Shikasta

This "Trial" must not be underestimated. Already requests pour in from every country, demanding facilities for travel. It is essential in my view that adequate food is allocated, and that accommodation in the way of tents is permitted. The mood of the Youth Armies, as I have more than hinted, is very different from what it has been. It is explosive, volatile, cynical - dangerous. I have already made arrangements for troops to be easily available, and on a large scale.

CHEN LIU to his friend KUYUANG

I beg of you to intervene. My orders that two regiments of troops should be available for the "Trial" - countermanded. My orders for special allocations of food - countermanded. My orders that plenty of space should be allotted for tents, that standpipes should be erected, that the area be cordoned off from the locals - countermanded, countermanded. All this without explanation. I have not asked for one.

In two months' time several thousand representatives of the Youth Armies of the World will congregate in Greece. Has it been seriously considered by the Council what effect it may have worldwide if this affair gets out of hand?

I write this in a state of mind that in the days of our old friendship I would not have to explain to you.

CHEN LIU to his friend KUYUANG

I got your message. I understand your situation. The agent who brings this is, as far as I can see, trustworthy. He will explain my situation. I was relieved more than I can say, to hear from you personally, even if the news is not very hopeful. I shall now describe the events of the "Trial," as you request, separately from the Report which will be sent via the usual cha

First of all, George Sherban, the Chief Accuser, travelled to Zimbabwe, the slow way, by car, coach, lorry, train, and even in some places on foot, representing various Youth Armies, and being briefed by them. This journey was clearly critical on more than one occasion. The wars that decimate the area have dragged it down to the point where nothing happens as expected. The Youth Armies are anarchistic, badly organised, sometimes no more than organisations for looting and arson. The travelling party had to find their way through several war zones. George Sherban went with the full authorisation of the Coordinating Council of the World Youth Armies. He needed it. He was nearly captured on two occasions, was arrested once, but he talked his way out of it. His brother Benjamin went with him. This man has now been subjected to several separate stints of Top-Level education. I must report failure. But of an interesting variety. At no point was there confrontation, loss of politeness, failure to attend the allocated courses. On the contrary we have seldom had a more co-operative and intelligent subject. On the face of it, his acceptance of our Benevolent Tutelage has been complete. But he went with his brother on this prolonged journey against our expressed wishes. Of course if he had been where we enjoy a full and overt command, he would have been punished, but his position in the Youth Armies is too high to provoke possible dissatisfaction. Even on reporting his intention to make this journey it was with a perfect willingness to concur with anything we might suggest - short of not going at all!

In Zimbabwe a mass Conference was held in Bulawayo, on the site where Lobengula held court. The modern Lobengula was present, and released several thousand prisoners to indicate his joy at the occasion. It was there, in the heart of the erstwhile Dark Continent, that George Sherban allowed himself to be briefed to represent the Dark Races in the forthcoming Trial - which event was being spoken of by everyone as if it were to be a real Trial. They do not seem to be able to take in the concept, or perhaps the usefulness, of a Trial merely for propaganda effectiveness. Of course they may very well have found themselves confused at the situation, as were the - very many - representatives of the brown and other races (our own included) who had somehow made their way there. It was unprecedented, for its daring, its imagination, its success. This almost entirely white man was enthusiastically accepted by blacks as a representative, and moreover, as an Indian, the history of dislike of all things Indian up and down Africa apparently mattering not at all. My informants tell me that this was an occasion unprecedented also for its vigour, emotionalism, high spirits. I would have given a good deal to be there. Benjamin Sherban kept in the background, in a way which I would not have expected, if believing the many reports of an earlier ebullience and big-headedness. He was merely one of many assistants to George Sherban, the only one with a white skin. He has the advantage of representing the Junior Youth - eight- to fourteen-year-olds, and this is a powerful emotional stimulus everywhere.

This party stayed several weeks in Zimbabwe. They made an illicit trip over into the Transvaal, which I am informed combined daring and ingenuity quite remarkably. They then flew back to Greece, after being blessed (the word is used by Benjamin Sherban in a private letter reporting on the occasion) by the modern Lobengula.

They had already been informed that there will be no military protection, no extra rations, no co-operation from the authorities.

I am informed that their preparations are everything that we could wish.

I was not able to be present myself in this amphitheatre for the Trial, for had I been there it would have underlined a concern on our part that I did not wish to be evident. But I had plentiful observers, both open - in our own delegation, who are of course keeping me informed - and concealed, who are distributed among the various delegations. It is from these many, and very varied reports, that I am compiling this account.

The five thousand delegates were a sorry lot compared with what until now has been the norm. We have become accustomed to seeing such occasions as demonstrating the comparative well-being of the Youth Armies. These were ill-fed, shabby, some in obviously bad health. The mood of confidence in themselves as a viable future is gone. They are sombre, cynical.

Getting there had been difficult for all of them, although I had given instructions - which I had no confidence would be observed - that they should not be obstructed. Many had walked long distances: this was true mostly of the Europeans.

Pilfering and looting began from the moment the delegates arrived, but was checked at once, by an appeal to their sense of responsibility. But the damage had been done, and the local inhabitants, informed that they were being "honoured" by the occasion, must be imagined as a silent, sullen, closely observing crowd, always present around the camp, sometimes numbering hundreds.

The organisers had arranged guards, sentinels, everything needed for security, but this was precarious from the first and throughout, more from internal tensions than from external. It was arranged that the races should be distributed evenly through the camp, but almost at once the subject of the "Trial" showed its strength in separating the white race into a minority, a camp within a camp, separately sentinelled and guarded. From the start there were jokes, on the whole friendly, that the Chief Prosecutor was in fact white. From the very first day a song was popular among all sections, black, brown, gold, jade, and white: "I have an Indian grandmother," which of course was plentifully adapted, "I have a white grandmother" being the favourite. There were occasions when the entire encampment was singing "I have a - grandmother" - white, black, brown, Irish, African, Eskimo, at the same time, at the top of their voices, and in the mood which was the style or stamp of the occasion: a mocking, sardonic nihilism, but which was not, in fact, devoid of good humour.