2040: A Socratic Prediction

[Squidfam]

View: https://youtu.be/Ij7Zxa9xipM




"I seem, then, in just this little thing to be wiser than this man at any rate, that what I do not know I do not think I know either."
-Socrates

"men had been everywhere and had seen everything, life's greatest experience had ended with most of life still to be lived, to find common purpose in the quiet days of peace would be hard"
- Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man

"1848 was the turning point at which modern history failed to turn."
-G. M. Trevelyan.

"none of this shit is even from the future. is that a bee hive? Fuck you"
- @Dril​

This was originally intended to be a one-off map wherein I made my open and honest predictions and approximations of how I think the future will unfold. It is an oft-repeated truth in many circles that predictions of the future often say more about the contemporary society that created the prediction than the actual course of future events and certainly this is no exception. Still, I was so intrigued by my own creation that I wanted to dive into it further and explore it as it is with a "POD" somewhere around 2021 rather than as an endlessly updating nebulous future. I should mention up front that this is hugely inspired by far better works such as @Mathuen's seminal An // A M E R I C A N // War and @ShahAbbas1571 with his Warring State of Libya - A Country At War project. With that out of the way, I invite you to join me in this exploration of a world where both reality and satire have died, with many more things having already joined them in death and many more are sure to follow.

 

[Squidfam]

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[Squidfam]

Civic Populism


Flag frequently used by self-described followers of "Civic Populism"

"E-Democracy: Everyone wants it, but no one fights for it"
-The New Examiner

"Is 'The Sack' to blame for the rise of People of Britain?"
-BBC News

"My political stance is simple; I give the people what they want!"
-Jan Dashkevich, President of Belarus

"In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god's blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence."
-unknown, misattributed to scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson​

The term "Civic populism" refers to perhaps one of the most perplexing political forces in recent European history and is more of an academic term rather than an ideological position actually held by any of the parties it is supposed to describe, though some of them have come to embrace the label themselves in recent years. While civic populism is a fairly recent phenomenon, the very beginnings of it can be traced back to the emergence of "pirate parties" in the early 2000s following the rise of the Pirate Party of Sweden (Piratpartiet) in 2006 which was swiftly followed by "copycat" movements across Europe. While these parties would never go on to success at the national level, they did come to power in some local political organs and perhaps more importantly, demonstrated a model of politics that was decidedly outside the old left-right and "party-bloc" structures that was the dominant form of governance across much of Europe.

The true precursors to the contemporary model of civic populism however can most directly be traced to the many parties that sprung into existence or rose to prominence during the early 2010s, such as satirical parties like the Icelandic "Best party" (Besti flokkurinn), the german Die PARTEI and most importantly, large political parties like the Italian five-star movements and Ukraine's "Servant of the People". Most of these parties have a number of things in common; the party is generally centered on a single charismatic leader or founder, presents itself as "anti-establishment" and often anti-corruption, combines a number of political positions from across the left-right spectrum and places a special focus on civil liberties, accountability and local democratic initiative. The parties themselves most often describe themselves as centrists or "outside the spectrum" and in many cases, the platform is decided by the party members through voting either locally or digitally.

Much of the party's power is often contingent on the charisma of a single leader who tends to be people of either economic status such as oligarchs or wealthy businessmen or people with cultural influence such as comedians, actors or even internet celebrities. The movement has received its most widespread support in countries traditionally seen as plagued by corruption of various kinds such as Italy, the Balkans and eastern Europe, but is also increasingly gaining influence in the more affluent nations of western Europe with parties such as the Swedish "New Sweden" (Nytt Sverige) and the British political party "People of Britain".

Logo of "People of Britain"​

Perhaps the most well-known civic populist party is the Belarussian "Civic Rally for Justice", a party led by the formerly obscure standup comedian Jan Dashkevich who became a cause celebre after video of his beating and arrest by the Belarussian authorities indirectly sparked the Belarussian revolution. After his much-publicized release from prison and newfound popularity with the Belarussian people he announced that he would run in the nation's first free election under a campaign of "cleaning up" the last of the Belarusian dictatorship and received the backing of most of the former protest movement during his election campaign, leading to a landslide victory. Aside from his widely-lauded management of the Belarussian truth and justice commissions, his platform combines pro-EU and socially progressive policies with economic policies that are focused on being both business-friendly and providing a social safety net for its citizens.

Jan Dashkevich and the logo of "Civic Rally for Justice"​

The movement has even taken root in the notoriously two-party US; the New Tea Party has won a number of local elections on the republican ticket and draw explicitly on platforms from several European parties, who in turn drew a number of inspirations from the original US Tea Party. This has not been without controversy, however, as while the civic populists of Europe tend to be more "American" in their policy approaches to things like gun ownership and immigration, they have distanced themselves from the New Tea Party over the latter's contact with the Free County Movement whose violence and repeated clashes with federal authorities has made it incredibly controversial both domestically and internationally.

 

[Regency]

combines pro-EU and socially progressive policies with economic policies that are focused on being both business-friendly and providing a social safety net for its citizens.

Click to shrink...

Ah so

Another variant of socdem

 

[ShahAbbas1571]

An awesome entry, my friend. I'm looking forward to what you have in store next.

 

[Squidfam]

Ah so

Another variant of socdem

Click to shrink...

Hey now, don't you dare associate the totally party-independent and outside-the-box CRJ with something as old and mainstream as "Social Democracy". Just ignore all the former social democrats and the party's observer role in several social democratic organizations.

An awesome entry, my friend. I'm looking forward to what you have in store next.

Click to shrink...

Thank you very much! Such high praise means a lot coming from someone who's inspired this project so much.

 

[Squidfam]

Free County Movement


The flag most commonly used by the Free County Movement

" "don't tread of me", the famous words of that good snake who doesn't want to get stepped on, the noble slithering bastard I relate to most "
-@Dril

"Two Bureau of Land Management Marshals shot to death in Fremont County, Wyoming; Members of 'Fremont County Militia' suspected perpetrators"
-NPR News

"The history of the present Government of America is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world:
It has infringed and violated the sovereign and inalienable rights of free men
It has pledged American citizens as security to foreign powers for the purpose of commerce
It has unlawfully restricted the inalienable right of travel through the use of force
It has sided with political extremists and illegal immigrants above law-abiding citizens"
-Texas County Missouri Declaration of Independence​

The Free County Movement can trace its roots all the way back to the colonial militias of the American revolution and has ever since been a force for small government, the maintenance of gun rights and the prosperity of the patriotic, self-sufficient American man. So goes the narrative across the US militia movement, which is eager to foster a connection to an imagined "pure" United States as it existed just after the American revolution, lacking much in the way of federal institutions and consisting primarily of ingenious and entrepreneurial citizen-farmers. A more accurate history of the movement traces its origins to the farming crisis and "sagebrush rebellion" of the 1980s which would provide much of the organizational and ideological groundwork for the later flowering of the "patriot" movements and its various competitors and sub-branches who would eventually coalesce around the Free County Movement.

The movements core adherents come primarily from conservative, rural areas that have suffered from the rapid decline in "small-business" agriculture that has been occurring since the 1980s, but the movement has also found a certain amount of purchase in the "deep south" by absorbing white supremacist organizations such as the Klu Klux Klan (of course, it can also be argued that the FCM is simply the current iteration of the same informal institutions like the old KKK) or the Aryan brotherhood, a strategy that also seen success in the pacific northwest where many of the survivalist and white supremacist groups have seen the movement as a part of their pursuit of the so-called "Northwest Territorial Imperative".

Even with that being the case however, white supremacy and racism is not an explicit stated ideological factor in the Free County Movement, which primarily relies on a wide mixture of anti-government conspiracy theories, an absolute refusal to participate in government institutions of any kind backed up by arcane and fundamentally flawed legal nonsense and a deep belief in "traditional values" to various degrees. This by no means an exhaustive list and as a fundamentally decentralized movement there are variations in doctrine that are sometimes severe enough to cause deadly incidents such as the infamous Adams County shootout when white supremacists and "Cascadian" nationalists clashed after a prolonged argument, killing all three of the white supremacists and wounding two of the Cascadians.

Despite the name and the frequent "declarations of secession" issued by entities taken over by the movement, even the form "independence" from the federal government takes is different depending on the group. Die-hard sovereign citizens and libertarians generally tend to make earnest attempts at single-county independence with entities such as the short-lived "Galt's Gulch" in Colorado. These are generally lightly governed (if at all) and primarily operate on minarchist or even anarcho-capitalist principles and have sometimes even collapsed before the arrival of the federal government due to internal disagreement and the breakdown of infrastructure.

Flag of the "Faithful Republic of America"​

Another faction are self-proclaimed "rightful governments" of America, often operated by entities like the oath keepers or three-percenters who believe the current government illegitimate for a variety of conspiracy-laden reasons. They sometimes even declare employees serving the federal government "collaborators" or "traitors" and go out of their way to search for and violently assault federal employees across their county of choice. A variety of these are Christian fundamentalists who seek to create a United States governed solely by religious principles of Christianity, which are the most common in the south along with the third category of secessionists.

The third most prominent trend in the movement is genuine separatism as part of a larger national project; this is most common in the pacific northwest and the deep south, where the county governments either seek to recreate former nations as in the example of the Confederate Government of Swain County or entirely new entities such as the aforementioned "Cascadian" government of Adams county or the "New California Republic" of Moro County. This also includes white supremacist secessionism like the ephemeral "Volksrepublik Kirche" in Cherry County Nebraska.

While the longest-lasting of these so-called "Free Counties" survived for roughly a month (primarily due to its rural location) the movement has had an outsized impact on American politics. The American public is highly divided; while serious secessionist sentiment is still far from the mind of most, many support the principles the movement espouses and sympathize with the seeming neglect displayed by the federal government. In almost all cases the federal government has arrived in force against these self-proclaimed secessionists and often even employ special forces to neutralize particularly tense standoffs, but in cases not related to white supremacy it is often somewhat reluctant to hand out harsh sentences due to the highly public and politicized nature of these standoffs.

A meme parodying the "Militiawave" aesthetic popular in Free County circles.​

Despite its cultural impact, the Free County Movement isn't poised to tear up the United States any time soon, but presents a large barrier to federal outreach in rural areas, which are ironically enough those areas that have primarily been driven to the movement in the first place due to federal neglect. Only time will tell if it will grow into something even more dangerous or if it will go the way of the sagebrush rebellion and eventually peter out, but it and associated movements will likely continue to be active in the US for a long time to come.

 

[Whachamacallit]

I really like this! The notion of nation death is really interesting and I never really considered it before. Also it's sad that India and Israel turned into full-blown authoritarian states, assuming I read that right.

Keep it up!

 

[Squidfam]

I really like this! The notion of nation death is really interesting and I never really considered it before. Also it's sad that India and Israel turned into full-blown authoritarian states, assuming I read that right.

Keep it up!

Click to shrink...

Thank you very much! The Death of Nations is very much a thing inspired by the Warring State of Libya and its article on the death of Palestine, my own fascination for aspiring nationalist movements, tiny ethnic group and pseudo-states such as modern-day Transnistria and others and all topped off with a heavy layer of pessimism. I wanna note that despite sharing a name, the "deaths" range in severity from genuine concerted efforts to destroy cultures and peoples entirely such as the genocides of the Uyghurs and Rohingya, "simply" loss of sovereignty and territory such as West Sahara and Kiribati to situations where the loss more pertains to a "common identity" like Hong Kong.

India and Israel are a bit complicated in terms of politics and can perhaps be compared best to the real-life governments of Poland and Hungary; there are still elections and a fair amount of what you would consider vital to a functioning democracy is still there, but to anyone looking at it from the outside it's very obvious something is up. Both governments have the genuine support of most of the population and get reelected in elections of dubious validity primarily thanks to their highly popular and extremely nationalist and belligerent policies both foreign and domestic; India clashes near-constantly with Pakistan and China, meaning that left-wing politicians and Muslims are fair game for any aspiring "patriot", while Israel is riding the high of finally(?) accomplishing their "fated" annexations of the West Bank and Gaza with the tacit consent of neighbours who have abandoned the "sinking ship" of pro-Palestinian politics in favour of normalizing relations with Israel and opening up their economy to them.

 

[Squidfam]

​

 

[Whachamacallit]

Nice to see that Nabwana I.G.G. is doing well!

 

[Squidfam]

Nice to see that Nabwana I.G.G. is doing well!

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it's supposed to be an indicator of how Subsaharan Africa is finally rising out of poverty but like, for real (though the DRC theocratic dictatorship might change that). The studio as a whole manages to capitalize on its international fame, lack of competitors, pure passion and not being in crippling poverty anymore to become the household name satisfying an initially slim demand for domestic movies which has grown with time as more resources allow them to produce better movies. The "Movie Joker" format has become an iconic staple of the regions movies which has only endeared it more to meme-obsessed western audiences overseas.

 

[Whachamacallit]

Yeah, I definitely got the sense that Subsaharan Africa was doing better. Although it now makes me think, what's the consequences for the Niger Equality Movement "taking" Niger. They don't sound that bad from their name.

And of course, what's the Four Months in Seattle game about that makes it controversial beyond likely being some "The Division"-tier game?

 

[the atom]

Yeah, I definitely got the sense that Subsaharan Africa was doing better. Although it now makes me think, what's the consequences for the Niger Equality Movement "taking" Niger. They don't sound that bad from their name.

Click to shrink...

I've noticed a lot of African terrorist organizations seem to have these sort of non-threatening NGO sounding names so that doesn't mean much.

 

[Squidfam]

Yeah, I definitely got the sense that Subsaharan Africa was doing better. Although it now makes me think, what's the consequences for the Niger Equality Movement "taking" Niger. They don't sound that bad from their name.

And of course, what's the Four Months in Seattle game about that makes it controversial beyond likely being some "The Division"-tier game?

Click to shrink...

The NEM is at present in control of much of northern Niger and draws its primary support from the Tuareg population. Like a lot of other armed organizations in Africa their primary goal is simply to take power for themselves, but with a token commitment to ethnic equality. Basically everyone in the region sees them as a fairly obvious attempt by the french to pull Niger back into the euro-french bloc after the current government's heavy involvement in ECOWAS just like the northern militas in Chad, which is all part of a Totally Not Proxy War™ between France and Nigeria/ECOWAS over the Sahel states.

As for the game, "Four Months in Seattle" is an upcoming first-person shooter set in Seattle during a hypothetical future American civil war. The player would take the role of a resistance fighter for the "Provisional Government of the Puget Sound" battling the forces of an authoritarian United States. The depiction of a fictional civil war, as well as the use of American soldiers as enemies, has made it highly controversial even before release.

 

[Squidfam]

The Russian Spring
What Is to Be Done?

​

"What happened to the second Russian Revolution?"
Article in The Daily Worker (Marxist-Leninist (ICOR tendency) )

The meeting I arranged with my anonymous subject takes place in a café located in the outskirts of Madrid. It happens to coincide with the siesta, which grants the whole scene an unusual air of calm and also gives me an excellent opportunity to ask my subject about the impact of the Spanish government's recent so-called "Siesta Reforms" on his daily routine. He just laughs and affirms that even with one of the most left-wing governments in the EU, years of reform has changed little in his part of the city. We continue the discussion until, inevitably, we stumble into the topic of Vladivostok. At that he sighs wearily and looks out the window with a look that I could only describe as weary heartache.

"It was beautiful in a way you could only see if you spent your whole youth in it. Madrid is a kind and gracious host, but it will never fill the place in my heart that city once held. I still remember crying as I saw the red banner flying over the burning columns of Zoloty."

It is clearly a touchy subject for him, but I press on and ask him to explain from the beginning; we'd all heard what the american press and their lackeys said about the rising, but what was it like on the ground?

"After The Bastard finally went and died, the whole country suddenly felt like it could do anything. So when we heard the news that demonstrators had stormed the parliament and that the remaining ones had bailed and set up shop in Leningrad we realized that it was everybody's game."

But how did the communists actually go about seizing power? At that question he smiles as if I am the dumbest person in the world.

"Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered, any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary. What did you think we did? We rallied the protestors and kicked in the doors to the city council just like in Moscow and then we put the central committee in its place until we could organize real elections. Once we did that, most other organizations in the city decided to just go with it, I guess."

And did those organizations include the crew of the cruiser Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya?

"Oh, that one? That one took even us by surprise. From what we heard most of the navy heads were very hesitant to pick a side as the army hadn't started its rampage quite yet and a lot of the crew didn't like the prospect of fighting fellow Russians. Add an 'indefinite suspension' of salaries to that and you've got yourself a 1917-style naval mutiny."

How did the sailors take the trial of the Zyuganovites?

"They were good sports about it. I think with things falling apart as they did there wasn't a lot of appetite for chest-beating Russian nationalism, even of the kind the moronic National Bolsheviks and Zyuganovites briefly peddled over in Moscow before being thrown out by the Civil Front folks. I know it upset a lot of people, but after what happened with the attempted bombing they really did prove too much of a threat to be allowed to just waltz around in the city like they owned the place."

Speaking of, how exactly were matters of security organized within the soviet?

"It's not rocket science really. After we dealt with the cops, we took their gear and whatever we could scrounge up and set up militias that would be on call, patrol city streets, that sort of thing."

And were these the same units that participated in actions like the siege of Khabarovsk?

"Yes and no. They were technically speaking part of the same organization, but there was a clear divide between the guys with handguns that walked the streets at night and the people in combat armour and kalashnikovs."

It is at this point in the conversation the inevitable question comes up and I try to phrase it as diplomatically as I can, but he still sighs as I finish speaking.

"What do you want to hear? That it was infighting that brought us down? That the Trotskyists, Anarchists, Maoists and Gonzaloists or whoever else split the party and stabbed us in the back?
What we really, truly needed was a miracle. The Zachariadis brigade may have been one in its own way, but even though they are undoubtedly the reason we lasted as long as we did there was no postponing the inevitable. One poor fuck even tried to cross the border and ask China for help and all he got for the trouble in the end was a regime prison cell. The military guys had tanks and planes and we didn't and it really wasn't more to it than that.
I myself couldn't believe we were going to lose at first either, if not on an intellectual level then on a purely emotional one. In that way I think the sinking of the Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya did more damage to our morale than losing all the cities we'd liberated. Seeing the icon of the revolution sink into the harbour? We knew it was all over then."

Sensing that it might be time to draw things to a close, I ask why he chose to move to Spain of all places, rather than somewhere like Greece or Cuba.

"It's an issue of security, really. I'm aware the EU doesn't have the best track record of protecting political refugees, but Greece is even worse and Cuba's talked enough with the Junta that I'm suspicious even now that they've seemingly changed their tune. Plus, well, the weather's nice."

 

[Whachamacallit]

Honestly, I could figure that something like this will actually happen to Russia when Putin croaks/gets booted. I would assume calling the Russian Republic a junta is not embellishment either?

 

[Squidfam]

Honestly, I could figure that something like this will actually happen to Russia when Putin croaks/gets booted. I would assume calling the Russian Republic a junta is not embellishment either?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'll freely admit that this is one of the most "out there" parts of the TL. It's worth noting that it wasn't *really* a full-scale civil war, but something in between that and an attempted nationwide revolution that just sort of fell apart. Russia is indeed run by a military junta under "emergency powers" with federalism and democracy of all kinds "indefinitely postponed" and replaced with military rule after the Russian army decided to get involved in the political turmoil by rolling into town and shooting anyone dumb enough to try and stop them.

 

[Squidfam]

​

 

[Squidfam]

The Leaderless Revolution
Socialism of a Dozen Names, part 1



OLD ROYAL PALACE BOMBED: RIOTS RESUME ACROSS ATHENS
Süddeutsche Zeitung - 1 May, 2035

NO WAR WITH GREECE
Die Tageszeitung - 7 June 2035

How Corruption Fatally Undermined Greek Democracy
The New Yorker - 24 January 2037

The Greek revolution and the narrative of "corruption"
Jacobin - 3 February 2037
​

"How Greece Broke"
Excerpt from the New Bull Moose Group Blog Essay Collection

The Leaderless Revolution was perhaps the most dramatic event in the recent history of Europe, and perhaps even the West as a whole. To its detractors it is the final metastasization of left-wing radicalism which threatens to drag the last light of liberal democracy into darkness, while its supporters see it as the first large-scale proof of the failures of neoliberal capitalism made manifest, and hopefully as a model for a more egalitarian and just global society at large.

The revolution's roots can be traced back to the crash of the Silicon Bubble in 2029 and the third "once in a lifetime" global economic recession of the new millenium. While less impactful than the economic turmoil caused by the 2008 financial crisis or the first virus pandemic, the crash destabilized a number of previously recovering national economies, among them several already struggling European nations. Greece in particular was hit hard, and despite enacting similar austerity measures to the rest of Europe during the crash ultimately failed to recover, echoing the Greek Euro crisis several decades prior. To address the growing economic crisis on the periphery of the European Union, Germany, France, and the "Frugal Four" (An economic bloc consisting of Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden) spearheaded what would become known as the European Economic Reform Plan.

The EERP put in place a number of requirements for recipient nations to meet in order to receive financial assistance, including the adoption of a German-style education system, loosening of specific employment and labour regulations, and most controversially the creation of "Free Economic Zones" within their national territory. While these Free Economic Zones were presented as merely a stepping stone towards the goal of eventual European federalization, the prospect of their implementation would become the primary reason for the plan's ultimate rejection by nearly all potential recipients, and is widely considered to be the reason for the meteoric rise of the New Popular Front in Spain in the following 2031 Spanish election cycle.

The only nation to fully accept the conditions was Greece, led by the New Democracy Party, triggering riots and protests across Athens for weeks. After the riots were finally contained, Greek authorities also engaged in a prolonged "siege" of the Exarcheia Quarter of Athens, surrounding and cutting off the district from outside supply, often considered a hub of radical anti-capitalist organizations within the city. After several weeks of fighting the area finally fell to police, and the majority of the alleged "ringleaders" were arrested or fled the city, with several reportedly being "executed" by police either during the final assault on the quarter or in police custody.

While in the short term the wave of unrest that had swept Athens had been firmly dispersed, the result was that the Greek government, having "sold out" to foreign interests in the eyes of many, faced significant resistance from radical extra-governmental partisan forces in the weeks to come. While Athens was now rid of its "radical neighborhood" and the partisans were denounced by the majority of the political establishment, those who had escaped from the siege were now dispersed across the countryside, their number largely intact and ready to begin creating rebel cells across the nation.

The critical component of the rebel movement, which would lead to the change from a "simple" group of street protestors to an organized insurrection, was the return of largely left-wing Greek volunteers from the Syrian Civil War, many of whom had fought alongside the autonomous region of Rojava and adopted local military and ideological tactics. While many would be arrested by the Greek government upon their return, for example the majority of the International Freedom Battalion, many would reenter the country undetected. This influx of radicalism into the Greek countryside from both at home and abroad would serve to fan the flames of Greek anti-capitalism, creating an organized rebel network capable of undertaking bombings, assassinations, and mass arson against the Greek government in the months to come.

The Greek government would respond to this wave of attacks through a mass increase in funding and supplies to local law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and anti-terror organizations, as well as increased surveillance and actions against moderate left-wing parties in government, viewed by many as harboring, or at the very least tolerating, left-wing violence. This was in spite of attempts by parties such as SYRIZA and KINAL to distance themselves from partisan activity by denouncing acts of violence and working within the Greek government system, in some cases directly supporting anti-terror bills. However, these grievances were not entirely without merit, as in the years to come it would be revealed that many rank-and-file members of the Greek government's left-wing parties, in particular their more hardline factions, had maintained contacts with the rebels or refused to report their activities to the government.

In spite of the chaos, the Greek government may still have yet survived. The new anti-terror measures and local law enforcement had produced a significant uptick in foreign economic confidence in the country, and educational reform meant that many Greeks were gaining the skills to perform industrial and service jobs which had previously been left vacant or filled by migrant workers. However in the early morning of April 30, 2035, two buses of police and dock workers being transported to the port of Piraeus in Athens in order to break a local pay strike detonated after driving into an IED, directly visible in the crowded city center. 60 would die, and 23 more would sustain serious injuries. The response was immediate; local police issued an immediate lockdown order across the entire city, and after a brutal clash the Piraeus strikers would be arrested and charged for alleged acts of terrorism, along with any other suspected insurgents and leftists within the city.

The following day a runaway truck crashed into the old Royal Palace in Athens during a nearby anti-government protest, igniting the building and killing a still unknown number of local residents. Many of the protective measures which had been placed near the building, such as anti-vehicle spikes and gates, had been violently removed by the protestors, who demanded the release of those imprisoned during the previous day's crackdown. Whether this was a coordinated act of violence or an unfortunate coincidence remains in debate, but the subsequent chaos throughout the city is indisputable. Protestors stormed local detention facilities, releasing those arrested during the protests as well as any other convicts present, forming armed gangs which patrolled the streets of the city and engaged in firefights with local authorities. All the while, news of the Greek government's utter failure to contain the violence spread across the Western world like wildfire. None could have expected that a democratic, Western member of the European community could fall into utter chaos so quickly.

The "Four-Star Flag" used by the Greek Federation, representing libertarian socialism (black),
feminism (purple) enviromentalism (green) and the people of Greece (blue).​

The violence would soon spread to other cities across Greece as government control failed, with impromptu "Councils of Resistance" arising in order to coordinate military efforts and aid in rebel-controlled areas. By the time the local armed forces began to act the nascent "Greek Federation" had solidified full control over the city of Athens, as well as several other urban areas across the nation. Faced with the prospect of intense urban combat against their fellow countrymen, and with no clear government command left to give orders, a number of military units would elect to "wait and see" in their barracks, explicitly taking no side in the ensuing civil conflict. A small number of lower-ranking military members would outright defect to the rebels, but their numbers have been exaggerated in the years following the conflict. The most substantial pro-government military action would be undertaken by the 8th Motorized Infantry Brigade led by Colonel Alekos Rodios, declaring that we would enact a "second Operation Peristera" in order to drive the "communists" from Greece and restore government control.

Some speculate that the enormous level of international media coverage Rodios' offensive would receive, having become the first to allow foreign media to observe the conflict, assembled an "interim government" of local officials which granted him "emergency powers", and even having received limited official recognition from neighboring Albania, would be the ultimate reason for foreign failure to intervene in the conflict. When Rodios' brigade would enter the rebel-held city of Trikala, the first step towards retaking Athens, they would be met with some of the most intense urban combat in recent history, ultimately being nearly totally annihilated by rebel forces and making it clear that any outside intervention in the conflict would be met with stiff resistance.

It is therefore little surprise that subsequent calls from the European Union and NATO command for intervention would be met with mass protests across European cities, the largest anti-war demonstrations seen on the continent since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In spite of initial considerations, plans for intervention in Greece would ultimately be shelved following public backlash, as well as unexpected opposition of several EU member states, most notably PDM members Belarus, Italy, and Ukraine.

This leads us in the modern day, five years after the fall of the Greek government, to contemplate the consequences and legacy of the Leaderless Revolution. Modern views on post-revolution Greece even today remain controversial across the Western world. To some it is a utopia, a guiding light of consensus democracy, anti-corruption, and economic equality on which we should model a new global economic system. To others it is a failed state, a "dystopia of the mob", a land where land may be seized from it's owners at any time and distributed to criminals and bandits at their whim, and where suspected former police officers are hung from trees. Still others maintain the view that ultimately little has changed; armies still stare at each other across the border in Thrace, naval ships shadow each other and perform exercises in the Aegean Sea, and the "hated Turk" has been merely replaced by the "Islamo-Fascist" regime. It is a view into an alien society, the product of a thousand tragedies, and one which may become increasingly a model to those within our own unless we can solve the many pressing crises of the 21st Century.

Special thanks to @SpudNutimus for help with proofreading and revising this piece.

 

[Whachamacallit]

Interesting. How has the US reacted to the incident in Greece--beyond the New York Times article, I mean.

I assume the Silicon Bubble was a bunch of techbro unicorns going over? Also I noticed that you said the COVID pandemic was just the first one.

 

[Squidfam]

How has the US reacted to the incident in Greece--beyond the New York Times article, I mean.

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As part of it's snail's-pace withdrawal from overseas, the US basically looked at Europe and went "you're going to solve this, right?" before shrugging. The anti-war outcry in Europe also made it plain that any unilateral intervention would just deepen the existing euro-atlantic rift, especially because at the time Greece was still technically an EU member. In terms of the "popular narrative", the new yorker article is fairly demonstrative; an excess of corruption and a lack of democratic safeguards was channeled by a few outside radical agitators into a system of chaos and cop-hating anarchy which will collapse as soon as soon as an authoritarian strongman inevitably emerges.

I assume the Silicon Bubble was a bunch of techbro unicorns going over?

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Yes, that's exactly what happened.

I noticed that you said the COVID pandemic was just the first one.

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[SpookyBoy]

Brian Limond's hit single tops charts in Scotland

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HELLO??? EPIC DEPARTMENT????

 

[Squidfam]

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[Whachamacallit]

So it seems that India might be pretty nasty if they're already threatening nuclear war from a border clash. Or maybe I just don't have the background knowledge to know if that's an appropriate escalation. Oh and how is China politically? As in, is it still under the Xi Administrative or a successor with similar views, or have they gone through a shift in Thought or whatever?

Also, I love that the Florida Governor is just now going "eh, I'll consider some climate plan :/" when I bet that by this point downtown Miami is underwater every few months and buildings are getting structural damage left and right. Finally, any hint over who killed the Exxonmobil CEO? I'm legitimately curious.