Green Fever
File:GreenFeverrally.png | |
Date | NMR 2305 - NMR 2315 |
---|---|
Location | Throughout Namor |
Also known as | Green Fever |
Cause | Power struggle within the Liberationist Party, particularly between Antelope Yunglang and Mikhail Sxo |
Outcome |
|
Deaths | Uncertain; estimates range from 75,000 to 500,000 people |
The Movement to Implement Comprehensive Liberationism Throughout Namorese Society (Наморасохои Сесинг Кантеджикфанджуйи Йандонг), more commonly known as the Green Fever (Лусе Канфен) or "the Fever" (Канфен) was a political movement launched by Namorese Liberationist Paramount Leader Antelope Yunglang with the help of President-General Kiang Ssxu and sympathizing elements within the Liberationist Party of Namor. The movement began in NMR 2305 not so long after Kiang took office and remained for a decade before it was officially called off by Gelai Antelope in NMR 2315.
Many factors were behind the rise of the movement, but since the end of the First Party System there has been a consensus among historians that it had been primarily motivated by the power struggle between Antelope Yunglang and Mikhail Sxo, who had served as President-General before being ousted by Kiang. Sxo's actions in office, especially those pertaining to foreign policy, were viewed by Antelope as deviating from Liberationism and threatening to undo years of progress made by the government to complete the revolution. Sometime before NMR 2305, Antelope decided to take matters into his own hands, allied with Sxo's opponents and planned a movement aimed at unraveling Sxo's policies and implementing "Comprehensive Liberationism."
The movement concentrated on three areas - the suppression of reactionary elements, construction of "Green Culture" as opposed to traditional culture, and mass militarization as a means of coping with perceived external threats. Youth empowerment played a central role in the Fever, with the Green Youth Organization replacing the Young Liberationists as the youth wing of the Party and actively stirring up unrest while suppressing opposition. Various hallmarks of traditional society, including Txoist temples and imperial-era artifacts, were vandalized or destroyed. Throughout the country, traditional institutions of government were threatened by the movement. Violence broke out in multiple cities, both large and small, between the GYO and local police, the GYO and Namorese Liberation Army and sometimes rival GYO factions. By NMR 2308, the situation had been described by some officials as "uncontrollable." Afterwards, Antelope intervened to scale back the unrest, although the movement itself remained intact and political suppression continued.
The Green Fever lost momentum following the death of Antelope Yunglang in NMR 2315. The administration of Kiang Ssxu vowed to continue the movement, but it was met with significant opposition from moderates in the party. A power struggle ensued, culminating in the political crisis of NMR 2315 and ending with the overthrow of Kiang Ssxu and the rise of Gelai Antelope, who disbanded the GYO and began the long process of rehabilitating those who had been unjustly targeted in the Fever. To this day, the Green Fever is regarded as one of the negative moments of PRN history and remains a taboo subject among those who had lived through it.
Names
While the "Movement to Implement Comprehensive Liberationism Throughout Namorese Society" was the official name of the movement that took place between NMR 2305 and NMR 2315, the term "Green Fever" quickly became the colloquial reference to the movement. "Green Fever" was first featured in the May 20, NMR 2305 editorial of the Liberator, the official mouthpiece of the Liberationist Party that announced the opening of the movement:
"Events have demonstrated that the Revolution can no longer be completed without a radical and aggressive popular uprising that will shake the foundations of traditional society. What this country needs is not a tender shift to the future of Liberationism, but a green fever that will uproot the dying trees of the reactionaries, strike fear into the hearts of our enemies and paint the country green."
The words "Green Fever" were subsequently featured in the speeches and graffiti of the GYO, with slogans such as "The green fever of revolution is unstoppable" dominating Namorese political discourse. Detractors of the movement, including Gelai Antelope himself, used "Green Fever" to describe the movement to disassociate it with Liberationism. Official media after NMR 2315 did not use either the official name or "Green Fever," preferring instead to use the euphemism "Ten Years of Unrest" (Деканинхун). However, this practice eventually died and "Green Fever" became the common name for the movement used by ordinary Namorese, the media and government officials.
Beginning of the Green Fever
Rise of power of Kiang Ssxu and the 520 Editorial
Kiang Ssxu challenged incumbent President-General Mikhail Sxo in the NMR 2305 presidential election. With the support of Antelope Yunglang, who was among the electors eligible to vote, he defeated Sxo 812-438 and took office the following week.
Two months after the election in May 20, party mouthpiece The Liberator published an editorial titled The Movement to Implement Comprehensive Liberationism Throughout Namorese Society. The 520 Editorial, as it became known, claimed that the past five years since Mikhail Sxo's election to the presidency saw a "regression" in the quest to achieve "comprehensive Liberationism." The editorial attacked Sxo for "repeatedly ignoring the advices of Paramount Leader Antelope" and concluded that only an "aggressive popular uprising" can complete the Liberationist revolution.
The 520 Editorial was widely distributed across the country. Within a matter of days, it became the primary topic of discussion. Political officers friendly to Antelope and Kiang organized teach-ins, in which speakers hotly denounced "regressionists" within the party and urged the masses to "oppose the Establishment."
Formation of the GYO
Not so long after the 520 Editorial was published, Antelope Yunglang wrote an opinion piece on the Liberator in which he expressed his support for the editorial. In response to "popular concurrence with the editorial," Antelope used the power vested in him as Paramount Leader to establish the Oversight Committee of the Movement to Implement Comprehensive Liberationism. Headed by Kiang Ssxu, the Oversight Committee replaced the Politburo Standing Committee of the Liberationist Party as the most powerful decision-making body for the duration of the Fever.
On July 2, the Oversight Committee disbanded the Young Liberationists - the party's youth wing - and formed the Green Youth Organization (GYO) to replace it. Open to people ages 15 to 35, the GYO quickly attracted millions of recruits; most of whom had been agitated by the post-editorial teach-ins and joined to get ahead in life. By NMR 2306, almost every city and town had a local GYO chapter. GYO chapters were hardly subordinate to each other, with each carrying out its own operations. They were united only by orders handed down from the Oversight Committee.
The GYO held mass rallies supporting Antelope and denouncing Sxo. Oftentimes, it called for Sxo's expulsion from the Party and his arrest for "abetting counter-revolutionaries."
Climax
Clashes involving the GYO
Resistance to the Green Fever
De-escalation
End of the Green Fever
Legacy
The Namorese government rarely revisited the Green Fever immediately after Gelai Antelope's seizure of power. The administration focused on implementing political and economic reforms, hoping that progress in both fields would alleviate people's memories of the Fever. Even though the Liberationist Party by the NMR 2320s had recognized the Fever to be "a great mistake," it feared that further efforts at reconciliation would delegitimize the regime, just as Katranjian leader Huankun Chen's repression delegitimized the Liberationist government there. School history textbooks in the NMR 2320s did not mention the Green Fever.
The subject became less taboo in the NMR 2330s due to a variety of factors, among them the democracy movement in Namor, spearheaded by the Plum Blossom Revolution. As information about the Fever became public knowledge, more Namorese demanded that it be preserved for posterity so that it doesn't become a "black hole" in Namorese history.
In NMR 2333, President-General Kong Jo elaborated on the government's stance on the Green Fever, calling it "a dark moment in Namorese history."