NationStates Jolt Archive

The Dodod Times
President Hagrufian Jinulis was appointed president today in the first-ever such ceremony in the new nation of Dododom. He was inaugurated in the capital city of Dodod, in a building that had been an abandoned theater. With the first session of the 900-seat National Assembly last week, the former theater became the first-ever government building of Dododom, and was renamed the National Assembly Building.

Created only a week ago from a collection of formerly independent cities and towns, this ceremony marks the second step in creating a functional government for the new nation. Elections for the National Assembly and Presidency occurred last month, but the presidential results were not announced until yesterday, a delay, said Interim Election Supervisor Elan Gorerar, “designed to avoid chaos.” Nevertheless, angry crowds pulsed in the capital city today, furiously denouncing the new president.

“We did not become part of this new nation to usher in a new era of capitalist oppression,” said Lomian Romlen, a member of the National Communist Party’s 28-seat representation in the National Assembly, in his fiery speech to the protesters. The remark was met by thunderous cheering and applause.

The protests only recently dispersed this evening, remaining for an hour after the conclusion of President Jinulis’ acceptance speech at 8:00 P.M. today. Though the speakers, mostly National Communists, Greens, and Equalitians (members of the Equality Party), left around 3:30 P.M., mainly because most were National Assembly members and the session for the day started around then, the protesters shouted furious slogans throughout the President’s four-hour inauguration speech. At one point, someone loudly cried out “death to the bourgeoisie!”, and the crowd echoed him. An effigy of the President was doused with fuel and burned only minutes later, an act quickly responded to by vigilant police and firepeople.

But not only was it economic leftists who were angry at the President. The Equality Party, composed mostly of elves and a fierce advocate for their rights and welfare, was also furious at the human president. During the campaign, the President denied any “institutional racism” against the elven population, and said that anti-discrimination would not be a “high priority” in his administration, to the applause of the mostly-human crowd to which he was speaking. Furthermore, his plan for appointment of Department secretaries included no elves.

(The Cabinet of Dododom is composed of Ministries, each headed by a Minister and grouped into eight Departments. Each Department is controlled by a Secretary and a hundred-person Committee. Every member of every Committee is appointed by a member of the National Assembly, but every member can only appoint one. One of the President’s tasks is to decide who appoints committee members where, and also, since there are 800 posts and 900 National Assembly seats, which hundred members of the National Assembly are going to be excluded from appointments).

“This blatant ignorance almost borders on racism,” said the only human member of the Equality Party’s representation in the National Assembly, Dukes Ijinon. “Elves experience a huge amount of discrimination, and it seems that our President is going to be part of that. As one-fourth of Dododom’s population, one-fourth of the secretaries should be elven; since there are eight secretaries, there should be two elves among them. Instead, there are none,” he continued.

“Thank you, Mr. President,” he added sarcastically.

The President’s inauguration speech mostly ignored both criticisms, focusing mainly on the President’s dedication to a “prosperous, just, and free Dododom”. However, he did speak for around twenty minutes about the economy, and was met with cheering from the right-wing parties and booing from those on the left. It was during this period that the protestors cried out “death to the bourgeoisie” and burned the President’s effigy.

“We will not go the way some want us to go, and intrude upon people’s personal economic decisions,” the President said. “The economy should be run by private individuals, not coordinated by government bureaucracies. We should be willing to help the poor, but we must understand that sometimes too much help harms.”

Aside from the burning incident, the protests seem to have gone peacefully, if far from calmly. They are expected to begin again tomorrow, however, as the President’s cabinet proposals are submitted to the National Assembly for the necessary one-third vote of approval. The center-left Democratic Socialist Party, the second-largest party in Parliament (second to the President’s party, the Conservative Alliance) has issued a call for peace and calm, but it seems to have been ignored by the more radical members of Dododom’s political left. “We should give our new President some time before protesting him,” said the head of the Democratic Socialist Party, Yarnai Radflin. “Now is the time to stand united in support of our new nation, not to divide ourselves between the right and the left.”

"I don't think this is wise," Dodod's Police Chief Raran Nanal said to the President. He had to follow orders, but he didn't have to agree. "It will be seen as police brutality, and could well deepen the divisions you complain about."

"You do not understand, Police Chief," the President replied. "Dododomians have lived without a central government for years. They barely understand the concept! These people are protesting peacefully now, but sooner of later, if we do not react, they will see us as weak and rebel outright! The majority of Dododomians will not support them, of course, but the resultng conflicts may destroy this precious union."

"Mr. President, we should wait until they do begin protesting violently - if that ever happens. Right now, this will seem as nothing but an incident of police brutality, and will deepen divisions and alienate many Dododomians from the central government. If you do this, you could well collapse the Federation!" The Police Chief had voted for the Democratic Socialists, but he was a moderate and had never expected this from the head of the Conservative Alliance.

"We are getting nowhere, police chief. You obviously disagree with me, but I will not budge. When the protesters come tomorrow, disperse them as you see fit. If necessary, arrest some for trumped-up crimes, fire tear gas, whatever, but the people of Dododom must not see me as someone weak and ineffectual. That would mean disaster." The Police Chief realized that the President was serious, unfortunately. He left, and began to make plans for the following day.

"Elven liberation!" shouted the crowds in Dodod. "Stop the discrimination - freedom for the elves!" The President's proposal to the National Assembly was being debated, and it had been worse than even the pessimistic speakers of the day before had envisioned. Not one of the eighty-seven elves in Parliament had been given positions. It was as if the President was deliberately punishing them for protesting his policies - which he was.

It was not a politically costly move on the part of the President. The Equality Party, the only party in Parliament with elves in its representation, was also opposed to the President's policies on issues aside from race, so eliminating them entirely from the Cabinet did not require him to make many concessions elsewhere in placement.

Elves outnumbered humans two-to-one in the angry crowd, while the day before they had only been around half of the protestors. While the earlier protests had been principally concerned with economic matters, it was swiftly evident that this one was concerned principally with elven welfare. While the angry shouts and signs included several left-wing economic slogans - "end capitalist tyranny" said one red sign towards the front of the angry mass - principally they were concerned with the government's policies toward the elves.

"Stop the discrimination!" the crowd had shouted loudly earlier, as a pro-government speaker had taken the floor in the National Assembly. "Stop the racism! Stop the oppression of elves!"

Police had begun massing nearby, as they had the day before. They were mostly ignored,to the protesters' misfortune.

As a speaker denounced President Jinulis for "blatant discrimination" and for pandering to "right-wing bigots", a police loudspeaker interrupted, calling for a dispersal of the protest. "No!" shouted the speaker angrily, in a declaration echoed by the crowd. They did not expect what was to ensue.

Tear gas poured into the crowd from the police positions. The President had told them to use "any means" short of lethal violence, and the police would do so. Many rushed into the crowd in full riot gear, beating and arresting those who still refused to disperse. Swiftly, what had been a peaceful protest dissolved into a riot, as furious protesters through rocks and anything they could get hold of at the police. The policepeople responding swiftly with more tear gas, and others moved to arrest more protesters. The demonstraters did not go willingly, however, resisting the police furiously.

When, several hours later, the scene at last began to clear, sixty-nine people had been seriously hurt, including twenty-one policepeople, some forty-three protesters, and five bystanders. More than three hundred of the demonstraters had been arrested. The new nation - and the National Assembly - was in an uproar.