Category Archives: politics

economy, politics

CENSORSHIP 2.0

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[An old man, outwardly weathered but with an enthusiastic spirit]

My first book denounced the atrocities and abuses of my country’s oppressive government.

It was immediately censored. But I paid for a run of a hundred copies in an illegal printer shop. And then I gave all the copies away for free. I only asked people to pass the book onto someone else after reading it.

I couldn’t tell you how many people read it. Probably in the thousands as it was later distributed in photocopy. One thing I know for sure; people were talking about it and my ideas started to spread, to connect with people.

The proof is that the government sent me into exile soon after.

But that didn’t stop me. Shortly after migrating here, I started writing my second book. It was even more critical of my country’s government, but it also pointed out the traps and deficiencies I had experienced in this democracy I was living in.

I worked as fast as I could, always thankful for the freedom of speech that allowed me to write whatever I wanted.

And, of course, I anticipated it’d be hard to find a publisher for my new book; but not nearly impossible. In my country, they wouldn’t print it out of fear of going to jail. Here, out of fear of losing money.

I ended up self-publishing it. Just like my first book. And then I distributed it in some small bookstores.

No one bought it.

I cut the price in half. That only made it worse. People assume cheap things have no value.

I only gave up when I realized I was the victim of the most efficient censorship ever devised. The free market. A system that understands that suppressing ideas is just a way to advertise them; that people crave what’s forbidden. So they let these ideas free in a world filled with silly movies, escapist fiction, grandiose mass spectacles… where they’ll fade away, ignored by the public, disregarded because of their lack of profitability.

But that’s not the end of me. I now plan to sneak back into my country and write a third book.

I really hope they censor it like the first one.

Are you an actor or director interested in using this monologue? Contact us in ABOUT MONOLOGY!

 Copyright Abel Gonzalez 2016

economy, history, politics

THE MACHINE WE ALL BUILT

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[A middle-aged man in a blue work coat. He has a gentle face and a docile manner. He speaks softly, as if afraid.]

“There was barely any work at the workshop so, when the order came in, well, it was a relief.

According to the specs, the client wanted us to build a very sophisticated piece, so complex it would take at least six months to complete. In other words, six months of very profitable labor.

The specs didn’t clarify what kind of machine our piece would be a part of, and even though I was curious, I got so busy setting up production that I soon forgot. Besides, this kind of secrecy is not unheard of in our business. Industrial espionage, pending patents, all good reasons for the client not to share the final design with us.

But then, halfway into the project, we started lagging behind schedule and I had to look for extra hands in order to make the delivery date.

I called my friends at other shops and was surprised to find out they were also looking for temporary workers. I soon realized every workshop in town was slammed building parts for this “mystery machine,” as some of the guys called it.

I was tempted to ask my colleagues if they too found it unsettling that we were all building pieces for a machine we knew nothing about. But, why question a job that had brought us all months of employment and profit? No one likes a party pooper…

So I just paid my employees overtime and production eventually got back on schedule. Months later, we completed the piece right on time.

The same night we shipped it out, we threw a party to celebrate. Believe it or not, some employees even cried; that’s how attached we all had become to the piece.

A few weeks later, without warning, the authorities deployed a gigantic machine into the streets that, with one clean sweep, annihilated thousands of protesters.

No one would ever admit it, but deep down, most of us knew what kind of machine our parts would eventually help create.

Although, why deny it… Making them brought us such happiness.”

Are you an actor or director interested in using this monologue? Contact us in ABOUT MONOLOGY!

 Copyright Abel Gonzalez 2016

economy, politics

THE CORP AND THE CORPSE

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[A man around fifty-years-old in a suit.] 

“Remember that industrial waste spill a few years back? The one that contaminated our bay and drove all the fishermen out of business?

I was one of the lawyers who represented the fishermen in the civil suit against the corporation responsible. And, as you probably now, after two long years of litigation the jury came back with a non-guilty verdict.

My clients couldn’t believe it; They were crushed… they couldn’t grasp how the clear culprit of could get off scot-free like that…

So I told them this story to help them understand.

I asked them to imagine they find a corpse stabbed several times… and right next to the body there’s this guy holding a big knife that’s dripping with blood.

The guy, the obvious suspect, doesn’t resist arrest. In fact, he’s very courteous and fully collaborates with the police.

As expected, he gets charged with murder. But when the trial starts, to everyone’s surprise, he declares he didn’t do it. He assures the court it was actually his right hand, who, acting on its own accord, pushed the knife into the victim’s body.

So then they call the guy’s right hand to the stand. And among his sobbing, the hand states he happened to just be holding the knife when the guy’s feet started walking toward the victim.

To confirm the hand’s story, they call in the guy’s feet to testify. First, the right foot, who quickly clarifies it was the left foot who took the first step.

Under duress, the left foot accuses the guy’s heart of forcing him to commit the crime since he couldn’t have moved without its constant supply of blood.

The heart is also called in and, in a big twist, he blames the brain for everything… He calls it the mastermind.

And you may think this is the whole truth… Of course, the brain did it!

But not really because the brain quickly excuses himself by pointing out it was the guy’s eyes who selected the victim…

In turn, the eyes accuse the mouth of being the one who called out to the victim; the mouth does something similar to the ears, the ears to the nose, etc.

In the end, the case is so tangled and convoluted that it’s impossible to lay any blame on the guy… or his limbs.

So he walks out a free man. Just like in our case against the corporation.

Because although many of its members showed up for the trial…

There wasn’t a single conscience among them.”

Are you an actor or director interested in using this monologue? Contact us in ABOUT MONOLOGY!

 Copyright Abel Gonzalez 2016