were following a path that had led to disaster more than a century ago. However, there was no saviour on the horizon the world had changed and the task ahead was long.
Defender of the Faith
The Martel declared, I am neither right or left I am the defender of the Nation’s body and soul. The body was his Christ like euphemism for the Gallo-Europeans and the soul was Christianity.
The Legion of Saint Jacques de Compostela held mass floodlight rallies giving huge popular support to le Martel and his policies.
The voters had lost faith in their politicians in many circumscriptions of the large cities where barely fifteen percent of the voters turned out in, leaving the field open to the extremist parties.
Democracy functions well in an economy that is in a state of positive equilibrium, but, the moment a grave economic crisis interrupts the balmy picture, forces are unleashed that are difficult to control. The first is to find a leader that will miraculously solve problem and he is not found amongst the current leaders who are responsible for not seeing or avoiding the crisis.
Such leaders have the greatest difficulty in accepting democratic principles which are against their very nature, they refuse to accept limits to their power, in fact it is the first thing they promulgate, extraordinary powers.
In the pre-Rebellion conditions the Union had removed all individual initiative from the governments of the member countries leaving them with little possibility of manoeuvre but the same Union was unable to propose satisfying solutions to those crises.
The media had become instrumental in government power in Italy and France where television news was used to condition the minds of the populations. The vast majority of the population accepted that without the least worry opening the path to dangerous populists who were quickly transformed into tyrants and who always appeared as saviours in grave crisis.
Unmanned military aircraft patrolled the Med whilst low orbital interceptors watched for suspicious activity over all the sensitive regions of the globe.
The emotion created by the assassination of the populist leader, shot down by an Trotskyite in the street with three bullets in the head just before the parliamentary elections, caused a great surge of emotion against an attack on democracy bringing to his party one hundred and sixty seats. The party composed of a collection of groups representing a diversity of popular themes against the frustrations and discontent of an impersonal non-caring state and government of technocrats and the hysteria of the leftist intellectual press and the media that had transformed the populist leader into a demon to all except those who felt concerned by his ideas.
The hysteria that created hate against those who by democratic means protested against the change in their society, changes against centuries of a certain style of European life. Hysteria that protested against violence and aggression of those who dared to vote against the concept of a society envisage by the minds of the leftists, leftists who lived in their comfortable apartments in a life style that had little in common with the cities.
The media legitimised violence in the name of the Republic and their own vision of democracy. They explained the progress of the far right movement by describing its followers as misguided critics of the country’s immigration and social policies, when in fact they were convinced followers of the Renaissance Party’s ideology.
The media confused xenophobia with the normal pride a citizen should have for his nation and rejected their refusal to accept every stranger who knocked at his door, even those who spat on the Republic. The press went as far as to criticise France for having only white and catholic presidents. But in spite of the media’s efforts to run down the Renaissance Party and its followers, they progressively increased their share of the votes at every election.
It is an undeniable fact, many French have always held a latent dislike of Maghribis, not to speak of Jews, this was at the same time the politicians and the media minimised the flow of Settlers, describing it as a 'transfer phenomena', accusing all those who opposed it as Islamophobics, when in reality it was nothing less than a vast population movement, some said an invasion.
Albignac on the other hand had never hesitated to say out loud what others thought, winning supporters across the nation who shared his views.
To the never ending ire of le Martel the Caliphate sought the roll of cultural and spiritual protector of Algharb. He secretly vowed that if they wanted them they would get them and laid his plans to retake Lost Provence with his loyal friend and military head of the army General Dedieu.
The war of words between Algharb and the Caliphate was a struggle for the minds of the people. The religious leaders of the Caliphate took every opportunity to declare their historical and cultural links with the population of Algharb, which gave the Caliphate an inviolable right to be concerned with their spiritual and cultural well being. They protested that it was unacceptable that fellow Muslims had not the right to freely practice their religion and use the language of Muhammad. The government of Hassan bin Ibrani has thwarted the sacred rights of the people of Algharb to worship according to the instructions of the Holy Koran.
The parliament and the constitutional council were dissolved by the president and the people were called for a plebiscite giving a seven-year mandate to d’Albignac as Premier Magistrat de la Nation, with full power to implement a new constitution. The state of emergency was extended until the date of the plebiscite that was to take place fourteen days from the date of the decree. To reinforce law and order 50,000 men from the armed forces and Republican Guards were mobilised occupying all official buildings, railway stations and airports. Units were posted at the main access points to Paris, the Périphérique was closed to traffic, and other units stood guard at every street corner of the capital. Meetings and demonstrations were totally forbidden. At the same time all leaders of the opposition were put under house arrest in ex-communicado whilst know potential troublemakers were rounded up and transported out of the capital to military detention centres.
Two weeks later the political crisis had ended and a new Republic was born, the Nation of France. Le Martel had acquired legitimacy as undisputed leader of the Nation plebiscited by an overwhelming majority of its citizens. He then announced parliamentary elections according to the rules of new constitution, which stipulated a single round where the candidate having the most votes was elected.
The National party of le Martel led the right wing majority with 483 seats, various other right leaning parties totalled 48 seats, the opposition parties limped in with 71 seats.
The Bastille
The next morning Ennis set out for a stroll towards the centre of the city. The weather was fine and it seemed a good idea to revisit the city that he had known as a young man. He walked to Place de la Nation and then along the Faubourg St Antoine towards the Bastille. The Faubourg had become a vast pedestrian area lined with trees and benches. The only form of transport was the Magnotram. Paris had completely changed, it appeared cleaner, it was full of greenery, squares and gardens. The only thing that spoilt the idyllic image were the menacing groups of Clodos and Alcolos, eyesores that even le Martel had not cured.
Entire street blocks had been razed in quarters previously occupied by Neos, one of them was the Marché d’Aligre where Ennis was amazed by the transformation. It had been a working class district with a cosmopolitan street market that had always been densely packed on market days. There were now well-maintained grassy lawns, flowerbeds and decorative trees and bushes, all arranged in the best taste. The nineteenth and twentieth century buildings had been restored, amongst them new apartment buildings had been artfully blended in. Almost all of the small streets were pedestrian zones dotted with cafés, restaurants, bookshops and galleries. There was an air of prosperity and middle class cleanliness and order, an impression of space with the absence of cars.
The colourful cosmopolitan grime of the market had disappeared with its immigrant population replaced almost exclusively by white bourgeois Parisians. He
re and there he had crossed the odd black or Asiatic face but he had not seen a single Arab since he had left Guiglione’s apartment.
He stopped at Place de la Bastille and chose a café terrace where he ordered a beer. There were still the crowds, less dense than he had remembered, the vast place lined with well swept granite slabs was empty of cars, the only vehicles were silver Magnotrams that slide by with the electric ring of their bells.
He sipped his beer glancing around, to his right was a woman, quite attractive he thought, maybe forty. She returned his look.
“Haven’t we met before?” she said. In other circumstances he would have been pleased but now he hesitated.
“At Frankfurt, the Book Fair!”
“Perhaps, I’m the editor of a literary review,” Ennis lied, he was taking a risk but he had little choice.
“What review?”
“Well it’s not that well known, you know art and literature. And you?”
“Me, I’m not in the same line, I’m a fashion journalist, I was in Frankfurt to make an interview, the author of a new book.”
“Ah, fashion, you’re in the fashion business.”
“Not really, I mostly look after reviews, books and cinema.”
“I see.”
“You’re