Gulandia was a place of ultimate annihilation and demise. Not in a wide sense though. A small group of “the privileged” could never associate with these words. They felt very comfortable in their mansions filled with all possible luxuries. Yet this was not so for “the doomed,” who made up 99.9 percent of the population.

The state was not established in a day. It all started with a revolution in 2800, led by the powerful Guland and his proud army. In 3000, the nation comprised 10 million people, of whom only 10,000 resided in the capital city. All others were dispersed over vast lands, working in factories and surviving on scraps.

The rulers of Gulandia were elected, yet never fairly. Everyone knew that the elections were only a glib performance. Nevertheless, everybody attended these elections. They knew that if they did not, the police would come and fetch their family. No one knew where they would be taken, yet everybody was aware of the fact that when the police came, that person would never be seen again. So they abided.

It was unimaginable that someone would try to stir this order. Of course, some attempts were made now and then by “the crazy ones,” as they were called, yet they were always taken away, never to return. All hope had been lost. In fact, for Gulandians, hope consisted of survival: surviving the winter, surviving the summer, surviving everything that their rulers threw at them. Obedience was their second nature.

This is how it was before Nelson Mandela came along. At first, he was labeled as “the crazy one.” Even as a child he was different. His eyes did not spell submissiveness, but rather rebellion. As he grew up, his meek peers and teachers did not like him for his outspoken ways. After trying to gather all factory workers in his town for a protest, he was taken away by the police. Yet, he returned from wherever they had taken him. The first one and the last one to return. People said that the state had done something terrible to him, turning him into their mechanism. However, this was not true. His eyes remained as bright and rebellious as ever.

Indeed, the state believed that Nelson was their player, yet this could not be farther away from the truth. As it turned out, during Nelson’s imprisonment, the state was astonished by his analytical capacity and assigned him as their key technical specialist. However, he was always an underdog in their game. He, who seemed the least likely to become a rebel, turned out to be one of the strongest leaders yet to come. In the end, he was the one who freed Gulandia and united its people. This is how it happened.

During the presidential elections in 3000, Nelson was selected as a presidential candidate by one of the fictional parties. As usual, it was decided who would be president prior to the election process and it was not going to be Nelson. Aside from being the candidate, as the number one technician of the state, Nelson took care of the voting process. He was loved and supported by the people of Gulandia; this is exactly why he was brought forward as a pawn in the election game. However, this was a huge mistake on part of the state.

When the time came to reveal the results, Nelson linked the actual voting outcomes to the media screens: each home, no matter how poor or deprived, had a large media screen. It was a shocking and unexpected surprise when the screens showed that 80 percent of voters supported Nelson. The state was infuriated. Rebellion broke out. This was Gulandia’s finale.