Kalistan

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Rally for Democracy held in Eshar
Protest was "peaceful and orderly" says police
Eshar, Duchy of Odufaray
August 10, 5647


About 300 turn out to Rally for Democracy, held by Democratic Club of Eshar

The "First Annual Rally for Democracy" was held in downtown Eshar this week. The event was sponsored by the non-partisan civil society organization who calls themselves The Democratic Club of Eshar, and was attended by about 300 people. The event obtained appropriate permits and was observed by law enforcement officers of Eshar Free City. The Chief of the City Police called the event "peaceful and orderly," and said the attendees were respectful and compliant with all instructions provided them by the police.

"About 300 people attended the event in downtown Eshar today," said event organizer Tom Schmidt, of the Democratic Club of Eshar. "We were happy to see our members there, but the vast majority of those attending were not members of our club. All in all, this information session went off without a hitch, and the Free City authorities were very cooperative with what we were trying to do, which was to inform the population about how Kalistan could possibly enhance its system to allow for greater popular representation and a larger role for the people, without diminishing the Monarchy."

More than 25 speakers were invited to speak at the all day-event, which also included food vendors and several information tables from local and national civil society organizations, including several voter information groups, ecology groups and global economic justice groups. "We welcomed everyone to attend the event, and maybe this year, we drew 300 people, but maybe next year its 3000. Who knows," said Schmidt. "What we are trying to do here is to get our people to think of ways to improve and streamline our system of government, so some of the really great innovations that we get in our Free Cities, like the ability to select our own representatives without regard to party affiliation, for example, could possibly find their way into the National Assembly. There is a lot of room for a diversity of viewpoint without undermining the stability that the Monarchy ensures, and its the Eshar Democratic Club's goal to start getting people to begin thinking about things like this."

Schmidt was explicit that this Rally for Democracy was not a call to action of any sort. "We tread a fine line in this country," said Schmidt. "Anything that looks like partisan organizing is definitely off the table. But civil society activity is certainly tolerated, but I'd say, almost encouraged. Both the City Government and the National Government encourage people to think about things not in an 'individual interest' sort of way but in a 'how can I help this society be better' sort of way. And this is the essence of all of our discussions within the Eshar Democratic Club, just because we want to contribute to the betterment of Odufaray and Kalistan and we think that the people's voice can contribute to that. We aren't here to criticize the Monarchy. We are looking for ways to get more people involved in the system to help to strengthen the Monarchy."

As Schmidt said, the National Government has been tacitly encouraging the development of these sort of civil society organizations for about a decade now. Vic Yeager, who is the spokesman for the Chancellor of the Empire, said that the regime promotes Free Cities as the pressure valve for the democratic impulse and the laboratory for people-led innovation in administration. "Her Imperial Majesty's government certainly encourages people to organize and lead citizen initiatives within the Free Cities, to make life for themselves and their neighbors better" said Yeager. "And the benefit of this is, the vast majority of the population lives within our seven free cities, which are by and large self governing, and are as responsive to the demands of the citizens who live there as they can be made under the current system. This allows people to have direct input into the actions of the government that is closest to them: where they know their aldermen and councilmen personally, and can propose, and then organize around issues that affect them directly. Her Imperial Majesty's Government pays attention to what these Cities are doing and if there is a program that can then be expanded to the whole Duchy or the whole Empire, they most often start in the Cities, with the people."

The Democratic Club of Eshar is one of a dozen civil society groups to hold information rallies this summer. "Yes, we talk to one another," said Schmidt. "It would be kind of ridiculous if we didn't coordinate, but I wouldn't really call us a national movement. There is stronger or weaker support for political liberalization across the country, depending on where you go. The Sulari Democratic Club may be calling for revision of the Single Party Law. The Kaliburg Club talks about democracy in philosophic terms, but you could say those people are about as pro-monarchy as you are going to find. We're sort of in between. But a movement for more democratization in the Empire should take on all flavors--that just makes sense if we are trying to empower all the people. What unites us all is a desire to see the desires of the people expressed more directly in our government at all levels, and I think as long as we are finding that our Cities are responsive to us, we have a lot of space to grow and build and show that people-power isn't such a bad thing."

Schmidt said this fall, his group would like to travel to local democratic states, including Lodamun, Valruzia and Baltusia, to see how democracy works there, and to think of how it can possibly work again in Kalistan.

@TheRepublic