Haraway: The Mouse that Roared

By Doctor Faramarz Kianian Of the university of Tehran 2192

Introduction

Much has been written about Haraway. It is one of humanities oldest and strangest colonies, and a leading member of the Zodiacal Outworld Colonies Union, or ZOCU, perhaps even the leader of its hawks. Haraway is in many ways a microcosm of ZOCU’s more radical elements, opinionated, and proud, especially of its military and advances in technology and industry, Haraway retains a completely unjustified sense of its own importance in the grand scheme of things, and can serve as an example to any who still doubt the necessity of Strauss-Kraussism even in a system which claims to be more democratic than a simple multiparty democracy.

This article will seek to shed light on some of the flaws of Haraway and its system, and show how they reflect more widely on ZOCU, and future relations between ZOCU and the super powers of the Core, concluding that Haraway, in particular is ultimately doomed, first by its own internal contradictions, and second by the incredible demographic mass of the Core population gradually pushing out into the Expanse.

Politics

Haraway’s political system is based around the principle of the direct will of the people, unmitigated by delegates or representatives. Each adult citizen has a voting device fitted which enables her (and it is almost always her) to cast a vote on any issue of public policy, great or small which is put before her. Voting on most issues is by simple majority; however certain questions such as proposed reforms of the constitution require an absolute majority of at least two thirds of the electorate, and any measure getting less than twenty percent of the population to vote for it cannot become law.

In order to mediate the complexity of this system, Haraway has built up various systems. Human and artificial intelligence ‘Tribunes’ whose job it is to read legislation and then express it in ways that is understandable to the general public. Some tribunes are free, or even amateur, while others work for subscription or are even paid for by the state.

Another aspect of the Harawayian system is the great debates about any issue of day, these are conducted both in public and over networks, with almost anyone allowed to speak, but with well known figures being the primary speakers. These well known figures, many of whom are professional orators and members of political parties or at least tendencies tend to be the locus points of public discourse, and can often pull large amounts of the population with them on an issue. Few Harawayians will vote without hearing a debate first.

While this has certainly contributed to a lively political culture on Haraway, it can be asked whether it has produced effective legislation. I would contend that it does not. While the tendency towards snap regulations and new laws is ironically somewhat mitigated by the tendency of orators to become like politicians, they are still far more prevalent than in a representative democracy. This has been known to lead to new legislation being voted in then voted out again fairly rapidly after it becomes unpopular or public opinion rallies against it. It also stops Haraway from passing unpopular but necessary regulation.

Haraway does have a prime minister, who acts as head of state and conducts foreign policy negotiations and (together with a party of elected representatives of the people) oversees those matters of security and military operations too sensitive for public release. The Prime Minister is elected for five year terms, and has the power to negotiate foreign treaties on her own within a framework set down by the constitution and the brief voted for her by the general public. This again means that the executive’s hands are potentially tied by the public, and leads to a strand of populism that runs through both Harawayian domestic and foreign policy.

Finally, Haraway has an active civil service who implements and sometimes proposes laws. Department heads are chosen by the prime minister and voted on by the general public, though this is generally a formality.

Moving beyond system into the realm of ideology, Haraway’s politics have changed little since before the war, with even the new development party seeking more of a realignment of policy than any kind of real compromise with the Core. Haraway remains a fundamentally isolationist entity, completely unwilling to compromise with the Core, and to some extent ZOCU.

This structure means that, even if an executive or elite level movement was to form on Haraway wishing a more amicable solution to problems with the Core, it would be all but impossible for them to get it past the electorate.

Why is the Harawayian public so xenophobic? For the answer we must take a brief look at the history of the colony.

History

From its very start, Haraway, even more than New Mercia was designed as an exclusive and exclusionary colony. Settled by the most radical members of the fifth wave feminist movement, Harawayians rather foolishly expected to be left alone to have their own world for an indefinite, but very long time period. There is a certain dissatisfaction in the psyche of most Harawayians, a sense of victimhood at having what they hoped was a chance to develop their own society snatched away from them by recontact with the rest of the humanity who they’d sought to abandon.

This can bee seen even today in Haraway’s anti-immigrant policies, and historically in their extreme xenophobia towards EU corporations operating on their world. Despite what some histories may have us believe, the first incidents in the late 2140s were almost entirely Harawayian in origin and provocation, with the corporate security forces involved mostly reactively.

The war that followed only intensified Haraway’s exceptionalism, victim complex and xenophobia, as heavy handed corporate tactics caused considerable damage to Harawayian infrastructure. It also began the warrior myth which even today permeates Harawayian society, the myth that despite their tiny size they can take on the giants of the Core and win.

Even the breakdown is seen on Haraway as largely a saviour event, perhaps even created for their benefit, saving them at a stroke from the EU hammer which was about to fall on them. To Harawayians then it seemed that they had defeated a super power alone and been returned to their former magnificent solitude. It is perhaps a testament to the shock of the knowledge that any space travel was still possible that allowed Londenium to get Haraway into ZOCU at all, but this laid the foundations for the second part of the Harawayian natural myth, the rapid development of a high tech economy as strong as any in the Expanse.

While the Harawayian economic growth during the breakdown is a remarkable achievement, it was no more remarkable than the increase in output in any pastoral society converting to an industrial one, and certainly no greater than any other ZOCU world.

The second space war, when Harawayian ground forces were able to successfully dispatch an EU expeditionary force (while EU attention was split between fighting a campaign on both Haraway and New Mercia) further cemented this myth of national invincibility of arms, and inexorable pushed Haraway into its current uncompromising xenophobia.

Defeat in space seems not to have really humbled the Harawayian character either, but it did have another effect, creating the second crack in Haraway’s utopian facade: the problem of rebuilding its economy.

Economy

Despite a fairly impressive amount of production in terms of raw materials, advanced pharmaceuticals (mostly derived from the environment) and even high technological goods for a colony world, Haraway is dwarfed by the economies of the inner EU, and is even exceeded by some outer colonies like Outermonde and New Silecia. Further, while most EU economies have paid of their war debt, Haraway's economy is still under a massive deficit of both war debt and new loans taken out to pay for the rebuilding of infrastructure ruined by the war, especially the bombardment of Haraway's industrial space platforms after the defeat of ZOCU's space fleets near Haraway.

While the government is taking steps to pay off this massive internal debt, it will remain a hobble to continued economic progress for years to come, and is not helped by the considerable level of benefits demanded by Haraway's population and ideology. This deficit is repeated to a greater or lesser degree across all ZOCU worlds, and furthers the grave economic shortfall they suffer when set against the far more populous and developed core, which will only grow wider as time goes on.

Thus we come to the final nail in the coffin of Haraway's long term survival: the outside situation.

Outside Context

It's possible that without an external context Haraway might survive indefinitely, despite the stresses put on it by its caste system and other contradictions. Unfortunately, the external situation and Haraway's richest in terms of biodiversity and the like means there's little prospect of them being left alone.

Each of the three major political groupings on Haraway has a different foreign policy proscription for this problem, but as I will show, each is ultimately unrealistic. The Progressives favour continued engagement with ZOCU and a strong military line, perhaps combined with pre-emptive strikes against core interests such as Albion, and general moves to defeat attempts by the core powers to extend their reach into the rim or the Expanse. The Restorationists on the other hand want a policy of nationalistic isolation, with less commitment to ZOCU, merely enough to keep Haraway defended, and a strong ground and wet naval force, together with large scale orbital defences to keep the skies clear. Finally, the so called Peace faction seek to pull centres of economic and cultural power away from the Core, and to prevent any armed conflict which Haraway might lose.

All of these are completely unrealistic given the massive weight of power on the side of the EU, and their allies in PACT, who have vastly more industry and population than ZOCU, and do not really deal with the inevitability of further Core Expansion due to both population pressure, and the requirements for powers like India, Iran and Indonesia to gain their own colonies. In the long term, Haraway in particular and ZOCU as an alliance simply does not have the population to stand off the far more numerous people of the Core.

Even if Haraway somehow could accommodate its self to this fact, it's past behaviour may well of doomed its chances of diplomatic success, with many of the EU's long lived citizenry remembering the bitter fighting and many atrocities of the War on Haraway. Since none of the three parties, indeed, no major element of ZOCU has been able to reconcile themselves to the hopelessness of their continued struggle for independence, this course is extremely unlikely. It is far more probably that ZOCU will continue to pursue a path which can lead to conflict, and simply be overwhelmed by the demographic pressure and military might of the great powers of Earth.

Conclusion

Haraway is in some way a microcosm of radical ZOCU, perhaps even ZOCU in total. Despite their great skill in using posthuman technology, they are ultimately doomed to fade away as the far greater population of the core overwhelms them. Given the unwillingness of the Harawayians to pursue a path which might share their world with others, or in anyway accommodate their society to wider social conditions, it is very likely that there will be little left of Haraway once the clash between the Core and ZOCU finally reaches its inevitable conclusion.

We should not mourn too much though, for while Haraway represents perhaps one of the last great social experiments of human history, I believe it has been a failure, creating a sexist, almost magnate like society which is against everything its founders attempted to build when they left earth, and an example of the dangers of such radicalism.

At least in the future it may stand as a lesson.