dailies

DAY 24, THE MILLIONAIRES BOOT CAMP, NO PLASTIC DAY & THE HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT

Around half past four, the next morning, on the ground floor of the Back House, a bleary eyed Andy opened his front door to let Alice in. ‘Coffee?’ ‘Yes, please.’ In his tiny kitchen, Andy poured coffee for them both and shook his head. ‘Alice, I’m just your deputy. I’m not sure I should be in charge of the entire town project.’ Alice chuckled. ‘I’m not entirely sure I should be. Look, Andy, it’s just for eighteen hours, and you can find me any time at the boot camp. From tomorrow on, there’ll be two new boot camp teams.’ Andy handed Alice a mug with coffee. ‘I’m glad your boot camp is here at the Compound.’ ‘Me too,’ Alice returned and took a sip of coffee. ‘I would have had to leave at midnight to get to the remote place where the other camps are.’ Andy took a deep breath. ‘OK. Talk me through it. What do I have to do?’ Alice put down her mug. ‘Have an open ear for all teams. Today is the Longevity Team’s NO PLASTIC DAY which starts at 7:00. That’s where my eyes would have focused on. At eight the Business Expansion Team starts with their campaigns to make our business models more widely understood while offering new job opportunities. Seth might check in with you on that. But I don’t think you need to worry about them. I wanted to visit the SEW YOUR OWN SHOPPING BAG event along the Thames, but it’s OK if you don’t. The march in favour of our town project begins at five to twelve. THE keeps an eye on them. But it would be good if our teams are easy to reach, interested, on board, you know. The march organisers don’t want us involved, but it should be obvious that we appreciate the event and the support.’ Andy nodded and asked: ‘Will ripples news report from the march?’ ‘Yes, they will. At three minutes to noon, Isabel, as the head of all campaigns, will sound the gong in the atrium and announce all campaigns’ event locations for the rest of the day. It’s a livestream. It might be good to check in for reactions afterwards. And then— well, usually by that time something unexpected happened.’ ‘Alice, I don’t know whether I can do this.’ ‘Andy, you’re not alone. You have the team.’ ‘Half of whom are at those bloody millionaires boot camps.’ ‘Only today. Tomorrow, we’ll all be back.’ A knock on the door was followed by Rohana, and the three of them went over the plans for the day again. Eventually Rohana said: ‘If Andy keeps his eyes on the campaigns and on the march, and I on the Business Expansion Team and on Jellybridge, then we should be OK.’ Shortly afterwards, at eleven to five, Isabel (head of campaigns) picked up Alice. ‘Thanks Isabel, for doing my speeches, today.’ ‘Don’t thank me, yet. I read them. I like them. But I might change them nonetheless. I’m not you. And they are very much you.’ Alice smiled. ‘Thanks. I put a lot of effort into those first ones. And I can’t believe I’m missing the start of our public speeches. But, yes, change as much as you want. Be all you.’ Isabel smiled. ‘Can I use that: Be all you?’ ‘Absolutely.’ Slowly, Alice and Isabel crossed the courtyard of the Back House to discuss a few details of the speeches, which were part of a five days series by the Campaigns & Negotiations Team with several speeches a day at universities, town halls, companies, clubs, arts centres, NGOs, government departments and the like by the team’s key speakers: Alice, Raiden (town simulation), John (business), Marita (economics), Hayley (tech), Emine (law), Dana (ecology), Navarro (society), Robin (education) and Skye (care). When Alice and Isabel reached studio 2, they wrapped their meeting, and Alice entered studio 2 where Alice’s boot camp team were already waiting for her, and Tilly repeated everyone’s jobs for the day: ‘Responsible for workouts, meditations, yoga and body awareness are me, Jazz, Calum, Devery, Eliza and Jane. For foods and cooking we have one of our favourite couples: Mudiwa and Tabansi from ripples news, plus Xolani, Damian and Verity from Security, and Jesse from Towns and Cities International. For everything imagination we have Alice, plus our education specialist Robin, our universe specialist Kahu, our formidable Raha, princess incognito, our wonderful author Bülent, and our inimitable top dot.designer Hachiro. And last but absolutely not least we have Dennie and Iesha for ease. Some of you might have noticed that a lot of people on this team are also with our Security Team. They are just that tad more flexible than the town team, and we are immensely grateful that you’re all available at this short notice. ‘Don’t mention it,’ Dennie returned with a grin. Tilly smiled and said: ‘I tried not to mention it, but it just wanted out. Anyways, Bülent, our star author, is the only one of us who has been to some of the previous millionaires boot camps. We are pretty confident that our camp will rock, but, Bülent, is there anything, you’d like to share before we go over our boot camp’s schedule?’ ‘Thanks, Tilly,’ Bülent returned. ‘I have high hopes for this team, in particular because there will be elements of spontaneity and imperfection today which is something I thought was sometimes missing at the other boot camps. We want to inspire people who have lost most connections to the planet, to society, to themselves. At previous boot camps, the only times something got through to them, in the beginning, were the moments they sweated at the workouts, and the moments when something unexpected, spontaneous, imperfect happened. The first six to seven hours of each boot camp were incredibly tough, which is why the head of the original boot camp recommended that, from today on, all boot camps should begin with an exhaustive workout plus fighting sessions, followed by a fire breath experience and an ice bath. Everything we say before that sort of physical overload and exhaustion is most likely lost.’ ‘Does that let me off giving a warmup speech?’ Alice ask hopefully. Bülent twitched the corner of his mouth. ‘Not to open with an introduction would be unexpected. Unexpected opens minds. And since you are quite a good stick fighter by now, I’d leave the first interactions to Jazz and Tilly, and make your entrance at the fights.’ Alice smiled. ‘I like the sound of that.’ While the teams of all boot camps prepared for the arrivals of their 37 millionaires, other members of the town project team began with their day at Jellybridge and at the project businesses. And the campaigns teams got ready for today’s events in twenty UK cities and for additional events on the Hub Campaigns Square dedicated to the growing international audience. At seven, the LONGEVITY team announced today’s first task for the NO PLASTIC DAY: ‘Find everything in your household that is made of plastic. Throw out what you can (find collection points on the Hub Campaign Square), and replace items you need with no-plastic alternatives.’ In the ensuing discussions, the LONGEVITY team pushed seven major topics: Firstly, the nature of plastic. Plastic is dead, and dead things can only cause death. Secondly: Plastic in our blood, plastic in our foods, plastic in our oceans. How did plastic become this ubiquitous? Thirdly: How can we free ourselves and our planet from plastic? Fourthly: define need. What do we need? And why? Fifthly: natural materials. What are natural materials? Sixthly: Can we reconnect to nature via the materials we use? And how did the disconnection to natural materials come about? Seventhly: How can we ensure a sustainable level of using natural materials? Plus a discussion about rewilding, native and non-native plants.’ There were more NO PLASTIC events. All of them were eyed with suspicion and a certain degree of: You can’t just demand of us to change everything. Besides, everything is toxic. Everything causes harm. That’s the way it is. The one NO PLASTIC DAY event that took of from the start and was a great favourite with people of all ages and walks of life was the shopping bag sewing event along the Thames with 1111 sewing machines, and another 1111 knitting spots and another 1111 knotting spots. The campaign sponsored all materials, plus snacks and beverages. When Andy and Troy went on a stroll along the Thames, saying hello here and there, Andy, unexpectedly, had a laugh because Troy would chat with strangers and then add mini caricatures to the new shopping bags or to a scrap of cloth which would then be added to a knitted bag. Soon, word got around, and an hour later other cartoonists began to join the event to leave their marks on the bags, too. Before noon, Andy left and checked in with the organisers of the march, who shrugged and pointed to the crowd of about a thousand people walking down Whitehall. ‘It’s a start,’ one of them remarked. Andy didn’t know what to respond and soon left to check on a NARRATIVES CAMPAIGN event in Victoria Park where some racists were looking for trouble. By the time Andy arrived, Project Security had already walked the troublemakers to a designated troublemakers spot where two of them ranted on while the rest wasn’t happy about being ridiculed by the audience and walked off. After a pleasant chat with Penelope, head of the NARRATIVES CAMPAIGN, Andy returned to the Compound. ‘How are you?’ Hayley (tech) asked when Andy was back on the seventh floor of the Central Building. Andy smiled a little. ‘I’m glad it’s only another ten hours and twenty-one minutes. But it’s OK so far. Kind of. Have you heard from the boot camp? From Alice?’ ‘You can sneak onto the roof and see them on the Back House roof. Last time, I looked they were doing yoga. Though I guess their imagination session will have begun by now. In the morning they were pretty loud when they hosed each other down in the courtyard. Sounded like fun. And they sent their breakfast leftovers up, which were delicious fruit and veggie creations. Why do you look so grumpy?’ Andy shrugged. ‘There’s people asking why we go to all this trouble for bleeding millionaires. I’m with them.’ ‘We’re doing it because we have too many destructive millionaires. And the damage they cause is massive. If the boot camps can turn even a few destructive millionaires into inspired humans who build, create and nurture, then that will have been worth this particular trouble.’ Some two hours later, Alice felt quite inspired by the imagination sessions on the roof of the Back House. The guests and team had just come down from the roof to the courtyard for a snack break when Jazz approached Alice, a frown on her face, a phone in her hand. ‘The mayor of London.’ Alice grimaced, took the phone and walked towards studio 3 to get out of earshot. ‘Hello?’ ‘I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU EVERY DAY!’ ‘Is that why you’re calling?’ ‘ALICE ADLER, THIS—’ ‘—I know, I know. This is not a game. What is it this time? Sorry. What can I do for you? I mean why are you calling? Damn! I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. Could you just get to the point, and assume I asked in an acceptable way?’ There was silence on the other end of the line, and Alice sighed. ‘Look, I can hand you to my assistant. She is much—’ ‘—Are you having a bad day?’ the mayor interrupted. Alice grimaced. ‘Not until you called. Sorry. Too direct. Maybe I’m a bit overstretched. Long day. Intense. I don’t mean to take it out on you. And I honestly don’t know the protocol for getting to the point politely.’ The mayor seemed to chuckle and he said: ‘I think, you’re quite amazing. You, your team, your project, your campaigns. It seems that the conversations your teams initiate are key to a sustainable future. BUT.’ The major’s voice sounded sterner again. ‘BUT I don’t want to see mountains of plastic on my streets. That’s what you get if you empower people: mountains of rubbish!’ ‘Wrong!’ Alice retorted impatiently. ‘Empower people and they have a reason to act! Initiate a necessary event, the removal of plastic, and empowered people will have fun taking the action that’s needed. And by doing so, they boost the conversations around plastic. We have all seen images of plastic carpets in the oceans. But that’s not half as effective as if you see mountains of plastic on your walk to your favourite coffeeshop. People want change. They want to see. They want to act. The need a way to make a contribution. Our project doesn’t have to be the only project who gives people a voice and an event which offers everyone a chance to act — and to act together.’ There was something like a grunt at the other end of the line. Then the mayor said rather quietly: ‘I have an excellent team, but we can neither keep up with the complaints we get because of your campaigns nor do we have the capacities to remove this much plastic waste.’ ‘I know that the Longevity Team made provisions for such a case. Could one of my team call one of your team to brief them on how my team will deal with this?’ ‘Your team will deal with mountains of plastic?’ the mayor asked doubtfully. ‘That’s the only thing I know.’ ‘Whom do I call?’ ‘My assistant Rohana.’ ‘OK. But I want more updates. Three updates a day: at eight, at noon, and at six.’ ‘Done.’ After the call, Alice went back to the snack bar and was just about to respond to a millionaire’s remark on mind-enhancing foods when a panicky looking Emine appeared and dragged Alice back towards studio 3. ‘What’s the matter?’ Alice asked. ‘Alice, you’ve been ordered to parliament. Now! At once! Immediately!’ Alice frowned. ‘What’s the problem with that? Isn’t that a good thing?’ ‘What do you know about the House of Commons?’ ‘I heard the term, I think.’ Emine cursed in Turkish. ‘I’m coming with you! Though, I doubt, they’ll let me in. Can I get a whisper connection to you, like Security has?’ ‘Probably. Emine, what’s the problem?’ Emine exhaled impatiently and noticed that Jazz and more of Security were jogging their way. ‘Jazz,’ Emine called. ‘I need to be in Alice’s ear.’ Jazz overtook them, opened the door to studio 3 and led the way to a hidden door at the right. ‘How much do you know about the British Parliament, Emine?’ Jazz asked over her shoulder. ‘About the procedures in the House of Commons and the committees?’ ‘I know enough,’ Emine retorted. Then she relented. ‘Maybe I could have an expert in my ear?’ Alice frowned. Jazz and Iesha uncovered the secret door. ‘I’m coming, too,’ Dennie said as he and more members of Security entered the studio. ‘No problem,’ Tilly said, who had followed them and looked worried. ‘We can do the camp without all of you. Don’t worry, Alice. I mean, I mean it. This looks important.’ ‘I’m not worried,’ Alice returned with a half-smile for Tilly, and frowning again, she said to Emine: ‘And I don’t get the excitement.’ Iesha and Anthony opened the access to the security slide, and Jazz got off her phone. ‘Jane, Anthony and Jordie have the cars ready. Let’s go.’ Alice shook her head. ‘Emine, if I should have known about this House thing and committees, why didn’t you tell me before?’ Emine grimaced. ‘I didn’t think of it, if you must know. I thought we’d simply talk to the PM not to hundreds of MPs. I’m sorry, Alice.’ ‘Alice, let’s go,’ Jazz said. ‘In a second. What do I need to know, Emine? I mean, it’s a parliament, and some people there want to ask questions, right?’ Emine looked at Jazz who shrugged. ‘Alice might be right. Let’s go.’ ‘Glad to hear it,’ Alice said, lowered herself down to the curvy slide and enjoyed the sensation of almost flying down to the escape tunnels where three security cars were waiting for them. On the drive to parliament, Jazz said: ‘You’ll probably talk to a committee. Nothing big, I should think. But you should remember that all meetings in parliament are recorded and broadcast. Also, Britain is divided into constituencies and each of them has an MP in the House of Commons.’ ‘Jellybridge has an MP, too?’ ‘Not just Jellybridge. Jellybridge is part of a larger constituency.’ ‘Do we know the MP?’ Jazz shook her head. ‘But we know that he’s not in favour of the project.’ ‘Hm.’ In the House of Parliament, it was impossible not to be impressed by the pomp. At the same time, Alice wondered whether this grandeur wasn’t one of the reasons why politicians lost all connections to the people and the land they were supposed to serve. And why, again and again, politicians followed narratives drenched in superiority complexes which led them to collaborate in wars, to cosy up to oligarchs and autocrats, to chuckle about their own corruptions and to feel good about treating critical voices like terrorists. After the security check, Alice was brought to a committee room on the third floor. Old fashioned wood panelling, modern desks placed in a semicircle where five MPs had taken their seats, a straight table in front of them where Alice was asked to sit. Another three people, probably observers, sat on chairs along the wall, behind Alice. Without a prelude, Alice was presented with a list of conditions she would have to agree to if she wanted to build the town in the UK. Each MP had one of Troy’s comics WHY AUTONOMY MATTERS in front of them and repeatedly referred to it when they elaborated on what they couldn’t agree to, and what they insisted on instead. The MP’s conditions boiled down to the following: police presence, law and order according to UK law, control by the UK government, no experiments without the UK government’s permission, the project has to do additional experiments the government asks for, access for government experts and other observers on location with full data access, towners and the project have to pay taxes, anyone can invest in the town, including the government, and would receive returns on investments, no restrictions for any businesses, national and international, the town must present a plan for the transition after the experiment, provision of affordable housing, no migrant labour, no more than eighteen months for experiments, plus the government’s right to stop the experiment any time. When Alice got a chance to respond, she said: ‘And what good would it be to build a town which is stuck in the same bullshit as any other town? If you want to know what happens if you apply free market rules and inadequate, biased, lobbied government interventions, then look at any town and city in this country. You don’t need a new town to prove that these rules don’t result in what our project is interested in — thriving humans, thriving nature. Good day,’ Alice added and stood up. A politician, friendly eyes, said: ‘We don’t have the power to give you the rights you demand.’ ‘It’s an experiment. A study. Something that’s designed to be of benefit to every person on this planet, something that addresses everything the governments of this planet have failed to address. And you tell me, you’re not allowed to act in the best interest of the people you represent?’ The politician looked thoughtful. Then she returned: ‘You have given us something to think about. But for the benefit of every person? How would you deal with conflicts of interest?’ ‘My guess is that conflicts of interest are just another story, and an excuse to keep us from figuring out how to work and live together.’ ‘Thank you.’ Another MP shook his head. ‘I knew this was a waste of time!’ ‘I didn’t,’ Alice mumbled, walked to the door, opened it and involuntarily stopped. What’s this? Jazz, Dennie, Anthony and Jane were looking at her —  and so were about a hundred other people, some pushing towards the door. Dennie grabbed Alice’s arm. ‘We want you out of here quick!’ Jane covered Alice’s back while Jazz and Anthony began to push through the curious crowd. Curious? Alice swallowed. Some people were shouting at her. Others were pushing towards her. ‘Keep your head down! Don’t listen!’ Dennie called over the noise, half dragging Alice forward, half pushing against a new onslaught of people. From the corner of her eye, Alice saw that a fight broke out between several people. Apparently some people were trying to get hold of someone who was pushing to get to her. ‘Alice! Eyes ahead! Down the stairs! Come on! Eyes ahead!’ Alice stumbled on. Finally outside, another crowd started to shout, but here Security and the police had created a passage to the security car. Dennie pushed Alice into the back of the car, and seconds later Iesha got moving. The best driver on the Security Team, Alice thought as she slowly became aware of herself. She was drenched in sweat. Eliza sat next to her, Calum in the passenger seat, both looking at her. ‘You’re safe,’ Eliza said. ‘What happened just now?’ ‘We were about to get more people in when you came out already,’ Eliza replied. Iesha looked in the rearview mirror. ‘We don’t think it was planned. It had all the characteristics of a spontaneous combustion. Like, someone in the crowd loses their balance, the next thinks that was a shove, takes the cue and starts to push, Jazz told me via com.’ ‘Where is Jazz?’ ‘In the car behind us.’ ‘Hm.’ Back at the Compound, Alice was still too rattled to rejoin the boot camp. After a training session with Master Lee, and an unrestrained stick fight which Alice nearly won, she felt a little better and returned to the seventh floor for a briefing with Andy and Raiden. About an hour later, Heather (media) broke the news that the US, and independently some European countries, had launched campaigns to decry the town project as undemocratic. ‘This might be lucky for us,’ Alice remarked. ‘If one or more European countries oppose us, then the UK might be inclined to work with us just to demonstrate that they have their own mind.’ ‘I fear that is wishful thinking,’ Heather returned. ‘The UK have a record of bending the knee to the US, which is incredibly embarrassing. You should think that the English have enough pride to stand up to the US. But I haven’t seen that happen, yet. It’s moments like that that I’m glad I’m Welsh.’ ‘Hm,’ Alice returned. ‘I never got England’s servility towards the US either.’ ‘We’re not perfect,’ Andy mumbled. ‘Hm. Should we point out how undemocratic the European countries and the US are, and where their ideas of democracy have failed the people and the planet?’ ‘Better not,’ Raiden said. ‘We should test political approaches in our town first and substantiate our ideas.’ Alice frowned. ‘So we let them shout devil until our white wings are ready?’ Raiden smiled a little. ‘Religious imagery from you?’ Andy chuckled. ‘You don’t have a fever, do you?’ Alice smiled. ‘Not a fever, only trouble keeping my anger and confusion in.’ Just before midnight, the media assembled on the square in front of the Compound. A London reporter shook her head and said into the camera: ‘What a bizarre scene. In the last three minutes thirty-seven of the hottest cars on this planet have been lining up to pick up their masters. So far there have only been rumours about the millionaires boot camps because those take place at a secret location, or locations. Except, today one boot camp took place here at this Compound. And any minute now the millionaires, among them three billionaires, will walk through this archway. Oh! We just got the signal that the millionaires and billionaires are close. And here they come – all talking. They seem to be in a good mood. Hi there! Any comments? What happened at the boot camp?’ One millionaire stopped to speak with the London reporter, others responded to the calls of other reporters, some walked on to their cars. ‘What happened at the boot camp?’ the London reporter repeated. ‘So simple, so invigorating: imagination, never knew the power of it.’ ‘So, what was it like?’ ‘Defying everything I ever knew! What a challenge! And the calm. So, I tell Alice Adler: Wow! You’re so zen. And she bursts out laughing! So refreshing! Authentic. A revelation!’ ‘OK. But what happened at the camp? What did you do?’ ‘No can tell. Don’t want to spoil it for the next participants. But this I can tell you: Everyone should go! Honestly. Time to scrap the crap we’ve been up to!’ Not four minutes later, several conspiracy theorists accused the town project of brainwashing.