Luzviminda 2019
ONCE there was a people who lived in Luzviminda composed of islands that were beautiful and bountiful that provided more than enough food for the people. What they had in excess, they traded with other islands far away. The people were grateful to God for blessing them with such fate.
But a series of plagues ravaged Luzviminda and her proud people. First, mestizo colonizers plundered the islands for 300 years and enslaved the people. When Luzviminda’s people were already close to liberating the islands through revolution, the mestizo colonizers sold the colony to new white colonizers.
The new white colonizers were more devious than the mestizos. They not only plundered Luzviminda’s natural wealth. They used her as one military outpost. They also recruited among the people the most cunning elements and trained them to be their leaders. In exchange for their loyalty, the recruits were given positions in the new government. The recruits meanwhile professed undying loyalty to the whites and told the people that the fate of Luzviminda was intimately tied to the whites. That prosperity could only be attained by being loyal to the white. That the people are not prepared to be free.
Fast forward to about 100 years later, these recruits of the whites have believed the pernicious lie taught them and many of which they created. They’ve ruled Luzviminda, cut her 50, 60, and 90 ways to create new positions of power. The recruits have amassed huge tracts of land, owned the biggest banks and companies, and competed among each other for positions.
One time, one of the recruits ruled the country like a king: an evil one who tortured people who remembered Luzviminda, killed those who sought to free her, and took control of the treasury as if it was his wallet. On one February morning, after years of growing anger, their rage exploded in a beautiful display of patriotism. The murderous and crooked king was forced to flee and died in exile.
When the king was forced to vacate the throne, the people of Luzviminda celebrated across all the islands. Neighbors near and far were happy for Luzviminda. Finally, they said, the people of Luzviminda have redeemed themselves.
Remember the recruits of the whites? They were part of the opposition to the deposed king and came to power once he left. They didn’t obtain justice for the people. They didn’t put the king and his men behind bars. They said it was time for reconciliation. They said the revolution has ended, and that Luzviminda should be healed of its divisions.
The people gave them the benefit of the doubt. They worked hard to rebuild and unite Luzviminda. But for the next 30 years after deposing the king, they saw the king’s family return one by one. They were welcomed like friends by the new rulers. They were not jailed. Their loot were not seized. They were invited to parties. They were fielded in elections in one or two of the 90 provinces of Luzviminda.
Fairly recently, a hustler from one of the provinces conned the people of Luzviminda into believing he was the new savior. He said he will attain justice for the people. He said he is bringing with him a new way of thinking, and an era of courage and compassion. The wealthiest and mightiest in Luzviminda sided with him, showering him with gifts. He would be crowned by cheering crowds and lavished with more gifts by the wealthy.
Luzviminda today is a wasteland. The savior started a war, flooding the streets with blood, and producing tens of thousands of wailing orphans. He imposed new taxes on all the people, bringing prices way up. The wealthiest who sided with him are silent over the murders, because the new savior allowed them to make a killing. They laugh and dance every single day going to the banks. Luzviminda lost parts of its seas and islands, and the people were made to buy back the fish obtained by foreigners from those same lost seas.
Remember the deposed king? The savior honored the king with a hero’s burial, and embraced the corrupt king’s family as close friends. He surrounds himself with the worst and most brutal scum in Luzviminda.
The people of Luzviminda face a choice in the coming year. There are those who say they are a cowardly and stupid people who allowed the king and this new poser savior to rule over the land. These same town criers are in the pockets of new and old aspiring saviors out to hoodwink the people. They try to make them forget that the people of Luzviminda are proud, dignified, hardworking and aspire for freedom and greatness way beyond the petty imaginations of the demigods who come from the line of the recruits of the white colonizers. They have toppled the mestizo and white colonizers, and the rotten king — and they can do it again.
One good thing for the people of Luzviminda is that they have a history to go back to, to learn lessons from and to light the way forward. As they look to 2019, they have a choice to choose between two identities: Are they a people fated to be defeated by cynicism, self-doubt and self-blame (in short, bobotantes entirely liable for the mess of the last 6, 30 and 100 or so years) — so much so that they’d merely switch allegiance to yet another set of saviors who’d redeem them from the humiliation under the present savior? Or are they a heroic, brilliant and courageous people clear-eyed on the need to challenge and end the rule of a few and their guns, goons and gold?
Let’s see.