News in the small spheres is abuzz about the dissolution of Bastien Holdings Group as eldest son Jack, known for his firebrand political speeches at shipyards and radical views around Matari isolationism, signs on with a manufacturing corp linked with the Thukker clans of Great Wildlands
For the past 12 months, a working tributary fund of investment raised by the Bastien clan and its trade interests was said to have been levied at giving opportunity to the poorest communities in getting vital skilling and work-placements in ship crew and other offworld careers. A pool of 326 candidates were said to have passed through the program before its closure just the other day – with the latter six months of the program reimbursed and directly funded by Jack Bastien himself. The Bastien clan have spoken of continued work in this area, with a shift to planetside, localised community work.
In a rare statement when contacted directly, Jack had this to say: "It was always the plan that once initial investments of both Bastien and affiliated clan ties are repaid with interest, that I should go forward in creating opportunities for Matari to prosper as I have.
Although it is with regret that the surface-side Vocational Investment Schemes program are suspended; this allows me to invest directly in Matari capsuleers and contribute to the uplift and retention of our brothers and sisters in forward-facing agendas in Matari space, rather than lose them to the wallets of Cal-Amarr profiteers and diluted Federation veiled deceits masquerading as unity.
if there are Minmatar Capsuleers out there who want to directly impact on the future of Matari space with Industrial-leaning ambitions, I invite you to reach out and meet with me. We have much to discuss. And if you are more inclined to warfare but are curious about what I stand for – I will happily receive you - and Thukker Innovations certainly has need for combat-able pilots."
Bastien as a clan, and Thukker Innovations as a corporate entity are not known to mirror the intensity of Jack’s beliefs, however it was confirmed earlier today that a positive discrimination hiring protocol is in place to favour Matari applicants in all associated businesses, capsuleer and baseliner inclusive.
Prior to becoming a Capsuleer, Jack Bastien was believed to be linked with worker-activist groups like “W4233-BLOC”, so named after a work team said to have suffered multiple Minmatar casualties in a Caldari-owned factory after employees staged a sit-in over working conditions. The group has been known to advocate for changes in law and is largely peaceful, but has also been accused of industrial sabotage and acts of criminal damage against Caldari-owned businesses in Matar space. Spokespeople for the Bastien clan interests have rigorously denied such links but Jack has never been moved to comment.
In more recent accounts, Jack Bastien was said to be advertising for jobs on his mining team at Thukker Innovations with slogans such as “Matari miners wanted! Forge a future for our people and see the benefits of your toil rather than languish in the societal and financial chains of the Cal-Amarr and the Gallente saviour complex! Be truly free, arm in arm with kin, building back Matar economy on our own terms!”
One to watch or one to watch out for? Hard to say - but there were reportedly supportive cries and provocations from an Amarr pilot calling it out as delusions and false propaganda in an effort to stir up the resident workforce population, denigrated as the slurs of troublemakers.