Seeds of Revolution - the the sequel to Overpopulation in Antares
Overpopulation in Antares
Planning a revolution, against Colonel Antasari was never far off in the minds of his critics. Ever since he took over the reins of Antares Ant Colony, the once likable Colonel, seemed to gather enemies from every quarter. It wasn't only the usual suspects, such as disgruntled figures of the Ant-hedrin who felt that they should've pipped Antares for the post; OR Antonopoulos Jr. who felt entitled to succeed his father. There were other factors; everyone knew that Antasari was General Antonopoulos's choice; and that should have been that.
The real issue was twofold. Antasari's leadership style was yet unformed, which made him appear weak and indecisive. The second had to do with his ambitious vision for Antares Ant Colony. The combination of these factors made life as leader a mine field for Antasari.
Antasari outlined his plans for the rebuilding of the colony, after the devastating floods. His mantras were, "It needs to be ultra-modern with futuristic functionality, extremely defensible and address the issues of over-population." The pragmatists in the colony knew that achieving this would be a Sisyphean task. Antares had lost many of its great workers and brightest minds in the floods; and three-quarters of its population. Everyone knew that this project would reduce every member of the colony to "slavery" for the rest of their lives to achieve this near impossible task, unless Antasari could up with real solutions.
Colonel Antasari had an ace up his sleeve, which kept his detractors at bay. He had full control of the Ant Army. Since he had always treated them well, they remained loyal to him; for now anyway!?
The Antdrome filled rapidly as Colonel Antasari was about to address the Ant-hedrin, outlining his plans and policies.
“My dear Antaresians today I present my plans for the developments and future of our beloved Antares,” he addressed the population present at the Antdrome. “I will meet with Antisepsis (head of medical central), to discuss the utilisation of our current larvae to increase our numbers in the worker, science and engineering and army ranks.” For once Antasari and Antisepsis had unlikely allies, the anti-antbortionists welcomed the idea. “However, henceforth every family will be entitled to deliver one larva per 3 month cycle, a strategy their eastern neighbours use to good effect.” Antisepsis and his team will lead this family planning initiative. Antasari had started on a positive note.
Antasari may have been an inexperience leader, but he was an excellent strategist. The reason for increasing the army was to increase the defences around the colony as he commonly promoted; but Antasari was also well aware of the rumours of revolution. Growing the army was an excellent way for him to grow his support base, and crush any opposition.
“I have ordered that Antithesis and his team have access to additional resources, for the development and realisation of a futuristic wonder material, called Antitanium. “This light weight metallic material will be used to line our tunnels; making it impenetrable to our enemies from the outside. The structural qualities will also withstand the additional loading of a future flood,” this too was well received by the crowd. Antares Ant Colony will be a city of the future!” he closed his presentation,” for now he managed to thwart the plans of the conspirators.
The weeks ahead were a real struggle for everyone in the colony; even for hard working ants 24 hour a day continuous construction and the stresses of the demanding project were taking its toll. Remuneration was at an all time low and so was morale. This was the opportunity his opposes were waiting for.
Anti-Antasari propaganda sprung up overnight. Ants everywhere were losing faith in his vision. Everyday new protests took place. We demand a living wage was a common theme, no doubt lead by an opportunistic ant unionist. Others included, stop ant slavery and others tried to expose his vision as an undemocratic, unilateral decision. The loss of buy-in would seriously harm the success of the project. Antasari would have to do something and do it fast.
Antasari, gather a team of his own to counter the propaganda. They emphasised the benefits of the project in the daily press, arranged social events to celebrate milestones and introduced some changes to the work schedules. These brought only moderate results.
It was situations like these that started shaping Antasari’s leadership style and shaping his world view. There would be nothing to be gained by any ant if the project failed. He soon adopted the view that the sacrifices by the entire community of ants were necessary; and it’s something he would have to enforce if necessary. This was a view which he never promoted publicly and kept as a tightly secret locked in the inner chambers with his top brass. Their rhetoric was always aimed toward the benefits of the project for the community and future generations.
Antasari rapidly took control of ant media and used it exclusively for his purposes. At the same time many of his opposition vanished mysteriously, or found dead in dark tunnels on the outskirts of the colony. Others fled the colony or joined the underground resistance. None of these events were reported in the mainstream media. Antasari and his generals had built an impressive army that would not tolerate any form of opposition, any longer.
After many years the now proficient leader and his men had established a New Ant Order, controlling every aspect of ant life with an iron fist. Antares Ant Colony, a far cry from the ruins which he had inherited, was now their new city of the future.
In the deep tunnels beneath Antares the seeds of revolution continued to be sown; there was one difference though, the theme; the ousting of the dictators that hijacked Antares Ant Colony. The red button became the symbol of the liberation struggle.
