Democratic Alliance for Reform
The Story of Jayamma Gobeni: Part 1
The Minister of Transportation & Urban Development, Jayamma Gobeni, was an old man with a long history in Samgola. He was from the country's east, born in the slums of Ayoullo, where he'd grown up as the youngest of three sons of a single mother. A bright young boy, Jayamma had worked as a child laborer to put himself through school, learning French and the classical sciences in a preliminary school run by the colonial government established by the France, who were Samgola's imperial overlords in those days. Jayamma was a diligent, quiet student, assertive but friendly, who stuck up for his classmates and endeared himself to his teachers. He had remained largely ignorant to affairs of state and governance until after he had completed his education, when political consciousness was thrust unto him by a climactic event affecting his family.
His eldest brother, Alexandre, had been disgusted with his family's destitution and had become an active participant in revolutionary, anti-imperialist socialism in the country, seeking to overthrow the French to restore liberty and equality to all Samgola. Shortly after Jayamma had graduated, Alexandre was imprisoned, and months later his mother was informed that her son had died in prison. His brother's death in custody hardened Jayamma's resolve, and he soon took his brother's place in the revolutionary socialist organization, the Revolutionary People's Front of Samgola. Jayamma served as an agitator for the RPFS, recruiting his friends and neighbours in Ayoullo to bolster the organization's membership in Nambé province. As the years passed he formed alliances with moderate socialists and trade unionists and collaborated with them in making incremental changes to advance Samgola's autonomy and implement some minor reforms, though he never abandoned his membership in the RPFS or his dreams of revolution. Nonetheless, he became a popular figure in leftist political circles of all stripes in Ayoullo, advancing his credentials and those of his organization.
When the French grip on authority in Kamidye began to loosen, the RPFS went from merely advocating violent revolution to actively participating in it, becoming a part of the socialist element of the Samgolan Indepedence War. Jayamma played only a minor role in the events, eloping shortly after the war began with Asha (née Kazadi), an upper-class woman from a minority tribe in Samgola given favored status by the French administration. The two lived a quiet life together in relative peace in a small, countryside village in revolutionary controlled south-eastern Nambé. Mrs. Gobeni gave birth to a daughter during the war, who Jayamma chose to name 'Mmeri'—the word 'victory', in Asha's native language. Asha would unfortunately pass away shortly after independence, dying in childbirth delivering Jayamma's second and final child, named after her mother. Jayamma relocated to Kamidye with his two young daughters, hoping to find work in the newly sovereign and representative Samgolan government so as to provide for his family. Unfortunately, the hard-line stances of the RPFS were incompatible with the ideology of the newly emerged government, and Mr. Gobeni found himself politically discredited, out of work, and with two young daughters to feed. Without many options, he turned to crime.
Kamidye was a busy city after independence was achieved. The French colonial officials had been forced to leave the country, presenting the upper classes of Samgola with many colonial villas and other fanciful residences of former state officials to inhabit. Within years, if not months, nearly the whole of Samgola's wealthy lived in this one city. Naturally, this made it an easy place to make a living ripping them off. Jayamma had some experience evading authorities in his pre-war days, running from French gendarmerie that had sought to put down sovereigntist and communist agents and sympathizers. These same talents came in use in a life of crime, giving Jayamma the connections and experience needed to make a prosperous and reasonably risk-balanced living stealing from the rich. He was ethical in this theft—in his own mind—only thieving from those living a life unimaginably more prosperous than his own, and all to support himself and his children. As they grew older, though, Jayamma became concerned that his ways were impart poorly on his children, and their moral compass would be distorted from the actions of their father. On the day his daughters enrolled in school together, Jayamma made a vow that he would never steal again, and instead used his remaining connections with the political left to enter himself into Kamidye's organized labour system.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2
2x Like
:origin()/pre09/5f26/th/pre/f/2015/199/8/6/totalitarian_peacefulism_by_americansfr-d91tury.jpg)
