Hulstria and Gao-Soto

[Zanz]

http://forum.particracy.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7531

[Mbites]

January 5636

„Servus, Irasshaimase“


Building housing the Harmony Congress in Kien

Sebastian Kaiba member of the trans-ethnic chamber of parliament the “Harmony Congress” meets us in Kien, the capital of the Federal Republic of Gao-Soto, right in front of the building that houses said chamber. It is the 7PM and the usually busy streets of the capital are more akin to a ghost town, since the murder of the popular Hulstrian-Autonomy Activist Heinrich Kimmelfels. While we originally wanted to speak to him about this topic specifically, we apparently have met the young parliamentarian Kaiba at an emotional time. The 26-year-old who has worked as an archivist before entering politics has been branded as part of a new disillusioned generation of politicians, a rare breed within the old main-stream Socialseptembrist Party (SSP). This new generation known for being critical of the post-fascist efforts of the two largest dominant forces of the Republic which would be the SSP and the Hosian Democratic Alliance (HDA). Both of these parties are adherent to the genuine Gao-Soto ideology of Septembrism, a primarily civic-nationalist stream of thought which promotes harmony and peace between the two peoples of Gao-Soto, the Kunihito and Hulstrian people. Critical of post-fascism? Is Kaiba a fascist? One might ask, no, absolutely not, but this new generation sees that the Septembrist cause has made severe mistakes by not embracing traditional multiculturalism and not supporting the actually largest group of people, the Hulstro-Showans. This demographic group is usually seen as having no stake in the ethnic-tensions sometimes only fueled by political ambitions of fanatic individuals. But we digress, back to Kaiba. Our questions regarding the murder of Herr Kimmelfels apparently have struck a cord with the lawmaker and opened pandoras box to a long rant on the situation of our nation.


Hulstrian Nationalist rally after the murder of Kimmelfels

Initially Kaiba tried to focus on the topic at hand but went of the rails when it came to the economy, he said that neither governments led by his party nor those of the hosian democrats were able to fix the horrid state of said economy. Insolvencies are at an all time high due to low demand and no drive to consumption. The causes for this are heatedly debated by both academics and politicians. Two prevalent theories have gained popularity, one of which is the high price affecting companies and consumers alike, the second of which is the rigid austerity politics both the HDA and ironicly the SSP have persued over the last decades, even after conceding that high levels of state intervention and investment were necessary after disastrous fascist and hulstrian-nationalist policies the leading figures of the two peoples parties were more focused on “filling their own coffers and keeping those of the Republic empty” were the words of Herr Kaiba. This subsequently led us to one of the issues which almost led our interviewee to tears, which is the alleged high level of corruption the nation is facing in all matters of state. “The military is hilariously underfunded peace of antiquity and our administrative departments are still using fax-machines and I’ve heard that some even still go analogue.” At some point we stopped Kaiba to continue on. Unfortunately Herr Kaiba did not let us shift pace and he went on to comment on the political landscape of the Republic.


Chancellor Isobe Ienobu (SSP)

Kaiba had few good words for the leader of his own party, Chancellor Isobe Ienobu. He said that the current government just like that of the HDA which preceeded it were guilty of letting the nation rot while spin-doctors were selling superficial hand-shake meetings as political coups. Ironicly a party which describes itself as social-democratic or social-septembrist for that matter has not been very creative with its social-egalitarian solutions to economic problems the people and especially the lower class of the nation face. The Center-Right hosian-democratic HDA is probably quite content, they don’t even have to govern to have their policy wishes fulfilled claimed Kaiba. Both of these parties have governed either together or succeeded each other for the past decades and nothing much ever came of it. The initial euphoria has been wasted by stagnant, irrelevant and overly casuistic policy with no teeth according to Kaiba. One of the worst points of contention he voiced was the organization of the national parliament and federalism. The Federal Republic suffers from administrative overburdening because every sub-national entity called “Bundesbezirk” fields their own mirrored departments. Federal competence to regulation is sparse and the sub-national parliaments often block necessary reform. According to Kaiba the misplaced cultural policy of the Republic is most visible in the parliament where two ethnicity-centered chambers (Named Hulstrian: Volkskammer / Kunihito: Jinminkaigi-sho)  of parliament represent the extreme divide between the pure-cultured Kunihito and Hulstrian people, both chambers are dominated by ethno-nationalist or ethnopluralist factions promoting racial hatred. All these facts culminate in a situation cynics call “constitutionally mandated paralysation.”


The Kunihito Ethnochamber Jinminkaigi-sho

This rant has urged us to poke at Kaiba for his commentary on the recent opinion polls which if true would see some smaller political groupings gain political capital. Kaiba seemed even more depressed. While claiming that he supported the diversification of the political landscape due to more competition making him hopeful for his own party to regain ideological coherency, he says that many of these new parties raise issues of their own simply by existing. According to him the royalists are going to refuel the age-old-question of constitutional reform to introduce a monarchy, the Hulstrian Nationalists are returning to seated status and the smaller left-wing parties are only going to split the vote the SSP would need to force the vision of the younger generation through. Certainly the situation seems dire if one were to believe what Kaiba is saying.

[Mbites]

Breaking: Hard-Right FDH wins Hulstrian regional elections
February 5636


Election Night at the FDH Headquarters

As a prelude to the looming general election loss of the established peoples parties, the generally already exciting Hulstrian state elections turned out to be a thriller for the SSP and the HDA. The national-liberal hulstrian-autonomist Freiheitliche Demokraten Hulsterreichs (Freedom Democrats of Hulstria) have won in a 38% landslide victory and came into first place beating out the HDA which was the largest political party before the elections. The FDH sees a 11% increase in voter share and gains massive political capital due to the privileges that their likely status as the major-partner in a regional coalition will offer them. Their leader Ulf Friedrich Heinzl held a speech in which he massively criticized the current status-quo of the constitution and endorsed the Liberal Center Party (Liberales Zentrum) on the national level. If you read about Hulstrian politics for the first time you might be surprised by this, this is due to the fact that he FDH and the LZ have a unlikely loose alliance where the LZ does not stand for election in Hulstria and the FDH does not ascend to the national level. In any case, political pundits are anxious to see what the regional coalition negotiations are going to bring the Republic. The rest of the election results and the parties gaining seats in parliament are very different to the national probabilities, meaning that an alliance between other Hulstrian nationalist or Autonomist factions is not impossible on this regional level. Moderates across the spectrum hope for a FDH-HDA coalition which even if the most stable seems like an unlikely option due to the intense electoral campaign the two parties have fought against one another, and especially considering the anti-septembrist platform the FDH chose.

[Mbites]

July 5636

A Brick Wall named Constitutional Court


The Chancellor reacting to the freeze.

As mentioned previously in our interview with Sebastian Kaiba, the economic situation of the Federal Republic is dire. Especially in the more underdeveloped regions such as Hilgar and Kuratha, ironicly those that are also dominated by the non-mixed-ethnicities and are seeing rising ethno-populist forces. These two regions are plagued by rising unemployment and the closing down of traditional small businesses which means that the insolvency situation is directly hitting what some call “the common folk.”

Chancellor Isobe (SSP) has managed to pass a controversial reform-package through the Harmony Congress which would see increased financial contributions from less affected districts such as Hulstria and Mitrania. The state-level governments have already voiced their opposition to these bills. Recently elected District-chairman of Hulstria Ulf Friedrich Heinzl, who formed a coalition with radical Hulstrian Nationalists, has called this project “an empty attempt to pin the consequences of incompetent economic policy on the district authorities.” Political analysts look with great worry on this situation as it symbolizes the growing divide in the nation and the decrease in national solidarity.

While the Chancellor has managed to get it through the Federal level, the district administrations of both Hulstria and Mitrania have jointly brought a legal protest to the constitutional court which in turn has frozen the further political process of implementing the necessary laws. This move has been met with both approval and discontent, even leading to protests in the poorer regions and cities of the country. It certainly doesn’t bode well for the SSP-HDA federal coalition.

[Mbites]

January 5637

Kimmelfels Case: Alleged Killer not guilty


The Federal Court for Criminal Cases, Kien

Met with protests, the Federal Court for Criminal Cases has found the alleged killer, the known and controversial Kunihito ethnonationalist, Maki Ririko not guilty. According to the state prosecutor the judge was not convinced by the provided evidence. While the documents of the case have been sealed and only very limited resources regarding this situation are available, we can say that there was evidence suggesting that Maki was at least present and or knew the actual killer.

Reactions to this result are mixed with the Hulstrian half of the nation ‘going up in flames.’ The capital of Kien was basically not passable with car due to widespread protests blocking all major roads in the city for public and private transport. Police reports say that there also have been clashes between ethnic-centered gangs but that the situation is under control.

The mayor of Kien, the SSP politician Theoderich Fendeltal claimed that the reaction of the people to this judicial process is worrying and showcases that those that still subscribe to the notion of separated cultures in Gao-Soto are losing trust in the institutions, but that this is mainly caused by the mistakes of his own party. “Central tenents of Septembrism have to be questioned, we cannot restore and heal with dogma alone. We need to embrace Multiculturalism.”

Some suspect that this commentary of the influential mayor is suspiciously connected to clandestine meetings with royalist politicians and those of the ever-more popular Workers party which is set to see incredible electoral success in all Districts and the federal level. There are hints of treason in the rows of the SSP and some even say that Fendeltal is the leader of a potential mass-exodus from the SSP to the AP, in any case, the looming election will definitely be setting a path toward a new future for Gao-Soto.

[Mbites]

Backdated: March 5637

BREAKING: Worker’s Party wins Gao-Soto Federal election



For the past year, pollsters have repeated the same sentence as if it were dogma. “Ienobu’s SSP is doomed.” This prophecy has fulfilled itself on this election day, the Socialseptembrist Party of the incumbent Chancellor Ienobu has almost lost twenty percentage of voting share compared to the last election and now stands at a meager 17% at third place behind both their traditional rival the HDA (20%), which bodes even worse for the SSP since their junior partner was able to hold their position, and the socially more conservative Worker’s Party (23%) which has won the election on an isolationist campaign and an anti-ethnonationalist platform while also being critical of the Septembrist parties. Almost as large as the SSP but smaller in the decimals is the Centrist Market Liberal Center Party, they’ve fished in the lake of Hulstro-autonomists but tried to separate the platform from appearing Hulstro-nationalist, they’ve reacted quite positively to the results and offered the AP their hand in coalitionary marriage so-to-speak.

In the lower half of the political arena stands at 10% the Royalist & Conservative Party which advocates for a rapid initiation of a constitutional convent to restore a monarchy to the nation. They’ve also appeared critical of the currently predominant cultural policy as most other parties. With a strong 6% for a less traditional party finishes the Kunihito Nationalist Party of the true people’s which advocate for a ban of the Hulstrian language and the promotion of Kunihito Tradition on a large scale. They’re described as pseudo-fascist like the Dundorfnational People’s Party (DNVP – which stands at 3% - the minimal requirement for representation in parliament) Between the two ethnonationalist parties at 4% is the relatively new party “Diversity” which advocates mostly for a complete rework of all matters cultural and a reinvented national identity of Gao-Soto. They’ve seen major success as the largest party in a mixed-dominated region and as such are quite important even though their representation on the federal level doesn’t really mirror the fact.

Political pundits expected a result resembling this one but are still clueless as to what is going to happen in regard to coalition talks. Some expect the Septembrist parties to form some sort of multi-party government, others say that the formation of the new administration is more likely to happen along ideological lines with socially conservative forces possibly going to form an alliance around traditional values. No theory has been very convincing. One thing is for certain, Incumbent Chancellor Ienobu is going to leave the Phoenix House quite soon and the SSP-HDA majority in the Harmony Congress is gone. Party grands of the HDA and the SSP are trying to justify this result pointing to relatively usual results in the regions, even if true the situation still isn’t rosy for the status quo. Anna Yumeji Tone, leader of the Workers Party wasn’t open to commentary on the upcoming coalition talks she only voiced that her party was willing to work with everyone except ethnonationalist “scum.”

See comprehensive results at: www.gaosotoelects.gh

[Mbites]

Backdated: June 5637

Tone forms „National Rejuvenation Coalition“ with SSP and R&K

The Chancellory in Kien

After arduous and sometimes painful negotiations over the last three months which included talks about all potential partnerships, the winner of the election the WP leader Anna Tone has announced that she reached an agreement with the SSP and the Monarchists. Some were surprised at this exact constellation, but others say that this seemed like a good fit. The Hosian Democrats which some handled as the most likely junior partner for a government apparently went into talks with maximum demands and did not manage to offer enough compromise to the AP in regard to economic topics. According to rumours in political circles the HDA demanded major corporate tax cuts and mining subsidies for underdeveloped regions. The AP instead said that major public works programs for rail and ports were their recipe for economic reinvigoration. In the end neither wanted to finish the ordeal with the other. This meant that the AP invited its major rival which aims at the same demographic the SSP, the has been viewed critically by the party elites of the AP as their last government went down burning. In any case those two parties weren’t enough and there was the need to at least invite one faction of the conservative camp and as such the economically more pragmatic minded Royalists were invited. Some more socialist thinkers were disappointed that the AP was open to negotiating with monarchists but moderates in the party reminded that the AP had no internal vote on the matter and as such was free to ally with whom it pleases.

During the negotiations, the situation heated up even more in the ethnonationalist dominated regions and widespread protests as well as civil unrest are currently affecting the daily-life of the average citizen of Gao-Soto. Police are most of the time outnumbered and are trying to control the damage to property of third parties, according to forensic analysts the readiness for violence is increasing every day and specialists as well as civil rights activists are warning of imminent race wars in the major cities.

Nonetheless the three parties have agreed to work together and revealed a caretaker program, they’ve voiced their intention to not work form a usual government coalition and work through some predefined program but instead are coordinating a constitutional convent together where they intend to formulate a solution to the inherent problems the institutions of the current system has. Apparently the support for a monarchy in many areas of the demographic is steadily increasing and both the SSP and the AP have made overtures to the fact that there may be the need for a strong central head of state in addition to a more competent federal government less bound by federalist systems. Some of these announcements have been met with criticism by parties benefiting the current system of a more federalist maxime such as the FDH as well as the Diversity party.

Ultimately we’re waiting anxiously and with some excitement to see what Chancellor Tone is going to offer.

[Mbites]

January 5638

The Fendeltal Conspiracy


Theoderich Fendeltal, Mayor of Kien

The daily news agency „Die Chronik” (Kuronikuru, The Chronicle) has reported about alleged conspiratory meetings between the mayor of Kien, Theoderich Fendeltal (SSP), which some call the goalpost to the right of the SSP, he is known for socially conservative positions and a certain sympathy toward the Hulstrian FDH. Some have pinned a conspiracy against his own party on him, according to rumors he has organized a party-exodus toward the Workers Party, now we know more. According to documents leaked by someone close to the secretary to the mayor, Fendeltal is not responsible for this membership transfer but “can understand why some would leave this forsaken party” were words by him in E-Mails to a confidant in the federal level of the SSP. Instead what the proven meetings with R&K and AP consisted of was preparation talks for the Tone government with SSP involvement. He was responsible for smoothing the edges and eliminating opponents in his own party which were openly against this coalition. Some even go as far as to attest him connections to old money and the famous Rothringen-Traugott family. In any case many look suspect that the mayor is going to enter the Federal fold after finishing his twenty year long tenure as the mayor of the capital Kien.

[Mbites]

November 5638

Tone announced New Nation Project

Tone during the 'grand' reveal

After a few months in office, it seemed like the situation cooled down a little. While the tensions remained and the economy is still down in the dumps, the government has managed to at least not make it worse. Many were suspicious of the relative ease of communication the three-way coalition had and the silence from the individual departments. We’ve finally gotten answers to the curiosities this unorthodox coalition has to offer. Chancellor Tone called for a press conference where she, together with party-grandes of her junior partners, revealed the “New Nation Project.”

Like most politicians she wasn’t keen on sharing too many details, but we know some major proposals. The first and most polarizing one is the call for a “Constitutional Convent” this, according to the press-resources, includes a two weeklong negotiation seminar with all major parties and those that Tone’s presentation described as “democraticly constructive.” This wording obviously fueled speculation on which factions were invited. Pundits expect the three coalition parties AP, SSP and RK to attend as well as the HDA. Most would also see the Liberal Center party being invited, the other parties are either too small or too hostile to the incumbent government. The presentation also showed some of the issues to be determined at this convent, which are: The Future of a Head of State, the Future of Hulstria and the Ethnic tensions this nation is plagued by. Obviously the announcement regarding potential reforms on autonomy and ethnonationalism have not gone unnoticed and the corresponding political groups have already started mobilizing and “arming up.”

According to Tone she has wrung with her partners to prepare an economic stimulus package of “epic proportions.” Rumors tell a story of trading the monarchy question in for conservative support on borderline reckless spending. Considering the ideological makeup of the current administration it is less than surprising to see overtures toward a massive public money investment spree.

“Gao-Soto is a nation full of riches, by which I not only mean its ore but also its people.”

Those were the words of the Chancellor, what exactly she means by that is still in question but we suspect that this means major investment into the exploitation of Gao-Sotos natural resources as well as employment drives. Raising the people out of social welfare and the average wage seems to be a priority, economists cautiously agree with the plans outlined in the presentation but warn of entirely forgetting about trade agreements and international cooperation, while the current state of the economy cannot be described as competitive the nation does need some partners to cheaply import resources from and export its own plentiful domesticly sourced raw materials to.

In any case, is this finally the time to be hopeful?

[Martinulus]

March 5740

HDV in trouble: Goddestreu's Family Stratagem too Clever by Half?


Comedian and HDV leader Valentin Goddestreu tries his hardest to keep smiling as his party is forced to balance important parts of its base

When the HDV was reformed a few years ago, many expected the Hosian Democrats to quickly reforge their old coalition of moderate city-dwellers and conservative rural voters - but today, HDV Leader Valentin Goddestreu denied that his party was sitting on the fence over the Family Restoration Movement controversy sweeping Hulstria and Gao-Soto amidst continued dire polling for the nation's recently-reconstituted oldest extant party. The former host of popular late-night comedy TValentin on the national broadcaster was pursued by reporters at his house today, all asking for comment on one thing: has the HDV lost the plot on family values, always a central issue for the party? Herr Goddestreu, looking decidedly and uncharacteristically un-smiley in response to the Chronicle asking whether there was trouble for the family, repeated three times that "the HDV is still a happy family and we'd like to extend that happiness to all families in the nation. That's what our successful child benefiit inittiative was all about."


Regina Kleinemann-Gubler, the HDV's new family spokeswoman and architect of the Citizen's Initiative for Universal Child Benefit

Indeed, he might have a point there: the HDV won a major victory with the child benefit initiative, which passed the Bundesversammlung by a clear majority last year, amidst continued controversy over family values. One might wonder why voters aren't flocking to collect their orange rosettes ahead of this year's federal elections. With the HDV continuously reaffirming its support for the constitutional protection of equal working rights for women, while pursuing measures that should appeal to broad popular support, why is the Hosian Democratic electoral coalition still not materialising?

Faced with this tricky question, sources on the more progressive wing of the HDV are quick to point the finger in one very particular direction: at Regina Kleinemann-Gubler, scion of the notoriously conservative Gubler family, who was appointed families spokeswoman for the HDV and shepherded the initiative through the Bundesversammlung by means of a very outspoken media campaign. "Valentin seems to think he's too clever by half," said one source connected to the Bündnis Neu-HDV. "A Gubler as families spokesperson while women in this country are up in arms to protect their rights?" Others, in a dryly comic way perhaps more associated with the leader himself, remarked that "Valentin thought he could make hay with a Mitranian hayseed, which is surely not unreasonable."

Meanwhile, Frau Kleinemann-Gubler is quick to deny at every microphone shoved under her face that she in any way supports the Family Restoration Movement: "As a working woman, I reaffirm those rights just as much as I reaffirm the right to family. This should not be controversial." But critics point out that her rhetoric about supporting single-earner families and "the right to choose to have a family" might be suspect, especially because publications by the Gubler-Kleinemann Memorialinstitut, ever an archconservative thorn in the side of the HDV's moderate persuasion and image, have contained particularly aggressive tax breaks which critics in more metropolitan cities like Phönix say skew the playing field decidedly towards single-earner families in what they allege is a ploy to get more women to choose the family. 

While the HDV has indeed championed limited versions of such tax breaks, Goddestreu and his secondant, the Schallist Education Spokeswoman Osyanu Arinaga, have been quick to point out that they would apply just as much if the father stayed home and that a policy paper on equal parental leave was in the works. Meanwhile, Gublerians add to the quiet civil war by whispering that Goddestreu and Frau Arinaga (nominally Kleinemann-Gubler's boss) "just don't have the stomach to reaffirm the party's historic commitment to families".

With elections around the corner, it seems clear that the HDV has made a risky gambit banking on appealing to both sides of the family restoration controversy. Pushing family values by other means, academics point out, seems a classic HDV way forward out of a heated principled debate that very clearly threatens to split its electoral coalition straight down Mitrania's Kogoyama tunnel, so to speak: an urban place like Syakusen-Graaffsberg might fall one way while rural communities in the Oberflachland and more provincial cities like Hennersdam-Numamura on the other side of the looming peak might actually appreciate a tough line. With polarisation over the families issue still on the rise, the HDV seems to have a problem on its hands and its solution is still not bearing fruit. They will be hoping for that to change before election day, or Herr Goddestreu and his party might be in trouble.

He'll just have to keep smiling.