News Media of Istkalen
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The Dissidents' Journal: Citizens of the New, Rural Territories rage against insanity in Kiel
A simplified map of the divisions of the Union of SyndicatesWith the near constant levels of chaos in Kiel, citizens of the New and Rural Territories (green and yellow) are demanding greater autonomy.
While isolated and previously beset by terrorist attacks, the recent formation of "armed militias" following the expulsion from Kiel has allowed for an unprecedented level of safety, creating in the Territories the tranquility of the Provisional Revolutionary State of 1965-1993, when the country was not an international pariah or a failed state and was, in fact, quite stable and a relatively popular tourist destination.
In the cities of Rosa Luxemburg and Alexandra Kollontai - cities in the New Territories are named largely after female leftists, without the addition of the word "city" - the largest protests were held against "Kieler insanity."
"Let the Kielers kill themselves, don't get us involved in it!" participants chanted.
Other slogans of theirs include:
"Cast the hell of Kiel off; leave us alone!"
"We are not Kielers! We have kept our sanity!"
"The Union has not failed - Kiel has!"
"Get rid of Kiel and you would have a wonderful country!"
"There is something wrong with Kiel's water treatment plants; fortunately, we maintain ours quite well!"Journalists for this Journal interviewed a participant in the protests in Alexandra Kollontai, who responded as follows:
"The whole world sees our country as delusional, as an unpleasant and violent place to live. That is Kiel; that is not Alexandra Kollontai, nor any other part of the New Territories - not Sophie Liebknecht, not even Maria Spiridonova, and that is absolutely run down! Perhaps the Rural Territories are a bit like that - last I heard, they had deported the People's Assemblies there - but I heard from an old school friend that it has calmed down, and is certainly nothing like the ****tery in Kiel."
The New and Rural Territories have long been culturally separate from Kiel. During the time of the State of the Haane, they had a large German minority, as a result of the persecution of Arians elsewhere in Europe at the time; a few hundred years later, "Estonians" came to near-dominate, having fled from some still-unknown terror from the northeast.
They remained generally rebellious during the occupation, and were the first to be liberated in 1916; under the new Union, they became the homes of "experimental cities" designed generally by natives and Europeans, unlike Kiel, designed entirely by Le Corbusier, who would later be banned from entering the country during the Anti-Fascist Internal Revolution of 1940-1943.
Free of the horrendous architecture and planning of Kiel, which sought to plan ahead of time every single movement of every citizen, they were freer of the social problems that would plague that unfortunate city - they did not, for example, have the same issue with constant uprisings, nor did they ever experience the 'racial laws' creating what amounted to racial segregation that Kiel would have for most of its existence under the first Union.
Perhaps most importantly, they are considered to be mostly younger and more "bohemian" than an "uptight" and "suppressed" Kiel, largely because they are the centers of movements such as Ulsiel - a collective for a merger of mass production and artisan work often compared to the Bauhaus of old, carrying as its name a nonsense word - as well as the home of other experimental work in almost all of the country's sectors. This is generally only applied to the New Territories; however, it also is very true of the Rural Territories, which, while considered conservative, also skews young, progressive, and avant-garde.
The difference is so pronounced that even casual visitors to the country notice it: in 1983, a tourist famously remarked that "Kiel is hell; everything else is heaven."
Where the anger produced by it will go, however, is yet unknown. Kiel continues to recover from the instability of the Ueliohen government, during which local committees in the New and Rural Territories took over the work of governance, unlike in Kiel, where everyone seemed almost entirely helpless.
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The Voice of Truth: Government flees Kiel
This is our first publication following the liberation of presses from the rogue forces previously loyal to Tsilias Ueliohen.
As the suicides continue without seeming abatement; as rogue soldiers continue to kill all those that they see in some twisted "mission of mercy," as some have said, screaming into the darkness of the night and the suffocating light of midday; the Government of the Union of Syndicates has fled Kiel.
This marks the sole time that any government ruling the territory of the Haane has fled the House of the Union, (HoU) or, to the native people, the Citadel of the Immortal Republic (CIR). Even during the final days of the fall of the State of the Haane in 1834, neither the State Elder nor the Assembly fled, choosing instead to defend "the State; our Republic" - words taken directly from the last address of the final State Elder of the indigenous state to the Assembly as the forces of the West approached.
The departure took place but a few hours ago, as, surrounded by members of the "loyal military" - somewhat ironically, those who mutinied from the illegitimate government of Tsilias Ueliohen - the forty-two members of the Government, including the State Elder and excluding the Deputy Councillor Mathilde Comtois, followed by the members of the many interim assemblies, from the consultative chambers to those of the economic orders, entered vehicles, largely buses from the Kiel branch of the College of Mass Public Transportation's fleet of armored vehicles for the use of politicians.
Escorted by a military convoy which, bizarrely, but perhaps in a show of force, included several tanks, the buses proceeded from the the HoU/CIR onto a road, type SZ1, at which point they vanished from view.
Their destination is unknown; where they currently are, as well as whether they even remain intact and alive, are in question.
Some have theorized that, given increased levels of militarization seen at the currently-closed "Gate" - a large, wall-like fortification blocking the sole road and pass into the New and Rural Territories, the Government is fleeing for said territories; this, however, is but conjecture. Some attempted to gather at the border; however, most were driven away by soldiers.
Attempts to penetrate the border elsewhere have not occurred; the remainder of the border is demarcated by the Ixe Formations, near-impassable karst formations that have spelled death for many who have attempted to pass outside of the sole pass.
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The Voice of Truth: Rosa Luxemburg declared new capital of the Union
The city of Rosa LuxemburgThe Government of the Union fled Kiel in the early hours of the morning alongside the members of the consultative and economic chambers.
It has now, after hours of travel, arrived in the city of Rosa Luxemburg, the capital of the New Territories of the Union, to applause from the citizens of the city, who have long felt ignored by a distant Kiel which is often seen not simply as being insane but also almost as a parasite on the rest of the country.
"Kiel is without a doubt the closest approximation of Hell that exists on Earth," said the State Elder at a press conference upon his arrival in the city. "Living there for but a year deprived me, as well as my partner, of any joy we had before had in Līresz or Alexandra Kollontai. It is as though the city itself is crushing one's soul and sanity. Leaving it felt as though a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders, for, during the time I was there, it was as though it encompassed all of our country, so horrible and massive and alienating it was. I will go further - if there exists a Hell, it surely is an exact replica of Kiel. Those who live there need urgent help in all its forms, from mental to physical. At the very least, I now understand their terrible plight, something that I did not in Līresz or Alexandra Kollontai, even in spite my experience as a a partisan and later as a prisoner under Areai. It is far worse; I had some hope, even in the reeducation camp; but there is no hope there, it is an unimaginable darkness. I would not wish it on anyone else in the world. All of the politicians of the world scream at the Kielers - but they would go insane if they had to live in that horrid place for even a week. How I managed to survive with mind intact I do not know."
The State Elder at the press conferenceOther members of the government expressed similar sentiments.
"It feels as though a terrible nightmare has ended, and I have finally woken," said First Minister Andries van Beek, a native of Lihula.
After a great deal of applause, however, there was a sudden announcement by the State Elder.
"Evidently, our government cannot remain in Kiel. The city needs help; but it is a danger to the stability of this country if we remain there. Kiel cannot be the capital of our country until peace reigns in it. Today, I will be issuing an order, under the provisions regarding such orders for the maintenance of public order and safety, that will move the capital of our Union from Kiel to your city, Rosa Luxemburg, so that our government may not be the victim of near-daily coups and general instability. I understand that this is a shock; never has our government, from its very foundation so long ago, moved from the Citadel or the House, call it as you like. Yet never has it been the victim of daily attacks for such a sustained period of time. We are not cowards for moving from Kiel; we are making a common-sense move so that the Union and the Republic may be preserved without recourse to the authoritarianism that we have imposed for so long."
This was met with a great cheer from the audience.
Reactions across the country, except for in Kiel, have been mostly positive.
The Elder of the Five Experimental Cities of the Urban Territories has stated that "the move was overdue; but at the very least, it has happened. We may be assured of the safety of our Union. Of course, we are worried about possible violence from Kiel as a result; but we deal with such violence on a daily basis, and we will continue do so effectively."
Both the governor of the New Territories and that of the Rural Territories have made similar statements.
However, several major figures in Kiel have reacted almost horrifically.
"It must be ended! Our city is historically important, it is the greatest! Power must remain here, or else we shall rise up!" said the mayor of the city in a tweet made minutes after the State Elder's announcement, in seeming ignorance of the wave of suicides in the city, which the military continues to struggle to control.
The Elder of the Five Experimental Cities has assured the country that the cities will contain violence occurring in Kiel:
"We are continuing the work of creating a barrier between ourselves and Kiel; while oft-interrupted, several portions are nearing completion. We will, however, be sending greatly increased guards; at the same time, we have agreed to increase police presence and place citizens' militias on alert in the case of a breach."
Military officials have also confirmed that the Gate will be closed.
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An Interview with the State Elder
ILJET KALETEJ: State Elder Lepik, I will be very blunt. Is your position as State Elder even legal? Outside of Kiel, there is no constitution; since the fall of Areai they have essentially been independent from Kiel, and Kiel from them.
S.E KALJU LEPIK: My position rests, I will concede, on very shaky legality. In Kiel, in fact, what authority I possess stems not even from the Constitution that should be in force but rather from an entirely new, "provisional" constitution that borders on being illegal. However, the economic and consultative chambers, as well as the municipal governments, have recognized me as being the legitimate State Elder, and are actively working with my administration to restore stable and unified government across the Union.
IK: Probing further into the constitution in effect in Kiel, what is your personal opinion on its legality?
KL: It is legal, but barely so. I would argue that it was put into place by a popular rebellion, and thus is a legitimate successor to the constitution previously in effect.
IK: And of the Federal Council before you? Were they legitimate?
KL: Denying the legitimacy of the Federal Council is ridiculous.
IK: But many do.
KL: The Federal Council was the sole representative of this nation abroad for ten years. It was responsible for our Union's entrance into the European Union, for organizing the elections to the Councillorship, which were participated in throughout the country. It was very unpopular, but it was a legitimate government.
IK: In any case, let us move on. Per the constitution in effect in Kiel, you are duty bound to hold a constitutional convention. But in the South, this is not popular. People prefer the status-quo of government by municipal and sectoral authority, advised by the consultative chambers. Perhaps they do like that you have come as to better organize them; but they do not want change beyond that. What, then, can you do?
KL: The status-quo is profoundly unconstitutional. I am in support of it, save in Kiel, where intervention is necessary; but in order to uphold it and to move on, a constitutional convention of some type is necessary.
IK: There is a high level of flexibility in existing government arrangements: would such a convention not endanger them?
KL: The constitution produced does not necessarily have to dictate so much that government becomes inflexible. Flexibility is certainly part of what makes government in the South stable; but again, there needs to be a legal basis for it.
IK: Would such a convention even be legal?
KL: As far as I know, there is no law against it. Even if we dismiss the constitution enforced in Kiel, there are still perfectly legal processes as for the calling of a constitutional convention.
IK: Moving on to other topics, what of the internment of foreigners that occurred but a few weeks ago? In the South it was not particularly necessary; many were detained without reason.
KL: The internment, especially consider its length and its extreme measures, was almost certainly a mistake. I apologize deeply to all those affected; it was a rash, emotional movement spurred by fear that caused violated the basic rights and dignity of foreign nationals in our country. The Government is currently repaying all those affected for the suffering it has caused them.
I understand that many are calling for my resignation; this is simply not possible. The Union has not had a functioning central government for years; stability is necessary as to restore it.
However, it must be understood the decision was made based on the analysis of the situation in Kiel, which was entirely unsafe for foreigners. It was a situation which we believed extended to the whole country, especially given several reports from even long-calm cities like Alexandra Kollontai, reports which, incidentally, we now believe to have been exaggerated.
IK: Some have called your government corrupt, highlighting the fact that your partner is the Minister of Defense. How do you respond to this?
KL: This is extremely normal. In the West, where I assume that these bizarre accusations are coming from, there is a tradition of keeping relationships away from politics and the workplace, but here it is the opposite, where the two are linked and cannot be separated. Unlike there, there are no real implications of corruption from such a thing here.
IK: Some have claimed that you are responsible for ordering mass killings. Evidently, this is problematic to say the least.
KL: I did not order mass killings. Constitutional provisions against such things remained in place then just as now; what happened was horrifying, and cannot be put into words. An investigation has been launched; we will find those who perpetrated and ordered the perpetration of these horrors with haste.
IK: Finally, what is your plan as to restore international relations? Your government is hated outside of the Union; at the same time, Kiel has become the face of the country to the world. We are absolutely alone in the world.
KL: Internally, we must be focused on stabilization. I have invited foreign forces as to occupy the city of Kiel; the suicides continue despite our attempts to halt them, our forces are nearing exhaustion. However, the movement of the Government to Rosa Luxemburg has at least temporarily resulted in greater stability, as well as a slight change in focus towards not endless violence but rather what makes our country our country - its culture, its people, and so on. What we hope to accomplish is simply a change in view, to make international powers view our nation not as violent but rather as being more regular.
IK: Thank you for your time, State Elder.
KL: And thank you for this opportunity.
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Q&A: Austerity
As questions are received, this will be updated.
Q: How long will austerity last?
A: It will last likely for a year. The sum to be paid, while large enough that it cannot be paid through the current economic system, is not so large as to necessitate a never-ending austerity like that of the Areai regime.
Q: How will austerity affect me?
A: Firstly, you will no longer receive labor vouchers; rather, you shall receive notes, largely electronically, of the new Union currency, the ketsel, for labor. What is currently free - housing, food, and other essentials - will remain free. However, there will be cuts to rations. For example, cooking oil rations are about 3/4 of what they were before; at the same time, only half of all street lighting will be turned on. Spice and "additional" rations are perhaps worse in this respect - they will be reduced to almost 1/4 of what they were before. Secondly, you will have to surrender 3/5 of your pay, in taxes, to the state, on a monthly basis.
Q: Will I be able to purchase essentials beyond rations to a certain point, as was possible for a few weeks before with labor vouchers?
A: Unfortunately, no, although this is a provision that will not remain throughout the entire period of austerity.
Q: Will money be abolished after the end of austerity?
A: Possibly, but it is unlikely. The absence of money on a domestic level was what forced austerity; while it will and cannot ever play a major role in our economy, it is likely that we will be forced to tolerate its continued existence.
Q: What effect will austerity have on what the West calls "property?"
A: The Union will not, and never will, recognize the Western idea of property. In this, traditional beliefs will continue to stand.
Q: How will this affect the West's view of our country?
A: That cannot be predicted; however, this austerity may raise confidence in our nation among lenders.
Q: Will utilities like water and electricity be rationed?
A: To an extent. Each individual will have the right to a livable quantity of water; everything used above must be paid for; however, the rate will be and has already been negotiated between the state and the National Consumers' Board.
Q: How will this affect healthcare?
A: Healthcare will remain entirely free and will not be subject to rationing.
Q: Can we expect shortages?
A: No. While there will be less of certain essentials, they will not be so reduced as to be described as being shortages.
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The Citizens' Voice: Seventy-Fifth Congress of the Labor Organization continues into its twenty-sixth day, begins denunciations of several foreign figures
The 75th Congress of the Labor Organization, the successor to the Party of Labor of Istkalen and an organization meant to raise morale and provide a technocratic base of advice for all the Federal Republic, continues on into its twenty-sixth day, and is meant to last four days more.
Turning away from domestic issues, perhaps most the Fifteenth Five Year Plan and the upcoming celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the liberation, discussed almost incessantly for the past twenty-six days, the Labor Organization began to turn towards foreign affairs, directly after the usual interruptions concerning a "potential" turn to capitalism and the posthumous rehabilitation of the reactionary and counterrevolutionary Mao Zedong.
The Labor Organization today was perhaps most focused on the "international triumph of the worker," arguing that absolutely nothing had occurred in the year 2020 to improve the situation of workers across Europe, and that those who claimed otherwise were reactionaries or deceivers of the people.
In this vein, it denounced the following individuals and organizations, for the reasons that follow their names:
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF ICHOLASEN
- Rightist deviationism
- Total and bankrupt revisionism
- Deceiving the people
- Capitalist roaderism
MICHUL JIRLUCHUZ
- Aiding revisionism and deviationism
- Tolerating and aiding capitalist roaders
BERNARD SANDERS
- Capitalist roaderism
- Assisting counterrevolution
- Deceiving the people
- Revisionism
CAROLE BASKIN
- Ultrarevisionism
- Capitalism
- Deceiving the people
Members of the Congress say that they will introduce more motions for the denouncement of other individuals tomorrow.
Highlights from the meeting are below:
AK: "The courageous Mao, who took us forward -"
SPEAKER: "This assembly should be reminded that the reactionary Mao was a counterrevolutionary, and thus should not be spoken of in positive terms."
AK: "There is no evidence to show that our dear Comrade was a -"
SPEAKER: "The reactionary Mao was found rubbing ointment on the steps of the State Hall, no less a day after the great Victory of the people. That counterrevolutionary then confessed, categorically, to working with the forces of fascism as to assassinate our departed comrades who liberated us from evil. Debate on this subject is hereby closed, as it is creating an environment in which reaction and deviationism manifest themselves."
EvB: "The reactionary Sanders has no knowledge of the movement, he is morally and ideologically bankrupt! Per his statement of 6 September 2020, "why would democracy end when you clock into work?" he evidently possesses no knowledge of the movement, nor of the people! He is a capitalist roader who has hijacked the Communist Party of Icholasen as to deceive the people into once again supporting capitalism! It is necessary, it is an imperative, that this assembly denounce this bourgeois pig, this great lier, this bottomless hole of deceit and total depravity!"
(applause)
UNKNOWN: Bravo, bravo!
WK: Die Partei, die Partei, die hat immer Recht! Und, Genossen, es bleibe dabei; Denn wer kämpft für das Recht, Der hat immer recht.
SPEAKER: Delegate Katzian is hereby barred from speaking as a result of his attempts to disrupt this Congress. If he attempts such a disruption again, he shall be escorted from the room, as he has been on a yearly basis.
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The Citizens' Voice: The declining influence of the Labor Organization
The Labor Organization was, as the Party of Labor, an immensely powerful organization. An anti-authoritarian organization that was largely responsible for the overthrow of the quasi-fascist State of Istkalen, it held respect among the population; at the same time, it played a major role in helping it, organizing volunteer projects as for both education and the improvement of infrastructure.
Yet in recent years, it has declined. Membership has declined massively; the volunteer projects and other endeavors it engaged in are now primarily done through the participatory apparatus of the Republic - considered, nowadays, flexible and the future of Istkalen, rather than the Organization, considered outdated, rigid, and overly ideological.
All three of the state's heads - Meinl-Reisinger, Lepik, and Juvinal - are critical of the organization. As Staatsoberhaupt, both of the German State and, since 1 January, per the Constitution, of the Federation, Meinl-Reisinger has openly called the organization "stagnant."
"Istkalen has awoken to a new future. The Labor Organization refuses to accept this, and has at every step tried to oppose it, tried to keep us in a stagnant past. And for that, it has thankfully paid. We, the people of Istkalen, have moved forwards; they have remained behind, alone, a small and miserable grouping of dogmatists," she said in a statement made on the opening day of the Congress of the Labor Organization.
These sentiments are reflected by the people. No longer is the Labor Organization bent to; government at all levels, from municipal to federal, is now setting an independent course, ignoring "the nonsensical screaming," in the words of the current Eknelaszt Juvinal, of the members of the organization.
No cooperative, no workers' federation, no syndicate, has asked for their help in the past five years, for, according to representative upon representative, the organization is extremely ideological and often useless; at the same time, alternative organizations have been set up.
With today, however, comes what is perhaps the Organization's final indictment. The obsession with denouncing individuals entirely unrelated to Istkalen has been unpopular for some time, especially as the country gradually steers itself towards neutrality; today's tirades against the Communist Party have left many feeling that the Organization has lowered the country's international reputation.
"We shouldn't cover them anymore," said a person in Velesz. "They are all crazy; they don't have any power. No one supports them; we have essentially disowned them. I don't want to hear from those people ever again; let them fade away into our history. The Organization once had a purpose; now, it no longer has one. It no longer even has to exist."
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Our Istkalen, Eesti Päevaleht, Die Presse (Joint Statement): Victory, victory! Our beloved Ao-Helejtek has returned!
Endless and everlasting praise to our High Mediator, Inculpable, Blameless, and Pure, Her Excellency Josephine Areai!
The effects of the Syndical Revolution are reversed; our High Mediator, our beloved leader, has returned. 75 years, exactly 75 years, to the date of the exile of her ancestors!
Her government and she fled, trudging through the forests, covered in sewage, hiding from those who wished to kill them all, walking and running without fear of death, for days upon days! They came, they suffered, for us, so that our freedom may be restored! Praise her, praise our High Mediator!
So many wished to dirty her name; one haggish devil of a woman kidnapped her, taking her identity, even modifying her very face and body as to seem as to be like her, committing the most horrid of acts in her most high name! That woman, that evil woman, Kpwstsrklm Hrjktstwrsz, has thankfully been taken, and is standing trial in the territory of Reitzmag! Justice has been done, our glorious, our great, our High Mediator Josephine Areai has returned, and those who wished to persecute and torture her have been taken and placed into the darkness!
Glory, glory! Glory! Glory upon glories, eternal and unceasing glory!
But those who overthrew our republic and replaced it with their hellish, capitalistic and Western "syndicalism," must fall! Istkalen is Istkalen; we stand heroically stalwart forever, enduring the abuses of the ages!
Oh, what a disgrace, these hags who tried to exile the great descendants of the very founders of our great and ancient nation, of our Istkalen, which has endured through the millennia; these hags who tried to overturn the great progress and traditions of our unending people.
They denigrate our very history, the basis of our beloved Istkalen, as fascist. Their lies will fall, and we shall once again be free.
No more to the single party, no more to the vacuous "revolution" which accomplished nothing!
We, the children of the ancient republic, the children of labor and of freedom, shall fight evermore for the fall of syndicalism and the restoration of our Istkalen, of the ancient Federation, of the great and unending republic!
Forwards, o people of Istkalen! Forwards, forwards, down with the evils of the false Federation and their Westernizations! Down, down!
Long live Istkalen! Long live the Federation! Long live our republic! Long live the people! Long live labor! Long live our leader, our glorious leader, Josephine Areai!
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The Citizens' Voice: Ultranationalist newspapers Our Istkalen, Eesti Päevaleht, Die Presse shut down for collaboration with fascism
The ultranationalist newspapers Our Istkalen, Eesti Päevaleht, and Die Presse have been forcibly closed as a result of their collaboration with fascism. The three publications attempted to foment a rebellion as to overthrow the present government and replace it with the fascist government of Josephine Areai - a fraud and a perpetrator of genocide who now sits in a detention facility in Reitzmag. The woman they claim to have been Areai has been found; she is but a woman they kidnapped for their own uses.
Known for perpetrating virulently anti-Western and anti-syndicalist material - not illegal per se but in this case prohibited as a result of their extremity - the newspapers have long been condemned. Ten years ago, they inspired such anger that the paramilitary of the Labor Organization , then active, stormed their offices before performing violent acts upon those involved in the publication of the newspapers, as the public cheered on.
Now, however, the state can no longer tolerate them. The papers went too far in calling for the recreation of the old fascistic state; of calling it "free." They were, in their rhetoric, trying to call for a revolt which would rob people of civil freedoms and replace them with a single duty - that of constant adulation of their so-called "High Mediator." There is no freedom in that; no freedom in such oppression.
They dehumanized; their rhetoric followed that of the old fascists, who we must never allow to return. Calling for the killings of those they disagree it, calling for the creation of a new movement all for one person, a new movement in opposition to all that is outside of it. A totalitarian movement, in essence, one that wished to remove all that was different and replace it all with an unending and uniform praise, terrible praise, for a single, conceited and reactionary, individual.
How would such a life be? No meaning to life but praise, praise of one individual; no direction but that individual. The person, the mind, would be lost. There would be nothing but that one person; no life, no thought, nothing. The thought is terrifying.
In 1946, the state passed a law to prevent such a thing, the horrors of the forty-six years of oppression, from repeating themselves, prohibiting what is described as being "collaboration with fascism" - that is, active support for fascism, defined quite strictly, too strictly according to some. This law is now applied, ensuring that these three newspapers may no longer spread their hateful words.
Istkalen by no means is perfect. But it is at the very least free; its citizens and peoples able to do as they wish - to speak, to create, to express themselves in their entirety with total freedom.
But it is clear, now, that this freedom is too easily lost. It must be defended; the reality of the Forty-Six Years, of the dictatorship of Areai, returns otherwise,.