Raymond's attempts to please the Big Man are not successful. Instead the President publishes "a very small, brief book of thoughts, "Maximes", two or three thoughts to each page, each thought about four or five lines long". Like others, Salim is forced to buy copies of the book for distribution. The local youth group displeases the President and is denounced in one of his propaganda speeches. As a result, unrest grows, corruption and extortion become more prevalent, and a "Liberation Army" forms underground. They reject the President, his cult of the black Madonna, his vision of Africa, and want to return to the "truthful laws" of the ancestors.