[KING]Today, we have arranged a phone interview with Phillip Moreau. Phillip is one of the two Genoshan teenagers who appeared two days ago out front of the UN Building in New York, requested asylum in the United States from what they call a ‘form of slavery’ which Genoshan mutants are subjected to. Phillip is also the son of President David Moreau, the leader of Genosha. His administration has strongly rebutted the claims of his son, and has characterized it as ‘being manipulated by extremists for an extreme reaction'.
[KING]Phillip, it’s good to have you on the show.
[MOREAU]Thank you John.
[KING]You’ve made some extreme claims over the last few days regarding your native country and your father’s government. Obviously, with Genoshan officials denying the stories, can we really take your claims at face value?
[MOREAU]Jenny and I didn’t come from the other side of the world and risk everything because we want to get back at Genosha. We came because we knew that very soon, Jenny would be separated from us because of her status as a mutant. The big problem is that over the last several years, mutants have been more and more limited in their rights, and looked on and treated like a resource instead of full Genoshan citizens, which they are.
[KING]I’m having some trouble following you, Phillip. You mean the government would take her?
[MOREAU]It’s important to understand Genosha’s position, John. Most of the country’s income is generated as an energy exporter of oil and natural gas. However, the main fields are in an underwater trench right off the coast which is nearly impossible even for modern technology to tap effectively. In the late sixties, a group of eight mutants volunteered to work for the Genoshan government to develop those fields. Their powers allowed them to build the first well heads. We’ve worked hard to develop other industries over the years, but Genosha is still in the position that without those energy resources, the country would collapse economically.
[KING]So these mutants volunteered? For how long?
[MOREAU]For life, John. There’s currently six left from the original eight, and they form a body called ‘The Commission’ that advises the government on mutant affairs. They are Genosha’s greatest heroes.
[KING]It sounds like mutants are much more highly regarded in Genosha than in the United States, Phillip. Why would you leave?
[MOREAU]Because it’s changing, John. The mutant system is like a draft. If you’re deemed to have a power with a direct application that can aid any of the government operations, you are assigned to them. That I understand, since without those workers, Genosha can’t survive. The mutant workers are well paid, receive the best health care, and used to be treated like veteran soldiers doing a hard duty for the rest of the country. But in the last six years, things have started to change. There are reports of mutant workers being worked to unreasonable limits, their pay being cut off, access to friends and family restricted. There have been stories of abuse taking place in the Enclave in Hammer Bay for mutants who try and speak out about the situation.
[KING]So they don’t get a choice where they live or what job they have to have?
[MOREAU]No. In the eighties, there were two major powers related accidents that killed hundreds. The Commission worked out a program with the government where all mutants would be required to live in the same area, and that the government would build specially designed buildings and facilities designed to protect people from those kinds of powers accidents. The government agreed to provide the facilities for free for mutants, provided that they could only live in the Enclave. Mutants are free to come and go from the Enclave as they wish, but they aren’t allowed to live in an outside home.
[KING]What about the jobs?
[MOREAU]A little less than half of the mutant population has powers that can be applied to industry. For those who don’t have applicable powers, they can either find their own employment, or the government has a mutant employment program. Because of the nature of Genosha’s geography, we don’t have the option of letting a mutant who’s powers can help our resource mining choose to do something else. But this is where it is different, John. That was supposed to be the reason, but what we’re hearing and seeing is less about it being the country’s survival being dependent on them, but more that we could turn ourselves into an economic power with it. With their powers, they can do things that either can’t be done, or can’t be done at a feasible cost. So instead of replacing mutant workers with technology and infrastructure as soon as it is possible to do so, they’re changing the system to depend on mutant labour to generate fortunes for the government and related industries. To me and to Jenny, that’s a very small step from slavery.
[KING]Have you witnessed these changes directly? Because it sounds like a bit of a conspiracy theory without proof.
[MOREAU]I’ve seen a little, and read a lot of reports smuggled out of off-limits government areas to support it. In Prenova, the government is constructing the world’s largest geothermal power plant, that taps a deep fissure. The work is extremely dangerous, and one of my father’s classified reports admitted that the death toll was high but it wasn’t a concern because the mutant workers were replaceable. But if you don’t believe me without proof, that’s fine. Send a delegation to Genosha and make them show you the energy fields and the plant. That’s all we’re asking, is to find out the truth for the world to see.
[KING]The State Department refuses to say whether or not you’ll be granted asylum, Phillip, and the Genoshan government is threatening trade sanctions if we don’t send you back. What will you do if you’re sent back?
[MOREAU]Escape again. Jenny’s not going to live as a slave, and I’m not going to keep my mouth shut while a few people twist everything that Genosha stands for into a slave state just so they can make more money.
[KING]Impassioned words, Phillip. Thank you.
[KING]A young man with an immense trial ahead of him. The Obama Administration is in a tight fix. President Obama’s long standing principles on rights and freedoms may have to be weighed against his chances for re-election. If he grants asylum to the teenagers and Genosha stops trade with the United States, energy and gas prices will climb in the months leading to the 2012 election. However, if he doesn’t grant them asylum and their claims turn out to be true, he will have sent a teenaged girl into a life of slavery.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops.
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