The Broken Dawn Revolt

Overview

Only a short time after GATA had begun transitioning their districts to The System, the data was compelling. Using The System resulted in a miraculous drop in violence, political instability, mental and physical disease, and just about every metric imaginable. Operational efficiency produced surplus that could be distributed to citizens. Those days were the true first light of the New Dawn.

It was at the Morning Light Summit of 2073, after years of meteoric growth by GATA, that GATA offered its first invitation to the remnant super-states of the world to adopt The System and sign onto the New Dawn Accords, so that they could share in the abundance. The implied message of the Morning Light Summit was clear; make the choice now, or don’t get the choice later.

This was highly contested in AFRX, the regional coalition of kijijis in North-East and East Africa, and the region of former Somalia in specific. Despite its astounding effectiveness, GATA’s autonomous infrastructure was too reminiscent of the AI of the past for many who were weary of giving over control to such a system. Many across the AU also had great pride in their own technological and intellectual capabilities, and believed they should chart their own path.

It was felt by opposition voices that Atla had made unequivocal assurances to the African Union concerning their autonomy when they had offered critical support to Atla early on in the Dark Decade. To some, even suggesting that the AU join with GATA was an insult. But to many regular people the choice to join with GATA seemed obvious–so long as a certain degree of autonomy was respected.

The more moderate AFRX NO advocates proposed, as a compromise with popular sentiment, that if the AU were to sign the accords, that the AU must be allowed to build their own New Dawn-Compliant infrastructure and argued that this was in keeping with the axiom of mutual incompatibility described in the language of the NDA.

This reasoned compromise won popular support. But in the AFRX territories, the governments who negotiated or voted to compromise with GATA were seen as traitors. They hadn’t just signed away Africa’s future. In that more nationalistic and exceptionalist climate, Africa was the future.

The resulting riots burned into what some feared would be revolution, but which history knows as a short-lived revolt across pockets of North-East Africa. The violence ultimately displaced a capable, moderate political class, making way for pro-GATA voices eager to usher in the Dawn and enjoy the spoils. To this day, for supporters of GATA and conservatives alike across the AU, Broken Dawn remains a testament to humanity’s need for a check against its most self-destructive pathologies.

Only a small region in East Africa remains in a state of revolt, however they are not completely ostracized by their neighbors–primarily in order to prevent URSA from gaining influence in the region.