He sat down to applause from his side of the room. Candale surveyed the audience. “I know we’re divided over this, but I also know we have to make a choice. I thank Jerry and Alan for their statements. I doubt anyone else could have been more concise and clear. Now it’s time to choose.”
The idea slammed into Baxter like a jolt of electricity. He jumped up. “There may be a third option, one that will satisfy both groups. Ross, Ellen, I may have an idea, but I’ll need time and help to develop it. Can we get together?”
Candale said, “What are you thinking?”
“I’d rather not say until I’ve got it figured out, but you guys can help me do that.” He faced the audience. “Look, I’m a visitor here. You don’t know me, and the only people I know are Ross and Ellen. But they’ll vouch for me. I can see you all care passionately about this. So do I, but what I have in mind is unformed. I need time and help to develop it, but it may give a way for you, for us, to follow Alan’s path and build a community here and at the same time to support Jerry and become a threat to the government and the Peaks. Would you be willing to hold off making any decisions until I can hash this out with Ross and Ellen?”
Jerry said, “Ross, do you trust this guy?”
Candale said, “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for— Ivan. Ellen and I would both be dead, and so would many of you. I’m not going to tell you how or why because I don’t want to put him at risk, but I will say I trust him more than I trust anyone else in this room. Except maybe you, Ellen.”
Sangster said, “Seconded.”
Alan said, “So you want us to sit by while the three of you, one who isn’t even one of us, decide our futures for us? Forget it.”
Jerry said, “On this, I’m with Alan. You might think this guy walks on water, but it’s our lives we’re talking about. You try to make any plans, you’d better include us.”
Sangster turned to Baxter. “T— Ivan, I know you and trust you, but this is now my community. Are you willing to talk about this with Alan and Jerry?”
Baxter said, “You people are at risk. But it’s nothing compared to the risk I’m under. I’m not going to tell you what that is because except for these two, I don’t trust anyone else with my life. Here’s my problem. Talking about what I have in mind means I have to disclose things about myself I’m not willing to discuss, so if anyone else wants to be in on the initial conversation, it won’t happen.”
He took a deep breath. “But here’s what I am willing to do. I will work with Ross and Ellen to develop my idea. Assuming we can get it nailed down and can figure out a way for it to work without compromising my safety or that of this community, I’ll present it to Jerry and Alan. If they approve, I’ll have someone present it to all of you. I won’t.”
Alan said, “How much time do you need?”
“If Ross, Ellen, and I can’t come up with the outline of a plan by the end of tomorrow, it won’t work. Is tomorrow evening okay with you?”
The audience was sullen, arms crossed, scowls evident. Candale said, “Look, people, this decision we have to make is one that will define our community and, regardless of which way we go, could wreck it. Ivan is asking for one day. If he has a suggestion, I think it’s worth hearing him out.”
Jerry said, “Tell you what. Today is Tuesday. I’m willing to give you all day tomorrow. I’ll meet with you Thursday morning, and we schedule a community meeting for that evening. That’s when we make a final decision. Is that okay with you, Alan?”
Alan nodded. “Fine with me.”
Candale said, “Agreed. We’ll give the two of you a briefing Thursday morning, you can each meet with your people in the day, and we convene on Thursday evening.”
37
SCHEME FOR DEVASTATION
Twelve men and women dressed in business casual sat around a mahogany conference table overlooking San Francisco Bay from Oakland. The man at the head of the table said, “Tim, update us on the Canada project.”
“Happy to. As you know, we stopped the building of a pipeline in Canada that would have carried oil to the coast. The lessons we learned are invaluable going forward. Before we developed this strategy, I have to admit it seemed as if we were fighting a losing battle. But once we put the strategy in place, we could see progress. When the pipeline was cancelled, we realized we were on the cusp of something phenomenal, something that will help us put an end to the scourge of industry.”
One of the people said, “Isn’t that overstating it? Sure, stopping the pipeline was a great victory, but let’s not get carried away and think we’ve won the war.”
Tim said, “Stopping the pipeline was a victory, but that’s not the important thing. The important thing was how we did it and the tactics we learned.”
“What tactics? I don’t see any difference between this and other protests. Including some that didn’t work.”
The chairman said, “But there is a difference. A huge one. Before, we were following the playbook. Get people riled up, arrange protests, feed slanted stories to the media. But Tim here came up with something we call the hive strategy. That’s the one we tested and refined on the pipeline project. It worked, but it needed a major revision. We’ve now finished and we’re deploying it on the Canada project. Tim, tell us how it works.”
“We’re proud of this. The hive strategy has two components. The most visible one is what we call the swarm. This is the mass of protestors who take to the streets demonstrating against whatever we want them to demonstrate against, be it pipelines, mines, or railways. The other component, the hive, acts as the organizer, setting up rallies, planning social media campaigns, and above all, providing funding to local groups that can be useful.”
A participant said, “I don’t get it. How does that differ from what we were doing before?”
“From the outside, it doesn’t. All the public sees are protests either way. The value of the strategy is how it organizes the swarm, how we turn a bunch of eager enthusiasts into a managed organization. For example, we blocked access to a provincial legislature, which meant we had to identify all the entrances and assign protestors to cover each one. That sounds humdrum, but it’s a focus on details, which is what successful organizations do.”
Someone else said, “You mentioned local groups. Do you mean environmental organizations?”
“Yes, they are our primary recipients of aid and organizational skills, but we also find disgruntled natives and promote them in their communities. We’ve been able to give them dirt on their existing leadership and even recruit armed supporters to intimidate the others. With this strategy, we’ve been able to get many of them elected.”
“The dirt we dig up. Is it real or did we make it up?”
“Does it matter? Oh, we’ve also had success in organizations like church groups or even some service clubs where we can find activists.”
“A few activists or disgruntled natives? Is that enough to subvert an entire organization?”
“Usually it is. Most organizations consist of a handful of active members with the rest just followers. If we can recruit the activists, the other members will either follow or drop off. They won’t challenge the direction we want them to take. After all, look at the news. You only see demonstrations against projects. Never for, even if most people favour them. People who support development don’t hit the streets. Our people do.”
“You figure subverting a few activists gets the organizations moving in the direction we want?”
“Yes. We provide the expertise and throw in some appearances by a few movie stars or other celebrities who know nothing about the issues but who look and sound great, and the swarm will build.”