The Panama Papers

            Grabbing her luggage from the overhead compartment of her seat, Patricia Nnamani, made her way to exit as she had landed in Bogota, Colombia. After a tiring six-hour flight from her home country of Zambia, she was happy to have landed in her destination to attend a lecture regarding a Panamanian experiment.

Patricia had travelled to many different places before in her own native Africa, but she also travelled to Sweden, Canada, Japan, India, Yemen and many other places to name a few. Ever since her country’s attempts to improve itselfby diverting more funds into science, medicine and other helpful fields, Zambia became one of the most powerful countries in the world. Many other African nations followed Zambia’s lead and as a result, Africa became a powerhouse of economics, politics and social equality by 2156. That’s not to say that other nations weren’t powerful, but certain countries that were formerly powerful such as the United States, China, Russia, Japan, France, Germany and many others were dissolved by the early 22nd century.

Patricia heard of these countries but never had the chance to see them as they formerly were. She studied the social field of policy and was always interested by the near Kafkaesque policies of these countries and how they never seemed to make any sense. Then again, she learned about her country before it became powerful and knew not to look too harshly upon another country for their faults, as Zambia had plenty in its past.

Gathering her luggage together, she stepped off of the plane and saw a driver holding a card with her name on it. Telling him that it was she, the gentleman showed her to his taxi and with a simple push of a button, he said the address of her hotel and they were off.

Quietly humming through the streets of Bogota, Patricia saw both city and natural landscapes that seemed to inappropriately contrast with one another. She was always fascinated to see another culture that wasn’t hers and never objected to learning more about it. She felt that as a political scientist, it was her duty to look at all that human society had to offer and not think of any one culture as inferior to another. Of course to her, some practices were cringe inducing and left her disgusted, but it was all a part of the learning process.

When Patricia arrived to the hotel, she paid the taxi driver and got her luggage from the taxi. Once inside the hotel, Patricia wasted no time in getting her key and going up to her room, as she was tired and it had been a long flight. Since everything was arranged for her stay, all that Patricia had to do was grab her room key and head up to her room. Taking her luggage up with her, she went into her room, unpacked everything she needed for the next day and quickly went over her notes.

Once Patricia began reading, however, she was filled with an excitement that would eliminate any possibility of sleep. The next day, Patricia was to meet with the acclaimed sociologist, Nikhol Vostok and talk to him about his so-called Panama Experiment. Patricia had heard of this experiment before, but she was too young to see it with her own eyes, but from what she heard, it was a disaster, a planned disaster. She was wondering if what she heard about it was true, whether it was a bloodbath waiting to happen. Yet, there were also rumors saying that this was only inevitable and the participants deserved it, which she had an ethical problem with.

Before she could delve any deeper into it, she made the wise decision to go to bed and rest up for the next day. Setting her alarm for 8:00 AM, she brushed her teeth, changed into her pajamas and went to sleep. But throughout that night, the ethical considerations of the experiment echoed loudly in her minds and whether Vostok was justified in carrying out such an experiment without sanctions.

After having a rest-filled night, Patricia got up, got dressed and went downstairs to eat a quick breakfast. While she was in the hotel restaurant eating her cereal, she decided to quickly look over something that prompted the experiment, something that was called the Panama Papers.

She had heard about this before and how much trouble it caused globally. Twenty years after its discovery, those papers kicked off a series of reforms that went nowhere and more or less kept things the way they were. She remembered being told that after the reforms were found to be ineffective the people the rich basically seceded from society. Many people were angry with this and demanded strong reform, but still, they didn’t listen, and got richer while the poor got poorer. By the year 2084, massive protests took place globally in order to depose the rich and those who had insurmountable amounts of wealth. It was like the French Revolution, except it escaped outside the boundaries of France.

Patricia had heard stories from people who lived through it and remembered hearing awful things. Kings, presidents, emperors, prime ministers were deposed, industrialists had their businesses destroyed and CEOs of big companies were all but hunted and killed for doing next to nothing. It sounded like Marx’s rising of the socialist utopia, but everybody knew that no utopia was going to come out of so much violence and debt.

When the revolution died down and there seemed to be no more morals to follow twenty years later, Nikhol Vostok, emerged as a leading global sociologist. He was praised for his numerous and prolific studies regarding human behavior and relations among peoples. But his methods were certainly shady and questionable. When he got his grant to carry out the Panama Experiment, he broke many scientific boundaries. But by then, there were no more boundaries to break, social or otherwise.

Patricia highly anticipated speaking with Nikhol, but was afraid that what she was going to hear was not going to be pleasant. After finishing her breakfast, she put her dishes away, gathered up her papers and set off to meet Nikhol who wasn’t too far from her. Nikhol agreed to meet Patricia at the University of Bogota, where he carried out a majority of the experiment. Taking her briefcase, Patricia exited the hotel and walked towards the university, which was only a few blocks away from the hotel. Getting a good look at the city itself, she was amazed by what she saw: skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, people in all kinds of occupations making their ways and an overall clean city, rarely did she a piece of trash on the street. Patricia was happy with what she saw and glad to see a country so productive and advanced as her own native Zambia. Yet, she felt that something was off, and this success seemed pushed onto the people without their consent. Back in Zambia, she heard that the Panama Experiment had global consequences on all territories great and small; and seeing as how the experiment took place north of where she was, it was a little overwhelming for her. She was beginning to hesitate seeing Mr. Vostok, but her curiosity triumphed over her fears before she arrived at the university.

The university itself seemed sparse, as if all but a few students decided to leave campus. The campus itself looked well kept and up to date, but for the students she saw there, they seemed uncomfortable with being on the campus. Patricia asked a student which building was the science lecture center, since that was where Mr. Vostok was. The student replied:

“It is the third building down the south pathway.”

“Thank you,” Patricia replied.

“No problem. What are you going there for anyway?” The student asked.

“I’m going to see one, Mr. Vostok, and talk to him about his Panama Experiment.”

“No…lady, turn around and leave now. Mr. Vostok is a monster.”

“What? Why?”

“That man changed everything in the world for the worst, even though it may seem for the better. From what I have been told, that man bathed Panama in the blood of hundreds of people, despite who his subjects were.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have to leave for class, but all I can say is that most people have a capacity for empathy. Mr. Vostok, on the other hand, has a capacity for something, but it is not empathy.”

With that, the student made his way out of Patricia’s sight and disappeared. Feeling a little more fearful now, Patricia made her way into the science lecture center through the smudged double doors. Making her way down the gigantic auditorium, she saw an old man of about seventy sitting by himself at a desk down in the center. Not even paying attention to Patricia, she walked over to him and introduced herself. Only when she introduced herself did Nikhol show the slightest interest in her existence by looking up at her.

“So you are Ms. Nnamani from Zambia, correct?” Nikhol asked.

“Yes, that is true” Patricia responded timidly.

“And you’re here to inquire me about my infamous Panama Experiment?”

“Yes.”

“Well then Ms. Nnamani, as I have already agreed with your superiors back at Zambia, I will tell you about the experiment. But I have one question for you. Are you at all squeamish?”

“No sir, not really.”

“Okay, and with that I will tell you that which I have refused to tell anyone else for over fifty years.”

Patricia pulled up a seat close to his desk while Nikhol went inside his office and grabbed a thick file containing information on the experiment. Patricia felt uncomfortable in this man’s presence and as if he wanted to forget all about the experiment and talking to her. Yet, she made an obligation to hear about the experiment, and as bad as it might be, she was willing to hear it out…at any cost.

When Nikhol returned, he set the thick file on his desk and opened it up to reveal pictures of him when he was younger. He was slim and happy in comparison to what he was now, a man aged by experience, bereft of any regret whatsoever. Looking at the picture and back at him Patricia refused to believe that it was the same man.

“Before I begin talking about the experiment, I have another question for you: why do you think that God and the Devil are so far away from us humans?” Nikhol asked jarringly.

Stunned at the question, since Patricia considered herself to be a devout Christian woman, she did not know what to say. The question came out of nowhere, but was sure to be tied into Nikhol’s odd and disturbing logic. Worried about the answer, she simply replied:

“I don’t know.”

“It’s because the both of them are afraid of us,” Nikhol said darkly.

“Why is that?”

Nikhol got up from his desk and began pacing around it as if to assert dominance over Patricia.

“We, as humans, have an unremarkable amount of intelligence found in few other animals. But we were also blessed to have cognitive thought and forms of communication to piece together and share these ideas amongst ourselves. The good lord himself knew that we were too smart and too powerful, maybe even ore powerful than him to reveal the truth in front of us. Since he wanted to preserve his power, he set himself up in the heavens above far out of human contact and observe us from afar. Only when we cease to be and stand before him in judgment can he hold control over us as he is in charge of our fate.

“But as if that wasn’t enough, he created heaven for the souls who he deemed were tame and blind enough to obey his commands. Meanwhile, he created the devil and hell to deal with those who challenged him and didn’t do his bidding. Again, Satan could only deal with people after they have been judged and sentenced to an eternity in torture. Had either of them revealed themselves in public, they know that they would be in trouble, forced to stoop to the level of the creation. They would not last a day on this Earth, because even though they may be the most powerful beings, we have done far worse things in their names. That is why they stay so far away, they are afraid of what they have unleashed: human nature.”

Patricia did not know how she should have responded to that, she felt as if she got herself into something bad. Something within this man caused the world to change, but not for the better, still she felt a moral obligation to hear what he had to say in terms of the experiment.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the experiment,” Nikhol said.

“Yes…let’s.” Patricia responded, grabbing her notepad and pencil.

“Ever since, I was a young boy, growing up in Estonia, I was always fascinated by the human condition and how we respond to certain instances. What better demonstration than the bloody protests and the failed reforms? You could not imagine the impact it had on a young boy’s mind. From there on, I began studying anthropology and human behaviors and found that each culture expresses some form of violence in one way or another, whether it be subjective or cultural. When I was twenty-eight and all barriers had been broken in terms of science, I figured that this was a perfect opportunity to begin the experiment. With so much chaos and turmoil in the global stage, anybody would be desperate enough to quell the damage caused, and who better to blame the damage on than the rich?”

Patricia took notice of the fact that he was smiling when explaining all of this and even having nostalgia. Patricia made a note of this.

“I figured that this was the perfect opportunity to introduce my experiment to the highest branches of global science. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually I was given the funds and means to carry out the experiment. The organizations were so desperate for some sort of stability that they were willing to do anything. I introduced them to my plans and convinced them that this was the quickest way to peace, but not the most humane.”

“How did they react?” Patricia asked.

“Of course, they were stunned to see how exactly it would be performed. Considering that the first step alone was evacuating the entire country of Panama.”

“Wait, all the people from Panama had to leave their homes for this experiment?”

“Don’t worry, we gave them all visas and told them to migrate anywhere so long as they weren’t in Panama. Of course, we had some defectors, but with the help of some secret police, we were able to get them to move out; not one inch of Panama was safe to hide in. Everyone was evacuated from Panama.”

“What next?”

“The next step was that we took the top thirty richest people from every country or sovereign nation in the world: kings, queens, emperors, prime ministers, presidents, CEOS, industrialists, anybody who was among the top thirty most affluent people in their countries. Unfortunately, we had to lie to them and tell them that Panama was going to be a place of sanctuary for them until the violence ceased. We contacted them any way we could, phone, email, you name it and we were on it. Eventually we were able to get all thirty of the people to agree to come, but the catch was that they were not allowed to bring any form of their wealth. It was hard to convince them of this, but when they realized that their lives were at stake, they all agreed.”

“That is interesting, but I have to say that I don’t find anything moral in this experiment.”

Nikhol looked Patricia dead in the eyes and said in a raised voice:

“I did not ask for your moral input! This was science and sometimes, science needs to discontinue its ethics in order for progress to be made. There are many examples I could give, but I would like to get back to the experiment on hand.”

“Yes, of course sir” Patricia said nervously.

“Anyways, we contacted every one of those people, from Wall Street traders in America to automobile industrialists in Germany. Everybody whom we contacted flocked to Panama within a week. Boy, they had no idea what they were in for.”

“What exactly did you have in store for those people once they came in” Patricia asked nervously.

“Like I said, they were not allowed to bring any of their wealth to Panama, and when they got there, they were all confused as to what was going on. Before I let them get settled in, all 5850 of them, I told them that they were safe from the unrest of the public and that they were free to do as they please.”

“Did they know that they were a part of the experiment?”

“No my dear, they didn’t, but I had to lie to them in order to make the experiment go off without a hitch.”

“What then?”

“Well, after all that, those people began settling in and I told them that they needed to figure out amongst themselves how they were going to run things. Naturally, they all wanted a democratic society where they all contributed in their own special ways, while others wanted to seize power for themselves in an attempt to become the richest out of all of them. Observing through cameras set up all throughout the country, we saw that they instead went with a democratic society where they did their parts with whatever resources they had there. Those rich people sure did pull their own weights, everyone; including myself, involved in the experiment was surprised. Everything was going incredibly well, better than anyone expected.

“At least for the first couple of weeks, until the time came to select leaders, everyone wanted to throw their hats in the ring and gain some power. Eventually, everyone decided that a Mr. Abdul Haraqim, an automobile industrialist from Yemen, should be in charge. However, since he was in charge and had little political experience, he wanted everything to work for him and nobody else. He wanted to show everyone that he was the head honcho of all the richest people on the planet.

“One month went by with Mr. Haraqim in charge and things were already going badly; everyone except for Mr. Haraqim and his aides were living in squalor. The other people decided that this was not how they wanted to live and so, they wanted him out so they could replace him with someone else.”

“But Mr. Haraqim would not budge, would he?”

“That’s right my dear, Mr. Haraqim knew that if he lost his prestige, he could live in the same way that the other people did, and he didn’t want that. He flat out refused to move out and as a result, the other people’s lives just got worse and worse, soon enough nobody had running water or electricity. Mr. Haraqim focused on one thing, and one thing only, himself.

“The others were sick of being treated the way they did, and with their lives going terribly, they violently stormed Mr. Haraqim’s place of residence. They took him outside, held him down and slit his throat. I saw the whole thing on one of the cameras in my lab, and took notes of how quickly things were breaking down.”

Patricia thought that Nikhol was smiling when he saw it happen and even enjoyed it a little. She shuddered at the thought of him being so elated at so hideous a sight. Yet, she pressed on and listened to Nikhol’s story.

“From that point on, it became a mad dash for control, and everyone was pitted against each other. It was at this point that the elite and affluent had been reduced to the status of savages, and it was a sight to see. They had the whole country of Panama to themselves and all they cared about was who was on top in the midst of the wealthiest people in the world. They broke out into a civil war, but not as newly established Panamanians, but as people within their own elite classes. While all this was going on, the water quality deteriorated, manufacturing was at a standstill-not that it was something to shake a stick at in the first place-and food supplies ran out.

“I told my scientists to take note of who was dying and who was already dead, within three weeks of Mr. Haraqim’s murder, one fifth of the subjects killed each other. Two weeks later, half of the population was dead and three months after the experiment began, the last surviving person killed himself when he realized that he could not rule over corpses. That last man was Nick Thompson, a bondsman from the United States with a net worth of $72.5 billion.

“Patricia, I want to ask you something, how long do you think I intended this experiment to be?”

Patricia didn’t want to think about it, because she knew the answer would startle her. As opposed to give in to Nikhol’s sickening interest in the experiment, she gave an answer that she did not care much for:

“Six months?”

“No, two years. I planned for this experiment to go on for two years, but instead they managed to kill each other in just three months. After that, I had all I needed to know about who we are as people, power hungry, greedy excuses for life who are willing to sacrifice anyone and anything so long as it does not pertain to them.”

“Mr. Nikhol, I must disagree with you on that.”

“I’m sorry my dear, but the proof is in the pudding with this one, by all accounts these were the most civilized people in our world. In the three months’ span, they managed to knock themselves down to the most basic form of nature. Now what does that tell you about the human condition?”

“I think that you are too judgmental and harsh from what you have done here. Sure these people may have destroyed themselves, but there does exist good people out there, and I think that you have been too blinded from all the bad stuff to see the good.”

“Good? Ms. Nnamani, I have been on this planet for eighty-five years and have yet to see goodness happen on a large scale. All my life, I have been plagued with visions of war, famine, poverty and greed. Oh, the greed.

“I have seen billions of dollars taken from innocent mouths while they were forced to starve and feed the machine of greed and gluttony. I was not asked to be a part of a world that operates like this, and I never would have accepted given the chance. I only wanted to give those rich people their what for when the few of them prosper while the rest of them starve. Over the years people have called my acts “immoral” or “radical,” well it wouldn’t have to come to this had people not been so daft to recognize the injustices set before them. All I did was try to alleviate the problem, albeit my methods were a little off-center, but if there is one thing the world needed, it was a change, and change is what I provided.

“I do realize that I killed a lot of people in the process, directly and indirectly, but there have been people throughout history that have killed millions and only got a slap on the wrist.”
            “But Mr. Vostok, times have changed and people are much nicer now, don’t you see that people can be good of their own accord?”

“Oh please, once news of the Panama Experiment got out, people and nations have only been acting good because of fear. Our morality is not embedded in our minds like Kant says; with humans it is a constant carrot and stick method. Take note of the world you see outside of you, I can guarantee you that you will not see it in the same way again.”

“Mr. Vostok if this is how you view our progress and how we have advanced as a species then I am afraid I will have to take my leave. I have all the notes I need and I thank you for your time.”

As Patricia was getting up to leave, she took all of her notes with her and headed for the doorway in the eerily empty lecture hall. Before she opened the door, she heard Nikhol call back to her once more.

“My dear, before you leave, I would like to give you a piece of advice. Stay away from any and all religions and the activities they provide, for they only aim to take away the savage pieces of our nature and mold us into the figures God never could make us into.”

Speechless, Patricia left the building without another word and Nikhol stayed back at his desk the way Patricia first found him in. Once outside, the world seemed to take on a different appearance for Patricia, it wasn’t as golden as she once though it was and being so near the site of the experiment bothered her. Planning on going back to her hotel to rest and absorb all that she was told, she looked at the sky and saw a singular hawk dart across the cloudless infinite. The sight of it captured Patricia’s sights and she could not look away.

In her gaze, a student went up to her and asked if everything was okay. Patricia responded confidently:

“I’m alright.”