Do Not Bow Down To Authority

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
1

My fellow pilots, fellow Minmatar especially.

It seems recently at least some in the Tribal Council have started seeing their error in giving the Sanmatar Maleatu Shakor unrestricted power over our people. This is indeed very welcome, and better to happen late than never.

For those unaware, ever since the emergency powers given to the Sanmatar in a kneejerk response to the Triglavian Crisis and the Blood Raider terror attack on Matar itself, he was given full control over every military matter regarding the Republic, and by extension he also gained full control over agencies maintaining public order, whose powers were further broadened in scope close to a year later with an influx of funds and other resources to the Krusual and Thukker Tribeā€™s coffers, long standing political allies of the Brutor Tribe, of whom the Sanmatar is descended from.

As noted in the news above, the reformed Tribal Republic has long been turning itself into a dictatorial police state, with the change accelerating considerably in recent years. The most recent and very worrying development is the further authority to search, detain and judge individuals by organizations under the direct control of the Sanmatar himself, bypassing the civilian law and order of Tribes and Clans entirely.

Effectively, the Sanmatar has been given the completely unrestricted ability to quell political dissidence under the pretense of internal security, and the only protection people have against this is likely their fame. He canā€™t touch opposing Tribal leaders without causing a revolt, but anyone lesser would appear to be fair game.

I am very concerned about the downward spiral our Republic has been for past several years in terms of personal freedoms and willingness to work with mercenary groups that routinely perform war crimes against civilians - and whose representative has openly threatened such against my family and the Clans of other Minmatar capsuleers in the past, for example.

What I want to say to my fellow Minmatar is that, do not bow down to authority you do not trust. And there is no reason to trust the Sanmatar to be working for the benefit of all Minmatar. If authorities approach you, demand to know what organization they represent and what department they are from. Demand to see the local police authorities and confirm the identity of any government officials that ā€œjust want to have a chat with you.ā€ If they refuse any of the above, make a scene. Your life may depend on it.

The Tribes should be there to protect you, not to oppress you.

And please do understand, that I am not advocating for a rebellion against the Sanmatar. Deposing the Sanmatar is the job of the Tribal Council, and I hope they remember owning a spine sooner rather than later. We have already exchanged the government in a bloodbath once, and Iā€™d much prefer that it would not become a habit.

3 Likes
2

Good luck. The Brutor will not oppose Shakor, heā€™s their revenge against the Sebiestor. The Starkmanir, for the reasons outlined in the other post, will not oppose Shakor. The Nefantar will be on thin ice for at least two more generationsā€”they dare not oppose him. The Krusual share the ā€˜payback for years of Sebiestor dominanceā€™ sentiment of the Brutor.

This was baked in as soon as the Shakorite conspiracy committed mass murder and wasnā€™t investigated.

3 Likes
3

I have read our sisterā€™s words in the first post of this thread. I would like to recommend a more stoic approach. Not because I disagree with her assessment, but because I disagree with how we should respond to what has happened. It is true that the situation in interstellar politics has taken a turn for the worse, in no small part due to the Triglavian Invasions. It is also true that since then, many powers one would normally associate with other entities within the Republic, have been concentrated in the hands of the Sanmatar, or agencies that answer to him.

However, the way we all agreed to run this tribal confederacy which we refer to as the Republic, is that every Chieftain of the Tribes would have one vote on the Tribal Council, and that whilst there will certainly have been a lot of politicking on both sides, a majority of Chieftains made the decision to keep Maleatu Shakor as Sanmatar for another term. These people were chosen to be Chieftains in accordance with the traditions of their Tribes, which means they have the right to make that decision in the name of their Tribes. Even if I personally view the motivations of certain voices within the Tribal Council as cowardly, short-sighted, lily-livered, myopic, chicken-hearted, irresponsible, spineless, foolish, craven, injudicious, timid, or some combination of the above, dismissing the decision of a majority of the Tribal Council, just because the current Sanmatar advocates measures we disagree with, infers that you believe yourself to be more qualified to decide who is Sanmatar than the Tribal Council. This is not good.

When the Great Rebellion occurred, the Clan from which I hail decided that every man and woman who is of able mind and body would serve in the Fleet to prevent another Day of Darkness. We have fought and died in service to the Fleet so that all of our brothers and sisters of all Clans and Tribes would get to live free. We have never expected other Clans and Tribes to do the same. Nor would the Chief of my Clan. Nor do we believe that a Sanmatar should tell Clans or Tribes how to live. However, if there is one thing my clansmen learned since we made that decision for ourselves, it is that no one lives forever, and no one rules forever. One day, there will be a new Sanmatar, with different ideas, who will make different decisions. For now we have one who has deemed these measures necessary, based on more information about the actions and intentions of those who would do our people harm than you and I have access to. If you will not place your trust in him, then keep calm and place your trust in the Chief of your Tribe. Neither the Chief of yours or mine has done anything to warrant dissidence.

2 Likes
4

I see that you are still out there rabble rousing. Nice to know a few things at least never change.

5

Is that a notepad in your pocket, or are you just following orders? :stuck_out_tongue:

2 Likes
6

I do not believe that we should be reducing anyoneā€™s arguments to simply ā€œrabble-rousingā€, especially if they evidently care about what is happening sufficiently to write out a lengthy statement. Regardless of their opinion, they are still one of our sisters.

2 Likes
7

Thing is, I never asked for a Tribal Council to begin with. Not that long ago, my Tribe broadly agreed with this notion.

And to be perfectly honest, yes, if we must maintain the charade of how the ancient ways are the best, I at the very least do believe I would be more qualified to appoint anybody-freaking-else as the Sanmatar than Maleatu Shakor. The man does nothing but pick at old wounds and is a relic in the way of progress. The reasons he needs to go are many, but the most pressing would be what I stated in the opening post. He stands at the position where he can make people disappear without due process - and some of you (as in general ā€œyouā€, not anyone present in the discussion) may not care about that, but I do.

And if weā€™re clinging on to ancient traditions as mandates, then I feel inclined to point out that the Mark of great destiny and leadership didnā€™t appear on Shakor.

And I see youā€™re willing as ever to lick Shakorā€™s dirty boots. Some things never change, indeed.

1 Like
8

Not ā€˜canā€™. Has. Heā€™s had countless of our people murdered and framed as collaborators, so that their kin cannot even mourn them without shame. None of them got due process. And none of their killers faced justice.

4 Likes
10

It was not a coup. The Midular government had already fallen, with a vote of no-confidence in the Prime Minister. Sheā€™s the one who invited him back in to run for her job, as a way of respecting the wishes of the feckless, idiotic masses. He also won his electionā€¦ not that anyone else was in the running.

Then he has a bunch of people murdered, framed, and convinced the governmentā€¦ survivorsā€¦ to reorganize under the Tribal Council.

So, really, even without the murders to eliminate the inconvenientā€¦ heā€™d still be in power, the governmental structure would still be the same, but thereā€™d be less intimidation keeping some people in line.

3 Likes
11

This is technically correct. The best kind of correct. I believe I voiced my thoughts on that appropriately with the string of expletives in the preceding message.

You mean if the Midular government had not been terminated by a vote-of-no-confidence? I might be slightly biased, but I can not envision a world in which that would not have occurred. In large part because your people kept pushing to see to what degree the Midular administration was willing to roll over. I believe that was a deliberate attempt by your ruler to destabilize the regime, as it essentially reduced the options available to the Midular administration to standing their ground and risking open war, or opting for appeasement and in doing so erode the peopleā€™s support for the administration. They chose the latter and the people, expectedly, did not tolerate it. Todayā€™s balance of power is a direct consequence of whichever entity within the Amarrian power structure thought that was a good course to pursue.

1 Like
12

Honestly I donā€™t see that much being different. Midular very likely would not be the prime minister any more, but she would possibly still be active in politics and most of all, alive.

1 Like
13

Aye, she deserved far better than what she got.

1 Like
14

Iā€™d correct, itā€™s the job of Imperial Navy and/or Ministry of Internal Order.

15

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.