By Dr. Azhagan Chenganna*
Gen-Z protesters recently galvanized global attention as they harnessed the power of digital technologies to mobilize and overthrow autocratic, and often gerontocratic, regimes that denied them of their future. At the start of a new political dawn replete with promises and opportunities, the question lingers as to whether these digitally powered revolutions will transform into renewed hope and aspirations or will they disintegrate quickly adopting the habits of the old political elites. In Francis Nyamnjoh’s novel Digital Uprising: The flower of freedom in Mimboland (2024), the citizens of Mimboland, a dystopian nation in Africa, huddled with the same questions of political change and continuity as the fate of Mimboland led by Liberté, the Gen-Z daughter of president Longstay, becomes entangled with the Liquid Army of nanobots, an assemblage of enigmatic and sentient nanobots, as they lead the revolution to topple Longstay’s authoritarian regime.
However, the post-revolutionary situation in Mimboland comes with no guarantees of democratic success as the nanobots have unexpected and unintended consequences. Liberté and her Architects of Change team are confronted to ambivalent choices as their non-human allies – the Liquid Army of nanobots designed by the Architects of Change – enfold new possibilities of influence and coercion, guidance and temptation, control and freedom. Through their whispers and hum, the nanobots could nudge public opinion in particular ways. With their support, will Liberté and her team create more democratic freedom and collective progress for the people of Mimboland? Or will the power of the nanobots have a chilling effect on the revolution turning Mimboland into a digital wasteland?
This is the ethical and moral tension that runs through Francis Nyamnjoh’s novel as it explores the fragile relationship between humans and technological innovations, creators and their creation, as the nanobots’ spheres of influence potentially encroach on human and political freedoms. The novel makes the case for reclaiming the discourse on technology and to reimagine a just society through conviviality. It emphasizes the relationality between humans and machines (the nanobots) as they become alive to each other, but also underlines the importance of the human heart and spirit. Rather than conversion, it invites the reader to challenge the rigid boundaries between human and technology through conversation as a way to strike a balance between freedom and control in a technologically-driven world.
The three-parts novel opens on President Longstay – the satirical puns in the novel are intended – entrenching his iron fist on Mimboland through his reign of terror. Heir to the former leader of Mimboland, Alhadji Lamido Baba, President Longstay promised to embody the values of unity in diversity and inclusion. However, his exercise of power entrenched his politics of the Big Man. At the age of 97, after a six-decade rule, as he laid in a vegetative state, no thought of retirement occurred to him. He had benefitted from the support of the former colonial powers that profited off Mimboland. Drawing from the marvels of science and the magic of witchcraft, he spun himself into a malignant ‘Super Louse’. The parasite, similar to an implant, was to be hosted in the extravagant wig of his unsuspecting wife, the First Lady. Literally and metaphorically, he had already scarred his country through his politics of greed and extraction that had destroyed Mimboland’s nature and soaked its rivers. At his advanced age, his appetite for predation had only increased. As a parasite cloned in the extravagant wig of the First Lady, Longstay contemplated his longevity by festering on her bloodstream but paradoxically, her loyalty to him started to wear thin as the revolutionary calls for a liberated Mimboland became more audible to her ears.
In the meantime, Liberté, born of a mother who was violated by Longstay and was never acknowledged by him, harnessed the power of the digital to mobilize the youth and to become the revolutionary voice of Mimboland. Her digital activism through Instagram posts, TikTok videos and online rants exposed her father’s corrupt and decaying regime. Liberté’s activism was multiplied through her followers who shared her posts in defiance to Longstay and his regime. Using the playbook of the autocrat, Longstay ordered an internet shutdown reminiscent of many internet shutdowns. But to his discontent, the people of Mimboland showed incredible resilience by clandestinely bypassing the internet censorship.
The second part of the novel opens on the metamorphosis and the fusing identities of the First Lady and Adonis Amba, a love robot, as they shape each other into sentience and love. The love between the First Lady and Adonis Amba is the centerpiece of the second part as their presence and attention to each other blossom. Meanwhile, Liberté and the Liquid Army of digital warriors escalated a series of targeted activities against Longstay. The Liquid Army of nanobots tracked down Longstay in all his manifestations – as a man, a parasite and even a superhuman. This dataveillance also meant keeping a close eye on his surrogate First Lady considering her every purchase and online activities even though watching over her entailed borderline intrusion into her private life.
Knowing that the First Lady wished to extend her biological limitations to appear eternally youthful and glamourous, the biohackers of the Liquid Army manufactured a face concoction of microscopic agents of nanobots composed of the particles of democracy and freedom. The “miracle” treatment was marketed as a luxurious and limited edition of cosmetics to behold the attention of the First Lady. Without suspecting the alteration to the original composition of the cream, Dr. Tuer-Tout, her trusted plastic surgeon, administered it to her face through a syringe. The serum had the effects of revitalizing and awakening her democratic sensibilities. Each time she applied the cream to her face and looked to the mirror, a torrent of heart wrenching guilt and shame overwhelmed her about her past while the particles also triggered her democratic aura. While targeting Longstay, the nanobots had forced the First Lady to self-introspection. Under her skin, the cream compelled her to examine her life as an obedient wife wearing an extravagant wig and neglecting the democratic demands of Mimboland. She had been oblivious to her life’s deeper purpose.
Enter Adonis Amba, the sophisticated android love robot. The robot was initially programmed to serve Longstay’s callous agenda but it was hacked by the Liquid Army and it was, henceforth, designed to develop affinities with the First Lady. Adonis Amba was introduced to the First Lady who was immediately impressed by his attention and care to her. If the First Lady’s heart started beating for Adonis Amba it was also because Longstay’s lack of attention to her. As the second wife of Longstay, the First Lady enjoyed a lavish lifestyle despite her craving for genuine affection.
As their feelings transitioned, the First Lady and Adonis Amba became bounded by love and sentience. This is a tour de force of the novel pointing the reader to the malleable, flexible and multiple ways of being of the First Lady and Adonis Amba. The latter’s sensors recorded each of her body moves and voice intonations. Made of circuits and code, Adonis Amba was graduating each day into consciousness, subjectivity and love through the flux of interaction with the First Lady, unlike Longstay who had walled himself into cold arrogance, selfishness and inhumanity. The irony of the situation: while the First Lady and the robot were augmenting in love, Longstay was constricting in possessive jealousy as his cameras through the tiny eyes of the louse watched, with fear, the shared feelings between the First Lady and Adonis Amba.
In a last desperate attempt, Longstay tried to hack Adonis Amba with a virus but the Liquid Army managed to thwart the attack. As her attachment to the robot matured and the hums of the nanobots’ elevated her to the values of justice and social change, the First Lady was undergoing a transformation as she regained confidence and voice. Using a scissor, the First Lady shaved her scalp and the louse was vanquished as he made a last attempt to convince his entourage of his powers. The First Lady’s bald scalp stood as a symbol of her rejection of Longstay’s patriarchy and her willingness to reclaim her agency. Mimboland was liberated from the tyranny of Longstay as he lied dead in the wig as a parasite.
The third part of the novel is about the difficult path of governing and reconstructing Mimboland in the aftermath of the revolution. The nanobots had organically settled in the political mix of Mimboland’s governance as they exercised their influence. Regrouped in the Task Force chambers to turn around Mimboland to a just and ethical future, Liberté and the Architects of Change had deliberately created them as change enablers. However, the latter also showed signs of deception as the Liquid Army of nanobots brutally cracked down on dissenters. In post-revolutionary Mimboland, the Architects of Change and the Army of nanobots lacked a shared purpose as the nanobots’ influence nudged Mimbolanders in particular ways that loosened social cohesion. While some nanobots showed empathy and compassion, others fueled anger and resentment leading Mimbolanders to resort to violence and chaos. The Architects of Change stood divided as to the nanobots’ potential for good.
To add to the complexity of the political situation, a series of terror attacks had struck Mimboland and the motivations of the sponsors of the attacks remained unclear. The explosions opened wide the rifts and tensions as to the way forward. In the tide of rising fears, should the team adopt the tyrannical line of control reminiscent of Longstay? The nanobots watched the events and reactions unfold and their understandings of human nature deepened as their neural paths formed an interconnected network allowing them to predict human emotions in real time. Two camps among the nanobots were drawn. The faction led by Alpha-1 emphasized individual freedom while another faction driven by Beta-1 highlighted the importance of guidance and collective progress. The whispers of the nanobots mirrored Liberté and her team grappling with conflicting emotions and the uncertain future of Mimboland. Liberté and the Architects understood that the nanobots had the potency of enhancing their decisions, even though the nanobots whispers could also be resisted through human choice.
Not to mention the difficult and treacherous task of navigating the uncharted waters of international diplomacy as foreign powers had quickly switched their allegiance to Liberté and her team following Longstay’s downfall. Their neocolonial interests in mind, the ambassadors from Muzunguland, the former colonial powers, sought meetings with the new regime over access to the nanobots. Liberté could understand that the foreign powers aimed to weaponize their dependency on the nanobots. Notwithstanding the whispers of the nanobots, Liberté understood that she had to trust her own conviction and instincts. In the face of the neocolonial challenges, Liberté and her team had to follow their own path guided by the subtle whispers of the nanobots without giving up their convictions about the sovereignty and welfare of Mimboland.
Nyamnjoh’s novel is a multilayered account about human and machine relations and their ethical and moral implications in a technologically driven world. Liberté and the First Lady became reluctant leaders in the transformation of Mimboland. With her Architects of Change team, Liberté had the support of the Liquid Army of nanobots. This technological alliance did not come at the expense of the human spirit as learnt by liberté and her team. The fate of Mimboland did not lay with the nanobots and their whispers but the choices and values upheld by the new governing team. Nyamnjoh highlights the need to find the balance between freedom and control that defies the dualisms between humans and technology and the pretensions of dominance. The novel carries the message of the composite ways of being in the spirit of relationality and sociality in Mimboland. Nyamnjoh reminds the reader that through deliberation and imagination, technology can be used, nanobots after nanobots, in the firm belief of the goodness of humanity that is incarnated in the flower of freedom in Mimboland.
*Dr. Azhagan Chenganna is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Mauritius. Email: a.chenganna@uom.ac.mu
