggests.

  One citizen offers his opinion. “Government needs to become inherently transparent. Accountable to their boss—the people. One way to increase efficiency in government and bureaucrats is to make it less centralized. Move to less of a controlling leader type of governance to more open and collaborative model where bureaucrats comprise a greater number of people that are well trained and informed. More distributed decision making and a wider base of knowledgeable and trained people who can act as decision makers. A more centralized structure results in more bureaucratic inefficiency. A more top down approach equals fewer decision makers, hence bottlenecks, red tapes, delay and increased costs. For government to sell off the public's asset, a mandatory non-whitewash open public consultation process should be held before a vote take place. This would prevent a lobbyist from corrupting the government into selling off their assets cheaply. All agencies and bureaucrats are subjected to regular audits with all records available for free to the public without needing to pay for information access request.”

  A middle aged woman stands up to speak. “All decisions made should be justified and documented and also made available for public scrutiny without delay. Reduce the federal level juggernaut and give more resources to lower level government like provincial and municipal level, who are able to more readily recognize local needs. While federal government can continue to look after wider interest issues and items that would benefit from economies of scale. But political partisanship should be eliminated.”

  Another speaker stands up. “I agree, and they should increase productivity of the worker, not by squeezing all the energy out of them and throwing two to three person jobs into one. Instead a working environment should be created where the workers are paid a decent wage, not a minimum wage that is below the poverty line. Let's foster a worker base that is enthusiastic about their organization. Happy workers are productive workers. And for crying out loud, keep political appointees out of our agencies to stop the constant re-organization leading to inefficiency! We need a solid base for our agencies to be free from constant political interference and changing ideology.”

  A retiree decides to contribute. “Pension and employment insurance are people's money. No politician should dig their hands in there and use them to fund their deficit. Investments for those funds should at a minimum cover for inflation, guaranteed! Unnecessarily putting money in risky investments should result in money managers being fired and disqualified from positions of public trust. Billion dollar losses due to negligence should result in heavy penalties and jail terms, whether corruption is proven or not. This will prevent plausible deniability and mock innocence from corrupt money managers.”

  Roy Merritt is chosen to head crowd-sourcing and gather economists who have no previous connection to fraudulent acts. They are organizing to discuss and brainstorm about new progressive, sustainable and innovative economic model.

  “There should be a law against the creation of artificial scarcity, hoarding and cartel on supplies to drive up price,” says one speaker.

  Another person rises and says, “Exponential consumerism and loan is not the be all and end all of economy. Savings for a rainy day should not lead one to be accused of not contributing to the economy nor are they 'job killers.' We cannot be too obsessed with continued exponential growth on corporations’ profits through enticing consumers to take up more loan and consume more than they can afford. Or exponential depletion of our limited natural resource. When the federal chairman himself is calling for Free Market and is misleading people to take up loans they won't be able to repay, then we have a problem. That is what happens when the government ends up serving only their campaign contributor than the general public it is supposed to serve.”

  “Speaking of campaign contributions. Extravagant campaigning should be abolished. Abolish campaign contributions altogether. A certain budget goes to supporting democratic election. The public can also contribute to that fund instead of individual parties. Even laws that allow contributions by individuals only are easily overcome by wealthy entities and are impossible to enforce. Maybe we should consider an equal time ad space paid for with public funds. Transportation to various campaign destinations also through strict standards and reasonable costs also shouldered by public funds. The amount of funding depends on percentage of membership relative to other parties. So a citizen can contribute to the Support Democratic Election Fund then sign up as a member for his favoured party for the upcoming election. This would help his favoured party get more funding. This is just an off-the-cuff idea just to get the debate going on stopping exponential growth in campaign spending. Because if an election win is dependent on who has the most money, then the general public interest has already been sidelined even before the election is done.”

  Another participant suggests, “Essential services should be managed by a non-political, non-profit and open public co-operative whose books are open for anyone to scrutinize. Profit beyond the margin for rainy days fund are to be refunded to rate payers if applicable. Essential services that would receive public funding and managed under such organization would include water, and utilities such as electricity. Communications that are owned privately will have a cap on allowable percentage of profit to ensure they remain equally affordable for everyone regardless of social and economic stature. With internet data now able to travel at light speed in the fibre optic's internet backbone, and matching technology able to process that data at about the same speed, it is abominable to throttle speed and put artificial caps on bandwidth usage. This would also violate the new anti-artificial scarcity law that the previous speaker has proposed. A new research and education institute for researching cures and new innovation should be established, which could be funded jointly by public funds and independent fund raising. This will create a foundation to help create a sustainable and progressive future.”

  Someone volunteers to express his opinion and says, “White-collar crime involving millions and billions of dollar from neglect and fraud should receive penalties equivalent to n
umber of lives affected and lost. Politicians who protect and absolve them are equally liable.”

  Still, another speaker rises up. “Thankfully, the Motherland Defence Initiative, which is now exposed as the law created by George, the mastermind of the non-existent group Ordo Tribus XI, has been repealed. However, abusive internet and intellectual laws should also be revoked and replaced with laws that would not hamper innovation. One that would make it easier for private enterprise and individuals to access new innovations and invent things themselves to benefit the public at large. An innovation friendly law that would allow our young innovators to stand on the shoulders of giant not dig hard for hidden breakthrough while constantly being obstructed on pain of being labelled a criminal.”

  The next speaker picks up where the last one left off. “Revision of patent law should reward original innovator, whose work are substantially original, and give them a head start to gain market share. The period shall be no longer than a decade. Or it depends on type of invention. If after the head start period has passed and they are still unable to bring the invention to market or have any working prototype, others who are able to should be allowed to market it and allow society to benefit from it. Original inventors have the option of licensing it during the head start period. Patent applications are quickly determined whether they are substantially original invention or not. Costly litigation and shady patent extension through litigation are abolished. Provide a streamlined online mechanism that would allow public challenges to existing or pending patent, with proof of existing knowledge or technology and degree of similarities. A knowledgeable and trained staff pass the decision and the loser pays the administration fee. A successful challenge could result in patent revocation. This would not be like Eva Garcia's fake patent reform which provided a very narrow window of opportunity to challenge a patent.”

  “Yes, and software, programming and other methods that have narrow options and are intuitive should NOT be patentable. If all previous computer technologies and programming are as embroiled in patent dispute as we are now, we would not have progress this fast. Patenting peripheral things where two people can easily come up with the same solution or way of programming only chokes off innovations.”

  Another speaker joins in on the discussion about intellectual invention protection. “All inventions where the main components are derived from non-patented and freely licensed work should be non-patentable. Same applies if major components are a results of directly applying existing knowledge.”

  Another participant concerned about the widespread violation of privacy by the conglomerate and politicians around the world passionately expresses his view. “Privacy laws should be improved instead of weakened. Without privacy, there is no real free speech. Without privacy, even democratically elected politicians can retaliate against its citizens. Laws against malware should be expanded to unauthorized collection of user's data, including unauthorized collection of data for marketing. The Node should be abolished and FriendsConnect severely penalized. New companies and open source community can quickly fill their roles.”

  A freelance artist stands up and offers her opinion. “Artistic works should not have very long period of copyright hold on them, which in most cases are controlled by publishers and third party labels or studios. But attribution and information for sending gratuities to the original creator, and his or her immediate heir, should permanently accompany the artist's works. And if the artist chooses to give up their rights for third party label, publisher or marketer, the third party should not be able to ask for very long period of copyright and hold on the artist’s work.”

  Another citizen speaks about food safety. “One way to improve food safety is to remove ambiguous ingredients like chemical additives being labelled as Natural Flavors. Traces of chemicals and fertilizers should be listed along with ingredients. Along with any traces of toxins such as mercury. We have learned about World Food Inc. injecting their poultry with drugs to increase size and weight, thereby increasing their profit. These drugs that are used remain in the system of some of the meat that we have since tested, and in substantial amount. These are found to be at a level that are toxic to human organs. Testing for harmful residues on the food sold should become responsibility of the producer. Mislabelling and misleading ingredient and residues should result in severe penalty and suspension or revocation of business license. Consumer information should be improved to minimize misunderstanding, mistrust and baseless fears. All FDA research, which is funded by taxpayers money, should be made public automatically.”

  The ensuing debate is lively but friendly. Agreement to abandon extreme ideas like Communism and Free Market are adopted in favour of collaborative, moderate, practical and a more equitable approach with an eye on the future. Proactive rather than reactive.

  South Africa

  The world has started planning for a memorial and celebration for next month. South Africa, the site of George's attempted genocide, will be the first country to host the first annual celebration. A world friendship fund has also been established. The foundation adopted a paradigm of 'teach them how to fish' and how to look out for thieves who plunder their wealth and encourage hate, division and corruption. It will also serve as a relief fund and will fund voter education. They will fund clean water initiatives but instead of profiting from it, like what George's did with his Safe Water World (SWW) charity, they will teach the locals to be self sufficient. Donations start pouring in, averaging $100 per person so far.

  Nsia Kgosi and Jervis Wilfrid are both on the committe organizing for the celebration. But tonight they are just sitting in a field under a full moon relaxing.

  “I am glad everything seems to be settling for the better now. But you know what they say, history repeats itself,” Jervis says.

  “It might seem that way, but if you just let history repeat itself, you will be in for a shock. Because the 2nd time around is often worse than the first," Nsia responds.

  Epilogue

  November 11, 11 am

  It was a day of remembrance for casualties from past wars and atrocities. But this year there is more than just remembrance and solemn ceremonies. The night was planned as a night of celebration for overcoming hate and corruption.

  November 11, 6 pm

  The crowd continues to flow in as the celebration is set to begin. The music begins after the sun has set. The opening song is called “The World in Harmony” and it is a mix of various musical instruments from around the world. The song includes choirs singing, and a modern, upbeat tune with elements of aboriginal, African, Asia-Pacific, Latino, European, Middle East, and the Americas. The final composition works out well and blending well between the different forms of musics. There is a touch of electronic and classical with variety that is not cumbersome nor repetitive. An orchestra of world instruments.

  After the song, the crowd falls quiet as thick fog covers the huge area creating low artificial clouds. Then sombre music plays out as the images of victims of George's atrocities appears as moving 3 dimensional hologram, floating and towering above the crowds. The moving, seemingly alive, images includes faces of Barb Stanton—source of the cancer cure scandal, Felicity Hansen—Salisium employee, the marine who died in Bolivia, Okba—tortured souls of Saudi, Anthony Kemp—the daring reporter, President Dean Davis, various victims and casualties from World Food Inc. genocidal eugenic's experiment in South Africa, and Cedric O'Ryan. Cedric’s face is the last to float above the crowd and as his smiling face floats by, his voice from a video Eldon recorded of him played out in the speaker and echoed throughout the venue.

  “If we perish, our energy and light will just continue to shine. Like a star, it might seem small in the wider scope of things, but together it enlivens the world.”

  The crowd starts clapping.

  The night proceeds with more music and dancing. Some of the wide variety of music played is rock, electric guitar shredding, electronic beat, folk music, modern music and classical music
with modern renditions. One artist performs a hair-raising ancient poetic type of lament chant about the toils of human. She is backed by an orchestra and hand drums. The beat is heartfelt, snappy and determined. There were all sorts of music that followed. Music that is awe inspiring, music that creates a natural high. Another artist takes the stage and starts his performance by yelling “Free the music!” to wild cheers and applause.

  The crowd has on hand a flashlight looking device that they point to the artificial cloud. It turns it to a cloud with all sorts of colours imaginable. Sometimes it looks like an image of a colourful galaxy or simply a mix of all possible colours imaginable with various shades. It adds to the surreal atmosphere. Everyone is happy and friendly. It is heaven on earth.

  Various pilgrims from around the world descend on South Africa that night.

  Adolfo of Bolivia whose heart was full of hatred over the death of his whole family, has come here to try to excise the tumult in his heart.

  Ray and Gracy joined by Eldon are there to remember loved ones who have passed and to celebrate with the rest of the world.

  Oleg Oborski whose electric car is finally out on the market offers one of his car for a fund raising raffle to benefit the World Friendship Funds.

  Cedric's friends—Bobby, Christine, Jake, Blake and Rose—are also present to pay tribute to their friend.

  Janine Rita is inspired to see her friend Felicity appear as a hologram. Janine have reproduced the hard copy of Felicity's research left at her place the night of her dead. Salisium and all products that uses it was pulled from the market.

  Cole Walter, whose act makes him the son who dishonours his father but saved the world, is just happy to be there to remove any doubt he might have about what he have done.

  Benjie Scott, who remembers his friend Jack Garrick, whose stolen cure has finally been found thanks to Cole Walter. Jack is also undergoing brain therapy to retrain his brain to use other parts in place of the parts that were severely damaged by the conglomerate's psychosis inducing drug. The progress looks promising thanks to Benjie Scott finding an expert right away, since the damage worsens the longer it is left untreated.

  Juliet Ayers, whose cottage her friend Barb used before she was brutally chased and killed, is there.

  Talon Gladwell, the disfigured marine who wears his face proudly as a sacrifice for his country, is there.

  Astor Isaiah, for whom living in poverty has made him a witness to many cases of hate, resentment and suffering. The repentant and grateful Secretary of Treasury has bought a plane ticket for him upon learning of his dream of being able to attend the celebration.

  Jabaar and Gamali are there, whose experiences in the hands of Izz-al Din have changed them forever, but their compassion and humility are intact.

  Relatives, friends and colleagues of Anthony Kemp all come to pay tribute to the fearless reporter.

  Nolan Hudson comes to celebrate and meet other hackers he worked with during those frantic days.

  Roy Merritt is now busy in the new economic committee, but he takes time off to take part in the festivities.

  Jervis Wilfrid and Nsia Kgosi working alongside thousands of South African volunteers, have worked tirelessly. It was more than rewarding to see all the happy faces of people from around the world.

  As the festivities wind down, Ray and Gracy take the late night flight out of South Africa. They can see the celebration venue with red light pulsing outward and inward. From several feet above the clear night sky, the human heart shaped stage and moving lights makes the view from above looks like there is a giant live pumping heart.

  A group of friends who came from Barcelona decide to take a walk as the festivities start to wrap up. Cristobal, Angelino, Diego, Paulina, Julia and other friends are all joking around with the trauma of the experiences now behind them. Jacinto is just happy to be with all his friends. As they sit in a field, Jacinto sees everyone is now tired and they have quieted down.

  Jacinto is happy about how things have turned out. He is pretty satisfied. He turns around to talk to his friends, “You know what, part of the beauty of nature is its unpredictability. It is naturally chaotic but generally not malignant. Nature is neither rigid nor inflexible. Those who force it to adhere to their idea of order and control are like the flat earth society of the old days. They oversimplify the world, and if it does not conform, they go mad, losing context and fighting back violently through suppression and repression. These control freaks crave certainty and predictability by creating their own order, and in the process corrupting the free reeling nature of the living world. Just as it was during the dark age, those who come up with new ideas are prosecuted and ridiculed. They seek to change the world to suit their greed rather than change with the world. The oppressors trap themselves in simplistic ideologies. They are the radicals, a malignancy that insults our natural system. Just like Hitler, who offers uniformity and predictability through absolute state control.” Jacinto sighs then continues.

  “We should not be fearful of the unknown. Instead, our mind should be set free and not hindered by what we have been taught or told. We should be humbled at how little we know and pursue what is deemed impossible, without obsessing or trapping ourselves in repetitive mistakes. As much as I hate religion, which was made worse by Rev. David Patrick and Kojo Thulani, one thing I can say is there is a greater force that no one, not even science can fully comprehend as of yet. The infinite and unprovable. The paradox. The unknown is where the answers can be found.”