MotF 103: Sunshine and Lollipops

Krall

Banned
Sunshine and Lollipops


The Challenge
Make a map showing a utopia.

The Restrictions
There are no restrictions on when your PoD or map may be set. Fantasy, sci-fi, and future maps are allowed, but blatantly implausible (ASB) maps are not. Note that religious and spiritual utopias that come about through divine intervention, spiritual enlightenment, magic, etc. are permitted as these events are consistent with that religious or spiritual understanding of the world.

The utopia you show does not need to be your ideal world - it may be the ideal world of a historical person or ideology, or it may be the ideal world of an alternate historical person or ideology. Your entry may show a timeline where this utopia has been achieved, or an unsuccessful proposal for a utopia by a person or group from an alternate timeline.

If you're not sure whether your idea meets the criteria of this challenge, please feel free to PM me.

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The entry period for this round shall end on Sunday the 7th of September.

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THIS THREAD IS FOR ENTRIES ONLY.

Any discussion must take place in the main thread. If you post anything other than a map entry (or a description accompanying a map entry) in this thread then you will be asked to delete the post. If you refuse to delete the post, post something that is clearly disruptive or malicious, or post spam then you may be disqualified from entering in this round of MotF and you may be reported to the board's moderators.

Remember to vote on the previous round of MotF!
 
This one should be pretty self-evident, showing the extent of land-grabbing in Ukraine that Vladimir Putin may in theory have found desirable when he invaded Crimea and before he'd even imagine serious Ukrainian resistance against the separatists which he undeniably supports. It's not just the Black Sea Fleat or the fear that Western rockets may one day stand in Donbass, it's also Transnistria (and by extension Abkhazia, South Ossetia and whatever in frozen conflicts by Russia exist in the first place) where the Homo Sovietus is actually the closest to a real thing in the world and whose denizens so desperately want to become Russians.

Calling Novorossiya the "Black Sea Federal District" is actually the closest thing to a neutral name for it being larger than Crimea but without resorting to the Novorossiya term: It's a bit like everybody still saying Austria or at least Ostmark even if it's officially become the Alpine and Danubian Shires as the real Eastern March had turned to be somewhere else ever since. And isn't there a bit of Novorossiya in all of the Near Abroad after all? That's why I didn't put a Novorossiya flag into this map neither, a federal district is little more than a post-Tsarist blend of guberniya after all and therefore won't deserve a flag.

In reality, of course, Ukraine fights these pro-Russian insurrections and Novorossiya may be too costly to be worth it even without fighting. And the Ukraine isn't Little Russia anymore, but the Ukraine, goddamn it.

Legend for the few who're too lazy for Russian Cyrillic:
Upper left: Novorossiya - Black Sea Federal District with (its) areas
Upper right: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (with signature)

FEDERAL SUBJECTS
I - Republic of Crimea, formerly Autonomous Republic of Crimea
II - Federal City of Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleat
III - Odessa Area, including Transnistria with Tiraspol
IV - Nikolayevsk Area; V - Kherson Area; VI - Zaporozhskaya Area; VII - Dnepropetrovsk Area (features a metro line)
VIII - Kharkov Area, home to the first capital of the Ukrainian SSR (features a full metro triangle)
IX - Donetsk Area, formerly Donetsk People's Republic (features a ghost metro line)
X - Lugansk Area, formerly Lugansk People's Republic


MotF 103 by Dr. No.png
 
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Reagent

Gerrit Viljoen's Utopia: An Alternate Namibia

POD: Gerrit Viljoen is does not become P. W. Botha's Minister of Education in 1980. As a result, he remains Administrator-General of South West Africa through 1983.

In the early 1980s, Apartheid South Africa was on the verge of collapse. Riots were commonplace, and authority over the Townships was eroding. These problems were compounded for the South African government, by the ongoing border war in Angola. The border war with Angola was consuming an increasing amount of resources, and South Africa was looking for a way out.

In 1983, a solution manifested itself. In a secret conference organized by the CIA in Cape Verde, representatives (among them Gerrit Vilojen) from South Africa and Angola met with the intention of resolving the conflict. The CIA developed a plan that would satisfy concerns held by both sides, and would hopefully damage the influence of the communist-backed SWAPO movement in South-West Africa - a partition of South-West Africa.

The Northern Three "Bantustans" (East Caprivi, Kavangoland, and Ovamboland) would be given independence as the nation of "Ovimbundu". Leadership of this new state would be conferred to Jonas Savimbi, in return for him ceasing operations within Angola (which were faltering after Cuban military support was brought in to assist the governing faction of Angola). Ovimbundu would act as a buffer state against SWAPO for South African interests in South-West Africa. The remaining territory of South-West Africa would be granted independence (as South Africa's mandate of the territory was declared illegal under international law) under a government presumably friendly to Pretoria. On the initiative of Gerrit Vilojen, it was proposed that the remaining Bantustans (sans Tswanaland, which in reality was majority Herero and accordingly was reabsorbed into Hereroland) would be granted autonomy within a federal structure. Gerrit Vilojen convinced Pretoria that a government sympathetic to South Africa could be elected freely in South-West Africa because of the federal structure (it was hoped that opposition would become more regional and fractured) and demographic shift (nearly 2/3rds of the African population, and practically none of the White population would find themselves in the new nation of Ovimbundu). Pretoria reluctantly agreed to the deal, and Free, Multi-Racial elections monitored by the United States were held in South-West Africa in 1984.

The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance won a narrow majority in the 1984 Free elections. While no longer having the intimidation of the South African Army behind them, the Demographic shift and SWAPO called boycott (which suppressed opposition turnout to a degree) allowed the DTA to win the election (composed largely of Whites, Coloureds, and the African middle class). The Khoekhoe Alliance, and Herero Front, both ethno-linguistically based parties, performed second and third respectively. The DTA, with contribution from the Khoekhoe Alliance and Herero Front, drafted a new constitution for South-West Africa that guaranteed equality of races and ethnic groups. However, the DTA sought to change the demographic makeup of the country to be more favorable to them, through immigration policy. While each of the former Bantustans (now known as "Autonomous Republics") was able to control their own immigration policy within their territory, the vast majority of the country remained under the control of the government and subject to their immigration laws. Accordingly, the DTA (which drew most of its support from the White community) began promoting Afrikaner immigration to South-West Africa. Since 1984, nearly 100,000 White South Africans moved to South-West Africa. Some White South Africans saw South-West Africa as a suitable location for a volkstaat, such as Constand Viljoen (of no relation to Gerrit Viljoen). Others were fearful about the aftermath of Apartheid (which proved largely to be unfounded), and believed that South-West Africa to be a suitable place to relocate to (given its stability even after the transition to majority rule). Others still took advantage of South-West Africa's lower tax rates, and moved with their fortunes to the neighboring nation. However, this was never enough to make the nation an Afrikanner majority like some within the DTA hoped, and genuine efforts were made to improve the lives of Africans and Coloureds to ensure the electoral viability of the DTA

Today, South-West Africa enjoys one of the highest standards of living in Africa. Mineral Wealth and Capital flight to the nation from South Africa have given the nation a large government budget. South-West Africa has a fairly successful educational system (though the particular federal structure of the nation has reduced efficiency and effectiveness, as Autonomous regions often have different priorities / standards than the nation as a whole). South-West Africa is currently undergoing the process of implementing a universal healthcare system (which the current government hopes will build upon the large success in fighting the HIV epidemic). South-West Africa has a leading infrastructure in its region system, with new highways and a high speed rail system connecting the principle cities of the nation. Given the abundance of Uranium, South-West Africa in addition to exporting the resource has also become nearly self-sufficient on Nuclear Energy. South-West Africa is on good terms with her neighbors, and has contributed peacekeeping forces in regional hot-spots like the Congo. Demographically, the nation is about 30% White (with Whites making up a strong plurality in the non-Autonomous area), 15% Coloured, and 55% African. Recently, there has been a trend for Africans living in the Autonomous areas to move to big cities like Windhoek or Walvis Bay, which have more work available than the mostly rural Autonomous Areas. The Government has responded by building public housing, with access to all the amenities one would need. Gerrit Viljoen's Federal Structure may have had its biases initially, but South-West Africa has been well served by its government, and the 21st century looks bright for the young nation.
 
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The revolutions of the early 19th century lead to wide-spread change and reform across Europe. The system and ideals put forward by the French Republic as birthplace of the revolution were taken up and followed across the continent, no more so than in France's historic enemy-turned-closest ally: the Republic of Britain.

At the time of the Revolution the Kingdom of Great Britain, as it was then known, was a relatively new and divided state. The historic kingdoms of Scotland and England only united just over 100 years prior, and as in France different parts of the country had sharply contrasting culture and loyalties. The task that was set to the new Revolutionary Council of Britain was two-fold: to reform the arcane system of counties, boroughs, shires and hundreds used by the royal government, and secondly to destroy the old divided loyalties and cultures of the island and create a more more homogeneous nation centred around the British identity.

These goals were fulfilled by the implementation of a departmental system, modelled on those implemented by the French and soon adapted by other European states including Italy and the Confederation. As in those nations the departments were designed to cross historic boundaries, with names chosen deliberately to avoid historical nomenclature and instead focus on rivers, mountains and other neutral features.

Most of the new departments were centred around major or fast-growing cities, the Industrial Renascence was well under way and growing industrial cities such as Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham gained their rightful administrative powers denied by the archaic county system. Several provincial cities that had been bastions of the Royalist cause, notably Chester, Derby and Shrewsbury, lost their hold on power to smaller but loyal and increasingly industrialising towns that eventually grew to eclipse them.

The implementation of the departmental system was not without controversy. There was particular reluctance from the minority-speaking communities, which had already been outlawed in favour of what was then called the English language, but after only a few decades efforts to stamp out the Celtic identities in favour of the British culture were already beginning to have an effect. By the 21th century the only area of Britain with any serious minority language or culture is the island of Mann, not coincidently the only area of the modern Republic that remained loyal to the monarchy and had to be annexed by the Republican forces. Recent terror attacks of the Manx Front not withstanding, in general the departmental system was very successful in its aim to promote the British identity and culture throughout the island.

Ironically, the modern population of Britain tend to feel far more loyalty to their department than the Revolutionary Council ever intended; pushed on especially by the decision to link sporting and educational institutions to the departmental system. It is in this way that the departments play a huge role in the culture and soul of the British people, even now only 200 years after they were first created.

And the map: It was designed as a poster, the sort of thing you would have on the walls of a classroom. Click on it for a bigger version.

 
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Peace in the middle east

In 1971 the Shah of Persia dies in an explosion of his TV (decades later the KGB would admit that this was their fifth attempt at his life). With his son still at the boarding school and many more conservative people quite unwilling to accept his mother as a regent, an arrangment giving more power to the parliament and prime minister is eventually reached by the current prime minister Hoyevid.

In the following years the new government focuses the spending on education and infrastructure instead of extravagent spending on art and anniversaries. This both decreases the discontent amongst the population and allows the economy of the country to grow.

When in 1979 the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan Iran provides covert (and as the years go by increasingly less covert) aid to rebel groups there. Thing escalate in 1983 after several rebell groups evading russian troops fleed to iranian soil and were not interned but allowed to return and take up the fight again.

Promted by support from the USSR Iraq declares war on Iran. The Iran-Iraqi war ends with the complete collaps of Saddam Husseins regime in no small part due to a large uprising in the shiite south of Iraq.

Iran offers help in the reconstruction of Iraq which is agreed by the new government.

With continued western support the government of Iran builds its first nuclear powerplant as part of preparations for after the oil. Persia Air become what the Emirates Airlines became IOTL, with the benefit of Iran already having quite a few tourist attractions

In 1985 Iran, Iraq and Turkey form the middle easter economic union which is modelled after the EEC. Over the course of the next decades this organisation expands to cover many countries adjectant to Iran. First mainly in the south and west, but after the disintegration of the USSR Iran also takes an interest in the various central asian republics and helps their economic and demorcratic development as well (not entirely selfless, Iranian companies get most of the drilling rights, and improving the conditions in central asia greatly reduces the imigration from there to persia).

With Iran (and later Iraq) being quite friendly (or at least non-threatening) countries attempts to find a solution to the palestinian conflict get a good deal more support than IOTL (amongst all involved parties). And under Jitzchack Rabin a two state solution is implemented in 1994. Altough there is strong opposition in the beginning and many talking heads predict the conflict from flaring up again, the peace holds and as a new generation not knowing the war grows to adulthood people trying to restart it become fewer and fewer.
utopia_by_matthiasthalmann-d7ybayn.jpg
 
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