DAY 31, JELLYBRIDGE and CAMPAIGNS, book 4, building

The next morning, one newspaper’s headline read: This much noise for a single town? ‘Yes!’ says Skye Mattis. ‘Because this town can do the groundwork for the future of all other towns and cities.’ At Jellybridge, Alice spent a grey morning at the site with changing groups of people, discussing the plans for plumbing, roads, gardens and buildings. The seven circle roads were already marked with slim timber sticks and cotton strings some six feet above ground. Back in London, a few minutes before noon, the YOUR POWERS Campaign opened with its spectacle on Trafalgar Square where three hundred and thirty-three people lay on the square, slowly wake up, discovering themselves, each other, the square, and eventually the growing audience. Performed like a giant party trick, the campaign team then erected stalls, stages and, unbelievably, mobile gardens, some floating in the fountains’ basins, transforming Trafalgar Square into a green exploration ground. Once the space was transformed it opened on seven sides to the public which were invited to discover — powers. Everywhere posters had gone up, each pointing at a potential power. For example: As a human: be yourself, learn yourself, create yourself. As a customer: demand change by boycott, sue for damages, reduce demand. As an entrepreneur: become the better alternative. As a patient: report, report, report, inspire. As a friend of a patient: open doors, get the ice cream in. As a doctor: challenge medical education, improve interdisciplinary cooperation, sue pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment providers, refuse to play the money game! You are a doctor not a profiteer. As a business: create, nurture, serve, restore. As an employer: use the power to be an energiser, to unearth. As a politician: be bold and use your imagination to rethink and reshape the world. Not for profit. Not for gratifications. Not for votes. But for a future. Use your imagination to build the world and don’t try to fix what already failed. As a journalist: ideas, visions, digging deeper. Expose and then add visions. Create stages for many voices. Inspire thinking. Invite debates. Connect people of all walks of life. As a famous person: use your voice, your platform, set an example, think, empower. As a parent: ask for help. As a restaurant owner: ask where do I buy, what do I offer? As an observer of our project businesses & campaigns: challenge us! Throughout the day more power inspirations were added. At several corners of Trafalgar Square, the town project’s ripples news and other media outlets interviewed visitors. ‘The smile did it for me!’ an older man told Mudiwa and Rose from ripples news. ‘The task was to leave the spectacle and walk to Leicester Square or to the Thames, smile at strangers and see what happens. It never occurred to me that a smile is something incredibly powerful. But I smile at someone, and with most people everything changes. They straighten, they seem to wake up, a bit surprised about my smile, they smile back, and as they do, their features soften. One asked me why I smiled at him, and we had the most amazing conversation. Two strangers discovering the power of a smile, and of a conversation, of sharing an experience. We can make someone’s day, lessen someone’s burden and worries with a single smile. And smiling affects us, too. The reactions to our smile strengthen us, too. Never thought a smile could be this powerful. Totally blown away.’ A lesbian couple laughed with Mudiwa and Rose, and one of them said: ‘Best day I’ve had in ages.’ ‘Energising. So energising,’ the other added. ‘Yeah, it’s about our powers, and they are unearthed by all the energising input you get here. It’s like, yeah, my power exists, and it’s there, but it’s been kind of sleeping. I didn’t know about it. But seeing the spectacle, the art shows on Leicester Square, the street theatre performances here and down at the Thames, the spontaneous chats everywhere, dancing at Piccadilly Circus and in the streets, it’s like a power source that makes me feel invincible.’ ‘YEAH,’ the other exclaimed. ‘Invincible. Hell, I feel like I’d been in some deep sleep, and the prince finally found me and kissed me awake.’ ‘The prince, eh?’ ‘Nah, my love, you’re right. It was a princess! Isn’t the head of the project a woman?’ ‘Non-binary,’ Rose replied. ‘Oh, well, kissed awake by a project I want to know more about.’ ‘Oh, we’ve got to run. We’re on our way to yoga on the roof, strengthening our bodies to harness our powers.’ Later, a young man seemed rather shy and said to Mudiwa: ‘My parents always helped our neighbours, and some of them made fun of my parents for being so nice.’ The young man swallowed and said quietly: ‘I was embarrassed. But today, when I saw the initiative to give a hand, as part of the Your Power Campaign, I just had to try. For the first time I wanted to know what it’s like to help, whether it’s really something weak and stupid and—’ The young man stopped, tears welling up. ‘My parents passed last year, and I’ll never be able to tell them how proud I am of them, and how fantastic they were. And that those people who made fun of them just didn’t know better, were suffering from all the things  life had thrown at them. Helping is incredibly powerful, and I have the power to make a difference when I give a hand.’ In the afternoon and at the Jellybridge, Alice spoke with Megan (head of the Agriculture Team) in the library while spooning a tomato soup with chickpeas. Megan had an apple and said: ‘We haven’t made much progress with farmers abroad. They don’t believe us. But they have heard about the dot.stations and the Hub Stations, and are interested in those. They also say they won’t sign anything unless we get the permission to build the town.’ ‘Winning the site would prove that we’re trustworthy?’ Alice asked. ‘Maybe. But maybe they don’t want to be associated with people who have lost a fight.’ Shortly afterwards Ualan rolled into the library, and the three of them discussed which materials they would need for the first weeks of building the town. At six Alice asked THE to inform the queen that the project might agree to the building materials deal the queen had offered — if they could agree on the conditions. Alice had been reluctant to add another connection to the royals, but since the queen held extensive rights to extract natural resources such as sand, clay, gravel, limestone, and since some suppliers’ doors had already banged shut in opposition to the town project, Alice had finally relented. ‘I’m a Scot, Alice,’ Ualan said. ‘I know exactly what you mean. How can any person have a right to extract natural features of our planet? The land and everything it has to offer belongs to all of us. But we need the materials, and this is the safest way to get them. It’ll guarantee that we won’t have any shortages and that we can build as fast as we want to. Plus, once we’ve signed these contracts, some of our opponents  might do a U-turn just to earn some money with our project, after all.’ At seven Alice and Raiden left Jellybridge Estate. They reached the Compound in London around eleven and met with Rohana in studio 2 for a briefing. ‘Several companies got in touch,’ Rohana told Alice and Raiden. ‘Some backed out again after a few hours while others confirmed their interest in a cooperation. I tell you, the business world is nervous, as greedy and shortsighted as ever, and deeply divided about how to deal with us. ‘Can we use that?’ Raiden asked. ‘Tempting,’ Alice said. ‘Maybe in an article, something like: How divides in the business world could benefit our project, and why we won’t make use of these divides. This article could be part of the Narratives Campaign.’ Rohana grimaced. ‘Doing the right thing sucks.’ Alice smiled. ‘And that, too, is a narrative that could do with a rethink. Why does the idea of tripping someone up gives us such a thrill? And how could we get our thrill fix with something that’s not quite as silly?’ Rohana’s eyes suddenly lit up. ‘Surprise! Doing something unexpected for someone. That’s the same kind of thrill.’ Alice chuckled. ‘That’s good. So how can we surprise the business world with something they would like but would never expect to get from us?’ ‘They are a difficult species,’ Raiden remarked. ‘But maybe we could— Hm.’ ‘Give them a voucher for dot.?’ Rohana suggested, doubtfully. Alice shook her head. ‘That would be too expensive, and it would seem like a bribe. You’re right Raiden, they are a difficult bunch. It’s so much easier to trip them up. I’ll have to give this some thought. Anyway, how did the Your Powers Campaign go, today, Rohana?’ ‘A bit too much, a journalist wrote. She might be right. There was a lot of content.’ ‘Anything go viral?’ Raiden asked. Rohana cleared her throat. ‘Oh, well. There’s that interview Mudiwa and Rose did with Emine.’ ‘Oh, what about?’ Alice asked. Rohana grimaced. ‘You haven’t heard about it?’ ‘No,’ Alice said. ‘What’s it about?’ ‘Well, you know Emine’s big smile, right?’ ‘Of course. Her smile is only equalled by that of Princess Felicitas.’ ‘Right. So, Emine, our amazing lawyer, smiles her big smile, and tells Mudiwa and Rose in front of a livestream camera that Your Power as a lawyer is in holding corporations and governments to account.’ Alice frowned. ‘Well, she’s right.’ ‘Yep. But. With that big smile, she tells the world how much pleasure she will take in suing all food giants for planetary destruction, health hazards for consumers, price distortion and speculations with foods on the global markets, slavery, the lack of durability and quality of the food products, water pollution, soil deterioration, monocultures, land robbery, corruptions and bribery.’ ‘Well …’ ‘Oh, that’s not all. Not by a long shot.’ ‘Oh?’ ‘Well, Emine keeps smiling, adds similar lists for food chains, food restaurants, farmers, fishers, pesticides and fertiliser producers, and when she is done with everything food, her smile extends that bit more, and she jumps right into saying that everyone who extracts oil, gas, coal should go straight to jail, that everyone who drives a car should be held accountable for the damages they cause—’ ‘—Oh …’ ‘That’s not all! Every company that has even the slightest connection to anything that has a connection to crude oil, which is pretty much every business and every household in the western world and in quite a few others on our planet, will be sued for destruction, ecocide and harm to humanity. Next is everything plastic, then everything building, then everything entertainment—’ ‘—alright. How did it end?’ ‘I can show you the video. Mudiwa and Rose are pale by the end, and when Emine stops and notices their expressions, she asks worried: ‘Oh, my! Did something happen?’ Alice and Raiden laughed. Rohana smiled a little. ‘The interview was live, and the reactions a massive blow for our project. But there’s also some loud applause. Afterwards, Mudiwa asked Emine to watch the recording, and that was when Emine turned pale and cursed. She made a second statement and clarified that her lists were meant as inspiration, and apologised for the misleading choice of words. She added that it would be good, though, if we clarified via such lawsuits that only because poising each other is normal, that doesn’t make it acceptable, and we should see such ideas not as an attack but as a wake-up call to rethink our life on our planet and with each other.’

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4, building, 2025