Dominion occupation of Earth - how much resistance/compliance there would have been?

[Reymet_2]

Let's imagine that Dominion had won the war (how exactly - Prophets decided not to intervene, Jack managed to give Weyoun the data, Vreenak exposed the fake before his shuttle blew up or something else - isn't important). Let's also assume that Weyoun's words about destroying Earth were merely his own opinion and weren't representing the Link's intentions. Let's also assume that Earth hadn't been given to Cardassians or Breen but rather was annexed to the Dominion as a separate subject.

How would the Earth's population have reacted to the occupation? On the one hand, Humans in Star Trek are shown to value freedom much more than other races. On the other hand, how many members of such a post-scarcity society would prefer the horrors of war to sometimes obeying a Vorta? A Taste of Armageddon has shown that a society on Earth-like level of development, in fact, can make concessions in a war which had been existential for them before just to avoid the horrors of war. Of course, Humans are not Eminians but still, what would be the share of Humans thinking like "I haven't seen a single Jem'Hadar, I don't give a fuck about a Vorta sitting in San Francisco, and the most important thing for me is whether the climate control system on Risa works properly" and like "I would rather die from the Quickening than obey that long-eared mutants"?

 

[DonIago]

I think the answer could depend in part on how heavy-handed the Dominion conquest of Earth was. Humans are more likely to resist when they feel there's more at risk. If the Dominion starts off by obliterating San Francisco and/or Paris as a demonstration, that's probably going to galvanize any potential resistance.

 

[somebuddyX]

I read an interesting fanfiction where it's fifty years after DS9 and there was a second Dominion invasion and the entire Alpha Quadrant including Earth is under Dominion rule and it felt a bit to me like that future in "Demolition Man." Just a strange normalcy and an ignorance of the past.
There's an episode of Stargate SG-1 called "2001" and what happened to the Volians there feels to me a bit like what I could see have happened to Earth. The Dominion just has to do the waiting game and then somewhere down the line all the populace knows is the Dominion rule.

 

[evilchumlee]

Humans are our own worst enemy in this case.

The more we fight, the more draconian the Dominion becomes. The faster we just accept it happened, they can be surprisingly hands off. Look at a people like the Karemma, who are essentially an independent, sovereign nation who basically like... pays taxes to the Dominion.

But, humans will fight. And the Dominion will not hesitate to turn Earth to slag if need be.

Now I *DON'T* think the Dominion moves in and just starts wantonly destroying cities. It's not their style. I'm going to assume Weyoun is still around in this timeline, he presides over the Federation signing their surrender and goes to Earth personally to warmly welcome the people of Earth into the Dominion, offering amnesty to all those who lay down arms and join the Dominion. They will certainly go something of "hearts and minds" first, but it will likely fail.

They will look for some higher status humans to collaborate and take leadership positions. There is a part of me that could see Picard take up such a role, fully realizing that a straight military fight won't work. He may try to get into a position of power within the new order to try to influence as much as he can from within.

I think in the end though, the Dominion's attempts to bring in Earth "peacefully" fail, humans fight tooth and nail, and Earth ends up with a combination of something like the Quickening and just having most of the population centers obliterated from orbit.

 

[Poltargyst]

My observation of current human behavior is that all the Dominion needs to do is set up a propaganda network on Earth, telling people that it is patriotic and Christian (or whatever the relevant religion might be in the 24th Century) to support the Dominion and anyone opposing the Dominion are the enemy. Do that, and a large minority of the people will willing do whatever the Dominion tells them to do if it means killing their fellow humans.

 

[kkt]

Also give them a tax cut. Even if you raise taxes 6 years later to higher than they were.

 

[somebuddyX]

They do a computer virus to kill all the replicators and holodecks and then we're really screwed.

 

[evilchumlee]

My observation of current human behavior is that all the Dominion needs to do is set up a propaganda network on Earth, telling people that it is patriotic and Christian (or whatever the relevant religion might be in the 24th Century) to support the Dominion and anyone opposing the Dominion are the enemy. Do that, and a large minority of the people will willing do whatever the Dominion tells them to do if it means killing their fellow humans.

Part of the point of Star Trek is we moved past alot of that.

The dominant religion is "none".

The Dominion certainly would go hard on propaganda, but my most indications the population of the Federation at large are well educated... they are unlikely to fall for it.

 

[90sTrekGuy]

Part of the point of Star Trek is we moved past alot of that.

The dominant religion is "none".

The Dominion certainly would go hard on propaganda, but my most indications the population of the Federation at large are well educated... they are unlikely to fall for it.

I think Homefront/Paradise Lost rather disproved the idea that the population of Earth are unlikely to fall for propaganda. A simple trick seemed to convince most people that there was a threat which did not exist and that the government needed to be trusted with extensive emergency powers. The Dominion, we are told, are renowned for their political intrigue. I'm sure they could have come up with something even more convincing than Leyton did.

 

[fireproof78]

The president fell for it, and in a culture of mutual trust and reliance on others that trust goes a long way to fall for propaganda. Even Sisko fell victim, expecting a changeling around every corner.

 

[Frontis]

Well probably people like Kira or Worf wouldn't accept the defaet and fight back or start a rebellion

 

[Citiprime]

I think Homefront/Paradise Lost rather disproved the idea that the population of Earth are unlikely to fall for propaganda. A simple trick seemed to convince most people that there was a threat which did not exist and that the government needed to be trusted with extensive emergency powers. The Dominion, we are told, are renowned for their political intrigue. I'm sure they could have come up with something even more convincing than Leyton did.

Except, in the end, they didn’t.

Neither Captain Benteen or Sisko were willing to go as far Letyton wanted them to go.

And if they’re representative of where humanity stands in the 24th century, I gotta believe a huge segment of the population wouldn’t have went there either.

SISKO: If the Changelings want to destroy what we've built here, they're going to have to do it themselves. We will not do it for them.​

 

[BillJ]

When the Borg was coming in the novels, they all just sat around and waited for the end.

 

[90sTrekGuy]

Except, in the end, they didn’t.

Neither Captain Benteen or Sisko were willing to go as far Letyton wanted them to go.

And if they’re representative of where humanity stands in the 24th century, I gotta believe a huge segment of the population wouldn’t have went there either.

SISKO: If the Changelings want to destroy what we've built here, they're going to have to do it themselves. We will not do it for them.​

Well Benteen went along with it until Sisko convinced her otherwise. And Sisko was in some ways the outsider, having lived away from Earth on the frontier for 3 years plus. In a Dominion occupied Earth, it would be difficult to obtain this outside perspective, and much more difficult for dissenters to communicate and spread the truth. Sisko stopped the rise of tyranny. Its much more difficult to fight back from within an occupied territory without outside help.

 

[kkt]

People do find ways to communicate even if they're not ideal. Even the USSR and East Germany had their undergrounds in spite of a security state few people used to a democratic country would tolerate.

 

[evilchumlee]

I think Homefront/Paradise Lost rather disproved the idea that the population of Earth are unlikely to fall for propaganda. A simple trick seemed to convince most people that there was a threat which did not exist and that the government needed to be trusted with extensive emergency powers. The Dominion, we are told, are renowned for their political intrigue. I'm sure they could have come up with something even more convincing than Leyton did.

Yes and no.

Leyton's coup may not have been an actual Dominion attack... but the threat very much did exist. Hell, EXACTLY what Leyton was warning about happened... just not Earth (that we know), but the Klingons. It was a plausible situation based in reality... the episode even tells us how close the Dominion is, with NOT!O'Brian telling Sisko they are... "everywhere". (Funilly enough, it happens 30 years later... but with the Romulans, with Commodore Oh being head of Starfleet Security...)

The real issue with your suggestion though is that you have the clearly defined enemy now trying to tell Earth "But no, ACTUALLY we're the good guys!" Is that impossible? Maybe not, but also it's not entirely likely to succeed. We can look at history to see how a conquering force usually tends to not do so well in convincing its conquered population that they were wrong to oppose them in the first place and they're actually the good guys in the scenario.

You have people who accept that they were conquered... which would be the largest part of the population. Most people will just try to go about their lives. You will get collaborators for sure. Humans in Trek are largely on the pacifistic side, so a majority of Earth will just kind of be like "whelp, we're Dominion now.", but enough will fight that it will cause extensive suffering for everyone.*

Hell even with Star Trek, look at Bajor. The Cardassians are ALSO known for the political intrigue. They never convinced Bajor "See, we're totally the good guys!"

*A point I like to raise in real world things. I would likely be more on the side of "whelp, i'm conquered" and not fight because... I enjoy being alive. I would prefer others didn't fight too, because I also enjoy being alive. If my neighbor is using his house as a rebel base... there's a good chance i'm going to die when the powers-that-be level his house with a missile. The Dominion are the types that will not only level your neighbors house, they'll level the entire city, just to make sure.

 

[Poltargyst]

*A point I like to raise in real world things. I would likely be more on the side of "whelp, i'm conquered" and not fight because... I enjoy being alive. I would prefer others didn't fight too, because I also enjoy being alive. If my neighbor is using his house as a rebel base... there's a good chance i'm going to die when the powers-that-be level his house with a missile. The Dominion are the types that will not only level your neighbors house, they'll level the entire city, just to make sure.

Most people would probably try to avoid conflict, but I imagine it would depend on how badly you were suffering under the new regime.

 

[evilchumlee]

Most people would probably try to avoid conflict, but I imagine it would depend on how badly you were suffering under the new regime.

That's true. In this scenario, I think the resistance fighters are relatively few. The Dominion are terrible fascists... to an extent... but they're also fairly on keen on mostly just leaving their subjects alone, just making sure the solids aren't getting too uppity and becoming a threat to the Founders, and collecting their taxes.

The Karemma seem to be doing fairly well.

By and large the Dominion is somewhat of an oddity in that they are definitely the bad guys, no question, but they're also... fairly benevolent bad guys. The entire point of the Dominion is make sure solids can't hurt the Founders. The Vorta, who run the day to day, don't really care about much anything else than making sure solids can't hurt the Founders. The Jem Hadar just do what they're told.

The Vorta are the key here. They're almost incorruptible. You don't run the risk of most dictatorships, where the leader goes power hungry. The Vorta don't actually care. They don't care about wealth, or harems of women, or anything. They care about... administration and making sure solids don't hurt the Founders.

To that end, once things stabilized, I don't think most people on Earth would even have all that much different of a life under the Dominion and if the resistance fighters are snuffed out quickly enough, Earth pretty much just continues on much in the same way. Starfleet even probably exists in a form, honestly closer to it's ideological purpose... now it's ACTUALLY not a military. I don't think the Dominion would mind having scientists go explore space. They'll have Vorta to answer to, but as long as they aren't up to no good... the Vorta are probably actually kind of intrigued by letting humans do science stuff.

Local government in the Dominion seems to be almost entirely left to the local authorities. Earth still governs itself in essentially the same way it did under the Federation... the people just don't have anything resembling "rights" to the Dominion, but again that largely irrelevant. The Dominion is likely to just leave them be, collect their tithe, and maybe have some Vorta stop by on occasion to inspect things and make sure the humans aren't planning anything.

 

[Farscape One]

I think we are forgetting a lot of the Dominion lore that the second season set up. Here, we learn from others that the Dominion took over the T-Rogorans (overseers of the Skreea) and Yadera Prime (homeworld of Rurigan from "SHADOWPLAY"). And Eris' own words about how the Dominion takes it wants, either by negotiation or by force. At least with the Federation, if you don't want to be bothered by them, they'll leave you alone. (She could have been stretching the truth a bit to seem more convincing, but nothing the Dominion has done contradicts what Eris says.)

And probably the best example of how the Dominion is... "THE QUICKENING". They didn't just level their cities and kill the population. (Though based on the ruins, they probably did that, too.) They were infected with the Blight, and because of that disease, they couldn't use any technology. (The reaction of all the patients Bashir was taking care of is proof of this.) So not only were they condemned to die off slowly, they were condemned to do it in a way that put them back to the middle ages level of existence.

I don't think the Dominion would have let Earth exist because of how central it was to the Federation. The Dominion loves to make examples, and what better way than to do to Earth what was done in "THE QUICKENING". Especially considering how a lot of resistance and defiance would start there.

And let's not forget... Section 31 did create the virus that was going to kill off the Founders. I don't see the Founders letting that one go if Odo was not in the picture.


Side note: this was never proven or shown, but I have wondered if the Ennis and Nol-Ennis in "BATTLE LINES" were put there by the Dominion. Those nanites that kept them alive endlessly sound just like the kind of hell the Dominion would do to make people an example.

 

[evilchumlee]

Side note: this was never proven or shown, but I have wondered if the Ennis and Nol-Ennis in "BATTLE LINES" were put there by the Dominion. Those nanites that kept them alive endlessly sound just like the kind of hell the Dominion would do to make people an example.

The only reason I doubt this is because it was never advertised. If the Dominion wanted to make an example, they did a bad job because nobody knew the Dominion did anything.

Earth is a tough one though. The fact that is the center of the Federation makes me the think the Dominion would rather try to take it relatively peacefully, to show the rest of the Federation "see, we aren't as bad as you thought!"

If they just... eradicate Earth, the rest of the Federation will never stop fighting them. If they can get Earth to capitulate and accept being a Dominion vassal... that will go a long way in bringing the rest of the Federation in line.

Pull the Dukat, don't just defeat Earth, make them realize they were wrong for opposing you in the first place.