NationStates Jolt Archive

This begins the Second Progressive Assembly of invited AMW societies. It takes place in the United African Republic of Lusaka, on Zanzibar Island, which is protected by both Lusakan and Commonwealth forces: AMW nations considered outside the progressive bloc will have to privately consult Lusaka at least before trying to meddle directly in any way, though news will be flowing out of the conference via Soviet media if nothing else.

Having hosted the first disorderly and oft disrupted assembly in Madras-Porthmadog, the Igovians are keen to see this second meeting proceed reasonably and in good order. The elected chair is to keep discussion on-track for so long as his or her mandate is not recalled by a popular vote.

Initially, I would like to ask that participants give some degree of background and information on their delegations, such as the methods by which they were assembled, the outwardly observable mood of their societies in relation to the assembly, or whatever else they may choose to include. We should not jump into the new conference until the details of its progress and administration are worked-out in the aftermath of Madras, and in that thread so as to keep this relatively tidy. The Madras-Porthmadog thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=392161) can also continued to be used for OOC comments on this new thread.

I hope nobody minds that I have taken the initiative by starting this thread, and am working on the assumption that the apparently widespread support for its nomination means that Zanzibar Island is the agreed-upon site at which the assembly shall be established.

Most of the media was out trying to drum-up interest: the Commonwealth intends to hold a vote to decide on a journalistic team to be gathered for commission to the second assembly of progressives. This will be done by use of the Commonwealth Professional Civil Service's intranet following live Local Senate gatherings, which are not hard to arrange or to police against corruption. Once elected, the team would record the conference for later unedited transmission on Commonwealth radio and television networks, and each stage of the conference would be afforded detailed minutes to be sent home for posting at Senates, Soviet headquarters (including those on active warships and so forth), and for publication in whichever newspapers and pamphlets saw fit to reproduce them fully or partially.

Of course, delegates sent by the Commonwealth would be elected following nominations, but this process would be a little less hastily undertaken and subject to more strict security than was the case for journalistic appointments. That process could not begin until the present assembly had worked-out something of the itinerary, allowing the people to know for precisely what discussions they were nominating and electing delegates.

Some comrades across the Commonwealth have already said that it is not enough to know what they're voting for, but that they ought to be able to decide themselves for what to vote. That is to say, they ought to set the agenda. It seems likely that this will become the future model for further conferences attended by delegates from the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth. This time it is left to present elected delegates to deliver their best efforts in conveying the beliefs of their comrades for the Commonwealth's part in establishing the subject matter to be addressed at the next assembly.

Graeme Igo, father of one-time Premier Sopworth Igo and a principle architect of the modern Commonwealth, is all but certain to attend, enjoying unfailing popularity amongst his comrades, and has received a nomination -from the hosts, the United African Republic- for the position of chair at the assembly.

Dwrgi (otter) wing-in-ground effect vehicles prepared to take the Beddgelen contingent across the Indian Ocean, and though it was thought that the Hindustanis would have the means to gather in relatively near-by Lusaka, an invitation to share transit aboard the Igovian machines was put forward none the less. Comrade Igo was amongst those keen to pimp WIG technology to progressive societies as a fuel-efficient mode of civil and commercial transport over medium and long ranges. Similarly, when departing the previous Madras-Porthmadog conference, delegates from other parts of the world were invited to travel first to India and then to be taken the last leg of the trip by Dwrgi if it were to prove more convenient. Being proven able to transport three-hundred and fifty fully-equipped Soviet Marines, the Dwrgi's civilian transport configuration was a comfortable alternative to mid-size airliners, and cruised at two hundred and ten knots.

Ahead of the WIGs there had departed a number of military vessels, which, en route, exchanged red ensigns for green and prepared for hand-over to the United African Republic. A pair of Gujarat Class multi-role corvettes, trio of Hound Class patrol and attack submarines, and three Rapier Class mine countermeasures vessels sold to the Lusakans represented the bulk of that nation's navy, being re-built after losses to Al Khali missile boats and suspected Roycelandian sabotage. A fourth minesweeper was to be finished in the UARL and deployed to Lake Victoria, a body of water shared with the Roycelandian Empire.

tag for a later response

The Chinese hereby, TAGS

"Damn Commie bastards conspirin' against us ter turn us all inta red worker ants! Or...somethin'...dammit, where's my moonshine!?!"
----Random Russian Siberian Farmer

OOC: A glorified TAG.

With the maintainance state of the diplomatic flight's four Tu-124s looking ever more bleak, the Parliamentary delegation finds itself sitting aboard one of the Igovian WIGs.

They are certainly impressed by what they see. Its a good thing, they say, that Beth Gellert and not France has them. It is hoped that the conference's climate, that being a fairly heavily militarized island owned by Lusaka, a nation that is no friend to the west (barring, of course, Britain, since I seem to recall TBF selling Igomo some Canberras), will discourage the kind of disruptions that plagued the last such conference.

It is, of course, remarked that if the same thing happened at 'that ridiculous Versailles orgy' the demonstrators would likely be shot, and if any show up they should be grateful that they don't get a taste of their own medecine.

Selection of Delegates

The selection of Spyran delegates for the conference is a process which cannot help but reveal the oft-unrecognized complexities of the state... the role of the People in government, the overlapping identities of the Strainist Party and of its constituent nation-states, the confusion of socialist government wrapped inexorably within a popular consciousness that has been driven to discover itself and reclaim ancient identity through nationalized paranoia and technocracy.

The decision process begins with reciept of a communication from the delegation in Madras-Portmadog, informing the PRS Premier Reiden Harsk of the new assembly. It is a simple piece of electronic mail, transmitted in text form through satellite-connected telephone, and brought to the Premier's attention quickly by his familiarity with the source.

From the Premier's desk, a handwritten note is dispatched to the Daisu, the Chairman of the Strainist Party... a mere formality, as for the past several years Spyr's eternal head-of-state has rarely intruded directly in national politics, save the occasional bout of vague ideological oration hearkening back to his more demagogical youth. The Premier, expecting no reply, then proceeds to call upon the Diplomacy Minister, to assemble a delegation.

This is not a difficult process... the Premier's own political teeth were cut as the 'face of Spyr' during the Cold War, and the present head of the ministry is one of the many children he adopted from state orphanages*; both share what might be termed a 'moderate' viewpoint in Spyran politics, though of course it is still likely that somehere like Russia expressing their views would have them shot as 'leftist fanatics' or somesuch. The head of the delegation, selected from amongst the rising bureaucrats of the ministry, is another of Harsk's adopted proteges, and also a moderate.

Once appointed, the delegation head begins to read: memorial essays written to government officials provide the most direct connection between the inner bureaucracy and the people. Now, they are perused to unearth writers demonstrating a grasp of the issues at hand for the upcoming conference. It is a time-consuming process, but unearths a couple of new delegates.

By the time the matter is finished, other delegates have presented themselves, from the Strainist Revolutionary Army. Given the current international climate, the officers who arrive are quite vocal supporters of a 'final conflict' to eradicate the Holy League despots... the delegation head, though rather concerned at this, can do little: on the one hand, the general populace is paranoid enough to be swayed to the SRA position, while on the other a political challenge to the Army, which has been responsible for much public works and operation of the health care system, would seem rather silly to most Spyrans.

The final delegates are selected by what might be the most unusual criteria: volume. For much of its history, the students of Spyr have been the driving force in public policy: though national sports are near-nonexistant, clashes between groups of student protestors have rivalled the violence of European football riots... while in principle open debates are held between protest groups who meet on the streets, bloodied noses are common, and serious injuries occur on occasion. At campuses across the nation, student unions are asked to select candidates, which they do in what is perhaps the most directly 'democratic'**, and certainly most boisterous, element of delegate selection. The resulting nominees tend to be the unofficial spokespeople of the largest student blocs at their respective institutions, including several environmentalists and a pacifist.

Additionally, delegates are nominated from the Policy Committees of Tord, North Yaman, and Sujava, to attend as part of the Spyran delegation.

*[OOC: If this seems oddly familiar to anyone, Reiden Harsk is a quite direct theft of one of my favourite Chinese communists, Zhou Enlai].

**Though, if one were to seek an average Spyran perspective, one would get an earful about the Daisu being embodiment of the People's Democratic Will, excercised through the auspices of the People's Democratic Dictatorship of the Strainist Party, and thus candidates selected within the Party have actually recieved more popular approval than conventionally elected delegates. If one had asked the question in the right company, there might be a few more minutes of talk on the need to combat counter-revolution, and the details of local committes and open participation which ensure that the Party and People remain in communion as one entity. In the wrong company, youd be thwacked over the head with a placard.

Attitude towards the conference

Public enthusiasm for the conference has lessened since the first in Madras... the general population's concerns lie with continued imperial dangers, and relations within a politically-shifting East Asia. As usual, it is in the universities that one must look to find truly activist interest in the proceedings. Nevertheless, a press delegation is prepared for reporting and commentary, and requests are made of the Bedgellans, to carry their unedited recordings on Lyong political action channels.

[OOC: More on the actual identities of delegates, transportation, and similar matters later. I'm too tired to have tried to muddle through the oddities of Spyran politics... I think either I didn't write in coherent sentences, or we came off as bloodthirsty Stalinist undergrads...]

[tag]

OOC: Possibly the only time I'll say it again, but lets keep the OOC out of here.
Spyr said he was tired, didn't exactly labour the point, and isn't a world away from being right anyway. No need for the tangents. If you must, use the old thread. BG will invade and destroy anybody who derails this assembly.

OOC: Possibly the only time I'll say it again, but lets keep the OOC out of here.
Spyr said he was tired, didn't exactly labour the point, and isn't a world away from being right anyway. No need for the tangents. If you must, use the old thread. BG will invade and destroy anybody who derails this assembly.
OOC: Alright, I'll delete it. Sorry, just that I don't like being accused of totalitarianism when there are other, far more applicable, examples nearby.

^ OOC: Huh? Can the hinese participate in this conference?

French State television, Royal News Network, is quick to begin vile propigandic reports against the illegal and immoral assembly in Zanzibar. Live reports are claimed to come in from "brave Martyrs in hiding" on the Island, and relayed to the French subjectry.

"RNN has just learned" said M. de Mesmer, Anchor "that the assembly on Zanzibar has begun their meeting with a Black Mass, in which a Crucifix of Our Lord Jesus Christ was submerged in a beeker of urine; and a young, virtuous and comely maid was ravished by the mob repeatedly, made to shout countless blasphemies and vulgar oaths, before at last being sodomized beastily and strangled to death by a demented Graeme Igo, seen here in this photo."

A edited version of Graeme Igo, this one uncouth and obese, clearly greesy and with a filthy grin, was flashed on the screen.

"The Grand Congress of the Holy Leauge, which met in Rome just a few hours ago, condemned this 'meeting' as illegal and inspired by Satan himself. Our Most Christian King Louis XX declaring the "Satanic Bloc" a threat to France and Christendom at large."

Mesmer recieved a small blurb in his earphone, before his face turned gray and grave and his faced the camera again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, RNN had just recieved live footage of the events in Zanzibar, which we will broadcast now. We urge you to send your children away."

The screen then moved to a dark, filthy hallway. Howling animals, they could not be called people, defiled Holy Statues and each other in frenzied activity. A young monk, praying with eyes shut tight, was hoisted up on an altar where Graeme Igo and several debauched Strainists stood leering. Hissing and spewing fat and spittle, Graeme produced a jagged knife, and slit the monks throat, before he, his accursed son, and the Strainists move thier lips to the cut, and drink thirstily.

The camera panned out, and viewed the "Zanzibar Inferno". Women screamed and had thier breasts cut off, as vicious Red Vangards gleefully yelled "Hail Satan and Communism!" There was more, far too much, before the camera returned to a shocked M. de Mesmer.

"Today, loyal subjects, we have seen into the very pit of hell! And in it are the Igovians and their Strainists lackeys!"

The doctored photo of Graeme Igo was shown again, but then the screen moved to a glorious state portrait of His Most Christian Majesty in repose, in prayer.

"But never fear, loyal subjects! Your King, Lieutenant of God Almighty Himself on Earth, stands ready to defend you! Long Live our righteous King! Long Live Louis! VIVAT REX IN AETERNUM!"

The television then began to play the Catholic Evening Devotionals, hosted by that new French ecclesiastical superstar, the Versailles equivalent of "Mother Angelica", indeed that is her name.

As the Blake puts in at Tunis, the Hindustani delegation prepares its agenda.

It is probably worth noting that the conference hasn't even really commenced yet and that many of the participants have not even left, much less had time to stage lavish satanic ceremonies, but knowledge of such is generally sacrificed when a nation gives up the free press.

With the extra-Indian location, it looks as though a strengthening of inter-subcontinental ties will have to wait for a new occasion, although relations with the new and much more international China are still important.

Besides that, economic policies will hopefully be up for discussion along with relations with other states and reaction to imperialism.

On imperialism, anyhow, the Hindustani delegation believes quite strongly that the Holy League et. al. should be limited to what territories that they've already invaded. It does not cease to stun Parliament about how Quinntonia and TBF didn't react at all to the French annexation of Algeria and Spanish invasion of Morocco (which were for no reason besides they wanted to), yet were up in arms, with the threat of all-out war, when Beth Gellert attacked the tiny French possession of New Caledonia because it was used to launch raids (which resulted in the deaths of a number of people) into the Lyong peninsula.

The Chinese State news channels can match the privately owned corporate news networks. The Xiannese based government, now operating China has pulled on a new line of news reporting.

The first page reports came in as:

"Leaders meet in United African Republic of Lusaka"

A second page criticized French propaghanda. Several newspapers in China has already, through polling, listed the French media group, Royal news Network as one of the most bias news groups in the world.

The French Royal News Network has been banned by the Chinese Ministry of Censorship.

Anarchans at home loudly decry the sick(and indeed, un-christian) imagination of french media. However, as socialism is not about censorship, the RNN is aired; as much for entertainment and to remind Anarchans what authority in government brings with it of necessary corruption and lies.

Meanwhile, the delegation was more or less formed. Excited at the prospect of this modern-day International, many members of the foreign councils want to join, but in the end compromises were made. A variety of factions are represented, among them enviromentalists, feminists, military commanders and pacifist de-militants. Seeing as a Dwrgi Wing-in-ground vehicle was still in port in Columbia, the Soviet Navy has been petitioned to carry the Anarchan delegation to Zanzibar.

a friendly bump

Zanzibar Island, The United African Republic of Lusaka

The UARL was most interested in the Progressive Assembly's potential item on dealing with none-communist/anarchist nations, as reflected in the much more predictable method by which it selected its primary delegate: Secretary Miyanda would do it! Everybody liked that guy, and he wouldn't look short next to any Geletians that might turn-up.

The Secretary was actually put-forward for the task by juniors in the Social Progress Party, but a few straw polls indicated widespread popular approval of the nomination, and so President Igomo ratified the appointment. That was generally the process of Lusakan democracy, whose people still thought it pretty revolutionary after being unable to get rid of the Roycelandian Emperor without months of bloody bush warfare and the reminder of a brief totalitarian stay under General Tendyala.

Lusaka's crusades were for social justice and equality more than specific advanced political models, and the Republic had twisted in the wind of global ideologies as more powerful and influential friends and foes rose and fell. There'd never been time to worry about changing a political system that was pursuing the best and struggling to survive against attacks from all sides.
The island bustled with almost a million Lusakans, going about their business as usual while Africa awaited the assembly. The facilities weren't world-beating, having been built on rather higher budgets than now existed to maintain them, but the island was generally considered to be naturally beautiful, and the locals were in fairly high spirits following the SPP's return.
The outside of the hotel being used to convene the assembly had been painted around its lower outside walls, with local children choosing to represent the progressive world by brightly coloured animals such as a golden vulture, red elephant, blue dragon, and so forth.

Soviet WIGs began to power out of ports in Colombia and India, soon to converge upon Sub-Saharan Africa in a true sign of the revolution's diverse and global progress. The WIG setting off from Neo-Anarchos was a Dwrgi-T that had been hastily furnished with fold-out seats and hammocks, but it was fairly roomy, the trip would be quite smooth, and any want of luxury would be compensated by an abundance of alcohol to make one forget it. The living and sleeping arrangement was more or less entirely open-plan, which was a cultural thing associated with Beddgelen communal life, but the toilet behind the cockpit at least offered some privacy. The machine would meet a tanker mid-ocean before hopping on to India for another re-fuel (and a re-supply of booze and food) before making the final leap for Zanzibar. The whole affair would mean a couple of days flight just a few metres above the ocean.

Graeme Igo was aboard one of the vehicles leaving from India, thus far being the leading contender for Chair of the Second Assembly. The communal light industry worker and popular Local and Regional Senate orator Ariamnes of Rhayader-Kokkilai was to head the Commonwealth delegation should Igo be confirmed as Chair, and the Beddgelen media detachment was most ably represented by Fulki Morgan-Manoja, who had made her name working for the Commonwealth Professional Civil Service's Iskra! news service, which was involved in minute-taking and distribution during above-local level Senate meetings.

The Anarchan delegation were sturdy folks, and thinks the WIG set-up is more than luxurious. Considering that most Columbians already live in collectives and communes, the conditions were considered "cozy" and "in solidarity"(as well as "kick-ass stocked!" according to one drunken delegate). The delegates were, in a very Anarchan fashion, spread fairly equally among factions such as sex, race, nationality etc.

Nominal "leader"(formally called the 'Spokesman') of the delegation is Tias J. Guerrero, age 21. Of mixed european-hispanic descent, Guerrero is a member of a foreign and political council collective; and well respected among Anarchans nationwide for his revolutionary fervour and 'hands-on' approach to domestic and foreign relations. Tias is a known pro-militant, and is most likely to have global/social equality, progressive militarization and enviromental progress on his agenda. He also publishes the popular anarchist news 'zine "Notícias Malas!", which translates roughly into "Bad News!".

Naya Melendez, age 21. Ecuadoran native. Naya is a staunch feminist, and is concerned mainly with social equality, particular the cause of anti-homophobia and anti-sexism; as well as animal welfare and progressive dietary habits such as raw veganism and vegetarianism. Naya works in a journalism collective, and breeds a variety of pet rodents and race cats for the citizens of Quito, Ecuador.

Brigadier General Hannibal Mario Velez, age 38, of Bogota, Columbia. A representative of one of most advanced "columns" of the Anarchan military, General Velez is also the oldest delegate. Commanding one of the first airborne brigades and veteran of the counter-insurgency battles in Columbia, he is considered as good an Anarchan commander as they come. Hannibals agenda will probably regard progressive militarization and social equality in progressive armed forces.

Nicholas Miñana, age 25, of Miraflores, Ven. Works in a diplomatic collective and coordinates "Food Not Bombs" (www.foodnotbombs.net) actions all over Venezuela, and is part of Anarchan League for Demilitarization; a pacifist faction calling for immediate demilitarization and the possible dismantling of Anarchan armed forces. Nicholas will likely have progressive demilitarization and social equality on his mind.



((1 more to come! I'm at school and will be going to a party, so expect more tomorrow or tonight at the earliest))

The Spyran delegation opts out of the Bedgellan offer of WiG transport, much to the dissapointment of its military members. While some might speculate that the decision has something to do with 'self-reliance' or somesuch, the truth is simply that the Party hopes to avoid the embarrasment of having the delegation bicker amongst themselves for the whole journey in front of the Igovians. Rather, they'll jet to the naval base at Belitung, and then move by submarine across the Indian Ocean to Zanzibar.

The delegation is led by Myomi Sizhong, a middling bureaucrat of the PRS Diplomacy Ministry who was one of the many Yamani 'Revolutionary Orphans' from the Northern Revolutionary War adopted by Premier Reiden Harsk. Likely different from the other delegations, at least the more anarchistic, her responsibility is less to drive forward debate than to keep her fellow Strainist delegates in communion with Party consensus.

The Strainist Revolutionary Army's attache is Captain Varichi Eastbrook, a young veteran of the recent revolution in Tord. As one of many Tordian peasants having only begun tasting equality and social justice, his blood still runs hot with militant fervour... naturally, the feudalist Holy League is the prime target for this drive. He has also been instructed by his superiors to look into acquisition of WIG technologies from Beth Gellert, to close the deployment gap between the Lyong and Sujavan Strainists.

Other names that may come up within the delegation are Commerce Ministry bureaucrat Yanji Hanhe (who has managed, so far, to survive the frequent purges of the CoMin without re-education), Yukae Ranran (a member of the Myotoh ethnic minority, who will likely spend much of her time agreeing with Mendelez until she horrifies Sizhong by letting slip a proposal based in a Myotoh-coloured worldview), Taiong Thegiri (Chairman of the Nekogaku University Student Union, with a reputation for being a leader in the 'complete-pacifism' student movement) and Kaorifa Akatachi, (Head of the Student Revolutionary Committee within the Sithin University Student Union, currently taking a major in Strainist Thought).

http://img65.echo.cx/img65/8978/deleg8hw.jpg

hmm.... TAG!

On some of UE's main news channels, the Progressive conference might as well not have been happening with absolutely no mention to it at all. Others simply dropped it in at the end of a segment with a line that can be paraphrased, 'a bunch of commies are having a cult meeting on some island, off which we sank a Beth Gellert frigate a while back'... (well I they wouldn't say that because we never actually admitted to it, I just felt like reminding BG ;) ) A couple of the more fiery newspapers also express solidarity with 'the Arab masses of Zanzibar who are being oppressed by their government and having their religon subverted by the morally bankrupt forces of marxism'.

The Second Progressive Assembly hall

Arriving delegates were greeted at Chwaka Bay, Zanzibar, by red banners flying along side the African green and Geletian marines wandering amongst Lusakan soldiers.

During the arrivals, the Soviet People's Navy was in the process of handing-over hulls to the Lusakans, providing them with their first submarines in the new-model Hounds (the implication of modernity implying only that they had 517mm tubes not the principality-origin 485mm sorts still used by the CPRD) and in the Gujarat's what would have been their largest ever warships were it not for the Hindustani supply of a monitor.

Soviet MAL Morrigan UAVs circled the area from far above, and a Marathon AEW aircraft took the opportunity to peer into Roycelandian and Al Khali airspace.

The Igovians hadn't had a hand in establishing the facilities at the hotel and its conference rooms, however, and these would be just as the cash-strapped Lusakans presented them.

Comrade Graeme Igo, Grandfather of the Igovian Revolution, stood out amongst his countryfolk in generally looking a lot more western. He wore a suit, had short hair that'd been allowed to grey and eventually whiten without the application of lime or anything else of the sort, and he had to crane his head up rather than down when talking to some of the lankier natives.

The old icon was soon stood up before his international comrades, having been the only delegate to receive a public nomination for the position of chair, and began to speak with a distinctly Beddgelen accent that resulted from growing up in a land that spoke Welsh, Hindi, English, and Geletian in fairly equal measure, amongst a great many other tongues.

"Friends, comrades, seekers of progress or of liberty, it is so long since I have stood with any less friendship and hope than I still feel amongst you today. In the first months of nineteen eighty-two I walked in a little less light, with a little more weight" he said, adjusting his glasses, "a little less freedom. And my brothers and sisters squinted and stooped the same across half of India, and I thought, 'If we were an army, and if we believed that we were an army...' and then somebody stood up and said it, and we were an army. 'It's been so long since we've had a parade, so let's have a parade! Let's invite all our friends, and all our freinds' friends! Let's promenade down the boulevards with a terrific pride and light in our eyes, twelve-feet tall and staggering, sick with joy... And the dark, heavy monsters blew away and sat on the French and the Russians and Chinese who'd let their once bright lights die in their eyes. But now we can see all of the other lights walking the whole of the earth and looking at Zanzibar from Porthmadog and Calcutta and Karachi and Sithin and Quito and Caracas and Jakarta! Brothers and sisters, hope still waits in the wings like a bitter spinster; impatient, lonely and shivering, waiting to build her glorious fires!.. Oh tangle us up in bright red ribbons! Let's have a parade!"

Igo stopped and cleared his throat with three suddenly timid sounds before dabbing himself with a handkerchief and going on.

"I am standing up here while you sit and stand together before me because, I'm told, I have received nomination for the position of Chairman at this great Second Progressive Assembly, but I want before we attempt to begin business to tell you all that our Soviet Commonwealth convened the first assembly with high democratic hopes, and so I am making my first act as chair the openening of the floor to anyone who wishes to call for my withdrawal, and/or for a referendum on the post that I have assumed."

At this point, Graeme stopped again with half a laugh and a nod into the assembly as Ariamnes of Rhayader-Kokkilai joked that he ought to get off the stage.

"Before any such actions take place, I put forward my agenda for ths Zanzibar Progressive Assembly, which is itemised broadly as follows." The Chairman -a title he hadn't held anywhere since 1989, when he stepped down as head of the Commonwealth-based Communist Party of India- then presented a document hastily assembled while travelling at two-hundred knots and about six yards from the Indian Ocean.

Revolutionary Politics
The anarchist, Marxist, social-democratic and more- what is progressive? And democracy vs. social progress
Relations between progressive societies and the stagnent or regressive states (running into commerce and development)

Commerce and Development
Role of goods and currency in trade and the line between vital trade and profiteering
Specific imports/exports in the progressive world and perhaps the balance of trade in individual cases
Renewable energy and clean conventional energy
Beth Gellert- Development of West Bengal and Jharkhand and four year drought in Andhra Pradesh
Lusaka- Efficient, progressive development of Copperbelt mining
Neo-Anarchos- Establishment of general self sufficiency and great export potential to strengthen the progressive bloc vs. the impacts on vital rainforest

Militarisation of the Progressive Bloc
The scale of militarism in progressive society: national expenditure and individual commitment; proffessionalism, conscription, and national guardsmanship
Establishment of Progressive World Council on Security and/or International/World Guard?
Commonality of munitions in the progressive world?
The Holy League and Russia and their war on Europe
The Holy League and Roycelandia and their division of North Africa; the progressive people of Western Sahara
United Elias and Roycelandia and their on-going systematic obliteration of the Republic of Gabon
Armed terrorism- LUAN Party criminals in Lusaka, West Zambia, and Zimbabwe; autocrats and capitalists in West Bengal and Jharkhand; possible rise of anarchist violence following Bedwyr's suicide-attack on Louis XX and controversial minority calls for him to be declared a Hero of the Revolution for his martydom.

In black marker pen, scwarled regularly between each of the items lay the words, "Break for a drink".


(And two-hundred and seven bonus points to anyone who knows from where Igo ripped a few bits of his opening address.)

((Ooo! Ooo! It's a song lyric. I think it has been performed by GYBE or A Silver Mount Zion, but whether or not it is theirs originally, I don't know. I will probably post ICly tomorrow.))

The Hindustani delegation gives Graeme Igo a standing ovation, filled with revolutionary and progressivist pride, a very uncommon feeling in Hindustan. For a fleeting moment, the delegates don't care about the French navy, the Spanish headed for Portugal and Western Sahara, Russia, and The Estenlands. They are certain, without the slightest doubt, if only for a couple hours, that in the end the forces of freedom and prosperity will win out over poverty and autocracy.

Parliament's representatives approve the itinerary, but propose that the topic of the Progressive Bloc's role in international development worldwide be added. After all, development projects are Hindustan's biggest international commitment by a long shot.

Igo smiled and rocked on his heels just a little after receiving applause, and it was not the smile that once seemed tattooed to his face when appearing before vast Beddgelen crowds at Raipur and elsewhere but one that almost hadn't looked likely to present itself and that was worn by a man relieved to feel it.

"Ah, yes, of course..." said Graeme in response to the Hindustani Parliamentarian, mumbling on about a good point as he stooped over a projector and penned in an item about developmental and other aid beyond the sphere of the truly progressive. It was really quite the scrawl, and Igo regarded the inflated projection of a grunt and a half-smile before admitting to the assembly the poor quality of his penmanship, saying something like, "Yes, I know, awful, isn't it?" and then "I always get my Vs backwards."


(ASMZ it is! Born Into Trouble... Points to that man :) )

Being extremely short on resources and personel at the moment, the MAS (Movement to Socialism) has sent a request to be included in the conference via a telephone link or teleconferencing.

While it would be quite contrary to the spirit of the conference to not allow free attendance, at least so people can watch and observe its proceedings, think Hindustani delegates, there is some apprehension about including progressive movements without a state to call their own. After all, it is widely believed that the inclusion of stateless and less-than-legitimate parties and factions doomed the last conference.

But the Hindustani delegation would not necessarily be adverse towards another go at such a setup.

The Neo-Anarchan delegates do not challenge Igo's position, considering him as good a host as any, and as a means to show good will.

Also, the Anarchan delegation whips run to let the hosts know that authority and equality in progressive armed forces should be added to the agenda, and that the delegates Melendez and Miñana wish to hold a lecture on resource distribution and progressive dietary reforms when it is convenient.

As the Hindustani suggestion is added to the itinerary, Captain Eastbrook begins muttering under his breath about 'arming the defenders of French imperialism'.

The Igovian Soviet Commonwealth, through Igo, has asked fellow progressives to consider the MAS application to take part in the conference, and has meanwhile dispatched a WIG vehicle to potentially offer them transport to Zanzibar.

Igo himself makes mention of the informality of voting structures as yet existing at the Assembly, and mutters about his wondering as to whether that situation ought to be rectified before forty-two million Lusakans out vote four hundred and nine million Beddgelens.

Revolutionary Politics

Referenced loosely by the words, "The anarchist, Marxist, social-democratic and more- what is progressive? And democracy vs. social progress"

There was an almost inaudible groan from somewhere amongst the Soviet delegation as Igo tried to introduce this opening section. Without asking whether or not anybody actually wanted to discuss this broad, basic and arguably abstract topic before getting on to practical issues, Graeme had started to talk about human communities. He was soon on the subject of community and property interaction and trying to contend that the marker of progressive society was in an understanding of a conflict between rights and needs.

Easy fodder for reactionaries who might not understand him, as the Grandfather of the world's biggest revolutionary community seemed to attack the very concept of, "rights".

Carlos Spencer, the Bolivian ambassador to Quinntonia and MAS representative arrives at the conference, thanking his hosts for providing transport from his post in Quintonnia to Zanzibar island. Having never been in a WIG before, he takes a few minutes to collect his breath, and thinks again about what he has to say.

The main topic on his mind, and which he did not prepare notes for, was the second war with Chile, which by now had probably entered the capital. He would probably have to beg for assistance. Other items he would speak about was financial advice for socialist economics, mainly the running of the proposed and yet unnamed "People's Bank" , a discussion on how to fight greedy multinationals wanting compensation, and advice on attaining his government's goal of 95% literacy in a decade.

Some ways into the proceedings, a taped message arrives from Western Sahara. It is an expression of fear and anger at events in North Africa, and a request that is at once both invitation and plea, requesting the most rapid deployment possible to the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, so that the tiny nation might be 'secured from further imperialism', and the possibility be opened for liberation of the Maghreb.

The Hindustani delegation immediately passes on the SADR's message to Parliament, where, after a few minutes of consideration, a measure is massed by considerable margin providing for the deployment of both the Blake's squadron and a full three regiments of Light Infantry, plus two battalions of marines, to Western Sahara, accompanied by Nos. 17, 29, 14, 16, and 122 squadrons to the SADR as soon as possible.

While the force pledged does not exceed 20,000 ground troops and 60 fixed-wing aircraft (plus 15 helicopters), it is equipped with some of the world's foremost anti-aircraft, anti-tank, and artillery weaponry. The only potential sticking point is logistics, and on that front the Igovian commonwealth is contacted about the use of WIG transports.

With Igomo back at the head of Lusakan affairs, the United African Republic is delighted to return to its continental crusader status. Miyanda doesn't dwell on the matter during the conference, but the President has already ordered the assembly of a peacekeeping unit within the LRAC (Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps) experienced in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Burkina amongst other locations. The Republic's two C-130 Hercules were being loaded with men and equipment, as was its recovered and slightly... under-maintained C-5 Galaxy, all of which were due to deploy a company and an air-defence section to the aid of the Saharawi before the week was out. That would probably be the extent of Lusakan involvement, as it was all they could do to afford the aviation fuel for the expedition.

As things are worked out with the Igovians, the first few companies of the Hindustani contingent fly out aboard the HDF's small force of Il-76s and slightly larger, yet totally obsolete, Argosy wing.

The Hindustani delegation at the conference warns against overmilitarization, however, and advocates the adoption of a defensive, as opposed to offensive, policy with regards to the Holy League.

bump

OOC: Well, I can't remember where we are, with this, and things have rather changed with regard to the HL, eh?
Does anyone especially want to re-start on a particular subject? If not, I'll probably get into the Commonwealth's on-going struggles with re-armament, and whether we can bully everybody else into using the same munitions as we will :)

OCC: Indeed. Well, there must be something we can all get together in Zanzibar to talk about.

After all, Spain and Italy are still kicking, and if things go as they look like they will, the Ukraine will soon be in charge of not only Russia, but the Baltic republics and Nigeria...and in that instance, Nigeria might need to be 'dealt with,' so to speak. I think it might not be a bad idea to start talking in more depth about our relations with non-progressive or less-progressive nations. After all, Hindustan is right cozy with its fair share of them.

((OOC>> I think Igo has started a pretty important debate. I'll take the ball, if no one else will. No time now, but expect the Anarchan delegation to deliver a vicious barrage against almost every marxist notion there is.))

OCC: By all means go ahead, NA.

I'll ahve something up too...sometime.

Kaorifa Akatachi rises to give Strainist commentary. Her words are full of youth and passion, to be sure, but a careful listener might note the occasional inflection or turn of phrase that mark her as a student who absorbed the words of the Strainist daisu by rote.

"The true mark of a progressive movement is rejection of universal commodification.... a recognition that the reduction of production, of individuals, and of thought to the status of commodities with no value save that granted them by the arbitrary market system. What is the value of a plumber's work? To the plumber, it has personal value, the pursuit of excellence and personal development. To someone with a broken water pipe, the work contains the personal value placed on all those aspects of his daily life which require water to flow from his taps and not across his floor. These values are entirely unrelated to a cash payment of minimum wage... the commodity of plumbing service is detatched from all human values placed upon it. Those states which seek to revert such to the status of hereditary property... these are regressive states, feudal states. Those states who continue to indoctrinate their popuations, that an individual and his productive energies are mere commodities like wood or steel, these are capitalist states. And those movements who grasp the inherent immorality of mass commodification, who recognize that the value of a person and their creative force is inherent within itself, transcending the dehumanizing relations of the market unleashed... these are truly progressive."

There is general agreement from the Igovians on hand as Kaorifa Akatachi gets out a political thought without a one of them trying to kill her, which in itself is a small achievement for either her tact or agreeability, or for the increasing civility of Beddgelen society.

Ariamnes rose in turn, and started to talk about the inefficiencies of capitalist systems, saying that nations like Russia and Britain were in fact more wasteful of productive energies -not just natural resources- as their architects typically accused leftist economies of being, but Igo interrupted to prevent the orator turning the conference to a rebuttal of external criticism, which, he said, was beneath all assembled and represented at Zanzibar.

A yet unidentified member of the Beddgelen delegation then rose without bothering to introduce herself. The elderly Indian woman, whose accent might indicate to some that she spent most of her life somewhere most probably in Karnataka, wanted to voice approval for the Spyrian's consideration of the matter and to chastise her countryman for apparently heading off towards a defence of planned economy by his defensive posture in relation to the capitalist world. Ariamnes got back to his feet to tell her quite forcefully that she misunderstood, and things started to look and sound a little Beddgelen, again, until Igo's forced coughs reminded the participants of their circumstances.

Graeme then started to address the assembly, with a glance towards Kaorifa in some recognition of her comments.

"So, ah, the base of it, perhaps, what it is to be progressive as a society, is the institutional recognition of the individual quite apart from his work... another society delivers a fellow into a better or worse lot because of alien and remote, possibly even artificial or none-human decisions on the value of his mode of work.
"To a society's economy it is an individual and communal participation in and control of work as opposed to the surrender of such powers to, for example, a central planning office directed by remote special interest or a stock exchange influenced by such things and inherently unable to engage on that [individual/community] level..."

Igo's speech seemed to fade away as it became a little confusing to some, clarified to others only in part and after the fact by Fulki Morgan-Manoja's addition of parenthesis in her minutes.

"No doubt the issue of rights is about to become tangled in this discussion." The middle-aged Beddgelen mumbled.

(Ahem, sorry about the disjointed nature of that. I'm typically over-tired, and of all the tens from hours of music in my playlist, the randomisation feature manages somehow to throw me off by abusing my ears with Morning Musume while I'm trying to be semi-serious...)

"If you all don't mind..." Captain Varichi snaps, giving the assembled delegates an annoyed glare, "... there will be plenty of time to debate why each of us thinks the other is full of dung once the feudal-capitalists are nailed to their crosses. The mere fact that we are all assembled here shows that we have at least enough in common to know what must be done... if we want progress, then now is the time for ACTION!

The world around us is regressing further and further back into the feudal age, though the details are unclear... reports from France indicate unrest, while rumours abound that Russia's Putin was slain in the Baltics and his pet general Armand is siezing his old support base. The Spanish engage in rampant militarization not only in their homeland but in the enslaved territory of Morocco, concentrating new forces on the Portuguese border every day. Extremists in Kalla's Indonesia tighten a theocratic noose around the neck of their occupied zones, ad the Roycelandians pursue an expansionist policy which threatens the Phillipines and has already shown in French Polynesia, New Cledonia, and Algeria that they are Holy League members in all but name. Confusion swirls around Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. And, our OTHR at Taihang has sighted increased Chinese military traffic in Mongolia and Xinjiang.

Before we sit down for tea and philosophy, we must ensure both security for our own progressve achievements, and for those peoples threatened by the rising feudalist tides."

The Hindustani delegation proposes that Progressive nations with the capability to do so immediately assemble a joint naval task force and send it to the Iberian Peninsula as soon as possible.

"The Strainist Revolutionary Army has several eager infantry divisions which can be redeployed from Java... but we lack the vessels to transport them. We ought be capable of providing some naval support, in the form of the destroyer Hamae and it's accompanying frigate pair, but our logistics capacity may be unable to support such a distant deployment should United Elias seek to close the Suez against us."

Captain Varichi was now wearing a tight smile... the assembly was at last away from the realm of the philosophers, and he felt within his element.

"Portugal may not, however, be the field in which the greatest opportunity lies. Spain has recently conquered Morocco, and has rushed newly raised divisions from its colony to the Portuguese front. The Moroccan people, if liberated, would not only benefit from freedom and progress, but the Moroccan troops in Spain would turn from slave-soldiers into deserters and resistors against the Spanish war effort. And, the fall of Morocco might be the first move in a greater sweep to drive the League from the shores of Africa!

Which raises three questions: Our Libyan comrades, whatever questions might have been raised as to their progress... can they be counted on to support operations in the Maghreb?

And, perhaps more importantly, North Africa and Europe are distant from most of our bases and support... if we are to succeed, we must know that the Elians and NATO will not intervene on behalf of Spain."

Ariamnes of Rhayader-Kokkilai, having earlier and in good humour heckled Igo for time-wasting, did not find it hard to direct his enthusiasm into the broad issue of, "ACTION!" as raised by Varichi. Before anyone can stop him, Ariamnes has blurted-out several references to the Commonwealth's sponsorship of various NPA victories against contra-revolutionist agents within and the invading Roycelandian influences in the Philippines. He was just starting to talk about the work of the Philippines Liberation Soviet as a model when another of the Beddgelens threw a ball of paper in his direction and he digressed, trying to conjure inspirational images by quoting statistics on the Battle of the Coral Sea against France and Roycelandia. 3,750 Sovietists ashore against over twenty-thousand imperial troops, a battleship sunk, four dozen strike-planes destroyed, all proof that the Progressive Bloc, to which he referred directly in those words,

While others were trying to snap Ariamnes out of his dewy-eyed romanticism over what victories had been won and what sacrifices could be made, one of those archetypal Geletians was making himself known. Dumnorix was the name he bore since being elected into the Soviet Commune, and he was one of the effective leaders of the Soviet military at this point. Dumnorix was a little over six-foot three inches, making him quite unremarkable by Geletian standards but still far from a small fellow by anyone's standards of comparrison; white, of course, but unsurprisingly a little tanned; he wore his reddish-brown hair long, allowing it to fall beyond his shoulders; he had no significant beard but his moustache was untouched by blades and hung loose below his jaw for several centimetres on each side. The General, as one may refer to him for want of a better translation, was dressed in loose clothing of various hand-spun fabrics, threads dyed two exciting shades of brown -or was one red?- and a pale dusty blue and arranged in a chequered sort of grid so far as his billowing trouserlegs were concerned. He hadn't a shirt, just a large, heavy cape fixed with one of Beddgelert's famously ornate metal broaches, this one set with a ruby worth thousands of dollars to a capitalist, and the dark brown garment closed most of the way around him save those moments at which he held-up both arms at once. On one hip was a flask made from the horn of... something, and the other was looking naked without the sword he chose not to carry to this assembly. As a junior officer amongst the first to abandon his rank during the left-swing concurrent with his participation in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the man who would come to be known as Dumnorix weilded that generations-old blade of ukku or wootz steel (from near modern-day Hyderabad-Fort-Brennus in Andhra Pradesh) to deadly effect, chopping-down two white-clad Catholic fanatics as the Sovietists fought their way up from the beaches and the arrogant Christians thought to meet the Celts in a melee as if it were more than suicide. It wasn't really a tool of friendly diplomacy.

Dumnorix was risen to speak much more directly. Hardly an introduction had escaped his lips when he said that the Commonwealth's joint bases in Libya -those huge facilities far beyond the little nation's own needs- had seen increased activity since the North African conflicts began: the Commonwealth had redirected forces there as the threat of French piracy and terrorism in the Pacific seemed reduced -possibly by the loss of sixteen-hundred fighting men at New Caledonia- and even related well with Baghdad in the process. Until told to stop, the Soviets planned to continue shipping reinforcements into Libya, though they had been lead to understand that the Elians did not want to see al-Qaddafi gaining too much military strength himself. That wasn't a huge worry, anyway: Libya had already several hundred MiG, Mirage, and Beddgelen combat jets, two and a half thousand tanks, more than two thousand other armoured vehicles, nearly two thousand artillery pieces, and a couple of hundred surface-to-air missiles.

As things stood, the Commonwealth was well placed to support and advise major Libyan operations against Algeria or Tunisia is need be, and, Dumnorix assured the assembly, Tripoli was keen to take action in order to confirm its substantial long-standing and recently re-activated claims to the west as well as to finally confirm the place in the world and in history for which the Colonel had so long searched. Actively deploying Commonwealth forces independent of Libyan formations, however, would mean transporting obviously increased military loads through UE waters and airspace, and with the French threat possibly declining, Dumnorix admitted uncertainty on whether Baghdad would care to co-operate.

Clearly, Libya was foremost in the Igovian mindset as the Soviet Commune worried that the Jamahiriya would be isolated by Spanish domination of the Strait of Gibraltar if Baghdad did not remain sufficiently hostile to the Holy League. Many wanted to re-arm Libya further, but others countered saying that this would be what alienated United Elias. Still, there certainly was no clear hint from Dumnorix or his comrades that the Commonwealth had any existing plans to deploy forces to Iberia. Once he retook his seat, however, Ariamnes would be back up and chattering about the political disposition of the Portuguese people, and his firm belief that the Progressive Bloc could here prove itself the saviour of humanity while NATO and such related powers sat idle: Portugal could be more than saved from Holy League domination and in fact made a progressive ally!

Graeme Igo eventually spoke-up, again. "Perhaps, then, we are agreed that it is our place to forego the diplomatic pretention of ignorance to Spain's ambitions and send to that nation's government a direct warning against the initiation of hostilities with Portugal... and to have such words backed openly by the weight of a Progressive Bloc? Certainly I am confident, as my comrades seem to imply, that my countryfolk shall support further deployment of our martial forces in support of Libya and newly to the defence of the Saharawi."

Thousands of kilometres away, Dwrgi-T WIGs floated in ports, engines idling as near-by Soviet headquarters sent periodic shafts of light into the night with the frequent coming and going through their doors of soldiers and soldier-sailors voting on related issues...

Igo had barely eased back into his seat when Brigadier General Hannibal Mario Velez shot to his feet - To his left and right, Tias and Nicholas were seen frowning; but the general evidently had something on his mind.

"The Anarchan Peoples' Armed Forces will likely object to being deployed overseas - I'm certain they will not hesitate to respect the plight of the Maroccan and Portugese peoples, but how WILL we know the war-ready forces of NATO and United Elias will not join the fray? Odds are good even a united Progressive Bloc will not deter them from starting a third world war!"

Tias J. Guerrero, the formal spokesman of the delegation placed a hand on the older man's shoulder, and he reluctantly sat back down. Taking the word, he put Velez' point again, if in a more eloquent manner.

"The general makes a good, if hasty point. NATO was not made to become idle in world affairs, I fear. Reactionary tempers can be terrible if roused, and Spain can call on some allies, if not all. I am certain my countrymen in the marine core will vote for aiding your nations if agression against Marocco is to be undertaken; but we cannot enter a war against NATO and United Elias with you. Ultimately, we all seek peace, do we not?"

After a few minutes of quiet on his part and then several seconds of full silence before he realised that Igo was as chairman not about to say what he was thinking, Ariamnes rose again.

"Oh... I don't think that any of us are considering war with United Elias! It is only through co-operation with Baghdad that the Commonwealth has been able to so quickly return Sovietists to bases in Libya. United Elias has as much to fear from the Holy League as any of us, with Russia and the Estenlands cavorting to the north and the Spanish and Romans, perhaps the French, trying to control the sea to their west... not to mention the danger of the League's Crusading inciting an extreme Islamist backlash that would not benefit the secular administration of United Elias in its primarily Arabic domain.

"As to NATO, does not Spanish aggression threaten Gibraltar? True, the British have elected a more conservative government, but the Holy League and Catholic Europe do not have a fantastic record when it comes to fostering good relations with the island nation that is home to such things as several million Muslims, half a million Jews, countless committed atheists, and the Protestant Church of England!

"The Roycelandians, well, who can say? But I do not fear them... they have lost a battleship to our forces, lost a war to the Lusakans, and stand to lose a lot more by joining fights that are not their own. I suppose it matters much what the Quinntonians do... but we none of us are here to call for war on the United States, we, are we not" he said, looking around the room, "are proposing to do vital works that NATO will not trouble itself to do..."

"...because" Dumnorix interrupted, "the reactionary authorities that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation represents do not care about the fate of the small Portuguese market next to the expense of war -actual or economic- with the Holy League, nor do they care about the wishes of the left-leaning millions of that isolated nation. They care less for the Saharawi, possibly even want to see them crushed because of what they represent, which is a threat to the disproportionate power of minorities.

"Now, I shall go to Africa or Portugal myself and convert or kill as many conscripted thugs as are thrown against the people, but I should very much like to do it along side a million comrades from a dozen lands."

"Ultimately, we all seek the freedom of the masses from the chains that bind them."

Myomi Sizhong's quiet voice seemed out of place amidst the energies of the military discussion... her interjection coming less from desire to be involved and more to keep her SRA colleague from spitting accusations of regressivism.

"We must remember several key points. The first is that Morocco is under occupation. Algeria went from democracy to despotism in an unpopular coup. Portugal has no desire to fal under occupation. Regardless of how 'progressive' the governments they support may be, they will be on our side. We are not invading France or Italy, where indoctrination of the populace would start them against us en masse. We are to be the agent of their liberation from occupation.

The second is that Portugal is different than Africa. It isn't seen by the West as a poor prize for colonialists... it may lean far to the left, but it remains a capitalist, representative democracy inhabited by Europeans. It is not distant diplomatically from the British Federation... in fact, Spanish agression in Iberia would seem to directly threaten them in Gibraltar. Likewise, the Hudecians have been seething at inaction against the Holy League... they joined our full embargo on the Russian Empire over the Balkan invasions, and went so far as to prepare forces for amphibious landings, albeit their actual use was unlikely. Thus, NATO has four members... two will almost certainly stand politicaly in opposition to the Spanish. One, the Quinntonians, has yet to involve itself in significant capacity in recent conflict, but has shown itself concerned that the League might sour the world's masses against Christian indoctrination, and thus put its tentacles gripping Korea and Japan at risk. This leaves Roycelandia... some have said that Roycelandian imperialism is not so bad, but they have laid claim to vast tracts of unwilling land at the behest of Versailles, in addition to their African occupation that cannot help but be remembered given our current location. I am not one to support war as first resort, but there will be war with Roycelandia if there is war with the Holy League. The only distinction between them is that Madrid is ruled by an idiot and Port Royal by a coward. And, our comrades in Africa and South America will likely find that, should they not enter that war, the enemy will make little distinction in its despotic crusade. Thus, it is key that any action chosen here achieve consensus... if one of us is to act, all of us may be carried along, regardless of their vote. We must thus assure that whatever is decided achieves full support.

United Elias is another matter. We not only do not wish war with them... we need the Suez open to be confident of our supply routes resting open. The League and the Elians have not gotten on well of late, and Morocco's monarchy was supported by Baghdad before its sudden collapse in the face of Spanish invasion. It may not be in their interest to see socialist revolution in the Maghreb, but they may be convinced that free North African states are better than those in Christian chains. This will not be a simple task, but it is not impossible... it is not even stacked against us. We do not need to convince them to join us, nor to remain neutral. We must simply convince them not to join with the League.

I will thus suggest that we prepare ourselves for conflict... conflict at home, in Iberia, in the Sahara... and as we do so we engage in intensive diplomacy with the British, Hudecians, Elians, perhaps even the Quinntonians, while communicating our message to the poulations of North Africa so that they will know what we are ready to do.

The SRA has one aircraft, at a base in Sumatra, whose purpose is such education... the military term is 'psyop'?... it is capable of media broadcast on radio and television frequencies, with a poweful signal to override domestic transmissions. It would be a difficult journey, but it could potentially be moved in the SADR, and from there begin to send its message out to Moroccans, Algerians, and Bedouin. I am sure some of you also possess such craft... if not, we stand ready to outfit them, if you simply get the planes to Lyong.

It may be that the peoples of occupied territories will liberate themselves if we just show readiness to stand with them. It may be that our resolve alone will cow the Spanish bull's imperial expansion. We can hope with all our hearts for these things, as w ready ourselves for the worst possibiliies."

Tias remained standing, clearing his throat to give himself a pause. As one of the primary ideologues of the new Anarchan wave, the weight of popular expectation rested firmly on him. If this bothered him, he gave no sign and continued his argument in a steady voice.

"We can ready ourselves, can we? So be it. Neo-Anarchos stands opposed to armed intervention until we have discussed the matter at home with all of the military collectives. I cannot read into the minds and hearts of all Anarchans, but I am confident that we will aid you all should it come to war against Spain. Our Spanish brothers and sisters seem to have lost their way, and maybe all other options will indeed soon be exhausted. Of course, we will need Bedgellan and Hindustani aid to project our forces to these theatres."

"It can only be hoped that there will be sufficient time... feudal boots stomp the streets of Algiers and Riga because we did not act in time, and they may well march through Lisbon before we have decided to act."

If anyone remembering that the assembly was hosted in his nation thought that Secretary Miyanda was oddly quiet they would not be mistaken. The lanky Lusakan felt out of place in his own country as foreigners talked about political ideas that meant nothing to him, indeed to most Lusakans, and then argued over conflicts that seemed quite alien. Portugal? Hadn't we got rid of that in 1975? Where was it hiding? Miyanda honestly wasn't sure.

Still, facts were facts, and Igomo was a middle-aged African crusader back from the brink of obscurity and even death, in a half-collapsed state of which he just happened to be now unquestioned President. The Secretary was made aware of his obligation to promise vigarous support of the anti-imperialist mission in whatever form it took. Igomo's government had, on some level, positive relations with almost all of the independent nations of the African continent.

Unfortunately, Igomo no longer seemed to be giving any consideration to the facts of his northern border as he flew supplies out to his men in Western Sahara and promised through his Secretary to join the fight against recent imperialism in Africa, in all its forms.

The highly pragmatic decision makers in Baghdad consider these events carefully, and as usual elect to play off the Progressive Bloc against the Holy League, and hopefully maintain the balance of power without shedding any Arab blood. Back channels are used to communicate to Spyran, Bedgellen and Hindustani officials that the use of the Suez canal for the deployment of forces in defence of Portugal would be permitted, with the provisos that all vessels pay the standard canal tolls based on tonnage and that each shipment be quickly inspected by a customs offical prior to entering the canal.

Another condition that is stressed is written guarantees that the situation in North Africa is not inflamed. This means that all military aid to the regime in Libya must cease, and the territorial rights of Tunisia be fully respected. Additionally it is expected that the exiled (can we assume that?) royal family of Morocco be allowed to return as monarchs if that nation were to be freed from European rule.

(what are we assuming has happened in Algeria, is it still, French or is it in turmoil? Also has anybody heard anything of Al Ahzad?)

If anyone remembering that the assembly was hosted in his nation thought that Secretary Miyanda was oddly quiet they would not be mistaken. The lanky Lusakan felt out of place in his own country as foreigners talked about political ideas that meant nothing to him, indeed to most Lusakans, and then argued over conflicts that seemed quite alien. Portugal? Hadn't we got rid of that in 1975? Where was it hiding? Miyanda honestly wasn't sure.

If any Mozambiquian officials had bothered to attend the conference, they would be likely thinking along the same lines, but for Hindustan, in all its diplomatic and geo-political ineptitude, Portugal is where the HDF is going to do its very best to stop the arbitrary invasion of countries. Of course, Mumbai would feel much better if it were the Spain of mabye a year ago, and not the Spain of today, which did more than 50 of Hindustan's years of militarization mabye one.

While nobody in Parliament says it, and few in the HDF are eager to admit it, it looks more and more as though what Hindustan is sending to defend Portugal will stay there. Invading Morocco is not recieved warmly by the Hindustani delegation, mostly because it would leave Hindustan fighting mostly on its own against an enemy it has little hope of beating, and partly because of the uncertain social and political atmosphere there, which could very well see apathy or opposition to any attempt to de-colonialize Morocco.

[OOC: UE, the Moroccon royal family is firmly held within the walls of the royal palace of Madrid as political prisoners, although the type of political prisoner that drinks fifty year old grand reserve wine for breakfast. But I rather have them eating expensive food than starting up revolutions where they're not needed.

Other than that, even if you are allowed through the Suez, you won't make it to Portugal through those waters without prying open the Gibraltar from me, which will be a difficult task within itself. Strategically, which is information quite open to me, because my general staff are not idiots, it is obvious that your target is Morocco, not Portugal, because reinforcing Portugal is nigh impossible.]

[OOC: If memory (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8767422&postcount=81) serves, the Moroccan royals jetted off to Libya as part of their rather rapid surrender...]

[OOC: If memory (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8767422&postcount=81) serves, the Moroccan royals jetted off to Libya as part of their rather rapid surrender...]

[OOC: Ah, my mistake. That's what happens when you leave your storyline for three months. :p ]

OOC: I think we should make it that they ended up in UE, as we would be far more hospitable than left wing Libya to exiled Royals. Not to mention, our relations with the Kingdom of Morocco were rather good..

OOC: Probably so, but then the Colonel may take the opportunity to try his pan-Arabism ambitions again. I mean, I thought I should just say that Libya might try to get on-side with... no, okay, I can't figure out any way for them to capitalise without staying associated with the primarily leftist nations and specifically the Commonwealth. He can't go back to pan-Arabism based on this situation with the SADR and the Moroccans unlikely to reconcile and the former now much better supported... and okay, never mind, I'll stop typing, now... scoot them on through to UE before some Sovietists veteran of the revolution beats them to death of an Al Khali agent blows them up.

[OOC: Though one might imagine that's exactly why the Spanish would WANT to send them to Libya... let those annoying revolutionaries do the dirty work before the monarchy can get UE help for liberation efforts ;) ]

Representatives of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic continue to offer profuse thanks to Hindustan and Lusaka for the dispatch of forces to assist in their defence, while continuing to increase the volume of rhetoric concerning liberation of the Maghreb. They are quite vocal, however, in opposition to a restoraion of the Moroccan monarchy... "Once, the Spanish imperialists ruled in the Maghreb, and our people suffered: murders, dissapearances, and poverty. Then, the Moroccan throne ruled in the Maghreb, and our people suffered: murders, dissapearances, poverty, and exile into the desert, where our eloved Algerian and Libyan brothers gave us succour in our struggle. Now, Spain has returned, and once again the Maghreb sees murders, dissapearances, and suffering. What will be achieved by a return of the crown? Suffering again, for another thirty years, before a new Empire usurps the old and begins it anew? In 1962, Algeria had its revolution. In 1969, Libya had its revolution. Now, after decades of struggle, the SADR has had its revolution. It is time for the people of Morocco to at last have their revolution. It is time that the people of Algeria see the achievements of their own revolution restored. It is not time for the old and corrupt empires to be invited back upon their thrones of skulls."

Rhetoric which seemed a direct challenge to both old and new regimes in Morocco was not, however, backed up by significant action directly to the north. Those soldiers in the Western Sahara would be aware that general feeling amongst the Saharawi was focussed far more to the northeast. The majority of the SADR's population had only recently returned home from Tindouf, from the refugee camps where for decades the Algerian republic had been basically their only lifeline as the Polisario Front strugged against Moroccan occupation. Horror that the republic had fallen under colonial occupation, and a burning desire to repay a great debt owed to the people of Algeria.

Such would, of course, be impossible without anything short of civil war erupting from Versailles. The little Saharawi state was already as militarized as it could manage, with stockpiles of ex-Moroccan equipment assuring ample spare components and ammunition for captured rifles, and high-technology equipment operated by crews without the expertise to unleash full capability. It was in part because of this that the Polisario government asked not for more armed soldiers to come from the Progressives, but for advisors and technical operators... secretly, it was suggested that of paricular use would be combat infantry 'advisors', who could be provided with rifles and ammunition upon arrival.

[OOC: I have to voice a few concerns over the Saharawi's ideologies corcening conflict in the area. For one, after the fall of France, the Socialist and especially the Popular government [PP] had given the Saharawi tons of money and low class armaments, not to mention that most small towns have adoption programs that allow the bringing of Saharawis to Spain to live with a family for two months - my own town always brings two every summer. Regardless, the most important thing I would like to make clear is that the original Saharawi independence from Morocco, when concerning this role play, was given through Spain, not by Hindustan. So Saharawi should, techncally, not have anything against Spain, and would rather have Jonathan than anybody else since he was the principle proponent of Saharawi independence, even if behind the curtains it was to weaken Morocco further. Just something I want to make clear.]

OCC: Ehm? General Franco? Where was he all this time?

Furthermore Macabees, Hindustan have the Saharawi unconditional support and has significant funding invested in development projects there. It might have occurred to the socialist Polisarios that Spain is very much a fair weather friend, whereas Hindustan tends, for better or worse (often the latter, take Al-Ahzad for example), supports you for as long as you ask for it. And since when do you occupy Gibraltar? Did TBF, in a spat of insanity, cede what was one of England's most vital positions in two world wars?

You might find that some of us, Macabees, aren't apt to pull militaries out of our...rears...and then go about labeling everything contrary to one's own ambitions as an impossibility. First and foremost, Portugal is being RPed by the nation that wants to invade it, and that is a conflict of interest. Secondly, the Progressive Bloc is potentially one of the world's most powerful military machines by virtue of the fact that BG has the largest military outside of Quinntonia and China if nothing else, and it remains that both BG and Hindustan have been in wars against countries that weren't pushovers. So you've got to deal with an inferiority in numbers and experience, and at least equal technology.

Before you run around saying all inflammatory stuff, you might check your facts!

[OOC: General Franco has very little to do with modern Saharawi/Spanish relations. Indeed, for the past thirty years the only real ally the Saharawi have had has been Spain, and Jonathan's short timespan as ruler hasn't changed much, since he, from the beginning, had been a full supporter of Saharawi Indepedence.

And where did your comment on the Gibraltar come from? I may not own the rock, but that has very little influence in a world where Spain's military is not a third rate military any longer. It might be smaller than the United State's and India's, but it's not a third rate military. For all purposes, I control the Gibraltar, since I own both Morocco and most of the peninsula.

On a third note, your militaries might be larger, but I'm fighting on home turf here; consequently, I have and I will retain the advantage at all times. Out of character, strategically speaking, your chances of making it to Morocco in one piece are very small, regardless on how powerful you are. And why should I be technologically equal to you? There's a very good chance that the Spanish military has certain technological advantages over their enemies, just like Germany did during the Second World War - that is always a possibility, and you can't just dimiss that.

Fourth, Portugal is not being role played by myself. Quintonnia has already made that clear - I think we're still looking for someone to take the job.]

[OOC: General Franco has very little to do with modern Saharawi/Spanish relations. Indeed, for the past thirty years the only real ally the Saharawi have had has been Spain, and Jonathan's short timespan as ruler hasn't changed much, since he, from the beginning, had been a full supporter of Saharawi Indepedence.

And where did your comment on the Gibraltar come from? I may not own the rock, but that has very little influence in a world where Spain's military is not a third rate military any longer. It might be smaller than the United State's and India's, but it's not a third rate military. For all purposes, I control the Gibraltar, since I own both Morocco and most of the peninsula.

On a third note, your militaries might be larger, but I'm fighting on home turf here; consequently, I have and I will retain the advantage at all times. Out of character, strategically speaking, your chances of making it to Morocco in one piece are very small, regardless on how powerful you are. And why should I be technologically equal to you? There's a very good chance that the Spanish military has certain technological advantages over their enemies, just like Germany did during the Second World War - that is always a possibility, and you can't just dimiss that.

Fourth, Portugal is not being role played by myself. Quintonnia has already made that clear - I think we're still looking for someone to take the job.]


OCC: You missed by point completely. What I was saying is that you took what was a poor-quality force and turned it into what you are claiming to be the best army on the planet in an incredibly short amount of time. It is just suspicious and a bit hasty, is all.

Its not appropriate for you to come around and tell what can and can't be done, especially when you yourself are hardly clean in that regard.

[OOC: Perhaps to avoid further argument, I ought clarify the factors which I see as having influenced the Saharawi position.

Their opinion of Catalan is coloured far more by his associantins and past & predictable future actions than by what was obviously an attempt to split the Moroccan forces with whom he was at war through agreeing not to invade the SADR... an agreeent which, given Holy League behaviour in recent years has consisted soley of re-colonizing imperial territories (Algeria, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, the Balkans, Moldova, Morocco, and now, in a way, Portugal), can obviously be viewed as nothing more than a temporary reprieve before the Spanish consolidate and push southward. Spanish history with, and support for the Saharawi, does not stand as a shining beacon alone... Franco's repressive policies aside, it is largely the Madrid Agreement between Spain, Moocco, and Mauritania which gave sanction for denial of SADR independance and secured Spain substantial resource rights, and next to Algeria (which ceded a tract of land to the SADR and provided some 200,000 refugees with food, water, and military protection from Moroccan air raids and ground forces, as well as arms and supplies for Polisario fighters), Libya (which provided Polisario with weapons and equipment, as well as university educations and technical training), the Soviet Union (which provided the Polisario with battle tanks, anti-aircraft guns and missiles, weaponry and ammunition, and trucks required to maintain supply distribution in refugee camps, albeit in intermittent and unofficial fashion), it can be seen as a lesser factor: like Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania, small amounts of food and medical aid arrives from Spain, along with money from Saharawi working abroad. In addition to this, given Hindustan's RP record for aiding the downtrodden, one can likely assume Mumbai was a source of ample food and medical aid as well. Not that this entails a burning hatred for the Spanish... like the Mauritanians, they occupied, Polisario beat them, they left, they acknowledged SADR independance, their economies are useful for employing a few exiles. It is certainly not the foundation for implicit trust and deep love. On a personal level, an individual Saharawi would hoist far more blame on an Elian citizen, whose government openly backed the Moroccan monarchy, than on an Spaniard whose government was, up until reconstitution as a monarchist empire, shjowing no signs of reviving the imperial ambitions struggled against by Polisario.

The key to public anger can be found more directed towards the Holy League in general, and the French monarchy with whom Catalan is so personally close (being married into their family, for one example). Algeria is great in the consciousness of the Saharawi, as it was pretty much their greatest friend in the world and the majority lived there near Tindouf until the French takeover that refused to recognise the land ceded by the republic to SADR, forcing them to flee and arresting both their agents in the north and many Algerian officials of the republic who had been close friends and supporters of the Saharawi on a personal level. Worse, those arrests led not to trials but to dissapearances whch were direct reminders of the closing days of Franco's rule in Western Sahara, and Moroccan efforts there as well.

The Saharawi owe a great debt to Algeria, and have expressed gratitude in the past by launching offensives (costly in Polisario lives) and agreeing to ceasefires or peaceful periods when the Algerians required it of them. They have no reason to trust that Spain and the Holy League do not intend further expasion and oppression... and every reason to anticipate it. The liberation occured as a culmination of years of struggle, and Spain deserves no more credit for it than that of a nation which used that struggle for its own purposes in a convenient moment. The Spanish contibution to Saharawi life pales in comparison to the Algerian contribution brutally ripped away by Catalan's relatives on the French throne, and cannot be considered trustworthy given recent Spanish policies.

The above factors are those which led me to conclude that the Polisario government of the SADR would pursue its current course, rather than sitting back and batting its eyes at Madrid].

OOC

Wooow, people - This is [i]exactly why we have an OOC forum on invision - I suggest you all join up and discuss out of character issues there, and if that presents a problem, make a conference OOC thread instead. This amount of ooc debate is really atmosphere-breaking, and clutters up the thread.

"Algeria."

Igo coughed loudly as he spoke the word in an attempt to move the conference along.

It was on the subject of Algeria that several members of the Spyran delegation began to sweat. Captain Varich was not amongst them, but the SRA had always lived in its own world, where it was the revolutionary hero that would triumph in the eventual 'decisive battle' between the masses and feudal-capitalists.

The bureaucrats of Spyr had not shared that world in quite some time... in many ways, it would be difficult to term aspects of the Strainist economy as suited for the 'Progressive' label. One could say that, of the assembled nations at the conference, Spyr was by far the richest when placed in a capitalist spectrum, but this was certainly not due to greater socialist fervour. In the twin People's Republics of Spyr and Sujava, the economy could be described as one of exports. From Lyong come high-technologies... cellular telephones, computers, digital devices. From Sujava come such global staples as 'java' coffee beans and a surplus of basic manufactures. These are sold to acquire goods missing from local production... a variety of agricultural goods needed to compensate for deficiencies arising from rampant urbanization, ores and raw materials absent from the Strainist sphere, and the stockpiles of foreign currency which had ostensibly been accumulating for future 'revolutionary' use, but had seen little function save manipulation of exchange rates (and slowly trying to buy out Sukhoi).

This system was not exactly compatible with the economies of Strainism's ideological allies in the Progressive Bloc, especially where the goal was often self-sufficiency or satisfacton of need... either leaving a partner which did not want trade, or who lacked sufficient surplus production to fill Strainist deficiencies... this had left the Strainists to seek other markets for their goods.

Most of these were relatively stable : trade with China and Hudecia had endured through trying times before, despite vastly divergent ideologies. But the issue of Algeria and Progressive action brought the Bloc up against both Elian and NATO interests, opening dangers which had been of little consequence when facing off against the Holy League: while the Strainists did not rely on the individual nations included per se, their combined influence over international markets might have severe consequences.

Not that any of this would be mentioned here... perhaps Strainist diplomats would subtly increase attempts to secure trade increases within the Bloc, perhaps bureaucrats would sit in the tiny bars of Sithin and bemoan those 'SRA lunatics and foreign barbarians wanting to end the world for a scrap of worthless desert'. But they certainly wouldn't do so here, while the distance between themselves and the closest Geletian was shorter than the sprint it would take to reach the nearest exit.

Meanwhile, ignoring his colleagues, Varichi would be eagerly contemplating restoration of Algerian revolutionary government, bringing Portugual into the Progressive fold, and other possible actions, all of which ignored the reality that his own military was increasingly tied down to commitments closer to home... his bravado, however sincere he was about it, was likely all the Strainists would be bringing to the table when it came to North Africa.