by Roukia Ali
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” – George Orwell, “1984”
Before you are to be welcomed into the ranks of us Civilised people, we ask that you review the criteria of your adherence below. Failure to abide by and/or blatant infractions committed in regards to these articles will not go unpunished. Know that in either case we are just, good, peaceful people. We weigh all matters impartially, as is the responsibility of our faculty as the supreme holders of power. Yet to ensure the order by which these operations are made possible, we hold you in writing and in action to the same regard of compliance and critical thought.
1. Ignore the quote above (we have crossed out this defacement of our records for your convenience—as a result, in the best-case scenario, you did not read it). Once assimilated into our society, you will be automatically awarded with a comprehensive reading list divided equally between the current preoccupations of our society and the foundational historical knowledge needed to understand and learn from the past. Though our representatives have received several condemning emails calling for an interrogation into the biased nature of this list and how we have come to identify its definitive canon as supposedly being devoid of marginalised voices, revolutionary thought, etc., we have determined that it is simply unreasonable to respond—all books shall be burned anyway at our discretion if they elicit our offence at any time.
2. Abandon all other authority or reverence you carry. The reason of your senses, organs, Gods, humanity, etc. you have employed as guides of your judgement and actions cannot and will not be adapted to our current systems. We ask that you trust that we know what is good for you. We reserve the right to discriminate against individuals we suspect are reverting back to the savagery we have thoroughly tried to exterminate, as they may pose a risk to our other Civilised members. Understand that if legal action is to be taken against you, personal biases will not influence any of its procedures. In the event that you file a financial exemption and deposit the appropriate payment to our representatives, we are willing to overlook crimes listed even outside of this document. Your financial exemption may be overruled if we systematically thrive on hating you.
3. The information disclosed in articles 1 and 2 should by no means be taken as acts of injustice—we are Civilised, after all, and would like to highlight the benefits that come with your cooperation. Besides ensuring that you will not be burdened with the heft of individual critical thought, we are in the midst of adopting democratic practices. For instance, you’ll have the right to vote, but if we find this privilege threatens the facets of our systems, we reserve the right to detain, expel, and/or eliminate any political enemies and their affiliates and will proceed with the sponsorship and indefinite placement of our elected puppet official, whose practices we will adjust in accordance to our agenda and, of course, the safety and well-being of the populace. Additionally, we exhibit this same care on the world stage and will stand in as your representative voices when voting on the state of international crises, as we understand they are too complicated for you to grasp. Some conflicts must be prolonged, as the lifeblood of our state depends on the wails of exterminated innocents begging our mercy. You can learn more about this in our history textbooks instead of appealing to our humanity, but ensure that you read the apology statements that follow the atrocities—we are, after all, very empathetic and humane to our own people.
4. In the (incredibly rare) event that you are dissatisfied with any political, economic, or social actions taken, with possible relevant ties to the information highlighted in article 3, we present the option of partaking in peaceful protest. However, you would offend us greatly in doing so if we do not just choose to ignore you or placate you with empty promises, even if we can assure you that if you suffer any arrests, they were not enabled by our personal biases. We find that though we preach peace, these revolts often end up violent, and we condemn needless violence, especially if it is towards yourself. Self-immolation as a form of protest is currently under review by our faculty. Though we have been informed of its validity across various historical records, we unfortunately cannot authorise suicide if it cannot be mourned on grounds of interpersonal conflict and instead falsely advertises flaws within our procedures. Any and all individuals who partake in self-immolation as protest against our destiny manifestation affairs will be pointed at with our arms and labelled as mentally ill.
5. We likewise do not advise you or anyone to spark revolutions, even if your basic human rights, or those you have observed elsewhere beyond our society, have been stifled, threatened, and trampled down into the cracks of silence by us or any of our institutions on numerous accounts. We acknowledge our histories have been wrought with revolutions, but ours were glorious, whereas theirs and potentially yours were and are petty revenges. In order to rectify these barbaric tendencies, we have taken the liberty of enrolling you in our 10-step “reverse teachings” program complete with “prejudice is not real” seminars and workshops in “complicity in genocide, apartheid, and hate crimes”. Additionally, as a show of our graciousness, we have directed you to our special limited-time opportunity to receive certification in “Westernizing radically-founded ideologies”, where you will learn how to selectively advocate for women, children, and victims of war crimes, just as your favourite celebrities do when not silent on all fronts!
6. We are very particular about fake news, and we take thorough measures in ensuring our journalism is as investigative and factual as possible and that we do not deny proven truths and debunked lies. As such, we are precise with the information we are communicating in our headlines, and we advise you not to think of any of our bleeding euphemisms regarding deaths and atrocities, or our reluctant slackening grip on relevant details that do not flatter us, or our endorsement and elevation of hateful platforms, speech, gaslighting, and echoed techniques of oppressive regimes as brightening propaganda. We must simply be sure that the narrative is not being twisted, and we cannot disclose what that narrative is until the work is finished. Observe that it is all around you. We ask that you watch the football sail across the screen instead of the dismantled doll-like limbs flailing from the bomb sprays. Believe that our lives are always at stake when the pen is in our hands, though we sharpen it for our killing stories and cross out the questions.
In the creation of these kinds of documents, you may ask yourself, where is the justice? We are afraid it became obsolete upon your signature on this document, which we have taken the liberty of doing for you. Though we love crediting ourselves for being so superior, our representatives will avoid being associated with this unfortunate change. We will take active measures in ensuring you forget this word… “justice”. We will make sure you forget everything.
Name: _____[#280217382023]_____________
Date: ______[REDACTED]_______________
© Roukia Ali
Author’s note: “The Letter Contract of the Civilised” satirically details my dissatisfaction with the current (especially political) setup of world affairs. I was inspired to write this piece when Aaron Bushnell self-immolated as a form of protest against the U.S.’s backing of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Palestine, which has since spread throughout the Middle East. I hope that by being bitingly honest, by using the form of a contract to express how ludicrous the values and priorities of our ruling class is in the West when it comes to international crises and revolutionary thought as a whole, I could raise awareness in the form of a wake up call. I don’t ever want to be desensitised to what is happening in our world. Its censorship and chaos is abnormal, and I have a duty as a writer to not be apolitical in my thinking about the art I produce.
Roukia Ali (Kia, she/her) is an award-winning Canadian-Comorian writer. She is currently pursuing her Honours degree in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. When not writing she can be found reading classic literature, learning a new song on the electric guitar, or struggling to complete two manageable tasks on a to-do list. You can find her on Instagram @roukiaa9140.
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