Monument to the Collective

Monument to the Collective
Drawing of the monument
History
Built	100 TT
Built by	Likono Aberen (ordered construction) Apetid Nusen Madele
Demolished	11 PC (struck by rockets)
Location	Izumisawa, Collective Kelelemi Republic
Site notes
Height	68m
Material	Concrete, steel
Condition	Blown to smithereens

The Monument to the Collective was a monument in Izumisawa, the capital city of the Collective Kelelemi Republic. It was erected in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the collective republic, and stood as a monument to the idea of Collectivism on the islands, or the belief that the three peoples of Kelelemi share a single nationhood and should work for the benefit of the shared society. The statue was commissioned by Kelelemi President Likono Aberen in 104 TT, to be formally opened to the public four years later. Aberen, who expected to be popularly re-elected to a sixth term, would die from cardiac complications a year later, leaving his vice president and successor, Apetid Nusen Madele, to unveil the statue.

The monument was demolished in 11 PC, as a result of an SLU bombing campaign of the city of Izumisawa during the First Kelelemi Civil War. A series of rocket strikes, intentional or not, destroyed large parts of the statue, leaving only the concrete base underneath it. Due to the impoverished state of the country after the war, the monument was never rebuilt during the period of the Provisional Republic of Kelelemi. Various destroyed pieces of the statue would later be taken away by local residents, and be reused in the informal reconstruction of housing. In 48 PC, the hill upon which the monument was constructed was zoned as a mixed-use residential area, and was developed during the 50s. The exact location of the monument is currently occupied by a supermarket.

Symbolism

The abstract design of the monument consisted of three vertical bars of concrete placed against one another, meant to represent the three peoples of Kelelemi: the Kawakians, the Sawaji and the Sorewa. Ostensibly, the monument was to represent unity in Collectivism, displaying that shared life is possible and desirable for mutual prosperity. This reflected the ideas of the founder of the nation, Nekoso Yolese, who would abolish the Republic of Kawaki after his conquest of the Kelelemi isles in order to construct a nation based on shared, universal identity. While Yolese thought the peoples could one day be equal, he did not believe that to be the case yet when establishing the nation, still perceiving the Sorewan way of life as being inferior. These aims of breaking down the racial hierarchy would eventually be abandoned, and would instead be replaced with a vision of collectivism which saw a separate role for all three layers of society. This shift, most notably seen in the presidency of Likono Aberen, would do away with notions of equality, and treated the three groups according to stricter segregationist principles. This change in perception could be seen in the statue itself. The central pillar, notably thicker than the other two, expanded horizontally towards the top, pushing the other two to tilt towards the side. It was implicitly meant to symbolize the Kawakians' role as leaders of the Collective Kelelemi Republic, with the Sorewa and Sawaji providing a crucial but supporting role.

The statue's destruction, at the hand of Sorewa separatists, would later be associated as a symbol of the end of the Collective Kelelemi Republic.