A New Faith: Part 2: Chapter 27
In the weeks subsequent to Rachel’s fateful day-trip to Texas, a flurry of intense activity ensued at the UN. Maya was quickly on board with the overall idea that Ben had come up with. Rachel had fleshed it out further using a reasonable set of assumptions. It was sufficiently detailed that Maya could convene several working groups within the UN that could focus on key issues such as selection of refugees who would be offered the opportunity to relocate to the new City, administrative structure, urban layout, energy, food, vocational training, economic and taxation framework, law and order, and others.
Once the contours of the final proposal had been established by the various working groups, investors were brought in to vet the financial viability. The initial reaction was subdued. However, after several closed-door meetings led by Emily followed by a series of impassioned speeches by the representatives of the climate-affected countries at the UN, a small number of investors had stepped up to the challenge. Unfortunately, their pledges were not even remotely close to the estimated cost of building the city and operating it. The humanitarian appeals put some more pressure on the wealthier countries to get off the sidelines. None offered to pledge financial support, but in-kind support was offered by several key countries.
The in-kind support was mainly in the form of providing crucial equipment. The wealthier east Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea offered the use of their idling fleets of cargo ships to not only transport the equipment but also the refugees to the City. Hundreds of these cargo ships would be retrofitted into passenger ships. These were no luxury cruise ships. They were absolutely utilitarian in their design. The goal was to safely transport several thousand refugees in one go from their home countries to the designated port in Norway, Skibotn. The last part of the journey from Skibotn to the City was to be undertaken via rail.
Hundreds of other cargo ships were assigned to the task of moving construction equipment and material to the City. The main construction activity was to be done by robots using 3-D construction techniques that had increasingly become the norm in countries such as Japan and China. The buildings were to be constructed with material that not only had to be construction-grade in terms of strength but one which also had exceptional insulation capabilities in order to protect the residents from the absolutely brutal winters of the Arctic.
The layout of the City was to be a standard grid that would facilitate rapid construction using robots. The added benefit was that the transportation system - electric trams - in the City would be easy to install and operate. The natural terrain was reasonably flat and there were no major hydrological challenges to deal with. The heating and cooling for the buildings was to be provided by a geothermal system. The pipes for both the geothermal system and the water/sanitation system along with the electricity distribution system were to be all located under the grid of roads. The construction of a new hybrid wave and wind energy power plant was to begin simultaneously with that of the rail line connecting the City with Skibotn as both were pre-requisites for the construction of the City.
All the details were getting worked out thanks to the inexorable pressure exerted by the governing committee that was being led by Maya and ably supported by Rachel along with other motivated folks representing various other countries. The governing committee gave a crystal clear instruction for all the working groups - speed was of the essence. They often repeated the maxim, “the perfect should not be the enemy of the good”. The experts were told to make their best recommendations in the context of substantial uncertainty. Everyone understood that they were trying something that had absolutely no precedence in human history. There were no right or wrong answers. There were only reasonably good guesses and those would have to do for the time being.
The lack of interest from additional investors, especially, big ones who were needed to make up for the huge gap between the estimated cost and the pledges had been unresolved despite the tireless efforts of many. The biggest concern raised by investors, especially, the ones who were solely in it for the money was about the collateral. They were simply not willing to believe that the risk of non-payment was small. They wanted some hard collateral without which they were unwilling to extend a single dime.
One day, Rachel received a call from Ben inviting her for a meeting with Emily. The meeting was to take place at Emily’s penthouse on the upper west-side overlooking Central Park. Even though it was scheduled for early evening, it was most decidedly not a social occasion. Ben suggested that he meet Rachel at the closest subway station around 5:30 pm and then they could walk from there to Emily’s.
Ben sounded cagey about the reason for this meeting. He hung up after they had agreed upon the logistics leaving Rachel a bit worried. Was something up with the investments that Emily had helped catalyze? Was Emily inviting her home to let her down gently? That would be an unmitigated disaster! The in-kind assistance would promptly evaporate if even the meager investments that had been lined up decided to dial back their pledges or even worse back away completely.
She went through her work day in a distracted state of mind. Finally, around 5 pm she stopped by Maya’s office to let her know that she was leaving early that day. The working groups and Maya and Rachel had been working pretty much round-the-clock for the past month. So 5 pm was indeed early and unusual. Maya was on a call with someone and she simply acknowledged Rachel’s intimation and got back to her conversation. The rapport between Maya and Rachel had reached to such a level in the past month that Maya assumed Rachel had an excellent reason to be out of the office. Also, she knew that Rachel would talk with her if it was something important. They were conferring with each other a dozen times every day.
Rachel walked the mile and a half distance from the UN HQ to 59th and Columbus Circle where Ben was going to meet her. The route took her past the recently renovated Grand Central Terminal, St. Patrick’s cathedral, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall, and all the things that had made her fall in love with New York at first sight. The ice rink was open at Rockefeller Center now that winter was making itself felt.
All through the last month as the idea of the City was getting crystallized in numerous conversations and discussions, Rachel had started imagining, even visualizing, the City in all kinds of detail. Inadvertently, she imagined the City to be a lot like New York minus the annoyances. She was beginning to think how wonderful it would be for millions upon millions of young women to experience the life that she had been lucky to have been born into. In moments of self-doubt or despair, she reminded herself of that vision and got back to work in resolving whatever problem was vexing her. The vision gave her that extra energy to get through the difficult parts of her day, every day.
Right on the dot, Rachel reached Columbus Circle and waved at Ben who was already there waiting for her. He nodded and together they strode quickly toward the magnificent building where Emily’s home was. The almost aristocratic-looking concierge courteously welcomed them and directed them to the elevator that would take them to Emily’s floor. Ben had been there a few times. Yet, the building and the furnishings never failed to awe him. This was different than his small condo out in Brooklyn. He marveled at the stylish architecture and small art deco features sprinkled all around the lobby and elevator.
Emily was waiting for them. She lived alone and that evening she had given leave to her maid. She served them wine and invited them to sit in the living room where plates of sandwiches and chips had already been laid. Rachel noticed that Emily was trying to keep the overall mood light. Yet, Emily’s brow got furrowed every now and then. That seemed to rub off on Ben as he also showed some signs of tension. But, Rachel decided to wait and let them lead the conversation instead of forcing it.
After a whole month of intense negotiations with an extremely diverse set of individuals working under immense pressure, Rachel had become quite good at reading the room. She had also become an expert in guiding one-on-one conversations and group discussions with a subtle touch. When to be quiet and when to prod was an art. She was getting really good at it. This moment asked for patience. It was already dark outside but as always the lights of New York blazed away. Emily had a few more sips of the Old Vine Zinfandel from one of her favorite wineries located just north of the Golden Gate bridge.
“I invited you today for a delicate conversation, Rachel.”
Rachel kept a neutral expression even though the anxiety that she had been nursing all day was threatening to burst out. She was having a dry Riesling as she munched on the chips.
“I can imagine that you are feeling anxious ever since Ben set up this meeting. So let me first put your mind to rest about what I think you are worried about - the group of investors that I helped corral together are holding strong. We are not backing off and in fact, I wanted to tell you that we would like to increase our stake now that our team, ably led by Ben, has studied the UN proposal in far more detail. We have had a small team of anthropologists and economists work closely together to run some simulations of the City. The results appear to be entirely satisfactory as per our risk analysts. Right, Ben?”
Ben nodded enthusiastically. He relaxed a bit.
Rachel bowed her head to show her appreciation.
“But there is a rumor that I came across a few days ago which concerns me.”
Emily seemed to be appraising Rachel as she paused.
“I am merely being pedantic in using the word rumor to describe what I have heard. I am quite sure that it is true since I heard it from at least three sources who I consider extremely well-informed about such matters.
Assuming it is true, there is not much you or me or for that matter anyone can do about it. This conversation is just a heads-up for you. Maybe, you will get some time to organize some counter to it. Although I doubt it.
So without further ado, I can see both of you are getting impatient, the rumor suggests that the full investment will become available to get the City built and running.”
Ben stood up involuntarily and Rachel almost dropped the wine glass in her excitement. Emily let them have that moment of joy because she was soon going to pour a generous amount of ice cold water on it.
“There are conditions, though, that you are not going to like. That I most certainly don’t like.”
And there it was, thought Rachel. First the carrot and then the goddamned stick!
“What are they, Emily? I have been patient so far. Please don’t hold the suspense any longer.”
“They want collateral for their investment. And it is not just the physical assets but they want to include the people in it. At the first sign of a problem with the investment they want the right to convert the City into a manufacturing hub and the refugees into bonded labor.”
“Noooo…,” Rachel whimpered. She was stricken. This was the one outcome that she had dreaded the most. So far it had not come up in any discussion at all. Within the UN or elsewhere. The discourse around the City had been almost entirely benign in nature.
“Yes… unfortunately, that is their condition. Mind you, they will not only stick with it, but I won’t be surprised if they somehow contrive to mess up the City so that they can enforce this condition.”
“Jesus,” whispered Ben.
“Who are these people?” he asked no one in particular and started shaking his head as if it would make what he had just heard not true.
“Who are they? Why are they doing this?” Rachel asked firmly but also pleadingly.
Emily sighed.
“Well… you know them. These are the wealthiest people in the world. Their net worth is in tens of billions of dollars. Some are worth hundreds of billions. You know who I am talking about, right?”
Rachel and Ben nodded extremely slowly as they realized who Emily was talking about.
“The kind of investors that Ben and I work with are small fry compared to those. Our typical investors are multi-millionaires from the coastal American cities and European capitals. Our secret sauce is how we aggregate their funds and then spread it out among various investments in manufacturing hubs in the US. Most of my research and the contacts I made when I was in the government or consulting for other global organizations provided us with the initial insights that drove our investment strategy.
I was thoroughly disillusioned by the lack of success of the policy ideas that used to animate me when I was young. I figured that before I retire, I could use my skills to at least earn a sufficiently good income for a somewhat luxurious retirement and to hell with trying to fix the world.
You Rachel, reminded me of my idealistic young self. I am so sorry that you are facing the disillusionment so early in your life. This is how the world has evolved over the last few decades.”
“Hold on a minute, Emily. Earlier you said that your risk analysts are happy with the projected returns from the City in the way it is currently designed. Right?”
“Umm... yes…,” Emily kinda knew where this was going.
“Then why are these investors also not satisfied with that same or maybe similar models? Why are they insisting on this condition?” Rachel was trying to find some sliver of hope. Something that she could grab on to and find that chance to negotiate away from the condition.
“I knew you were about to ask me that question. I guess, you don’t really know these wealthy people beyond their names and some details that are mentioned in their official bios. Let’s call them the plutes - short for plutocrats. What matters to them far more than their wealth, is the ability that wealth gives them to impose their will on the world. Their money allows them to control governments whether elected democratically or not. They cherish their ability to break entire societies through their decisions and they have indeed done so many times.”
“But they will be getting their return on the investment. You said so yourself,” interrupted Rachel.
“I don’t know how to describe this exactly. The plutes don’t have the same ideas that you, me, and Ben have about the world. They have a fundamentally different view of how the world works. Or maybe the more accurate description is how it should work.
Simply put, they believe that humanity is fundamentally hierarchical. A pyramid where there are a small number of people at the top who control everyone else as per their whims. And, to be honest, that version was indeed the dominant form of organizing human society for several thousand years. The patriarchal society is about men subjugating women. The religious organizations are about the priest telling the masses how to live, what to do, what not to do, etc. The monarchies are about one person literally ruling over everyone else. The elite class is about a small group of people - based on some tribal characteristic such as race, caste, etc. - exerting control over the rest.
Look at the US - the so-called Shining-City-on-the-Hill as politicians love to say. What is its history? European colonizers invaded North America and slaughtered the indigenous people and took all the land and resources that didn’t really belong to anyone until that time. Then to work that land and exploit those resources, the Europeans kidnapped my ancestors from Africa and brought them to the so-called New World. Bountiful free land stolen from others coupled with free labor meant that the US grew tremendously wealthy and powerful in a relatively short period of time.
The Civil War put a damper on this. But the dominant white race simply changed their methods. They started subverting the democratic institutions in order to maintain their hierarchy. They never really stopped despite women’s right-to-vote, the two world wars that were explicitly fought to defeat monarchies and autocracies, the New Deal, the labor movement, the Civil Right movement, the Great Society, and so on.
There was a brief but amazing period in the sixties and seventies when the US was truly blossoming into a genuine liberal and progressive society. Things were moving in the right direction. My parents were among those who fought in those mass movements to make that a reality.
Alas, the evil morphed again. Starting in the 80s, the plutes took full advantage of the cheap labor available in other parts of the world that had recently been liberated from the yoke of colonialism. This gutted the opportunities for the vast majority of the people in the US. The plutes lined their pockets with extraordinary profits and then proceeded to use that cash to buy off politicians who kept reducing the taxes on wealth, gutting social programs, and deregulating the economy every which way. The climate disaster is to a certain extent a consequence of this capitalism-run-amok phenomenon.
The growth in income inequality sky-rocketed starting in the 90s and this would have led exactly to the conditions that Marx had predicted a century ago. The poor masses would rise up against the plutes unless something was done. But, the wily plutes had a few more tricks up their sleeves. They used distracting wars against terror and faux nationalism to keep the masses distracted. They used religion to keep the masses in a stupor. Whatever way they could dream of to keep the masses divided and fighting against each other is being used.
They simply don’t care as long as they get the outcome they are looking for. They have been doing this all over the world. The same text-book is being used by authoritarians over the last few decades to impoverish the people while enriching the already wealthy. The technology - cable TV, internet, social media platforms, the AI tools, etc. - merely enabled them to do so at a fraction of the cost than before. Except for a few pockets such as the liberal enclaves along the western and north-eastern coasts of the US and maybe some places in the upper midwest, they have successfully turned the clock back in the rest of the US to the era of slavery and patriarchy. It now comes under a slightly more benign guise, but it is still the same hierarchical structure that they have always been aiming for.
Gosh… you got me started on a full-blown lecture. It has been a really long time since I have seen the inside of a college classroom. Anyway… nothing what I have tried to say is new. Libraries are full of entire sections that cover this literature. I used to have inches-thick reading material for my graduate students on these topics.”
Rachel and Ben were silent. They were moodily swirling the wine in their glasses trying to figure out some response to Emily’s soliloquy.
“I can think of one counter-offer,” Rachel finally spoke up in a measured tone.
Emily gave her a wistful smile. She admired Rachel’s optimism and her faith in the inherent goodness of humanity. But she knew better. Humanity had never really been inherently good. There had always been exceptions to that rule and there would always be those - the ones who were good and sought to do good. Since they were exceptions, the rest put them on a pedestal and treated them as saints. The actions and words of these saints became the aspiration for the rest. At least, for brief periods of time in a few locations. Then it got swamped all over again by the inherent human nature which was mostly just plain selfish.
“What if we offer only the physical assets as the collateral? The City itself. Not the people. Just the buildings and the infrastructure. I am not sure the Nordic countries would agree to that. After all it is their sovereign land which they are lending to the UN for the express purpose of constructing this City. But maybe those countries can be persuaded to consider this arrangement. The plutes can monetize the City. For example, they could convert it into a gigantic tourist destination. The residential buildings could become hotels and so forth. Once the plutes make back their investment, the refugees would again be allowed to live in the City. For that interim period, the refugees could double up in half the city while focusing on jobs/businesses that cater to the tourists. I mean… it could be plausible, right?”
Rachel looked at Emily and Ben in turn with a hopeful expression.
Slowly but decisively Ben shook his head, “there is no way that the plutes and for that matter the Nordic countries would end your tourism-era and allow the refugees to settle down in the City again. The economics of tourism is such that the money they would make will be stupendous. They will not stop at the City borders, they will expand the foot-print to monetize the vicinity through all kinds of tourist activities. It will just keep growing. They will all get addicted to the cash. This would be the exact opposite of what the Sami people fought for. They wanted to save this land from getting trashed by their countries. And they did succeed until Kaija made that famous announcement because of which we are all sitting here right now. The refugees will end up becoming the downtrodden labor force that we see in almost every tourist destination. They will be reduced to cleaning up after the wealthy tourists. That will be their fate. Not necessarily much different from working in a factory. I am not sure this counter-offer is any better than what the plutes have in mind, Rachel. I am sorry… but that is how I see it playing out.”
Emily silently nodded her head as Ben finished talking and glumly hung his head. Rachel stared out the window aimlessly. The waves of crushing defeat washed over her. All her dreams of helping build a thriving new city for oppressed women from the worst parts of the world were going up in smoke. All she could hope for was that the City would succeed beyond her wildest dreams and the investors would have no chance of ever exercising their horrific condition. The City would just have to keep making copious amounts of money for many years to keep the vicious plutes at bay. Would they be able to do that? No one really knew the answer because such a City had never existed in human history. It hadn’t even existed in anyone’s imagination as far as she could tell. But she had to try.