NationStates Jolt Archive


Marshalling the Troops

The Resurgent Dream
16-10-2007, 03:41
Elizabeth Hunter had never actually been to Ariddia before, although she had mentioned it in countless speeches and policy proposals. The twenty-six year old leader of the Communist Party had technically never been outside the Confederated Peoples, although, when she had been younger, what was now the Confederated Peoples had been no fewer than ten sovereign nations. This trip was not to be an official one but an attempt to build support for the Free Vespasian Movement within Ariddia.

Right now, she was looking out the window of her plane and down to the ocean below. She found it strangely relaxing. The ocean seemed to stretch on forever, an impression which allowed her to forget her more immediate worries, at least for a time. She was, in fact, worried. She was used to being extremely controversial in the Confederated Peoples but she really had no idea how she would be received in Ariddia. At least Ambassador Amanda Roh hadn’t made any official negative statements about her to the Ariddians. That, however, was arguably representative of her deepest cause for concern. Although they had some interests in common, the Confederated Peoples and Ariddia had traditionally had little interaction, sometimes participating in the same international event without anyone directly speaking, like ships passing in the night. Hunter, correspondingly, was much more worried about the possibility that the Ariddians might be indifferent than that they might be hostile.

Shaking her head, the woman looked away from the window and put her chair back, drifting off to sleep. When she woke up, the plane was coming in for a landing. Hunter straightened her chair and watched the airstrip below become larger and clearer until there was a small bump and the plane was taxiing along the runway.

When the plane had come to a complete stop, Hunter pulled her large handbag from under the seat and got up, waiting until the aisle was clear before stepping out. She was simply flying on an ordinary flight like any private citizen. She was, after all, not here in an official capacity. She was dressed normally, in a pair of blue jeans, a light black blouse and a pair of black leather boots with a 1” heel.

As Hunter stepped out into the airport, she looked around to see if anyone from the University of Rêvane, her first speaking engagement, had come to greet her at the gate. She didn’t look like a foreign political leader. She as too young, for one thing, and the Confederated Peoples did not share the reputation some countries had for elevating the inexperienced to political office. Her dress and bearing also hid her status well. She didn’t carry herself like she considered her presence anything out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, she was immediately recognizable to anyone who had seen her picture. She was a short woman of European descent who wore her brown hair in a short, tomboyish cut. She was overweight but not obese and her left maxillary lateral incisor was visibly crooked and somewhat discolored from a childhood problem which had never been fully corrected. She wore a pair of sunglasses in a black frame. Despite her rather colorful career and her paramilitary experience, there was still something strangely innocent, almost shy about her smile. And she was smiling now, nervously.
Ariddia
16-10-2007, 13:03
Andy Iu had been Hunter's main contact from the University of Rêvane, preparing her arrival. They had, of course, never met face to face, but had exchanged a number of e-mails, and spoken once on the phone. Iu, a 41 year-old lecturer in political studies, stood amidst the crowd of people awaiting arrivals from flight ARA-727 from New Amsterdam. He spotted Hunter after a while, and held up a large sign with her name on it, waving.

"Comrade Hunter? I'm Andy Iu." He smiled and extended his hand. "Welcome to Rêvane. You've come at a good time. It was pouring with rain twenty minutes ago, but now the sun is out, and the air's nice and fresh. Can I help you with your bags?"
The Resurgent Dream
17-10-2007, 07:23
"Elizabeth is fine," Hunter said as she shook the man's hand. She gave the significantly older man her brightest smile. "You must be Andy. It's nice to finally meet you in person." She paused and looked around the airport briefly. "I could probably use a hand. Which way to the baggage claim?"

"I'm glad the weather calmed down. I just hope that I can get some kind of audience. I imagine the attention of the Ariddian people is focused on the reunification negotiations right now. Not that I blame them. It's a wonderful thing that the working people of West Ariddia will now have a chance to rejoint their nation and live free exploitation."
The Resurgent Dream
01-12-2007, 22:04
Elizabeth frowned as she accidentally bump into one of the other people in the airport. The Confederal smiled shyly as she made her way past, "Terribly sorry, miss." She turned back towards her guide. "Ariddia is really an inspiration to working people the world over. It's an honor to be here."
Ariddia
09-12-2007, 19:16
"We'll all very happy about re-unification," Iu said as they walked towards the baggage claim area, and waited for Elizabeth's luggage to come through. Foreigners of various nationalities milled around, most of them tourists, come to experience city life in a socialist country, visit Ariddia's many museums, sun themselves on the beach or trek through the thick, beautiful forests. "But West Ariddia is quite a long way still from embracing communism, whatever the Opposition there may say. We'll do what we can to help the West Ariddians tackle their problems, but the possibility remains that they may opt for a capitalist government again one day."
The Resurgent Dream
11-12-2007, 08:48
"And your commitment to parliamentary procedure is such that you would allow this to happen?" Hunter asked in surprise. She then smiled wanly and shook her head, "I suppose each people must find its own approach to socialism. However, we've often found that formal democracy in a capitalist or faux socialist state is often simply the preferred form for the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. For example, Viscountess Kairis is the result of bourgeois democracy as is the revisionist version of socialism practiced by Drapeur in Pantocratoria."
Ariddia
11-12-2007, 21:41
Iu smiled.
"Democracy is what brought the Communist Party to power in West Ariddia. And if they lose the next election... well, there's not all that much anyone can do about it. The military in West Ariddia is controlled by corporate interests. They've respected the outcome of democratic elections so far, but I don't think they'd take kindly to any questioning of a capitalist victory. Is this your bag?" He picked it up for her.
The Resurgent Dream
17-12-2007, 08:46
"It is," Hunter said, although she was frowning thoughtfully. Democracy was going to be her biggest problem on this visit. Although she intended to make her argument as carefully and convincingly as she could, she knew that many Ariddians, with a commitment to democratic formalities which she privately thought reeked of revisionism, would not see their own ideals represented in the Communist Party (CPRD), even with its recent turn to parliamentary politics. If doubts about the Party's loyalty to constitutional democracy had only been expressed by the parties or the right or even the parties of the center and the center-left, she doubted they would challenge her here but, unfortunately, the woman who insisted her husband remain in prison for war crimes, Confederal Councillor Flora Haber, was a Socialist who had worked her way up from the rank-and-file of organized labor. Her position and her statements on the matter would likely be researched by any Ariddian journalist who covered her visit. Shaking away those gloomy thoughts, she smiled to Iu, "Well, I'm glad the military is being forced to respect the wishes of the West Ariddian people, although I wouldn't count on the loyalty of the officer corps once things start getting serious. Have they considered military reforms or even the creation of a more directly democratic system of national defense?"
Ariddia
17-12-2007, 19:44
"You mean, based on the model we have here?" Iu smiled. "President Sho in West Ariddia has shown herself keen to draw inspiration from what we do here in Ariddia, in many ways. Her capitalist opponents accuse her of trying to turn her country into a new Ariddia. But the military... no. She hasn't tried to reform her country's military. Much too tricky. She'd need a stronger basis of support than she currently has. If she touches the military, the Opposition will accuse her of undermining national security. Her margin of popularity with voters is too narrow for her to take such risks."

They made their way towards the underground train station below the airport.
The Resurgent Dream
19-12-2007, 03:31
Hunter walked with him, smiling slightly but falling into silence. She was reflecting upon what she'd seen and heard so far on her visit. She stepped onto the underground as their train pulled up, smiling at the Ariddians inside as she took her seat and crossed her legs casually. She happily turned her gaze out the window, even though there wasn't really anything to see out an underground window.
Ariddia
19-12-2007, 21:33
"There's been a lot of talk about your visit at the university," Iu said as the train stopped at a station, then continued on its way smoothly. "Ariddians tend to be interested in hearing foreign ideas. Of course, there are a lot of foreign students at Rêven Uni, too. But don't worry, we're not going to rush you straight into a lecture hall," he added with a smile.
The Resurgent Dream
20-12-2007, 03:17
"All good I hope?" Hunter asked half-jokingly as she glanced briefly out the window, watching the many Ariddians going about their daily business. "This is actually my first trip outside the Confederated Peoples, although, of course, Marlund was a separate country when I first visited. I don't know how familiar you are with the history of Marlund but I fell in love immediately with the heroic struggle of her working people for freedom and dignity as they pulled themselves up from a life of literal slavery. It was a rough process at first but after everything that had been done to them, the brutality, the emasculation, the break-up of the family, the humiliation, the torture, the rape...I really don't see how anyone can want men like that, men like my husband, to suffer still more because standards created for disciplined armies on conventional battlefields. Surely the African-Ambaran population of Marlund, whatever tactical or even ethical mistakes might have been made during the Beyke uprising, remain more sinned against than sinning? I really don't understand how the alleged Socialists in my own government and in that of Pantocratoria can preach so self-righteously against men fighting for their basic freedom and so forgiving towards that monster Montmanuel." Her voice rose with genuine indignation as she got on topic, her Wintermore accent becoming more evident.