Women Right’s referendum is as divisive as the matter of Brexit. Correction. Those Brexiters sure regretted it. But enough about laughing at people who did not know the consequences of their actions, the matter is extremely divisive.
The West might have adopted them in the modern day, but it took time for them to be implemented. The Women had to campaign for them, marching through the streets of Washington to force it to be passed.
But somehow, the West expects other countries to abide by these standards when other countries had less time to develop a politically active base of women in their populations while they were colonised. Thus, the West calls these nations uncivilized and backward when they were the ones who made these countries backwards in the first place.
But like every good reason in support, many opposed. Some women campaigned against it. And they had good reason to do so. If women had the right to vote, then wouldn’t they also be eligible for the draft?
Name the countries where women are also conscripted with men.
The most famous one was Israel, with the Israel Defense Forces deploying women right on the front lines. Now, if men are afraid of being on the front. Do you think women would think otherwise?
So, in opposition to this reform, a great number of rural women joined the traditionalist faction to protest Women’s Suffrage.
Unfortunately, unlike other countries with a huge manpower pool that can solely rely on men. All he had was a little township with hostile elves all around him. Conscripting women doubled his manpower pool, so it was out of the question. So, he gave the same reason to all of those who protested this measure.
They will be able to learn how to defend themselves and their town if they learnt to take up arms.
Fortunately, they were a small minority. These were women on the frontier. They all knew what would happen if they lost. The elves might spare women and children, but that amnesty was only offered by the Xhosa down South. The Zulus? Complete massacre.
The issue was command structure. Should he put a man or a woman in charge of the new womanpower bolstering his forces? And who will that person report to? Should he put women on the front or leave them as a last resort?
The PR fallout he would get if one of his female soldiers perished in the fight would be massive. Pretorius, Sarel will probably shun him for using women as ‘meatshields’. It was likely he would a pariah, and since he depended on these influential men for survival, he cannot go full Israel Defence Forces and put women on the frontlines.
That left two options. He could have the women serve the traditional role of ‘servants’ that the elves do, or to put it politely, auxiliaries. Or he can leave them as a garrison. A safe role. And few could point the finger if some of them perish due to a sudden elven attack.
It seemed he will have to create a new Veldkornet that will deal with matters relating to home affairs. The women would elect one of them amongst themselves to represent them. That Veldkornet would be equal in rank to his existing two Veldkornets, Pietje and Russell.
Their burdens would overlap with Russell’s since he served as the Head of Administration, so he decided to simply shift the management of home affairs to the new female Veldkornet. The Englishman will deal less with military affairs, and more with bureaucratic ones, the ones in which he excelled.
Although he knew he was likely to win, freak incidents happen at elections. There was no sure victory. And with the population politically charged due to the efforts spent on educating them, he can’t rig elections without a protest or two.
That was why he’s in discussion in the Zulu to get them on board.
Nokuthula simply complained about his schemes, “Urgh. Why can’t you simply push this through? You Boers are strange. No one would question authority. Even if you must, it is bothersome to gather every man and woman to do this referendum thing.”
“Can you at least play along? Help me out here. I heard the reports from my bureaucrats. You were the biggest troublemaker in politicizing the women in the town. Please finish what you started.”
“Then I demand compensation. A couple of cattle, or a couple of contracts. Hand them over to Zulu companies and we can call it a day.”
Sighing in frustration, Jan nodded, “The next two mining deposits found in Natal will be given to Zulu companies. Are you fine with that? I still have to at least pretend that we’re running the sourcing of contractors fairly, so at least don’t ask for anymore.”
“Must I get everyone? Why can’t I get subordinate chiefs to cast their votes? Make their votes weighted, make their votes worth a thousand or something. A Boer vote should be worth around 0. Then you’ll win.”
“Do you want the contracts or not? Do you wish for Boer gold?”
“Alright, we’ll play along with your little charade.”
Referendum day was peaceful, not as chaotic as the first one everyone held. The men who were with him remembered that day. Whilst they ran with their tails behind their backs in fear of a Zulu encirclement, here they were somehow voting along with the Zulus. Jan thought that Nokuthula would have the Zulus around town voting, but he must admit the dedication to their agreement due to the sight every Boer saw.
They weren’t even trying to hold secret ballots. There were thousands of Zulus queuing up, dumping the paper into the multiple boxes. It didn’t matter that they didn’t understand the contents of the paper, their chief told them where to tick, and they ticked it.
Instead of support for his initiative, it seemed more of a show of force. A reminder to the Boers that they were heavily outnumbered so they ought to not try anything funny. He didn’t know how many Zulus were mobilized. For as many, as he could throwing paper into boxes, the same number were leaving to continue with whatever daily activities they had planned.
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Jan had to go into his office and laugh a little at the absurd sight on the other side of the fence before heading back out. Boxes were being stacked one after another full of votes. It was as if they were making a mockery of the entire process, perhaps a subtle indication of their Zulu’s chief displeasure.
There were so many of them, it was hard to tell where they came from. Because the Zulu side of town did not have this many inhabitants living there. He could spot some familiar faces queueing up once more while taking another piece of paper from a Zulu.
Contrasting this with the Boer side of town, sectioned-off wooden panels were hiding the voter from the outside. A bureaucrat sat outside, who swore an oath to be truthful, ready to help the Boer out when needed.
Many of the Boers thought that the Zulu enfranchisement would not have an effect, but many of them had horrified looks on their faces as they watched the endless hordes of Zulu stacking box after box full of votes.
It was likely the Boers would complain if he added Zulu enfranchisement in another referendum, so he probably could not use this scheme again.
Oh well just like Brexit, no takebacks. It was not as if laughing at Brexiters regretting it was his favourite pastime. On behalf of every nation part of the British Commonwealth, everyone can agree it is their favourite pastime.
Who knew that Women’s Suffrage won with a landslide victory, 99.9% in support? When he announced that, most of the Boer women cheered, whilst the Boer men were glad that the security of the town was bolstered. The small minority booed, but with such a watershed result, what could they do? They all went home and licked their wounds.
Any Western country today would look at that result and call out his bullshit. But it is Women’s Suffrage, so they had nothing to complain about. Well, if it was the Western country of the Victorian era, then these backward Westerners had a lot to complain about with the results.
He quickly got to work organizing their womanpower. First thing, many of them were deployed as volunteer police officers to help bolster security and safety around town. Each of them was to be given a Cape Horse so that any crime can be quickly reported. A firearm was handed over to them as well. If they had their ones, they didn’t need to be given one.
He did not have the luxury to separate the police and the military. The military was going to be the police, and their methods of suppression were very lethal. But at the frontier, if your opponents were going to shoot you, would you let them do so?
The rest were organized into wagon groups. He planned in his head to obtain ‘servants’ for these women. But before that, he decided to rename the term ‘servants’ to auxiliaries so that the Zulus can also serve. And to please them, they were allowed to bring their weapons. However, the final discretion of such a decision would be left to the leader of the wagon, who would select their auxiliaries.
Janneke, Pietje’s wife, was elected as the new Veldkornet of Home Affairs. And she got to work wrangling all the women around town and organising them into new divisions.
A couple of days after the new incorporation of women into the military.
The Boer was greeted by women on horseback, pointing their guns at the shit his cattle left on the ground. He blankly stared at the excrement, before looking at the guns all the women had. They were extremely menacing and sitting on top of the Cape Horses doubled their height.
He looked around him. Other men and women were passing by with their daily lives. If the officer before him was a man, he would spend some time arguing with him. But this was a woman. Should he embarrass himself arguing with a woman over a fine? They all had guns pointing at him!
He raised his hands in the air and meekly spoke out, “Yes madam! You may impound this cow. I will pay the fine in the town hall. Please don’t shoot me!”
And for some reason, the number of complaints about the rude officers fining the Boer farmers decreased. Who knew that guns can solve so many problems?
Jan’s Office, with a proposal from Veldkornet Russell
“I have a merchant from the New World offering a bunch of seeds. Something suitable for the Elfrican climate.”
“Shouldn’t this matter be taken up with Pieje? That man runs the farming cooperative. Talk with him instead.”
“I already did so. But he requested for your judgement as well in this decision.”
Jan looked up from his desk, away from the trade reports, to look at Russell, waiting for him to continue.
The creature he met this time was a strange one. It floated in the skies, circling the town before landing before him. It was half as tall as him, but its menacing appearance struck fear in the passers-by. It was a bird with a long, shark beak. Fires gathered on the bottom of its wings.
Opening its mouth, a wisp of static discharge took place, sending out a soft mellow crackle.
“Ahuena, thunderbird,” Jan softly remarked remembering his research about the strange world. South America was filled with these creatures, the thunderbirds of the mythos of South Americans in the old world.
He always wondered why they didn’t serve as early freighter transport, but with one look at the thunderbird before him, one could see why. They were too big to be migratory birds that can travel across oceans. The amount of cargo was put into question.
The thunderbird wore a few ornaments that were resistant to its fires.
He could see why Pietje left the matter to him. There was this instinctive fear one could feel looking at this creature. Danger. Immense danger fanned out from this creature.
“Timta Huachalla Colquehuanca from the Inca Empire. I have business to conduct and one of your men directed me your way. I have interesting seeds from South America that you might be interested in, farmer,” Timta looked behind him at the two men running after him. One of them held a bag and retrieved a seed from inside it.
Stretching out his hand to Timta, he picked it up with his beak and thrust it at Jan.
Mumbling, “This is Sisal. Native in the Yucatan region where the Mayans live. It is a tough and sturdy fibre. Paper and fabric could be made from it, as has been done historically. However, looking at all the trees in Elfrica, I must advise you that it will be a waste to use them to produce paper. As the fabric is tough, perhaps even tougher than whatever you use to cover your wagons. For clothing, it is most suitable since you’re on the frontier with the flora all around you. Believe me, the flora in Central America is tough, and it will pull on your clothes. Sisal will not simply rip due to it.”
Jan carefully took the seed from Timta’s mouth, making sure to not get himself burnt off his feathers. Inspecting the seed, not even knowing where to start, he noticed that it was just a seed.
“This Sisal plant is something I have not heard before. Why should I grow something like this instead of the tried and tested cotton?”
“Cotton is soft. Very soft, it rips and tears easily. Sisal does not need much fertilizer and is sturdy in this hot country. It does not need much care. And since this land has many conflicts, it will suit your men’s needs.”
Jan continued analysing the seed whilst thinking about the thunderbird’s words. On one hand, expanding into cotton makes the most sense. But it is a common crop. He would have to compete with American cotton, European Cotton and Asian cotton. No doubt, the production of this crop would ramp up to meet the growing population’s needs accordingly. If he entered the market trying to compete with these nations who already have an established tradition of cotton growing, he would surely lose.
If he wanted cotton, then he could import them from these nations. It was not some kind of protected good like high-end computing chips in the old world.
Growing Sisal, meant that he wouldn’t have to compete with these nations in cultivating the crop, and he could focus on dominating the space with the crop.
There was nothing wrong with procuring a few seeds to start a trial run. After all, he was a Boer. He needed a farm to reinforce that image. The humiliation of being unable to host Sarel during his time here made a mark on him. Even the poorest farmer was able to accommodate the man, how could he not do the same?
Although, it was mightily embarrassing to admit he knew almost nothing about farming to everyone around him who farmed for their entire lives.
“Very well, Timta. You can hash out a deal with Pietje. Tell him I approve the procurement of several seeds as a trial. If it succeeds, we can do further business with South America,”
Timta and Pietje discussed and hashed out a deal. Pietje came up to Jan and asked him what they were supposed to do with the newly procured seeds.
“Pietje, I will tell you the truth. I know nothing about farming. Could you tell me how to begin? I wish to start by cultivating these seeds.”
Pietje beat his chest in glee and began telling him everything he knew about running a farm. Cultivating crops and taking care of cattle. He didn’t want to make it a full or part-time job, so he grimaced as the man enthusiastically shared everything he knew.
The issue is that he said nothing about growing sisal.