The Selfless Crowd recieved its rather colloquial and sarcastic name from the people who inhabit it, as a way of making fun of the climate of violent selfishness that has plagued the area for twenty-five years. The Selfless Crowd is not a nation in the normal sense of the word, since there is no government or leader of which to speak. Essentially a war-torn anarchic wasteland, the closest thing a visitor can find to a government are the hundreds (some say thousands) of armed militias who fight each other over land and resource monopolies. The general population is observed either fighting with the militias or staying holed up in their basements checking occasionally for UN food aid dropped from planes. Bought and sold goods are only available to the richest 0.01% of the population due to massive inflation. The rest of the population trades in eviction notices, because on the Anarchist communes forming in some areas, one member may evict as many commune-members as needed if he/she has the right amount of eviction notices; any altercation between commune-members could result in an armed conflict.

Read the rather violent history of The Selfless Crowd at your own risk.

History

The Selfless Crowd was a typical parliamentary democracy until a small group of anarchists led a coup against the Prime Minister and took over the government, dismantling it bit by bit. Ever since the coup, militias led by ex-military men have been constantly fighting each other for land and monopolies over specific resources such as oil, underground water, mineral deposits, and fertile farmland.

The general population lives in a state of total fear, and lack the means to emigrate since infrastructure has been completely demolished. Simply crossing the borders by foot means almost certain death, since militias fight for control over border crossings.

Coup d'Etat

The coup took place on November 17, 1984 by a heavily-armed eight member Anarchist terrorist group known as "The Indigo March" (their emblem was an anarchy "A" on an indigo background), TIM for short. After blowing up the parliament building at 0800, TIM took the Prime Minister hostage and forced him to reveal all the secrets of his government, before sadly doing away with him in front of a large mob gathered at the foot of the palace at 1100 the next day. The excecution sparked a massive riot that would eventually destroy the Capital City. They stayed in power for two more days, repeatedly broadcasting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony from the former Prime Ministerial office as the riot reigned outside, and as what was left of the government was dismantled. An angry mob then stormed the presidential palace and set it on fire, causing the terrorists to perish in the flames sometime between 2100 and 0100 on November 20.

The Current State of Affairs

The current state of affairs began soon after the Capital City was destroyed. A group of well-fought generals convened in an underground den to decide how to recover from the travesty that took place. Known colloquially as the Postmortem Conference, this group of generals decided that the best solution to keep control of the riots was a "temporary" military dictatorship (it is unclear if this was to benefit themselves or the nation). Upon taking control of the government, the generals had expected to scare the masses into submission by marching their forces up and down the ruined streets. Instead, the marches only ignited more fear and uncertainty among an already fearful and uncertain population. Amidst shouts of "Democracy or Death!" and increased chaos, the mobs began throwing stones, bricks, and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers, who then responded with gunfire. Surrounded, outnumbered, and faced with the prospect of their own deaths; and of a civilian massacre; the ranks scattered into the massive crowd. Desperate for resources, civilian militias began to form, and a state of total chaos, minus the riots, continues to this day.

Political Movements

The only political movements of which to speak are those with agendas based entirely on mostly pacifist artistic and/or literary movements. They hope to form societies that conform to the ideals of these movements, however abstract these ideals may be. The majority of those who join, however, are within the 13-18 bracket because joining these movements often substitutes for a school education, because of the in-depth knowledge about the ideology acquired and lack of an education system. Prominent ones include:

-The Anarcho-Dadaist God and My Toothbrush League (from the Tristan Tzara quote, "God and my toothbrush are Dada...")

-The Neo-Cubist Abstraction

-The Hypermodernist Cyberpunk Youth Collective

-The Anarchist Idiosyncratic Antiphilosophical Surrealist Approach

-The Conservative Strict Neoclassicist Movement

-The "Live for your Fellow Man" Literary Humanist Movement

-The "Don't Live for your Fellow Man" Objectivist Ayn Rand Youth Initiative

-The Pimpin' MTV Hip Hop Fo' Shizzle Yo' Fizzle "So Ghetto" Youth Initiative (courtesy MTV Inc.)

-The Cult of the Holy Grail Literary Cult-Following of DaVinci Code Cult Afficionados

...along with many others.

Ever since the militias began forming, it is unclear if any of them are working towards any specific political goal. A militia would not be able to announce its political goals and become documented because the small militias, usually around twenty members, disband or get defeated regularly. Some, however, are linked to the various communes present around what used to be the capital. The members of these militias in general tend to lean towards a radical far-left political view, such as Anarcho-Syndicalism or radical militant Trotskyism.

A favorite joke among inhabitants is "When given the choice between anarchy and Fascism, the People instead chose fleshwounds". Clearly the population still remembers Monty Python.