political thriller

“Gaia’s Revolution”, Life After Capitalism: The Promise & Spectre of Deep Ecology—Part 2

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A fanatical deep-ecologist, Monica Schlange, harnesses two orphans in her bid to reshape humanity and its place in the natural world.

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My novel Gaia’s Revolution, Book 1 of The Icaria Trilogy—which released March 10, 2026, by Dragon Moon Press—explores a collapsing capitalist society in Canada through ravages of climate change, water shortages, plague, and a failing technology.

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The story begins in Berlin in 2022, with maverick scholar Damien Vogel, a deep ecologist and environmentalist who joined the climate activist group Letzte Generation* to do acts of civil disobedience to bring public awareness to climate offenders. The novel progresses from acts of civil disobedience to genuine eco-terrorism as Damien follows his revolutionary anarchist twin brother Eric to Canada and forms the Gaians, a radical eco-activist group, recruiting fanatic Monica Schlange—herself a sly eco-terrorist. Monica is an unscrupulous deep ecologist, proficient in using sabotage and internet tampering to disrupt and hurt climate offenders. The twin brothers end up on opposite sides of a violent revolution as Monica—guided by her own agenda as an extremist planetary guardian—plays them both.

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The Icaria Trilogy by Dragon Moon Press

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By 2095 (Book 2 Angel of Chaos and Book 3 Darwin’s Paradox), humanity has fled inside environmental dome cities called Icarias*, chased inside by an unruly environment. Icarians struggle with Darwin’s Disease—a mysterious neurological environmental pandemic. Icaria 5 is one of many enclosed cities within the slowly recovering toxic wasteland of North America, and where the protagonist Julie Crane (daughter of one of the orphans in Gaia’s Revolution) lives and works. Icarias are run by The Circle, a governing body of deep ecologists who call themselves Gaians. The Gaians’ secret is that they are keeping humanity “inside” not to protect humanity from a toxic wasteland but to protect the environment from a toxic humanity.

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Ecology vs. Deep Ecology vs. Eco-Terrorism

Snow falls on a Scots Pine forest, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)

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Ecology: Ecology is the science of relationships. Ecologists study ecosystems (aquatic and terrestrial), how they form, their structure and function, and how they relate to one another within the biosphere. Ecologists look at the relationship of all biota and non-biota, at individuals and communities, how all evolve (succession), at community richness, perturbations and recoveries, and natural enrichment. Ecologists model the flow of energy and cycling of matter over time and space.  

Deep Ecology: Deep ecologists are usually ecologists themselves, who have adopted 

An environmental philosophy and social movement advocating that all living beings have intrinsic value, independent of their utility to human needs. The philosophy promotes a holistic, ecocentric worldview—often termed “ecosophy”—that demands radical, structural changes to human society to prioritize nature’s flourishing. See the Eight Basic Principles of Deep Ecology.

Eco-Terrorism: Both ecologists and deep ecologists may grow cynical, seeing humanity as an existential threat, a virus that impacts the rest of life on Earth and exacerbates hyperobjects like climate change, loss of biodiversity and habitat destruction. This may lead to activism which some with a fanatical and destructive warrior spirit may move toward eco-terrorism such as criminal actions to halt development, and various acts of violence (e.g. arson, destruction of research facilities, threats against individuals).

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Ecologists, Deep Ecologists & Eco-Terrorists in The Icaria Trilogy

In Gaia’s Revolution deep ecologist / scholar Damien Vogel and his nihilist revolutionary twin brother Eric Vogel trigger a violent revolution and eventual migration of humanity into the enclosed worlds of Icaria. While Damien follows deep ecology as an intellectual and scholar, believing in the eight basic principles of deep ecology, Eric uses the principles to enact merciless ‘solutions’ through brutal acts of eco-terrorism. Deep ecologist / eco-terrorist Monica Schlange insinuates herself into both brother’s plans to orchestrate her own unique vision of the world. Monica differs from Eric in her sense of humanity; a consummate and ruthless eco-terrorist and subversive, she is bent on entirely destroying the capitalist-technocratic machinery of which Eric is a part—to save the planet at the expense of human domination.

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Damien and Christian Isabo meet to discuss recruiting her into their radical group:

Christian says, leaning forward, “She’s a bit of a wild card and possibly a genuine eco-terrorist. For instance, I discovered that she was behind the viral social media fiasco that embarrassed Prime Minister Robinson last year and almost cost him his seat. You know the one—those pictures of him fooling around with the German Chancellor, Magda Zimmermann, who’s married with two kids… Damien. I think that she’s extremely resourceful, stealthy, good at subterfuge and covers her tracks impeccably. Of course, there are definitely anger issues there. But, I also think we can count on her because her motives to help the environment lie on a deep visceral level, tied to her childhood experience and love of Nature.”

Damien studies her image on his phone with a thoughtful frown. He looks up at Christian. “What do we know about her?”

“Well, to begin with, she’s an only child and grew up on one of the last independent dairy farms in Ontario, near Guelph. Her father was strict and encouraged a strong work ethic and love for the natural world. He doted on her but died of a heart attack when she was only thirteen, the year their farm was seized by the Technocrats and converted into a Corporation Farm using scientific agriculture. In fact, their seizure may have precipitated the father’s heart attack. Her mother was assigned as a scullery maid in the farm kitchen; she took to drink then ran off with some truck driver travelling across Canada from Surrey, BC. He didn’t treat the girl well and she ran away before they reached Halifax. She ended up living with her aunt—her father’s sister—in the Beaches. The aunt worked as a librarian at York University and was a fervent member of Extinction Rebellion before it dissolved. She was a real bohemian, a deep ecologist herself, and encouraged the girl.”

While Monica shows the same level of dedication, she betrays a lack of integrity in her less than altruistic motivations and means, thinks Damien. The fact that she’s with Eric [his twin brother and nemesis] proves this. But even that—especially that—can work in their favour. It would seem that, without knowing it, she is already working as an undercover spy for their revolution. He can work with that, Damien thinks. Yes, he can certainly do that. And more. It’s my turn now, brother…

“OK. Set up a meeting,” Damien says. “Let’s get her into the fold.”

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Mist over swelling spring stream, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)

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Leonard Crane—one of the three orphans impacted by the revolution and both rescued and tormented by Monica Schlange—studies ecology under new Gaian rule and is eventually inducted into the prestigious Department of Industrial Ecology (DIE) where he works on subversive ecological theories about Icaria’s inevitable demise and is eventually ostracised from the scientific community for his unpopular work. His legacy echoes throughout Books 2 and 3 of the trilogy.

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Books 2 and 3 follow Julie Crane (Leonard’s daughter), a self-taught ecologist. In Angel of Chaos and Darwin’s Paradox, her skills as an amateur ecologist (in a world where ecology is not taught) are tested by the ruthless deep ecologist Gaia, head of The Circle. Gaia denigrates Julie’s ecological pursuits as shallow and ineffectual. When a subordinate of hers asks her if Julie would make a good candidate for The Circle (the governing body of Icaria), Gaia scoffs:

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“You mistake a good scientific ecologist with someone who possesses a genuine empathy for deep ecology,” she said. Her eyes sparkled like sapphires. “No one enters our elite cadre without having impeccable qualifications and submitting to many more initiations than she is capable of passing. She may be an ecologist but she is not a deep ecologist. The science of ecology does not ask what kind of society would be the best suited to maintain a particular ecosystem. Our greater concern is with questions aimed at the level of organic wholeness and ‘Earth wisdom’. She knows nothing of these things.”—Gaia, Angel of Chaos

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Fog enshrouded marsh in early winter, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)

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You can order “Gaia’s Revolution” on Amazon. Release date for both ebook and print book was March 10, 2026. Book 2 (Angel of Chaos) and Book 3 (Darwin’s Paradox) of theIcaria Trilogy are already available in both ebook and print form.

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References:

Munteanu, Nina. 2026. “Gaia’s Revolution, Part 1 of Icaria Trilogy.” Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, AB. 369 pp.

Munteanu, Nina. 2010. “Angel of Chaos, Part 2 of Icaria Trilogy.” Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, AB. 518 pp.

Munteanu, Nina. 2007. “Darwin’s Paradox, Part 3 of Icaria Trilogy.” Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, AB. 294 pp.

Sessions, George, Bill Devall. 2000. “Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered.” Gibbs Smith. 267pp.

Skinner, B.F. 1948. “Walden Two” The Macmillan Company, New York. 301pp.

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Terminology:

*Deep Ecology: An environmental philosophy and social movement advocating that all living beings have intrinsic value, independent of their utility to human needs. Coined by Arne Næss in 1972, it promotes a holistic, ecocentric worldview—often termed “ecosophy”—that demands radical, structural changes to human society to prioritize nature’s flourishing.

*Icaria: the name of Étienne Cabet’s utopia. Cabet was a French lawyer in Dijon, who published his novel Voyage en Icarie in 1839. The novel was a sort of manifesto-blueprint of utopian socialism, with elements of communism (abolished private property and individual enterprise), influenced by Fourierist and Owenite thinking. Key elements, such as the four-hour work day, are reflected in B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two. Cabet’s novel explores a society in which capitalist production is replaced by workers’ cooperatives with a focus on small communities.

*Letzte Generation: a prominent European climate activist group, founded in 2021, known for its acts of civil disobedience—such as roadblocks, defacing art, and vandalizing structures—to pressure governments on climate action. The term was chosen because they considered themselves to be the last generation before tipping points in the earth’s climate system would be reached. They are mostly active in Germany, Italy, Poland and Canada. In Germany, they have faced accusations of forming a criminal organization, leading to police raids.

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Nina Munteanu is an award-winning novelist and short story writer of eco-fiction, science fiction and fantasy. She also has three writing guides out: The Fiction Writer; The Journal Writer; and The Ecology of Writing and teaches fiction writing and technical writing at university and online. Check the Publications page on this site for a summary of what she has out there. Nina teaches writing at the University of Toronto and has been coaching fiction and non-fiction authors for over 20 years. You can find Nina’s short podcasts on writing on YouTube. Check out this site for more author advice from how to write a synopsis to finding your muse and the art and science of writing.

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“Gaia’s Revolution”, Life After Capitalism: Will the Environment—And We Along With It—Survive?…

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“Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism.”—Rosa Luxemburg, 1915

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I wrote my first novel in 1969 when I was fifteen. Caged in World was a hundred-page speculative story about a world that had moved “inside” to escape the ravages of a post climate-change environment. It would later become Book 2 of The Icaria Trilogy. I was already disillusioned with my world. I saw how corporations and governments and society in general—individuals around me—‘othered’ the environment by either treating it with disrespect and apathy or outright ignoring it in a kind of torpor of obliviousness. As though it didn’t exist.

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I remember being chastised by a school teacher for thinking globally about what was happening to the planet at our hands: worldwide deforestation (e.g., clearcutting the old-growth forests of Canada), infilling saltwater and freshwater marshes, massive use of pesticides and fertilizers, contamination of lakes, unregulated mining and toxic pollution, and ultimately climate change. Stick to local concerns, he advised me; recycling and such.

I remember wondering if I was just being weird. That my odd sensibility for the planet-entire was just a nina-thing. I prayed that I was not alone and it wasn’t just a nina-thing.

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(Photo: Nina Munteanu, Salk Institute, California)

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For a description of how the books of the trilogy came to be (for instance, they were published in backward order!) see my article entitled “Nina Munteanu Reflects on Her Eco-Fiction Journey at Orchard Park Secondary School”.

Throughout high school and university, I read scientific papers, news articles and books on revolution. I became a student of climate change long before the term entered the zeitgeist. I studied industrial capitalism and its roots in neoliberalism and colonialism. I noted how the post-war expansion of capitalism shifted from Fordist mass production to flexible automation, technology and AI. I saw the rise of multinational corporations, income inequality, and the commodification of everything—from water to human beings (Foucault’s homo economicus).

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I pursued a university degree in ecology and limnology to study and help protect the environment and educate industry and their governments in the process. I became an expert on water. See my book Water Is…The Meaning of Water, which celebrates water from twelve perspectives (and got a shout out from Margaret Atwood!).

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I soon concluded that a hegemony that follows the economic system of late capitalism inevitably commodifies and ‘others’ with ruthless purpose. Once something (or someone) is commodified, they are given a finite value and purpose outside their own existence. They become an object, a symbol to use and trade. They become a resource to manipulate, exchange, and dispose of with impunity. And through this surrender to utility, they become ‘othered.’ The consumer. The trees of the forest. Water. Homo sacer*. Each has a role to play in the late capitalist narrative of digital abundance and physical scarcity.

Capitalism hasn’t been kind to the environment. Economic pundits and sociologists insist that Capitalism is devolving. But what will replace it? Cloud capital? Technofeudalism? Something else?

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Deep Ecology* & Gaia’s Revolution

The Icaria Trilogy (Dragon Moon Press)

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My three Icaria novels—starting with Gaia’s Revolution, (the first of The Icaria Trilogy, releasing March 10, 2026, by Dragon Moon Press)—chronicle the collapse of a capitalist society in Canada as climate change, water shortages, habitat destruction, plague and a failing technology devastate the Canadian population.

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Gaia’s Revolution (Book 1 of The Icaria Trilogy) explores a transition in Canada from semi-socialized capitalist system to a technocratic* meritocracy of technologists and scientists. Triggered by catastrophic environmental and sociological tipping points and following violent revolution, a dictatorship of deep ecologists* called Gaians seize power. By the end of the book, enclosed cities called Icarias* now populate North America. Separated from their environment, humans now live inside domes protecting them from a hostile and toxic environment.

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In truth, the deep ecologists are keeping people “inside” not to protect humanity from a toxic wasteland but to protect the environment from a toxic humanity.

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How realistic is this vision? Well, it is science fiction, after all, and though it takes liberties with its narrative, it is science-based and ultimately draws on precedent. As Margaret Atwood so astutely attested of her cautionary SF book The Handmaid’s Tale: “I didn’t put in anything that we haven’t already done, we’re not already doing, we’re seriously trying to do, coupled with trends that are already in progress.”

Science fiction is itself powerful metaphor; it is the fiction of political and social allegory or satire and makes astute social commentary about a world and civilization: how it has come to be, how it works—or doesn’t—and how it may evolve.

So, it is visionary and predictive? I prefer to think as Ray Bradbury:

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“The function of science fiction is not only to predict the future, but to prevent it.”–Ray Bradbury

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Jackson Creek in winter, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)

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References:

Angus, Ian. 1012. “The Spectre of 21st Century Barbarism.” Climate & Capitalism, August 20, 2012.

Atwood, Margaret. 2004. “The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake ‘In Context'”. PMLA. 119 (3): 513–517.

Atwood, Margaret. 2018. “Margaret Atwood on How She Came to Write The Handmaid’s Tale”. Literary Hub. April 25, 2018.

Bradbury, Ray. 1991. “Yestermorrow: Obvious Answers to Impossible Futures” and “Beyond 1984: The People Machines” by Ray Bradbury, dated 1982, Page 155, Joshua Odell Editions: Capra Press, Santa Barbara, California.

Foucault, Michel. 2010. “The Birth of Biopolitics (Naissance de la biopolitique): Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979.” Picador. 368pp.

Luxemburg, Rosa. 1915. “The Junius Pamphlet: The Crisis in the German Democracy”, Marxist.org.

Munteanu, Nina. 2026. “Gaia’s Revolution, Part 1 of Icaria Trilogy.” Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, AB. 369 pp.

Munteanu, Nina. 2010. “Angel of Chaos, Part 2 of Icaria Trilogy.” Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, AB. 518 pp.

Munteanu, Nina. 2007. “Darwin’s Paradox, Part 3 of Icaria Trilogy.” Dragon Moon Press, Calgary, AB. 294 pp.

Neuman, Sally. 2006. “‘Just a Backlash’: Margaret Atwood, Feminism, and The Handmaid’s Tale“. University of Toronto Quarterly. 75 (3): 857–868.

Sessions, George, Bill Devall. 2000. “Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered.” Gibbs Smith. 267pp.

Skinner, B.F. 1948. “Walden Two” The Macmillan Company, New York. 301pp.

Streeck, Wolfgang. 2014. “How Will Capitalism End?” New Left Review 2 (87): 47p.

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Terminology:

*Deep Ecology: An environmental philosophy and social movement advocating that all living beings have intrinsic value, independent of their utility to human needs. Coined by Arne Næss in 1972, it promotes a holistic, ecocentric worldview—often termed “ecosophy”—that demands radical, structural changes to human society to prioritize nature’s flourishing.

*Homo sacer: a figure from Roman law denoting a person excluded from society who is outside human law (can be killed) and divine law (cannot be sacrificed). The term represents “bare life”: stripped of political rights, legal protection, and social value. Philosopher Giorgo Agamben popularized the term to describe individuals excluded from the political community, such as refugees, stateless persons, or camp detainees. The term illustrates the power of a sovereign in deciding which lives are worthy of protection and which are not.

*Icaria: the name of Étienne Cabet’s utopia. Cabet was a French lawyer in Dijon, who published his novel Voyage en Icarie in 1839. The novel was a sort of manifesto-blueprint of utopian socialism, with elements of communism (abolished private property and individual enterprise), influenced by Fourierist and Owenite thinking. Key elements, such as the four-hour work day, are reflected in B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two. Cabet’s novel explores a society in which capitalist production is replaced by workers’ cooperatives with a focus on small communities.

*Letzte Generation: a prominent European climate activist group, founded in 2021, known for its acts of civil disobedience—such as roadblocks, defacing art, and vandalizing structures—to pressure governments on climate action. The term was chosen because they considered themselves to be the last generation before tipping points in the earth’s climate system would be reached. They are mostly active in Germany, Italy, Poland and Canada. In Germany, they have faced accusations of forming a criminal organization, leading to police raids.

*Technocracy: A form of government in which the decision-maker(s) are selected based on their expertise in a given area; any portion of a bureaucracy run by technologists. Technocracies control society or industry through an elite of technical experts. The term was initially used to signify the application of the scientific method to solving social problems.

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Nina Munteanu is an award-winning novelist and short story writer of eco-fiction, science fiction and fantasy. She also has three writing guides out: The Fiction Writer; The Journal Writer; and The Ecology of Writing and teaches fiction writing and technical writing at university and online. Check the Publications page on this site for a summary of what she has out there. Nina teaches writing at the University of Toronto and has been coaching fiction and non-fiction authors for over 20 years. You can find Nina’s short podcasts on writing on YouTube. Check out this site for more author advice from how to write a synopsis to finding your muse and the art and science of writing.

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Significant Science Fiction TV Series—Part 1, Shows that Touch on Justice and Science & Technology: #3 — OCCUPIED

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I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.

Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected here come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.

In Part 1, I look at five TV series that touch on ethical issues we are facing today; issues that reach far into existential questions of what it means to be human. These TV series explore synthetic biology, cloning and gene editing, and justice in space colonization and exploitation.

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Prime Ministerial bodyguard Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar) chases a would-be assassin

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OCCUPIED: A Real and Present Threat

In 2016, Occupied (Okkupert), Norway’s most expensive television production to date captivated viewers across Europe. A political thriller about a Green prime minister, committed to renewable energy, overthrown by close neighbour Russia to control his country’s abundant natural gas and oil reserves gripped many viewers, left on the edge of their seats when episode 10 failed to resolve the deadlock. In a review entitled “Bear Lurking in the Fjords” Mark Melton of Providence noted that the first episode of Occupied broke the channel’s rating records as more than 50% of viewers aged 20 to 49 watched, and the show went on to Netflix with English subtitles.

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The Norwegian Prime Minister Jesper Berg (Henrik Mestad) faces hard decisions in Occupied

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Melton shares the intriguing premise. “Sometime in the near future, civil wars prevent Middle Eastern countries from exporting enough oil to meet global demand. Energy independent due to shale gas, an isolationist United States no longer sees a need to have a global presence and pulls out of NATO [shades of the present!] Meanwhile, global warming has become so rampant that a hurricane hits Norway and kills over 600 people. In response, Norwegians elect environmentalists who halt all oil production to help stop climate change. Without Norway’s oil, the European Union falls into a crippling recession. Because the Norwegian Prime Minister refuses to budge, the EU asks Russia to occupy Norway and restart oil production.”

What follows is a captivating three season political action-thriller that explores potential real-life questions for leaders throughout the world. When the first season of Occupied aired, the Russians were a fictional threat. Now, it seems, reality has caught up to fiction.

Melton writes that when Jo Nesbø, a well known Norwegian crime novelist, first pitched the story, people told him the idea was far-fetched. Then the real-world Russian invasion happened on the day the show started shooting, adding tremendous relevance to the fiction envisaged. Given the post-Crimea tensions (and what is now happening in the Ukraine), it is not surprising that the Russian government is not pleased with Occupied adds Melton. Before the show aired, the Russian ambassador in Oslo complained that the show would frighten “the Norwegian audience with a non-existing threat from the east.”

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The three season series moves at a swift pace with Season One quickly instating the Russian occupation as the Norwegian PM Jesper Berg (Henrik Mestad) sells Norway’s future to prevent bloodshed from its Russian aggressors. Resistance flares up and intrigue rises from all quarters including the Russian occupiers with some Norwegians profiting from the occupation and others arming themselves and doing sabotage.

Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar) stops an assassination

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I found Prime Ministerial bodyguard Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar), who at one point saves the life of Russian Ambassador Irina Sidorova (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), one of the show’s most intriguing characters. Eventually becoming head of state security, Hans Marin plays a difficult balancing act between Norwegian and Russian interests in the conflict between principle and realpolitik. Ultimately, this unsustainable position impacts him on several levels, including his personal life, as forces literally pull him apart.

Melton notes that Hans Martin first appears as an archetypal hero who uses his position in security and intelligence to help save democracy. And viewers, says Melton, have many opportunities to cheer for him. However, given his unique position and relationship with the Russian occupiers, his actions at times become morally ambiguous and this catches up with him in season three, which is a heartbreaker. I wasn’t happy with how it ended for Hans Martin, who, in my opinion was not just a main protagonist, but also the show’s chief casualty and archetype for integrity and even innocence. It was hard to watch as the relentless political machinations seized him in a vicious spider web of nefarious intrigue even as he tried so hard to play fair throughout. Given the show’s trajectory, the shocking end of season three seemed inevitable and necessary; for in his final and tragic act, Hans Martin re-affirmed his integrity and archetype as hero for democracy and freedom.

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In a ruthless war for resources and sovereignty, Hans Martin—like heroic integrity—becomes the main casualty.

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Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar) follows a lead

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Given the current situation today, Occupied appears frighteningly prescient and possible. “Democracy is a key value that becomes a rallying cry for the resistance,” writes Melton. “Without a strong NATO these characters struggle to preserve their freedoms and democracy. Norway spends more on its military today than it did at the end of the Cold War (adjusted for inflation), but other NATO countries provide equipment and personnel necessary for Norway’s defense. It is easy to understand why Norwegians may fear a world without the alliance. Occupied has reminded European audiences what Russia has already done,” and what it may yet do…

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The Norwegian PM and his aide discuss next moves

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The intriguing machinations of geopolitics aside, Occupied is foremost an environmental thriller about the specter of climate change. In 2020, Taylor Antrim of Vogue writes: “Occupied is the most relevant thing on TV right now, a hyper-entertaining drama that treats the climate emergency with the seriousness it deserves.” In his review entitled, “Occupied is the Climate-Crisis Thriller You Should Be Watching,” Antrim tells us that “Norway is one of those hyper-progressive, enlightened countries that should be free of the world’s social ills—but what unfolds on Occupied is a cheat sheet of all the disquieting trends of our time. First, the country becomes gripped by nativism, with ‘Free Norway’ activists turning on ordinary Russians living within their borders. Then there are escalating acts of domestic terrorism and violence. And by season three, in which climate warriors turn to guerrilla cyber tactics and Free Norway activists commit grotesque acid attacks on accused Russian collaborators, Berg has been transformed from an idealist into a power-mad operator. The brilliance of the show is you never know whom to root for. The stalwart and handsome head of the security services? The crusading Marxist journalist? The steely Russian diplomat who understands realpolitik better than anyone?”

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Russisn diplomat Irina Sidorova and head of Norwegian Security Hans Martin talk deals

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In the end, Antrim exhorts: “Occupied may be entertainment, but the extreme measures its young eco-activists are fighting for (an entirely renewables-based energy system) no longer seem extreme. This is a show that understands that we are marching toward a tipping point, and by the climactic end of the season a desperate, riven country is demanding that the world change its path at any cost.”

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Ten Significant Science Fiction TV Series:

Biohackers (Germany)
Orphan Black (Canada)
Occupied (Norway)
Missions (France)
Expanse (USA)
Incorporated (USA)
3% (Brazil)
Snowpiercer (USA)
Silo (USA)
Extrapolations (USA)

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Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.

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Book Review: A Discussion on Costi Gurgu’s Political Thriller Servitude

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In Costi Gurgu’s near-future political thriller Servitude (Kult Books, 2022), what is real and what is fiction blurs with terrible prescience and possibility. Gurgu has created a scenario based on a premise that stirs dangerously in the reality of today’s capitalist western world: what if corporations were allowed to take back with impunity what their debtors owed them—in whatever way they pleased?

In Gurgu’s near-future America, the fourth Republican president in a row will be elected with virtually 100% Republican representation in Congress and the Senate—ensuring a monopoly government and creating a potential dictatorship (something a certain Republican president was trying to achieve not too long ago—and came dangerously close).

The story begins in the UK, which has recently made corporate slavery law. Under the Freedom Act, corporations under the British Servitude Exchange (BSX) can lawfully capture and detain persons with significant debt to sell them and their services in exchange for what is owed.

Wishing to do the same, the American corpocracy pushes the Freedom Act bill through Congress, potentially making corporate slavery a lawful pursuit using the concept of servitude. The concept of unconditional restitution in a country of people living largely on credit becomes popular among wealthy corporations; (consider that over two thirds of Americans are currently in debt with an average of $96,000 owed by each American, which includes mortgage, student loans, auto and credit card, personal loans and home equity1).

Neoliberal idealogues and proponents of the Freedom Act suggest that citizens should learn to be responsible for their lifestyles and should not expect the government to bail them out of bankruptcy every time they overspend (ignoring the fact that the U.S. government’s current national debt is some 30 trillion dollars—to corporate investors, China, Japan, and intra-government agencies.2 However, given that corporate investors currently hold over a third of the national debt2, dominant corporate influence on government to create a slavery act as demonstrated in Servitude is not outlandish).

A fifth of the way into the book, a Texas governor proclaims: “Servitude is merely a form of adult education. If you have graduated from the American education system and proceeded to live your life as though there is no tomorrow and spent more money than you have earned, well beyond your fair share, then you must be re-educated with America’s modernized value system. Servitude is an educational tool for the people.”

Gurgu hints at key events that brought us to this point: from the shenanigans of Donald Trump to starving children in New York City and Chinese troops taking down the American flag at the Hawaii State Legislature. The European Union has been dismantled and the Eastern Block reborn. Climate change related resource wars were waged by the Second Ottoman Empire and others, leading to the collapse of the global market. All have led to the reintroduction of slavery and homo sacer, the disposable human. Foucault would attest that the biopolitical hegemony of Capitalism already enslaves human beings as disposable ‘human capital.’  

In my upcoming eco-thriller Thalweg, character Daniel considers his 2050s world in which humanity is largely commodified, a world similar to Gurgu’s Servitude world:

It’s the end of the world…The beginning of the end of the world really came with the steam engine back in 1784 and the enslavement of water, when James Watt’s ‘universal machine’ coerced water to help usher in the industrial age of carbon extraction and the disposable human, homo sacer. By 1920, 97% of electricity in Canada came from hydropower. We were sure eager beavers. Enslaved water germinated a culture obsessed with defining itself through a ‘precession of simulacra’—the truth which conceals that there is none. Social media. Facebook. Twitter. Echo-chambers of denatured reality, signs reflecting other signs, saturated with ‘likes’ and emojis, where meaning becomes infinitely mutable to the point of being meaningless.

What’s left is a ‘desert of the real,’ a Kafkaesque menagerie of interminable, unresponsive fragments of experience in a fiction that no longer knows it’s fiction. One in which Huxley’s Soma rules in a kind of warped Foucauldian governmentality, where corporations like CanadaCorp use facial recognition and Pegasis spyware to manage plebian behaviour through quiet authoritarianism. Like bioelectricity subverting the neural pathway, it infects our fragile brains with subliminal notions of freedom when we’ve already surrendered our sovereignty to the omnioptic gaze of capitalism …

Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism? Half a century ago, Mark Fisher took up that concept first introduced by Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek in his book Capitalist Realism3… Several things Fisher pointed out resonate, such as, “Capitalism is what is left when beliefs have collapsed at the level of ritual or symbolic elaboration, and all that is left is the consumer-spectator, trudging through the ruins and the relics.”3 This sad construct leaves us with a kind of ‘post-literate’ world in which the ruling ideology is cynicism or what Fisher calls ‘reflexive impotence.’4

Daniel Schindler in “Thalweg” by Nina Munteanu

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How realizable is Gurgu’s Servitude?…

Since 1989, neoliberal ideologues have fed us the narrative that capitalism is the only realistic political-economic system. We cheerfully engage in this confabulation to feed our rapacious desires; and like an insatiable amoeba, capitalist realism consumes and digests our dreams and desires then feeds it back to us at a price. At what cost? Fisher astutely tells us that in our current world, “ultra-authoritarianism and Capital are by no means incompatible: internment camps and franchise coffee bars co-exist.”3 Gilles Deleuze tells us that “Control societies are based on debt rather than enclosure.”5

In Gurgu’s story, Detective Blake Frye—himself burdened with heavy debt—becomes ensnared in an inter-agency investigation into the for-now-still illegal slave trade in America that has already created secret slave camps and is actively kidnapping ‘nobodies’ off the streets. Connected somehow to UK’s BSX and several billionaire tycoons, the slave trade has become highly lucrative. Earlier, Frye’s wife, Isa—who is an investigative journalist and TV producer—embarks on an exposé of the illegal slave trade. Just before her show “Debt Hunters” is about to air, the material is confiscated by the NSA who consider it a breach of national security; her entire crew is detained and the NSA investigate her on suspicion of treason. Later, when slavers kidnap Isa and put her on the market, Frye must navigate through corrupt government officials and rogue agency operatives to find her before she’s sold and disappears forever.

Near the end of the book, Gurgu’s not-so-hidden message resonates loudly through Detective Frye’s lamentations:

“Hard-hitting investigative journalism appealed to an increasingly smaller pool of customers. People were always working, always checking their phones and other electronic devices, and they wanted their news to be just as easy to digest. Well documented and researched reportages took too many minutes to watch, and didn’t often line up with their social or political viewpoints. Truth had become debatable. Everyone had their own, personalized version of the facts, easy to access on targeted media outlets. They no longer questioned the facts they consumed. Doubt took too much effort. Everyone was entitled to their own opinions, and considered them the definition of a political truth. That philosophy had been in effect since 2017, the year that practically everything that mattered in the world deteriorated.”

Detective Frye’s analysis is relevant to today’s sybaritic North American society. Gurgu’s fiction is not about the future; it is about today. And his message is clear: we have become lazy and apathetic, seduced by a craving for comfort and pleasure at the expense of integrity and freedom. Freedom is not given; it is earned. Only through active responsible vigilance will we keep it.

Path meanders through a black walnut forest in an early winter fog, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)

References:

  1. First Republic. 2022 “Average American Dept.” September 13, 2022. FirstRepublic.com
  2. Porter, TJ. 2022. “Who Owns the US National Debt?” September 3, 2022. Finmasters
  3. Fisher, Mark. 2009. “Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?” Zero Books. 92pp.
  4. Munteanu, Nina. “Thalweg.” Upcoming novel.
  5. Deleuze, Gilles. 1990. “Postscript on Societies of Control.” L’Autre journal, no. 1 (May)