Banned: Prologue - The Last Days

The Chairman of the Literary Committee looks at the promulgation letter he has read so many times before, looks at the people in the room with a resigned but stern look of concern, and breathes out an anxious sigh. He rose from the chair from where he was seated, approached the window behind him, and asked the people in the room without pertaining to anyone, "How many libraries have been besieged by the Taxonomists so far?"

"A lot," said the Secretary of the Literary Movement. "And a lot is more to come. The Scientific Council will force a vote on it this Tuesday. They are determined to dismantle and outlaw everything that pertains to the collective pursuit of our mission for a better humanity, including a brazen attack against the very foundations of our noble organization."

Outraged, the Chairman managed to shake his head in disbelief. "This is illegal," he said in a weak, trembling voice. "A blatant attempt to legalize a shameful form of deliberate and well-thought plan in carrying out an orchestrated coup d'etat. They have successfully pushed us in the farthest corner of desperation, and into the horrors of this compromised position."

"They are also accusing us of inciting the people to revolt," says the Vice Chairman of the Literary Committee. "All the precious and annotated books were ordered to be burned upfront, and with no possible exception or remedy. It is expected that they will try to whip the majority of the Scientific Council to vote us out of government through an Emergency Session early next morning. We have no other legally viable recourse of action at this point."

The Chairman has worriedly faced his own people in the room. "They will have everyone of us executed, and we are desperately outnumbered in arms and people at this precise moment. However, we have to find a way to save the works of literature. This revolutionary act of the Scientific Council is to be considered in history as an absolute treason. But no one will publicly say that on our behalf. They have been so successful in manipulating the voting population into believing all the blatant biases in the current propaganda that they were too quick to publicize, primarily composed of a flagrant way to force scientific brawn in every policy that they were intently proposing!"

Someone immediately entered the room frantically. Everybody's attention shifted to the newcomer standing at the door. "They are now burning the main library! Shame, absolute shame!"

There were tears in his eyes, and so are the others. Emotions are now very high.

The Chairman nods, receiving the news with a heavy heart, and still in complete disbelief.

"We have to abruptly plan our escape, for now. Our current weapons have been substantially weakened by their own works of physical cruelty, and our current assets are still no match against their enormous power. We will face our retreat with grace, but not on account of cowardice, but in view of our perseverance in rebuilding our human resolve to be able to fight later on. That's the best evidence of how literature is supposed to be characterized, and we will bravely embody all the consequences of the human condition (as promoted in literary criticism) that we are so desperately trying to defend. There is no other way to feel but rising through the tough times in the face of adversity. We cannot let them blind the people by taking away the important books that fully determine our common humanity."

Everybody in the room nods in unison. "We will return in defense," they said.

In their midst, an Agreement has been made.

Somewhere in the vast spaces of the City, books are being confiscated and libraries are being burned.

x------------x

Picture from Pixabay.