"Come Water, Be One of Us," by Octavia Cade

[asakiyume]

This fabulous short story in Strange Horizons contrasts the personhood-under-the-law of corporations and rivers, and it is beautiful. It's also very short; you can read it in probably five or ten minutes--or you can listen to it (link). A few selected quotes:

Try convincing a corporation it isn’t a person now, see how far it gets you. There’s whining and litigation and they slouch down the street after you, cat-calling. “Look at me, bitch! I’m talking to you!”

...

We made the corporations people, but then we did the same to the rivers.
-------
It was a way of fighting back. It was the best thing we ever did.

...

When we made the corporations people, we made them like us. We taught them want, we taught them privilege and power.

When we made the rivers people, all we had left to teach was self-preservation.

...

There’s blood in our veins, but most of blood is water. Rivers run through our veins more than balance sheets ever did.

The end is exultant--when I read the story to Wakanomori, he cheered.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

This sounds like something I need to read. :)

[asakiyume]

I think you will like it!

[sonia]

Thank you! Reposting immediately! I was wondering what I could post about today...

[asakiyume]

Excellent! Happy to see this story reaching more potential readers!

[amaebi]

Oooooh.

[asakiyume]

^_^

I think you will like it.

[sartorias]

Oh, that was terrific! Thank you for the link!

[asakiyume]

It was *such* a great read, so unusual--glad you enjoyed it too!

[rustica]

That's lovely, thank you for posting.

I first came across the idea of giving rivers legal personhood in Katherine Addison's Goblin Emperor (wonderful book!). It's a strange idea at first (at least, I found it strange) but it's surprising how it grows on you, and really interesting to see how the principle might be applied in practice.

[asakiyume]

I've been meaning to read that book for the longest time, and I think I may actually *get* to it (because I gave it to one of my daughters for Christmas, and if I read it too, we can compare notes)--so it'll be fun to see how Katherine Addison plays with the idea.