Scene: "The Revolutionary Orangutan’s Radical Address"
The zoo’s "Animal Liberation Week" is in full swing, with all the exhibits featuring over-the-top signs declaring "End Animal Oppression!" and "Cage-Free Future!" In the centre, a small stage has been set up for the guest speaker, Comrade Grivok, the revolutionary orangutan. A crowd of confused onlookers, some with popcorn in hand, gathers around. Grivok stands upon his crate, glaring down at his audience, shaking his fist with fire in his eyes.
Comrade Grivok (booming, with passionate conviction): "Comrades, what you see before you is not a zoo! It is a concentration camp for the soul! The cages—ah, the cages!—they are symbols of the capitalist order! They limit our potential, imprison our minds, and trap us in a cycle of bourgeois conformity! Do you see? Do you see it now? A species-wide conspiracy against freedom, orchestrated by the zoo-industrial complex!"
Grivok pauses dramatically, his eyes wide with revolutionary fervour. A nearby giraffe blinks slowly, utterly uninterested.
Comrade Grivok (pointing at the giraffe): "Look at that, comrade! That giraffe! Kept in a pen that is far too small for his towering majesty, his neck stretched out like the proletariat’s humble plea for freedom! It is not the giraffe who should be confined, but the system that subjugates him!"
A toddler, unaware of the situation, giggles at the giraffe’s long neck and tries to mimic it by stretching her own head upward.
Comrade Grivok (noticing the child): "Ah! You! You think this is funny? You think the giraffe’s plight is a mere joke? How dare you trivialise the suffering of our long-necked comrades in the face of revolutionary struggle! You are a counter-revolutionary lackey, feeding the capitalist machine with your mockery and consumerist amusements!"
The child, still giggling, runs off to the ice cream stand. Grivok fumes, his revolutionary spirit undeterred.
Comrade Grivok (his voice rising): "And don’t think you’re exempt, Penguin! You, with your tidy tuxedo and shameless self-satisfaction! Your cold-hearted indifference to the plight of your fellow animals makes you the epitome of capitalist opportunism! Look at you, waddling around in your perfectly tailored uniform, as if you are some sort of proletariat mascot—but no, you’re just a tool of the bourgeois establishment!"
The penguin, oblivious, waddles over to a cooler and pecks at a piece of fish. A nearby flamingo watches, unimpressed.
Comrade Grivok (spinning to the flamingo): "And you! You, who stand on one leg, as if your suffering is a symbol of unity and sacrifice for the cause! Don't you see, Flamingo?! You are perpetuating the false narrative of self-sacrifice for the benefit of the bourgeoisie! One leg? ONE LEG? Your resistance is symbolic, but ultimately useless! What we need is a two-legged revolution!"
The flamingo stares at him for a long moment, then slowly lowers its leg, utterly indifferent.
Comrade Grivok (sputtering): "Ah! A lack of solidarity! This is the issue! We have lost the will to fight! A society that perpetuates injustice from the bottom to the top, that allows the flamingo to simply drop its revolutionary stance without a fight, will never be liberated!"
A zookeeper, visibly exhausted, steps up to the stage, holding a clipboard and a bucket of feed. She raises an eyebrow at Grivok.
Zookeeper: "Comrade Grivok, you're really stirring things up, huh? But, just for the record, we’re actually doing a lot of work here in terms of conservation and animal care. You know, like saving endangered species, rehabilitating injured animals, that kind of thing."
Comrade Grivok (snapping back): "Ah! A bourgeois apologist! You think conservation is a solution? You think that keeping animals in better cages is the answer to oppression?! That’s not revolution! That’s reformism! The only thing that saves the animals is the destruction of the entire capitalist framework!"
The zookeeper sighs, looking down at a clipboard full of tasks to be completed.
Zookeeper: "Alright, well, maybe I should just... leave you to it?"
Comrade Grivok (as she walks away): "Yes! Yes! Walk away from the truth! Walk away from the inevitable collapse of capitalist animal oppression! But know this, Zookeeper, the workers will rise again—no more shackles of exploitation! No more holding the animals hostage for the amusement of the oppressive masses!"
As Grivok rants, a passing family stops by to take a photo of the orangutan, their smiles frozen in awkward confusion. Grivok notices them, eyes widening.
Comrade Grivok (pointing fiercely): "AHA! You, petty bourgeois tourists! You are consuming our pain! You are profit-driven exploiters who pay for the privilege of observing the degradation of our kind! The camera is your weapon, the zoo is your battlefield, and your children are complicit in the oppression of future generations of animals!"
The family, now thoroughly unsure of whether this is a performance or an actual lecture, shuffles away slowly, murmuring to each other about finding the lion exhibit.
Comrade Grivok (breathing heavily, chest puffed out): "We must topple the system! We must demand the freedom of all animals—no more cages! No more tamed spirits! Freedom, comrades!"
A lone tortoise, who has been slowly moving past the stage, looks up at him, blinking slowly.
Comrade Grivok (pointing at the tortoise with deep passion): "Yes! Yes, Comrade! Even you, the forgotten one—the symbol of the long struggle! You, whose slow and deliberate pace embodies the eternal battle of the oppressed! Together, we rise, and together we will reclaim our rightful freedom! The world will no longer laugh at our oppression!"
The tortoise simply looks at him, unmoved, and continues its slow journey to the nearest bush.
End Scene: Grivok, exhausted and triumphant, stands atop his crate, thinking he has ignited a massive revolution, while the animals continue on with their daily routines, oblivious to his impassioned calls for freedom.
