One hundred boats bearing one million desperate uninvited immigrants set sail from the Ganges (恒河) for the fabled coast of the French Riviera. They are totally destitute and have decided that their only chance of survival is in a country with a conscience that traditionally welcomes refugees from the Third World. Their journey will take 50 days. In France, the news is trumpeted with pride by the liberal media, churchmen and left-wing activists. Favorable media echoes are heard all over Europe; Political leaders and the armed forces fumble for common policies. Publicly, French authorities praise the intrepid voyagers. Privately, they exchange ideas on how they can divert one million hungry souls to other shores. A trendy French radio journalist, Albert Dufort, sees the s of a historical redistribution of wealth between the First and Third Worlds. "We’re all from the Ganges now," he proclaims. Schoolchildren write essays eulogizing latter day "sans culottes." The theme is picked up and sweeps across the continent. As the armada makes it through the Straits of Gibraltar, panic sets in. The inhabitants of the French Riviera begin to flee north. The president of France orders the armed forces deployed along the coast. They are told their mision is to defend the country against the now imminent invasion of onet million poverty-stricken people from the Ganges. But with ears glued to their transistor radios they heed Dufort’s call not to oppose the landings. They desert en masse. Police open jail cells before shedding their uniforms and hotfooting it home to take care of their families. Terrified by what he has wrought, Dufort heads for Switzerland in his expensive sports car, but he is recognized en route and murdered. As hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of coastal towns and the surrounding Provence country move north, tens of thousands of revolutionary students travel south to greet their Ganges brothers. Unbeknownst to the welcoming throngs of idealists, the Ganges multitudes are coming to settle scores with the wealthy West that has kept them subjugated without hope of a better life. They hate the West their leaders said had robbed them of the higher standard of living they are entitled to. The one million Ganges folk are not alone. Millions of others are monitoring their progress from all over the Third World and plan to follow them to the Promised Land. Thus the Third World conquers modem industrialized societies, but not before much mayhem and unspeakable carnage and atrocities. |