News Media of Istkalen

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service; Local elections signal turn towards "national" Social Democracy without general insanity that characterized end; new PM outlines state policy

The local elections scheduled for today, radically changed by the collapse of the Rikkalek government and the election of the new Malk government, allowing thousands of candidates who had previously been disqualified for politically motivated reasons to run, resulted in an unexpected for the ruling Communist-Agrarian coalition, while at the same time significantly increasing the number of "technocrats" - non-partisan experts - in government. While most only had a short time to campaign, many benefited from the previously established network of the parties and organizations which backed them, which had continued to operate, as well as from the widespread popularity of the newly installed government, particularly in its rejection of liberalism and its argument that Istkalen should conduct itself as it wishes, albeit peacefully, rather than being beholden to foreign interests and powers. The vast majority of winning candidates, regardless of political affiliation, ran on platforms promising a return to the past, as the Malk government has tried to deliver on - nationalism, stability, self-suffiiency, and a partial return to Social Democratic forms of industrial and social organization, while retaining the advances made in terms of human rights.

The strong support in particular for the named "national" Social Democratic policies reflects a new trend in Istkalener politics. While most in Istkalen were and remain opposed to the extreme totalitarianism and militarism with which it operated at its very end, the vast majority feel that, apart from that short period, life under them was generally better than it is now.

"Under them, it was all better. There were no queues, no shortages, we had everything. People had money, real money; they even received it from the state. There was none of this ethnic conflict, under them it seemed as though everyone was equal. I hated them at the time - in my eyes, the social change, the abolition of the family, the labor-partnership, the childcare and dwelling associations - it was all too much, too overwhelming - but now, what with the endless declarations - at one point, my ethnicity was declared nonexistent, at another the state forcibly arranged a marriage between me and someone I had never known, at another I was forced to change my name, only to have to change it back two weeks later - and then there was the constant reorganizations, I've lost track of the number of different ministers we've had, the number of times ministries and governments and so much more have been renamed, the constant elections - I'm sorry, I've gone on a tangent, anyways, it seems much calmer, much more peaceful, than now. Then, I did not have to worry about the state reaching its hands into my life, so long as I didn't criticize the government. Until now - and I do not even know whether it will last - I had to worry both about the various nonsensical proclamations of the government and refraining from criticizing the government. And no one has any money anymore, now, corruption is everywhere - and I thought it was high under the Social Democrats! - there are constant shortages, until but a few months ago the radio constantly going on about demonic Vards, it seems everything has gone to pieces. I would give my life to see the Social Democrats back, so awful is this existence," said an individual in Kirelesile who otherwise wishes to remain anonymous.

Another, a woman in Liresile, reflected similar sentiments: "Right now, everything is chaos. I don't know what is true and what is not true, one minute they will be saying that everything is lies, and the next that everything is true; I don't even feel as though I really know who I am anymore. They keep changing my legal ethnicity, they keep changing my name, they even regulate who and who not I can share friendships or relationships with. They want to change me, I feel, and I don't think I can resist much longer. There's the economy, too, shortages everywhere, wages collapsed... At least under the Social Democrats, I was not losing myself; at least under them, you could tell when the government was lying to you. At least under them there was not all this erratic behavior. At least under them, I, we, were assured of work and bread, of a roof over our heads and genuine wages. Of course, there was the war, and of course no one liked that, it was more insane than what we have even now, but without that - paradise!"

In essence, in light of the instability of Istkalen under occupation, particularly in regards to the erratic behavior of the politicians leading the country, in addition to widespread shortages of basic consumer goods and the collapse of real wages, Istkaleners have become increasingly unsatisfied with the Republic, which they have come to view as alien, and have turned back towards Social Democratic policy, minus the general insanity at the end which they largely blame for thrusting the country into its present situation. They have chosen, now, to vote against the perceived liberalism and Western-ness of the old governments of Istkalen and for a more authentic and stable "Social Democracy."

Upon the finalization of the election results, Prime Minister Kaisa Malk gave a statement reflecting the popular mood, promising an 'acknowledgement of reality," in essence continuing Rikkalek's policies but without his desire to make concessions to 'the West' or to separate Istkalen from its Social Democratic past.

"We're all tired," she said, "of the past. Or really, hearing about it. We are told that the past was this, then that; so many different things, never the same, never even resembling each other. We are told that the reality that we live is a lie; that we must return to the past to be truly fulfilled. We have been forced to give so much away, constantly, in this vain pursuit of return to some unknown past - to change our names, to cut off our ties with those most dear to us, while being forced to forge new ones with people we, at best, barely know, and, at worst, utterly despise. And then again, it changes, and we are told that the beautiful past we were told of but a few weeks ago was a lie, and that we must now return to yet another past, perhaps imagined, perhaps not. This again, and again, and again, until we feel as though we are forgetting who we really are, as though we have gone insane. Only in October did we see anything change, and even then slowly and barely."

"Today, we together have firmly rejected this. We have thrown out those who scream endlessly about the mythical past, about so many different realities; we look, now, firmly to the future. There is no point in endlessly discussing whether I am Estonian, or Kitetois, or Heltois; whether Minister Demirkol is a Turk or Tatar, whether the Heltois nationality exists or not, whether the labor-partnership, or the dwelling or the childcare associations have any historical basis, whether the family should be restored. I speak Estonian, I believe myself to be Estonian, as do the overwhelming majority of people who share my mothertongue; the same goes with those who speak Turkish, German, Kitetois, even Helts. Most people are a member of a labor-partnership; most people are, too, are members of a dwelling association; most children are raised in the context of the childcare associations. It matters not - will never matter - whether this has been true for 'only' the past 18, 40, 100, 200 years; these are facts that the Republic must finally accept, and it will accept it without delay. There will be no more endless theorizing on this subject, there will be no longer any attempts at social engineering; the state must and will accept the reality that the people live."

"And now, let us turn from the present to the future. In Istkalen, very little is perfect - everyone can recognize that. The country was previously thought of as a conglemoration of multiple ethnicities, and that was indeed what it was. We must attempt to overcome this idea. I am not speaking of forcing people to abandon their ethnicities - no. What I am speaking of is strengthening national solidarity above ethnic solidarity. We should be proud of who we are - but we should also be proud of Istkalen, of being Istkaleners. My government will seek to develop a unified national curriculum for students, making adjustments as to allow for instructions in different languages and in the educational contexts of different cultures, that will seek to cultivate in each child a love for the country; it will also seek to facilitate interaction between youths of different ethnicities by sponsoring a state-run youth organization, as well as by running cultural activities, particularly extracurricular classes and activities including youth clubs and sports, that will seek to bring together youths regardless of their identity. Most importantly, we will seek to develop a national art, interpretable by all, sponsoring artists - a state-run renaissance of sorts, you could say."

"Economically, everyone can accept that the country is doing very poorly - a result of two barriers - an excessive opposition to machinery, and a desire to imitate the West. What those who run around claiming to represent craftsmen, without having even been elected to do so or there having been even a single indication on the part of the craftsmen that they do, must learn is that machinery in itself is not bad - it only becomes malignant when people are made to serve it, as in the West, rather than the other way around. Crafts are not made useless by the introduction of machinery to them; on the contrary, they are expanded, made more useful. With a machine, one can do much more, with speed and detail; the craftsperson is free to do more, rather than being enslaved. Our country proved this first in the 1900s, and was then left behind; what I hope to do is to let us prove it again - that the craftsman, that humanity, can master the machine and make it far more effective than it could have been when it was man's master. Other so-called 'modernizations,' however, may not be as innovative or actually modernizing. There is a trend among some to suggest that in order to advance, Istkalen must imitate the West and its economic policies, its system of industrial organization. This is untrue; imitation of the West is not appropriate in this country, where we each have duties to each other, where we view each other as people rather than as cogs in a machine. Imitation of the West is the introduction of inhumanity. Inhumanity is conflict; conflict does not build, it tears apart. Oh, the West seems developed, but in reality they have torn up something, somewhere, for all that development. They are destroyers more than creators; always remember that. What we want in Istkalen is development without destruction; true creation. We will not introduce the West and its systems; we will pay no heed to what they say. We will walk our own path, based on the path of the craftspeople and the peasant-smallholders of our nation; the path of humanity, of expression and creation."

"To speak more practically, however, there are many immediate issues, far more important than development. We are facing acute shortages even of foodstuffs; there is no raw material to be used to create. The state will seek to purchase all that is necessary, regardless of the cost; it will seek to supply every industrial worker, every craftsperson, every peasant, in this country with the goods they need to continue their work. It will seek to supply every sick person with the medication they need; every person, the food that they need to survive. The Ministry of Public Distribution, with which the Economic Coordination Committee has been merged, will be tasked with gauging the amount to purchase, with making the purchases, and with distributing what is purchased through its established network of warehouses and storehouses."

"Now, politically, there is an elephant in the room, and everyone knows what it is. We would like this elephant to leave immediately; it is making people uncomfortable with its size and stench. If it does not leave, we will be forced to remove it. You cannot force on a people a system alien to theirs, you cannot govern a people without understanding them. You certainly cannot steal from a people and expect of them gratitude! If you would like to know why you have been so poorly received, look at yourselves in the mirror. You have done virtually nothing of good for the people of this country; to us all, you are like a mass of tapeworms, parasites who will feed off of us all until we perish, at which point you and your offspring will slither from the barren lands you have created in search of a new victim. Go, go now! Your presence is unbearable; if you stay any longer, you will face the consequences."

"Now, if we are to ignore the elephant, there are still a number of issues. To many, it is tempting to install a regular democracy in this country - even I believed in such a thing for quite a while - but it is impossible. The country does not possess the requisite social structures to do so; in any case, we have already seen what even introducing part of it would do - that is, cause chaos as various crazed people who believe they have been chosen by whatever entities they choose to believe in fight over the right to govern the country. The oppositional system is too unstable for Istkalen; at the same people, we all are tired of politics. We are sick of it; it has consumed our lives since the beginning of the occupation. I do not deny that the people should have power in this country - they should and must, otherwise we risk another form of insanity which might be far worse - but they should do so through the institutions they participate in as an ordinary person - the communities in which they live, their field of work. The workers' associations and the people's committees have proven themselves able to accomplish this - unlike the national level government, which convulses crazily on a regular basis, they have retained, for the most part, their heads and the ability to reason and think rationally, while at the same time adequately representing the people. Any Republic in Istkalen must be organized based on them, not on any other institution. There will be no assemblies, no whatever, that does not derive its power from them, that is not accountable to them, in the new Istkalen."

"There is also the question of the political parties. It is good to have a place to discuss, to promote, ideas in a rational way; the issue is that they, with a few exceptions, have not behaved rationally. There is a real argument for banning them, as Kerel and Tiraki before him did; there is also the real possibility of forming a one-party state, as Melitek did, as a solution. The people of Istkalen want nothing to do with organized politics; these two paths seem the only solution. We are likely to put the issue to a popular consultation."

"Socially, in Istkalen, there are few issues. I have seen little wrong with the present course; all that is really necessary is an acknowledgement of reality on this issue. We will work to safeguard the present social and cultural institutions of Istkalen. The only major problem is that of ethnic control on certain social issues; the committee of nationalities is preparing a law on this, which will not, by my direct instuctions, not create national-level "ethnic societies" - these are divisive and will only cause further conflict - but will likely do something on the lines of creating municipality-level ethnic councils which might have control over certain aspects of criminal law, although they will be secular in nature - there will be absolutely no religious courts in Istkalen, that is a path to disaster."

"The people have spoken, and they demand normality, stability, and the acknowledgement of reality. What my government will try to deliver, above all, is all these three, so that Istkalen may bloom and prosper an independent and free nation."

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: An open letter from a Northerner

For the longest time, we of the North felt as though we were doomed. Our country was forced, by elites high on crack cocaine, into a war virtually no one wanted; we then saw ourselves plunged into an occupation, ruled by an authority that seemed not to care about how we actually lived but rather about what it wanted to force on us. They claimed to want to make the country more stable, to make it more sane, and indeed we saw some virtue in this - but in the end we saw this less as an actual attempt to help the country than to forcibly Westernize it. The Republic gave us a five-branch system; they, however, imposed on us a three-branch system. That was the first sign.

There is an alleged constitution that has been circulating, written in almost archaic language - a constitution that it is said they would force on us. It is a constitution which ignores Istkalener history to impose a constitution that seems to be directly taken from some other country - perhaps it was proposed by some radical Reitzmics in some long forgotten past. Istkalen, while not until relatively recently united, has had a long constitutional history, a rich tradition, if flawed, to draw from; the constitution that they seemed to want to impose on us, however, ignored all of this for what we believed to be Reitzmic constitutional history, Reitzmic culture. That was the second sign.

There were rumors of much worse. Of looting and raping in the countryside; of miners shot to death for the crime of protesting against the seizures. We did not want to believe it; but still, we were fearful. So many were coming forwards and saying these things, it all seemed terribly true to us all. We were fearful that it would happen to us; that the soldiers that seemed to stand at every corner would suddenly thrust themselves upon us, killing and stealing and defiling.

It was around that time that we remember the radio beginning to shout in the language of nationalism; it told us that the Vards were animals, the Reitzmics schemers. It fit with what we were hearing, but it also gave us hope - it told us that we would prevail, that we were better, that we were a chosen people, that we were protected and blessed, that the Vards and the Reitzmics would eventually fall away under our might, if we chose to rebel. It fit with what we were hearing, it assuaged us. We thought that we would not stand beneath them; the radio told us that we could, and in that assurance we were happy.

People did struggle; we sought to protect ourselves. We took hope in nonsense because it was all we had. We wore the cardboard boxes, we wore the tomato paste, we danced and screamed in the streets, because it was all the only power that we felt we could have. We had no weapons, no credible voice abroad; we had only that, we felt. We did not care about how we looked, we did not care about the message that was sent; we only reveled in the power we felt this nonsense gave us.

Things seemed relatively hopeful, then. We were still governed by the People's Committees, by extension our Republic; the occupiers did not interfere with the functioning of the indigenous police. Kerel, then Ikomar; they held genuine power, and seemed to be working as hard as they could to preserve our independence. We believed that, together, led by the Republic and fighting as we did, we would quickly prevail and be freed, and then return to our ordinary lives.

Then came the 26th of May, the beginning of hell, when fear overcame us and the country fell truly into darkness. The Reitzmic military arrested virtually all of Istkalen's politicians, major technocrats, and prominent social or cultural figures, all of whom had previously sat on the National Assembly. 739 people gone that day, artists, scientists, activists, journalists, lawyers, doctors; economists and sociologists, agronomists and biologists; even simple farmers, craftspeople, and industrial workers. THey remain in prison, six months later; everyone awaits their release. The country was left headless with their arrests. For those abroad: imagine if your parliament, along with the heads of your major trade and employers' unions, all of your most prominent artists, most of the leaders and deputy leaders of your political parties, your major religious leaders, the most educated of your country, the most prominent of your professors and scientists. and the directors and most prominent journalists and columnists of your major news media were suddenly taken into custody, disappearing seemingly off the face of the Earth. All replaced with an opaque, incompetent, foreign entity which does not understand how you live your lives, or for that matter anything about your history, all the while stealing from your people, looting your country's national resources and selling them for low prices, while you yourself feel completely helpless, terrified beyond all words.

Oh, yes, there might have been others. Not many, however; most were dead, killed by the Social Democrats, extremely ill from 18 years of inhumane detention and then death marches during the short war, or simply discredited for being collaborators. We had very few capable people at the time; and in an instant they had been carried off. Those who were left went underground; they were terrified that they, too, would be arrested. We had essentially been beheaded by the Reitzmic military.

There is no country in the world which I think would react rationally or sanely to such an event. You all lambast us for our behavior; but I ask you, would any of you have responded any differently, given the situation?

The country colllapsed into insanity; various people tried to form new governments. We ourselves took faith in the radio; we intensified what we had done. It made us feel powerful, as I said, made us feel as though we had a chance. What other option did we have, anyways, our political leadership arrested? The Head of State was the only who was still free, and he was in Spain.

We saw indirect elections in June, and our hope rose again, but not much. We expected other arrests soon; we continued as we did, trying to get them out. We had no faith in the new National Assembly; we had faith only in ourselves, in the radio and the power we thought we had.

Hope began to pick up again weeks later; the central state was trying to calm things down. It said that demonstrating our sanity was the only way to oust the J-TAI, to liberate ourselves. It was at that time that some were becoming well enough to speak and to lead - Koline, Isteresskemar, even the current prime minister. We listened again, we obeyed them again, acting against those who did not, who went and supported the occupiers. But there were issues; it was then that the erraticism also began. Changing of names, deportation, renaming of institutions, declarations of the nonexistence or existence of whole peoples - this began in that time. We were hearing news of plans for liberal democracy, for a more liberal economy. WE were scared; things were changing so quickly, suddenly, erratically, and not in a direction which benefited us.

We continued as we did, dancing and screaming. Dancing and screaming was all that we could do, as I wrote.

Then came the edicts of Koline,and that was the end. The woman was obviously going senile, so old and ill she still was; it was intolerable.

The committees revolted, and it was then that we saw the crux of our power. We thought our dancing, our screaming, our chanting and our wearing of cardboard boxes, was doing something; that now, we were seeing its fruits. We pledged loyalty to the new Imperial Realm of Istkalen because we thought it would accomplish something.

The state arrested many of us, and we rose up again. We thought they had turned on us, and we turned ever further to our dancing and our screaming and now, violence, with our bare hands. EVerything and everyone was a plot of the J-TAI to make our nation a blank slate on which they would create a new, Western nation, an imitation of their nations, just as they had had Kerel and Sepp sign blank papers on which they later wrote the terms of surrender according to their own whims.

But things were calming down by then; the EU was invited into our country, and the Reitzmics seemed to be withdrawing. The state had told us again that we were only hampering things, that we were making ourselves look insane, that we would be the ones responsible for the down fall of our nation. They used Kerel's last words as Head of State against us; they said that we had become the unthinking animals, enslaved to the radio. By then it had stopped operating, too, so there was nothing to convince us otherwise.

Slowly, we returned to sanity, and saw what we had done. We were ashamed. Who would not feel ashamed. To dance like that, frothing at the mouth, to scream and throw tomatoes; that is the behavior of the lunatics in the asylums. We are educated people, we were rational people; and yet we were reduced to that. We harmed so much, we brought the greatest shame on our nation.

But what we did was out of fear, not insanity; it was done because we were helpless. Like the terminally ill, we had exhausted all of our other options, and we had no choice but to turn to the most insane of things. The ill turn to homeopathy and naturopathy and traditional medicine, herbs and so on; we turned to religion, to curses and incantations and chanting.

We are a pitiable people, a people who indeed should be ashamed of what we have done; but do not mock us for what we have done. All we did was demonstrate to the rest of the world how humanity can be corrupted by, what humanity can become, in the face of unimaginable despair and hopelessness.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Malk, Rikkalek assure citizens that government will not change property law

In the Istkalener community, there has been significant worry about the actions that the government of Kaisa Malk may take, particularly as it has retained legislative power as a result of the continuing state of emergency. Most centered around two issues in particular: that of socialization, and that of foreign ownership.

Socialization, or rather collectivization, remains controversial in Istkalen. Most are deeply defensive of their property; any form of centralization or agglomoration, even through the forming of collectives, is seen largely as an effort to impose power on the people. The decentralized nature of production in Istkalen is doubly seen as deeply wedded to the concept of the nation - it is, to the vast majority of the population, a symbol of Istkalen's rejection of Western principles and its continued independence. Centralization of any sort, as such, is seen as selling the country's soul to the West - particularly unpopular in these times, when nationalist sentiments remain high as a result of the unpopularity of the occupation. With Istkalen now being governed by a coalition of the Agrarians, Communists, and Patriotic League, and particularly because the Communists hold nearly half of all cabinet positions, although not even a plurality, many are now fearful that they will be forced to give up their autonomy and property to a central body, as they were made to under Communist rule between 1985 and 1991.

The negative experience of the 1991-1996 period. are worried that, yes, property will be collectivized; but also that the Communists, as they did between 1991 and 1996, will accept, within these bounds, a more open market, perhaps similar to that of non-essential enterprises in the UNSR. Previously, this resulted in societal chaos, particularly because of the extent to which personal life pervades work in Istkalen, and the rapid decline of Istkalen's traditional manufacturing for new enterprises which, while democratically governed, were modeled on Western ideas of industry, negatively affecting many; there is thus little desire to repeat it.

There is also significant concern over whether the new government will enable foreign ownership. There was recently an announcement in a Vardic newspaper that has been popularly misinterpreted as the government selling parts of Istkalen's transport system to Vardic interests; while this is not entirely true - it appears merely that Vards will have a level of control, although not very much, over a joint and completely new rail system, with confusion likely arising due to the unfamiliarity of the average Istkalener with the concept of shareholding - it has provoked significant fear that the doors to foreign ownership of property in the country, presently banned completely, will be opened, allowing foreigners to control Istkalener land and introduce Western forms of industry that are likely to outcompete and force Istkalener enterprises out of business.

In response, Prime Minister Kaisa Malk, joined by Head of State Vistek Rikkalek, appeared before the public, stating that neither have or have every had any intention of allowing for foreign ownership of property in Istkalen, as well as arguing that the government would make no attempt at collectivization, and would instead pursue the socialization advanced previously by Rikkalek, where the economy serves the public but is not centrally controlled.

"We have no intention of allowing anyone foreign to own property in our Istkalen," said Malk. "Our country is ours and no one else's; we will not allow our country to be sold to those abroad who only desire it as for their own profit. They can say whatever they want, they can lie, they can throw their tantrums, but we will not let them buy up our country and then sack it. The property laws will not be changed; they are sacrosanct."

Rikkalek himself commented that he would veto any attempt to allow for foreign ownership.

"I am, have always been, strongly opposed to foreign control of our Istkalen. It is, above all, a unique country; we can still claim to be the only in the world who have broken, and continue to break, from Western industrialization for our own indigenous path. We are the only country in the world where we can truly say that there are no factories on the Western model; the last fortress which malevolent consumption and consumerism has not yet taken; the only country where we can say proudly that humanity, rather than the cold machine, has triumphed. Yes, things here are not as efficient as elsewhere; but we can produce more than enough for ourselves already - is that not enough? Must we really imitate the West, where they produce on and on and on, in wasteful excess? There is none of us who would say yes. We will maintain our independent course, and we will let no one force us onto a different path, onto their path. If we were to invite them in - what would happen? They would bring their machines, their excess, here; they would eat up our land and drown us all; and then we would be lost. It is my responsibility as the highest representative of the Istkalener people to preserve them, their independence, their ways; I will not, I will never, let this fate befall them. Any attempt will be struck down immediately, if not by the cabinet then by me. Yes, ther eare things to be learned from their ways, things of efficiency and advancement; but not their excess, not their factories - nothing of that hellish society they have allowed to be built around themselves."

"On the topic of collectivization," said Malk later, "there is no intention to begin it. Collectivization has failed in this country, it is not appropriate for it. We do not, will never, pursue such failed policies again and again; that is insanity. We, the Agrarian Union, and the Patriotic League have agreed to preserve the current system, of decentralization, but couple it with a socialization - not a direct socialization, but a socialization, so to speak, of the mind. The thinking is that we do not wish to curb independence; merely greed."

Rikkalek continued on this, elaborating on his and the government's idea of socialization.

"The idea of this socialization of the mind, as I have stated previously, has something that has always facinated me. Once I believed in the dream of collectivization; but that simply does not work, has never worked, here. We do not have the culture or even any reason for doing so. In our country we already have the institutions and the beliefs needed to create a more equal society, a better society; ll that is necessary is to strengthen and modernize them, to socialize the economy not by centralizing but rather by eliminating greed, by putting it, through new values, at the service of the nation, of the people, rather than at that of a few individuals."

The statements have largely assuaged worries in Istkalen, although there remains concern over possible reprisals, whether by Vardic forces or by the J-TAI, for maintaining the property laws, which might hamper their economic interests. Malk answered this shortly and informally later in the day, stating simply,

"They will not be able to get away with it."

Rikkalek appears to hold similar views, having been heard saying, earlier today, on the same subject that,

"If they try this they will be doomed, it is impossible, they will not succeed,"

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: We speak with Mihkel Laar and Hendrik Kõiv

In mid-2000, the collective "Meraset" was founded by college students, trying to gather interested and trustworthy individuals for the independent development of a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, the purpose being to allow individuals to share politically "offensive" (that is, subject to censorship) documents, as well as, secondarily, others of a less pure nature, including the sharing of copyrighted materials (copyright law in Istkalen has since been so liberalized that it is effectively meaningless in the country). While not having pioneered the idea of such a protocol, and certainly not being the first to have developed such a protocol, theirs merely being an separate, indigenous effort, they have become the face, albeit unknown abroad, of Istkalen's small but growing tech industry.

"Meraset" has since expanded significantly to become a much larger collective, focused primarily on the promotion of free and open-source software and hardware, digital privacy, and the decentralization of the internet. Different sub-units of it are responsible for a number of diverse projects, including a unified protocol meant to allow for interoperability between participating social websites - that is, users on one would be able to access and interact with those on others, apparently termed federation, as well as a concept, according to Meraset itself termed alternatively a "distributed data store" or a "decentralized data store," in which individuals would be able to anonymously "upload" data to a network, where it would be stored, in fragments, across a number of users; with a key of sorts, anyone would be able to then request this information, at which point it would be retrieved from these fragments; no central server would be involved in the whole of the process. The sub-unit responsible for development of this project has stressed that the idea is not their own; that they are merely creating an implementation of it.

The collective, while less-known for this, also engages in contracting work within Istkalen, through which it makes most of its income.

Meraset is currently led by Mihkel Laar and Hendrik Kõiv, who joined the collective in 2016. Our journalist Kestalas Milresle spoke with the two today on the their work, their opinions on the general trend of the internet, and on the situation in Istkalen. The following is a truncated form of the interview conducted.

---

KM: Good day. I've already introduced myself, I don't see any point in doing it again for anyone's gratification; thus, let's get directly into it. What do you feel is the impact, the scope, of Meraset? It is not a very well-known organization, and its work seems to be very...technical in nature.

ML: We have accomplished very little that is visible. Most of what we have done, apart from some side-projects of some members , everything has been very back-end - technical, as you said - in nature. The collective developed, back in the early 2000s, a - I don't know how to describe it, it's near impossible to do so in lay terms - but it, you could say maps a network like the one we're relatively well-known for wanting to create, shows where bits of files are stored, and thus allows for them to be retrieved if requested - a terrible explanation, of course, please excuse me. Moving on, there are also some who have developed firmware - who notices that among the public? On top of that I don't believe it has been used apart from what some within Meraset and perhaps a few others in Istkalen with an interest with us sell. We have developed protocols and frameworks for social networks and messaging, to decentralize them - but again, who notices this? I believe these might have had some greater international application, but they remain very niche in terms of their usage, and even then those who actually use the applications using them probably would not even notice them. If anything, what impact we have is largely symbolic - what we have been recognized for, what most people know us even vaguely for, is our purpose, our stand against the prevailing trends, and that in itself is powerful and important.

HK. I'm not as inclined to dismiss our work as unrecognized as Mihkel is; I think, within certain communities, as specific as they may be, they are well known. There are many businesses abroad which are successful but are not recognized, and I feel that, particularly considering the focus of our work, we might belong to that same category. I think our work is also a bit more used than he thinks; there are indeed examples of a number of projects, although I am not sure as to how widely used they are, which do utilize much of what we have developed. This in itself is a success of sorts. While I don't really want to comment on our international scope - I'm not terribly well informed in that area - I believe we have, at least within our own country, accomplished quite a bit. And again, speaking about all of this, we forget about the first thing Meraset actually did, which is in fact widely used, at the very least within Istkalen, even if it is only by dint of having come to light during a time so suppressed than alternatives could not have actually entered our country.

KM: Do you think Meraset, or really Istkalen's tech industry as a whole, has a chance to expand - to become more well known?

ML: I think Meraset is in the best position it could be without renouncing its own principles; we might try to be a bit better at marketing, but even that would largely be to manufacturers within Istkalen and perhaps sympathizing individuals and groupings abroad, and would not terribly affect where we are. In regards to Istkalen's tech industry - that is far more interesting. Meraset itself, despite its reputation within those communities that know it, is relatively specialized - we don't do really flashy things, to put it concisely - but there is a lot of potential for a significant portion of the rest of tech in Istkalen. There are some up and coming collectives which are working on additive manufacturing - I know, I know, a fad, a gimmick, but for genuine industrial applications I think, if the time is taken to properly develop it, there is significant possibility - in regards to the making of machinery, particularly such things as scientific equipment which Istkalen is in shortage of; there are a few hurdles they must pass, and they themselves realize that it won't ever be a full replacement, only an aid at best, but I have faith in them; there are others working on modernizing agriculture, taking traditional techniques and merging them with the best of the technology that we have now; it's all extremely interesting and extremely exciting; the only real issue is that our country has such a horrible reputation that I doubt that they will ever be heard anywhere else.

HK: As I said before, I'm more optimistic about Meraset. I think, in coming years, people will start realizing the dangers of centralization, the dangers of the current trends, of companies like Ogo and others, and they will turn to alternatives. We will not provide them, of course, but we will almost certainly play a role in providing the technology behind them. Look at our data storage project - that could completely remake the web, make centralization not merely more difficult but also less profitable. I think we will be known; that we will see significant expansion in regards to our scope. As for tech in Istkalen - I agree completely with Mihkel. There are a lot of innovative projects, even now, born not of chance but because of the unique conditions of our nation - that it has always sought to combine its own culture, its own view towards production, with industrialization - and that, because of this, are unique and likely to have a use elsewhere, likely to be the first in a new age to come.

KM: How is Meraset unique among the companies - and of course, Meraset nor any other organization in Istkalen is really a company, but it is the closest comparison - of Europe? How is it uniquely Istkalener, let's put it that way?

ML: In comparison to the companies? By nature of its completely different aims and project. In comparison, however, to the foundations of Europe, which struggle for the same things we do? That is a more interesting question. I think we are actually fundamentally the same - we have the same aims, again, almost the same internal organization, in fact; we only differ in that we are a bit more secretive (laughs). That's not a weakness - it brings us together. Nationality doesn't divide us, shouldn't divide us; we all should be united against those who seek to mave a monopoly on information. In terms of being uniquely Istkalener - the work ethic within is a bit different. In Europe they might see it, to an extent, as volunteer work; here, as most do, we don't see it as volunteering so much as it is an obligation, something to stop it all from falling apart. There's also the fact that we aren't actually a legal organization, but there's so little difference in that regard it's hardly worth mentioning.

HK: Absolutely. But I'd also like to add that part of the Istkalener nature of our company, in regards to its organization and culture, is how loosely organized it is. People can engage in all sorts of projects, they aren't assigned to any, using the resources of the collective; they must contribute, of course, but they also receive. It's a far freer environment than I imagine exists elsewhere, and that has contributed to the amount that we have been, and will be, able to do.

KM: What is Meraset focusing on now?

ML: A lot of Meraset's resources right now are being directed towards our project regarding the storage of data; we see what is happening in Strathae, what is happening with Ogo and in particular its increased links with other tech companies in Europe, and we find it necessary to try to find a good solution to them - to find a way for individuals to be able to distribute information easily and anonymously, in a way that is impossible for any state or business to censor. It's still very much a work in progress, and has been for years; but we're confident that we will have a finished product soon enough.

HK: Mihkel is correct, but don't think that that's the only thing the collective is doing; we're still working on much else. More resources are being dedicated to it, yes; but not all. It isn't a war effort, so to speak.

KM: Firstly, the rest of the world. In the Duchies -

HK: I already know where this is going. It is unethical and borderline immoral. That a company which openly admits that its model is based on collecting as much information about individuals as is possible as to show them a version of the truth that they want to see, perhaps a version of the truth that is in fact a collection of falsehoods, is terrifying. They have, in their own country, and in many others as well, a near-total monopoly on information itself; it does not matter what they say about individuals being able to choose other services, by nature of their dominance they are able to manipulate information without challenge. They are what I feel we are opposed to - some force, motivated solely by the desire for profit, that seeks not actually to provide information to anyone, but instead to change and hide it for their own purposes.

ML: I think Hendrik has summed up most of it, but it absolutely must be highlighted that this is a company that openly and egregiously collects sensitive information, including race and sexual orientation. It is both disgusting and terrifying.

KM: Alternatives?

HK: Many. I imagine the Duxburians have troves of them; I know that in Istkalen there is another collective, "Kalet Maleter," focused on that issue - offering more privacy-focused browsing and productivity options, but they have had a number of issues with infrastructure; I imagine that they will be fixed with the end of the occupation, but even then...

ML: I don't think any alternatives in Istkalen are workable., but as Hendrik stated, there are a numberto be found in a number of other countries, the Duxburian Union I imagine in particular. I don't keep terribly good track of this issue, neither of us do, as far as I know; there are others who do that.

KM: Moving on, what do you believe the future holds for the internet - I'm sorry, the World Wide Web?

ML: Things are not very promising. In Strathae, with Ogo in the Duchies, we see an increased tendency towards a walled garden, towards the collection of data, and the euphemistic "curation of information..." - it will not be too long until we might see worse. Mass data collection, the turning of individuals into simple data points, the pandering to them, perhaps one day to sell products, another day to profile them as terrorists; and then the censorship of what states, businesses, organizations, see as subversive, dangerous. The world is marching happily on, it seems, to this dystopian world; and while we do struggle to prevent this, I feel, sometimes, that it will all be in vain.

HK: I am not terribly optimistic, either, but we have seen many begin, as I said before, to wake up to this new reality - that data collection is not necessarily for "one's own good" as many of these actors and entities want them to believe, that censorship is indeed a place where the "slippery slope" may genuinely be true. There is still some hope; and I don't believe we are working in vain, although if we do not work hard enough it is a possibility.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Tabitha (formerly Reszelport Jezebel-Swift) elected first female pope of the Catholic Church - but not the one you're thinking of

Reszelport Jezebel-Swift was declared Pope Tabitha today of the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church - the first female pope in its history, although it is far from the "One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" that most think of when hearing that name. The church in question is considered heretical by virtually all other Christians on Earth; it is the last significant remnant of Arianism perhaps anywhere. With almost 3 million baptized members, it is closer to Oriental Orthodoxy in regards to rites and liturgy, differing only in the rejection of Christ as eternal.

The church works unusually, with a general college consisting of a number of religious figures, who have wildly differing titles and are chosen in different ways - some are heriditary, some are elected, others were appointed by the former Pope, although all must have been approved by the former Pope, who had died of pneumonia after prolonged dementia.

The election itself was, at times, violently contested. The Arian Church is split into two factions - a universalist faction, which believes in universal salvation and is liberal in regards to social views and theolog; and a conservative faction, which seeks to "purify" the church, holding traditionlist views on theology and virtually all other issues. The dementia of the pope allowed the universalist faction to gain significant strength, with many universalist figures being able to ascend to high positions simply by asking the increasingly addled pope to appoint them, which he did in increasingly vague ways, before finally losing all ability to do so, at which point aides, several of which were universalists themselves, literally puppeted his body - moving his limp arms, for example, to sign documents, moving him around on palanquins and in certain cases crutches - as to continue this. Seeking to radically change the church in their more progressive direction, they sought to elect a similarly progressive pope, but could not agree among themselves who exactly should have been elected, resulting in open brawls.

Meanwhile, the conservative faction, despite its previous opposition to female clergy, including popes, united around the figure of Reszelport Jezebel-Swift, a fundamentalist who had become a member of the clergy through manipulation and outright corruption, including through the open paying of bribes, combined with blackmail and veiled threats, to the less scrupulous of the former pope's aides, who since have leaked the whole of the story to the rest of the world via social media.

While there were no formal agreements, the idea that Jezebel-Swift could become a pope caused the universalist faction to denounce female popes as heretical, despite their previous view that they were not; they also argued that even in spite of her sex, Jezebel-Swift was still a heretic, as she was a supporter of the death penalty. Comments made by some also appeared to argue that the fact that her surname is "Jezebel-Swift" would further embarass the church - to name a literal Jezebel, according to an anonymous confidante of one of the electors, as pope was a mockery of the Church. While united on this issue, however, they were still unable to unite around a single proposal, as infighting began to set in, largely over minor issues regarding a slight difference in rites.

The conservative faction, fearing in spite of this infighting that Jezebel-Swift would not become pope, at least in part due to dissent within its own ranks, moved, during convocation, to violently attack those who opposed her, including other conservatives, sending many to hospital. Remaining universalists then attempted to attack the conservatives, and failed; one then decided to, in order to delay election, light the whole of the building aflame, and this indeed succeeded, with the election delayed by weeks and almost all electors injured to some extent. During this period, a number of poisoning plots against various electors were discovered; several nurses, in one case, attempted to feed a universalist elector tea poisoned with thallium; in another case, one was found, in the middle of the night, holding a pillow over the head of a 79-year old, infirm, conservative elector.

The second convocation took place virtually, as there was little appetite for further violence, but multiple Zoombombing incidents occured despite the usage of a password, further delaying the election. At this point, a number of electors, from both the universalist and conservative factions, announced their intention to simply refuse to attend, as they argued the whole process had become a farce; they further announced that if any attempt was made to continue under the current conditions, they would split from the mainstream church and elect a pope of their own. The Church was left at an impasse, without leadership and with a growing number of electors refusing to participate in any election of a new pope, soon becoming a majority, with the whole of univeralists, a new "Reformist" faction formed of former univeralists and conservatives, and over half of the conservatives, the radicals became empowered.

The convocation went forwards, held in a tennis court, a small grouping of radicals the only who were present, and unanimously elected Jezebel-Swift pope. She took the name "Tabitha" and held a disastrous Mass, which involved the consumption of grape juice and saltine crackers during Communion, as well as extreme deviation from the liturgy, particularly in regards to the random rock bands who were invited to repeatedly interrupt the service by loudly singing and playing pop-like religious music through broken speakers, as well as by randomly interjecting to proclaim death on various people she did not like, including people who did not support Trympov and homosexuals.

Tabitha has declared an iconoclastic campaign throughout the Church, calling for the burning and destruction of icons and similar representations, which she has denounced as "idols;" she also has excommunicated virtually all the electors who did not participate in the tennis court convocation, replacing them with radical appointments. In addition to this, she has issued a number of encyclans and edicts saying that God does indeed hate certain people, particularly homosexuals, and that they must be "smited," but also centralizing power in the Church around her figure - she is now the only person with any authority to appoint any figures within the church, or to delegate this authority. More radically, she has rejected transubstantiation as a "Satanic lie," and called for an abandonment of Arianism itself in favor of a form of modalism.

Tabitha was arrested this morning by state authorities on the charge of inciting violence, resulting in a small riot that was quickly put down. While she is still the pontiff, and continues to release edicts from prison reorganizing the church and its theology, these edicts are released often heavily censored - in one case everything found itself completely blacked out. A number continue to call for her release, but these are dwindling down. Whether her papacy is actually valid continues to be heavily debated, as the Church does not have tradition giving guidance on these issues.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Mass arrests of clergy; the Pope Tabitha farce continues

The state has launched an effort to crack down on what it sees as superstition and irrationality negatively impacting the ability of the state and society to function, largely through the limiting of religion. Members of the clergy have been reduced to mere employees of the government, with virtually no autonomy; religious property has been seized and made the property of the state; even religious texts have found themselves extensively censored. Even more decentralized religions, from the Istkalener folk religion to even certain forms of Protestantism, have found themselves under the control of the state; the state now imposes educational requirements for one to even claim to be a priest or holy person of any sort, as well as an examination, and even then can still revoke this ability if it deems these holy people to have acted "irrationally."

In effect, the Istkalener state has nationalized religion. The state dictates theology, it dictates liturgy, it dictates even the smallest aspects of belief and the ways in which religious services and events are conducted. Its intention, it seems, is to merely stamp it out. Any form of religious education for children has been prohibited, and religious institutions themselves are strictly prohibited from evangelizing without a virtually impossible to obtain permit. Those in charge of enforcing and creating these regulations are almost all atheists or agnostics; while the state claims to be secular, in reality it seems more or less to have adopted a position of state atheism.

In accordance with these regulations, thousands of priests and other members of the clergy have been arrested on pretexts of either inciting violence or being mentally unstable. Those in the latter category were quickly stripped of their legal personhood by loyal judges and doctors who ruled them incompetent, before being forced into mental institutions by the dozen; those in the former category have effectively vanished, presently in jail but soon to stand trial.

"They came in the morning to our area," said an eyewitness of an arrest taking place in Milésile. "It was - oh, about 7:00 or so. Late enough that everyone could see. They went into the homes and dragged [the priests and shamans] out; they were screaming. If they did not comply with arrest they were beaten; many I saw watching were terribly bruised. One, I don't know whether if it was an accident or not, was thrown off a fifth-storey balcony. The rest were dragged violently down the stairs, by their feet, as though they were not living, trying to struggle the whole time; by the end of it I don't know how many remained conscious."

"The rest of us rushed after them; there was a morbid curiousity that we had regarding their fates. Many of their bodies and heads were cut, bleeding, skin terribly torn. Those who were still conscious tried to get up; they were beaten and kicked into the street, again and again and again until they were completely still. Those who submitted were made to strip in the open, and then they too found themselves being beaten until they too, fell over and failed, again to move. There was blood everywhere; on the police uniforms, on the pavement, on the road, everywhere. Limp bodies here and there. They were taken and loaded into several vans, and then we saw no more of them."

Other arrests were not so violent, but often at the very least entailed the usage of force.

"They hit them a little, tazed a few," said an eyewitness of a different arrest, taking place in a village, "It wasn't terribly violent, it was very peaceful, really. It was at least enough to get them all to shut up. They're all insane, you know. The priests, I mean. Blubbering and screaming about holy tomato paste or whatever other nonsense they peddle. They ought to rot in prison now."

Several priests throughout the day, who remained free, complained publically about the violence of the arrests; the state responded merely by saying that what was done was necessary as to pacify those being arrested, as they were "criminals or deranged individuals who presented a significant threat to all of society." These priests were not arrested; the only retribution was a total prohibition on all forms of public worship throughout the country for the next thirty days.

"There are legitimate concerns," said the Minister of Religious Affairs at a press conference earlier today. "What we are concerned about is not these but rather unscrupulous so-called 'holy people' using them to further their deranged ideas and incite violence. This is why we have instated the prohibition - to prevent these people from doing any more harm."

Pope Tabitha of the Arian Apostolic Church appears to have attempted to respond to this; the statement released by her has been censored heavily; while released, little information, apart from what appears to have been an eccentric endosement of modalism, is visible to the public. Immediately afterwards, Pope Tabitha was quickly prohibited from releasing any more statements of any sort, before being moved into temporary solitary confinement in a unknown location. Despite this, people are not as concerned over her as they are over the remainder of the arrests and suppression; if anything, even clergy celebrated it to an extent.

"The so-called 'pope' is illegitimate and also a heretic," said a reformist elector of the Church. "I don't think anyone in this country believes that she is the pope, or that she ever should have been considered even a possibility for becoming the pope. She truly has lived up to her name; she truly is like Jezebel in all ways. Even as the state arrests and persecutes us, it has at least had the sense to make this one good decision."

Upon the expiration of the prohibition on public religious activity, it is expected that the state will compel a second conclave to elect a new Pope, loyal to the state and its aims.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Arrests continue, but violence no longer a factor

In response to reports of widespread violence against members of the clergy, the central government acted to establish commissions on the issue across the country, while simultaneously prohibiting members of local police from involvement in the detention of clergy, choosing instead to involve only the Administration of State, Public, and Internal Security, as well as certain military elements. The state also authorized individual citizens to go as far as to place under arrest members of the police who were, either in the past or the present, actively participating in acts of wanton violence, with traditional courts newly empowered as to quickly try these individuals.

In today's arrests, which also expanded to include several educators and major community figures involved in provoking chaos and superstition in connection with the Northern Radio, little violence was noted.

"They were violating priests yesterday; today they are merely arresting them. There was one shaman who went berzerk in our area, she was screaming and clawing and using a knife to stab at people; she was tazed. That was the only incident of violence from today. I am surprised by how quickly it changed, although perhaps it's because I saw no regular members of the police participating."

In certain areas, members of the local police attempted to arrest clergy by themselves, and were promptly met with force by citizen and state elements:

"They came to our area; and of course they were coming to brutalize the holy men. Well! We would not let them; we knew, even, that they had no permission to do so anymore. We barricaded the door. They tried to break it down; we fought against them. Someone called the local people's committee, they informed the local military authority, as well as the local branch of the [Administration], about it; they were rounded up quite quickly. We were told that some of the holy men were traitors, that they had collaborated with the Northern Radio; of course we handed them over, then, knowing that as well as that no illegal harm would come to them. We're fine if they're punished, but it all has to be legal," said an eyewitness to an arrest who wishes to remain anonymous.

The state has also forced members of the clergy simply to defrock.

The state publically announced that about 5000 priests and other religious figures had been arrested over the past two days on charges of treason, sedition, rebellion, or simply inciting violence, but did not disclose how many in total were to be arrested.

Other actions have been taken apart from the arrests. Beginning today, several individuals attested to the ransaking of the homes of religious figures, largely for contraband, although the definition of contraband is so wide that it now includes such simple things as tomatoes and tomato-derived products.

"They took [the holy woman] outside, threw her into a van," said another eyewitness to an arrest. "We were gathered in the hall to see it; we saw them then enter her apartment, tearing apart furniture and throwing her personal belongings all over the place. They found drugs, nubs of some cactus; they also found a number of tomatoes, with the most awful smell. They also took quite a few books with them. They carried it all out and burned it in the street, but not the drugs, of course. I don't know what they did with those, I don't think any of us knows, really. I imagine they were destroyed at some point."

Religious buildings, too, found themselves ransacked. In one incident, an Arian church was stripped of all objects containing valuable metals, as well as icons; these were either sold or destroyed.

Several holy places have also found themselves repurposed. One Arian monastery, upon theforced defrocking of all the monks inside due to their alleged promotion of superstition and irrationality, is to become a childcare center; a temple, after the arrest of shamans and holy individuals who had formerly occupied the building, was simply declared a public warehouse in which individual producers, particularly farmers and craftspeople, could deposit their goods for others to buy, being paid by the warehouse for this depositing if their goods were sold. Others have been destroyed; on Saturday evening, an Arian church was, with two hour's notice, simply demolished via implosion.

Public objection to these moves continued, with a number of prominent members of the clergy who remain free releasing further statements condemning the continued arrests, the forced defrockings, and the exproprietation and destruction of religious property. A motion has been proposed within the Kirelesile branch of the professionals' association to organize a one-day strike and protest against the actions of the govenrment.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Socialization?

The Council of Ministers is allegedly discussing the issue of socialization - whether it might be a solution to many of the efficiency issues that have plagued Istkalen's industrial and mining sectors. Currently, both are extremely decentralized, formed of great numbers of indidivudal producers who cooperate merely informally. The issue, however, is that this form of organization has hampered the production of raw materials. Despite the country's wealth of coal and iron, it produces little steel or even cast iron, despite both being in high demand by light-industrial producers and craftspeople. Mining output, too, is erratic, mines themselves often constantly embroiled in legal disputes as a result of their vague status in regards to ownership. Particularly in these times, when the country continues to face even more extreme shortages as a result of the combination of widespread crop failures and continued international sanctions placed by major economic powers, particularly Inimicus, very few believe that the situation is sustainable.

What is it?

What socialization would entail would be the merging of all privately held mining and industrial property into larger syndicates, which would then excercise democratic control over mining and industrial production, introducing structure and a planning of sorts and thus more stable production An idea of the Communist era, when politicians sought to create a "humanized socialism," it saw success economically, increasing and rationalizing production, although much of this has been attributed to the high levels of education that most Istkalener workers are effectively required to have because of the general lack of the division of labor, but was extremely controversial - it flew in the face of custom and caused significant disruption to the lives of individual workers, who had previously been accustomed to high levels of independence.

In the modern day, socialized organization is present only in the utility sector, where it is widely seen as necessary, even by utility workers; decentralized forms of organization are seen simply as irrational, and state-ownership a step too far from Istkalener principles of production.

Who supports it?

The traditional base of Istkalener politics - craftspeople/light-industrial producers and agricultural producers - demand the socialization of both. Light-industrial producers and craftsmen have a constant need for refined industrial materials, from metals to, in the modern day, carbon fiber. The present system of heavy industry in Istkalen, in addition to the erratic nature of mining, has often denied their demands, and forced them to "make do" with inadequate materials. The state in recent years has instead opted to purchase materials from abroad, and then pay for them using the profits from export; but this is seen as introducing trade deficit, which would leave Istkalen at the mercy of other nations.

As for agricultural workers, many are dependent on machinery produced by light-industrial producers, which requires, in particular, metals which can only be produced and refined by heavy-industrial producers. The erratic and unstable nature of heavy industry in Istkalen means that they must often do without machinery or working machinery, sometimes reducing yields and thus their personal profit.

The state, too, seeks to develop Istkalen as more self-sufficient, but also an exporter of refined products. It sees the mining industry as unsustainable, and seeks to rationalize heavy industry in particular in order to establish new industries to take over the position which mining has taken and to maintain the country's narrow trade surplus. The development of heavy industry also plays a role in their desire to modernize the country - like Communist planners of other countries, they see heavy industry as necessary to develop other forms of industry independently - that is, to improve the lives of ordinary Istkaleners and increase the country's image abroad.

Miners are also in support - socialization would merely confirm the currently existing system and end the endless legal conflicts, while rationalizing production to offer individual miners more stable income than usual.

Who opposes it?

Opposed are primarily professionals and heavy-industrial producers.

Most professionals in Istkalen see the issue of heavy-industry as one that must be overcome through national means, rather than merely adopting the practices of other nations. Idealistic in ideology, many believe it possible for Istkalen to develop technology to allow for greater efficiency and rationalization while maintaining decentralized forms of industrial organization. Others see the country as needing to divorce itself from heavy industry, and pursue a path based on modernizing agriculture and light-industry, to produce high-quality products, from clothing to electronics, perhaps using to an extent the country's national resources. Many see it as an innapropriate expression of nativism that could be better directed - an expression of superstition and ancient ideas that should be discarded.

Heavy-industrial producers are opposed because the action would negatively affect their independence. Most producers in general hold their independence as a matter of pride - they want the ability to decide what they can produce, what hours they work, and much more. It is so ingrained in the minds of many that it has become almost a symbol of the nation. In the minds of many, to take this away would be denying them that dignity, as well as their nationality, as well as corrupting the country by the West. Others feel that socialization is an insult, implying that they are not, for whatever reason, educated or intelligent enough to manage their own affairs truly independently. Many, like professionals, also look forwards to a possible modernization on Istkalener terms, using new technology, efforts which many are intimately involved in. ; the fact

What is the government position?

Information about government position is little more than rumor. While it is already known that mining is likely to be socialized, the issue of heavy industry also is more contentious. The government does not want to alienate citizens, particularly during the current campaign against "religious extremism and superstitions;" it is unlikely to make any public statements.

However, insiders claim that there is a fierce divide; the Head of State and PM are allegedly opposed, but parts of the cabinet, particularly "technocrats" like Demirkol and Kerel, are strongly in favor. Nothing can be conclusively said, however, until something official is released, which is, again, not going to happen for some time if ever.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Virejane loosens restrictions on Arianism, Islam; national-level workers' associations hold protests in favor of raising taxes as a result of alleged 'debt-trap diplomacy'

Minister of Religious Affairs Kūseli Virejane, in return for supporting significant welfare reform proposed by Finance Minister Antras Arkalis, has managed, with the force of the German and Turkish communities behind her, to loosen restrictions on Arian Christianity and Islam that presently exist in the country. While restrictions on the wearing of religious clothing and symbols in public will continue, the two religious sects will be allowed a degree of independence. Organizations, albeit nominally secular organizations, consisting of all believers in both religions will have a degree of control over the instruction of clergy, as well as theology itself, although the Ministry of Religious Affairs will be able to veto and amend their decisions.

Virejane also succeeded in creating a general workers' association for clergy, irrespective of religion, which will also be nominally secular but will have power to regulate the general conduct of clergy, as well as their income. Ownership of religious buildings will also be transferred to the workers' association, which will then be charged with managing them.

Virejane's reforms were passed only narrowly. They were opposed by most of the government until Virejane's deal with Arkalis, and even now are only supported in a grudging way.

"I am personally opposed to Virejane's reforms. They have eroded secularism in Istkalen, and will certainly contribute to a rise in further insanity. The occupation has ended; we must recover the reputation and prestige of our country, rather than acting to bury it. Yet if I did not accept them, she and her small faction would not have approved my proposed reforms, and thus Istkalen would have been plunged into terrible debt, which it absolutely cannot afford," said Minister Arkalis yesterday. "We must consider the greater good, we must, sometimes, make compromises."

The Head of State, who holds veto power and previously acted to veto a similar reform that Virejane pursued unilaterally, refused to do so again.

"Whether I agree or disagree with the reform does not matter," he said at a press conference yesterday. "It was pursued in accordance with the law, unlike the previous attempt of Minister Virejane to enact widespread reform using a generous interpretation of the act establishing her ministry as justification, and thus I have no reason to strike it down. Yes, I have the power to do so, but I feel that I must uphold legality and precedent regardless of my personal feelings."

The Prime Minister allegedly reacted angrily to the passage of the reform, although she did not appear for comment.

"She thought it an insult to the state," said an individual close to the Prime Minister who wishes to remain anonymous. "She thought it dangerous. She was also one of the main supporters of the original legislation, and for her to see it scrapped, in part, so early on seemed no short of devastating. She delivered a thirty-minute long speech, really a rant, about the dangers of religious belief after the Council of Ministers had voted."

Pope Tabitha, according to guards at the unknown location in which she is kept, was told of the passage of the legislation, and did not react. Other members of the Arian clergy, however, did. A universalist elector, who wishes to remain anonymous, privately stated that the reforms were "a real Godsend...a blessing. The church was in danger of dying, so persecuted it was - now at least we may conduct ourselves, and be free of the extremists, the conservatives."

This sentiment is reflected by most universalist Arians, who have long been opposed both to religious regulation and the extremist conservatism of other factions within the Arian church, and similarly see the reforms as accomplishing all that they desired.

Perhaps obviously, conservatives within the church have strongly opposed the reforms, calling for a return to the past in which the church had free reign; however, few remain, as most were arrested for various reasons. Some attempted to stage a protest, which according to the people's committee in the area which it took place turned into a riot, which then had to be suppressed, leading to the arrest of all of the demonstrators.

Within the Muslim community in Istkalen, which has been historically radically reformist and is condemned as a group of heretics by most others within the international community, reactions have been more limited, but generally positive.

In other news, Vardic attempts at investing and sponsoring the construction of high-speed freight in Istkalen have led to accusations of debt-trap diplomacy. A number of national-level workers' associations have expressed significant concern over the level of debt that the Republic may be incurring by accepting Vardic investment, particularly in regards to the possibility that it could be used by the Vardic state to justify interference in the domestic affairs of Istkalen. In order to pre-empt this, as such, many have voted to begin demonstrations in favor of higher taxation, in order to limit debt and preempt the possibility of default.

"We have just regained our independence," said a member of the national-level workers' committee of the Professionals' Association. "We must not give it up now. Regardless of what the intentions of the Vards are, we must tread carefully."

Demonstrations began today, and have been combined with other efforts to reduce debt in general. The Agricultural Workers' Association, for example, fearing that the already financially precarious situation of the state could cause Istkalen to become severely indebted to Vardic lenders and investors, sought to re-negotiate agreements it had made with the central government over the procurement of agricultural goods, in the favor of the government, in order to reduce its debt and thus the possibility of future default.

"We will lose now," said the Elder of the national-level workers' council of the association, in an attempt to justify the decision to the agricultural workers of Istkalen, "but we will prevent ourselves from an even greater loss in the future. Our independence, our dignity, and our future prosperity are sacrosanct. Surely we will not be so shortsighted to desire prosperity now, and sacrifice our future well-being?"

An independent movement has also begun among domestic holders of bonds, many of whom have pledged not to demand repayment from the government. However, this has been significantly less enthusiastic than the actions of the workers' associations, and is not expected to have a significant effect on reducing debt.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Minister of Development defends plans for automation: "Uneducated people should have nothing"

The government today appeared for scrutiny before the eighteen workers' asssociations - two having been created since November. Significant concern was expressed over the increasingly autocratic actions of the government, particularly of the Prime Minister and those aligned with her, the foreign policy of the state, especially in regards to the Strait crisis of several months ago, and the "worrying" statement of the Head of State regarding the future structure of the Republic, which laid out an authoritarian vision of the future. Other questions regarded the continued hostility of the state towards the Kingdom of Reitzmag, the country's development policy, the state of the country's finances, and the continued shortages of basic goods and housing.

Perhaps most interesting was, however, the response of the Minister of Development to a question asked by a representative of the laborers' association in regards to automation. Both the Rikkalek I and following Malk governments had strongly promoted automation as a simpler way to solve one of the dilemmas of Istkalenic industrial organization - that is, how decentralization could be applied to widescale industry, which is traditionally centralized - as well as of labor - whether it is ethical for manual laborers to be employed on an effectively permanent basis by so-called "industrial workers" particularly in heavy industry - simply by eliminating the problem entirely. Other given reasons were also economic - the state wished to modernize and to develop new and indigenous industry, and it saw expansion into this unexplored area as a way to do both.

The Laborers' Association has long since voiced opposition to automation without plans for them, and has sought to negotiate with the state for some agreement to either limit automation or guarantee them greater welfare temporarily and the ability to engage in certain professions without examination. The question that the representative in question asked was expected; the association had in fact previously asked it of the government, although then the government was under no obligation to respond, and did not; it regarded whether the state had any plans for re-employing or retraining manual laborers who, in a system with greater automation, would lose the vast majority of their work.

The response was a long tirade by the Minister of Development, responsible for implementing and to an extent developing state policy on this issue, against manual laborers, which he repeatedly called "uneducated people."

"The uneducated people in this country," he said, "always demand things, and contribute nothing. They are like tumors, they exist only because we have taken no action against them, and grudgingly tolerate them. What use do we have for them? The educated people of this country do not have any inclinations against manual labor; it is expected of them. To this very day, they perform a great deal of manual labor in their work. We do not sulk about in darkened offices like the feeble and stupid Westerners, we work with both hand and mind at once. Unlike the West, then, where the uneducated can indeed suck from the educated all of their wealth because the educated are unwilling to perform labor, like leeches, here we have no use for them but for charity. Being a kind people, then, we give them charity, we allow them some of their work so that they may survive. But charity cannot last forever. We may be merciful, we may be gentle, but we are not endless fountains of wealth. We cannot support these leeches anymore, for they are now genuinely harming us."

"Currently, we all know that there is a harsh debate over the issue of employment and industrial structure, which focuses on the role that the uneducated people play. If there were no uneducated people, this issue would not exist, and we would be free to pursue more productive things. Unfortunately, however, they do and some misguided people believe that we must focus on them, that we must treat them as equals. But they are not equals, and we must not focus on them. As I said, the whole of their existence depends on our charity, the charity of the educated. They are mere wisps in s in the corners of our eyes, that is all, like dogs. We care for dogs, do we not, but we would not put them above humans, or ourselves. If we had to, for our own survival, for the survival of others, we would let a dog die, it would fade from importance. So it must be here. The uneducated are like dogs, and we are starving people. We must stop giving our remaining food to the dogs, and reserve it for ourselves. Let them die, let them all die, it does not matter. We did not need them, really, we do not need them."

"In part, even, our kindness was misguided. They are parasites, all of them; we should have killed them all, but now we cannot. Regardless, uneducated people should have nothing. They don't deserve anything. They are a weight on our nation. In fact they are responsible for the darkness that our nation was plunged into. If all the uneducated people were dead we would be much happier, and the nation would be thriving."

"What automation does is liberate the educated person from onerous labor, but not from all manual labor; but more impotantly, it deprives the uneducated people of any purpose, of any place, it expels them from the nation and leaves them with nothing, so that they may all shrivel up and die, leaving us free of their parasitism. It is like medicine, a very good medicine, like a magical chemotherapy which helps the body and kills the tumor. It is thus objectively good, there is no doubt."

Manual laborers have historically held a low societal position in Istkalen, a class which is seen as being composed of rejects unable to function in society, and which until recently did not possess full citizenship or rights. Significant discrimination against them still exists; violations of labor law against them, for example, are rarely taken seriously, if at all. Sentiments like that of the Minister of Development are rarely expressed, but in general automation is seen as a good thing for similar reasons - Istkaleners will no longer have to employ or interact with members of the class.

Regardless, the Minister of Development was forced to retract his comments publically by the Head of State, who is rumored to have threatened him with prison. The Head of State later answered the question himself.

"Firstly," he said, "I would like to apologize for the innaprorpriate and disturbing comments of the Minister of Development on behalf of the government. He has since been disciplined. But to directly answer the question, the government's desire is to re-employ those affected by the drive for industrial automation in other areas, particularly new infrastructural projects which will require a large supply of such labor."

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Reforms again

Vistek Rikkalek, newly empowered, has driven the state towards reform yet again. For the past eight months the country has vacillated between extremes; now again from one it seems to be jumping back to another. The government of Malk represented, in spite of communist participation, the right in Istkalen, a right characterized by authoritarianism and isolationism; Rikkalek's agenda, his second government, represents the left, more naive and more inclined towards openness.

Rikkalek, in an address to representatives of the workers' associations, divided his reform into three areas - reform in regard to industrial organization, reform in regard to industrial production, and reforms in regard to bureaucracy and the organization of the state. All three, he claims, were and are hampered by the impact of the occupation - he claims in particular that it disrupted and over-fragmented industrial organization, set back advances in industry itself by years in its destruction of infrastructure and cultivation of extremist movements, and finally gave too much power to the bureaucracy of the capital while fragmenting governance elsewhere between informal and often corrupt authorities - and thus need to quickly be brought to rights.

"Prior to the occupation, our Istkalen, although authoritarian, was a prosperous, stable, and technologically advanced country. The war that plunged it into darkness was destructive and excessive in that destruction; but it was not that which set it behind. What destroyed our country truly was the occupation. Perhaps, in part, it was warranted. If I were the leader of Reitzmag I too would have desired occupation. Yet what was not warranted was its attempt to destroy our society. Our leaders were arrested, and a narrow conception of democracy, not merely a Western conception but a Reitzmic conception, imposed on us, a society constructed on principles very different from those of any Western society and certainly that of Reitzmag. We found ourselves, thus, in an artificial vacuum, doubting and fearing, turning to the past to try to save ourselves," said Rikkalek.

"This was our doom. We fell into reaction, we fell into violence; with society and civilization taken away from us by perhaps well-intentioned but nonetheless ill-informed foreign authorities, we were forced to turn to the most primeval of influences. There seemed to be no future to reach to, nor even a present to live in; only a past to reminisce on endlessly. The advancement we once courted was rejected for deindustrialization, delineation of authority, a greater efficiency of the state, rejected for instability and a 'more traditional' cumbersome customary division of powers. The occupation threw us off the path of progress; the reform we begin today will allow us to find our way back and truly join the greater community of nations as equals."

Reforms to industrial organization, unlike those earlier undertaken by the first Rikkalek cabinet which sought to create a quasi-market-socialist economy in Istkalen, will merely try to restore certain aspects of prewar organization. In particular, agriculture and industry will be organized into more centralized organizations in order to reduce the "violent" competition of the past eight months. Similarly to the syndicates of the social democratic era, they will to an extent fix levels of production as well as prices, while also coordinating development. However, most other fields will remain largely unaffected - according to Rikkalek, there is simply little evidence that centralization is needed in such areas as crafts and specialist healthcare. The only change that will affect all workers is the legalization of contracting by workers' association. Entrusted with managing and providing most public services, the associations formerly used corvee in order to fulfill their responsibilities; with this made illegal, however, they will now be allowed instead to employ individuals, or really contract them.

Industrial production will primarily see a renewed focus on automation. Social democratic governments, trying to decrease the level of de facto employment, in which large numbers of manual laborers would be employed on an effectively permanent basis in particularly heavy industrial facilities, pursued such policies with gusto; postwar governments have either been unable to do so or have neglected the issue in favor of focusing on traditional industries. The second Rikkalek cabinet, however, will seek again to focus on industrial development, particularly in regards to the manufacture of electronics and machinery, a significant part of which Istkalen must import. According to Rikkalek himself, Istkalen must pursue self-sufficiency in order to protect it from "economic imperialism;" at the same time, however, it must not betray its basic principles, or tolerate the continued abuse of manual laborers in industrial facilities. Therefore, as the social democrats concluded, in his view and that of his government, the only logical way forward is to fund the development of further mechanization and automation, in order to increase efficiency while reducing the need for manual labor/employment.

The crafts will largely be left alone, although Rikkalek has stated that the state will focus on increasing non-craft "individual" light industry, while increasing the rigor and quality of the applied arts through partial mechanization in Istkalen - both of which are legally crafts and represented by the Crafts Association. As for agriculture, the focus on modernization will primarily occur in urban areas, where increased funding will be given to agriculture in order to improve self-sufficiency.

Politically, reforms will be relatively simple. Bureaucracies, particularly the ministries, will be reduced in size, with many of their responsibilities being transferred to the workers' associations; their role will merely be to coordinate, direct, and complement them. The peope's committees will be abolished, replaced with a system of appointments made by the Head of State, although part of their governing responsibilities will be transferred to the workers' associations. Finally, the political parties will be re-legalized.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service

Agricultural reforms initially rejected

One of the major proposals of the Rikkalek II government, a plan to modernize agriculture via reforms made to farm organization, has been rejected near-unanimously by the Agriculture Association of Istkalen, responsible for regulating agricultural production and representing agricultural workers, primarily on the basis that it would take control over land distributed to farmers by reform-communist and social-democratic governments, and thus rob them of their independence, termed a restoration of both the abuses of the Relemian (1798-1900) and the liberal (1973-1979) periods.

"The farmers and agricultural workers of Istkalen will not see the reforms of the last three decades reversed," stated the organization in a public statement. "We will defend their right to their land forever."

The government has managed, however, to get certain aspects of its agricultural agenda agreed to. Inheritance law in regard to land has been changed; individuals may no longer leave it to children, but rather it will be given to the state to be redistributed. At the same time, infrastructure used by multiple farmers and other agricultural workers - aqueducts, for example - will be placed under the management of the Agriculture Association rather than remaining unowned and part of the commons. Mechanization and automation plans have also been accepted, although there was from the beginning little opposition to them.

Social democrats re-organize

The Social Democratic Party has been re-founded by Milrakas Ikoszer and other ex-regime politicians who have been cleared of all charges. While, under the recently passed laws re-legalizing political parties, their political expression as a group will be extremely limited, they were only narrowly approved - only because of their considerably less radical aims were they even able to be considered.

The party's main intention is to promote technological progress and a continued wide distribution of property in Istkalen.

The ridiculous may have an application in Istkalen

The "crafts" in Istkalen have become more or less the industrial or applied arts with a twist. "Craftsmen," nowadays, are really mostly industrial designers, and are only differentiated from their counterparts in the West in their involvement in manufacturing - in industry, particularly light industry, there is exceedingly little division of labor, and thus most goods are made, in part by hand, although the process has become partially mechanized, by the designer. Despite modernization, this has resulted in significant inefficiencies in Istkalen's industrial sector. It can take weeks for even the most simple of appliances to be made; while standardization has begun to prevail, minor human errors, while not affecting the performance of an appliance, can occasionally make them difficult to repair.

Government programs have primarily focused on increasing the level of mechanization and standardization, which has improved some of the issues - in comparison to the early 2000s, efficiency has been signicantly improved - but has not solved them.

A small group of craftspeople in Kirelesile, who have termed themselves "designers," have put their faith in a less-than-perfect and expensive solution - additive manufacturing. Shilled in other countries as a magical technology that would revolutionize manufacturing, its role rapidly collapsed due to a host of reasons. While still used as a useful tool in certain applications, its role in actual industrial manufacturing remains in a very primitive stage.

This group has long since pursued improvements to the technology, however, and now state that they will begin to apply it to production that must be standardized - the production of appliances, for example. Products from this endeavor will be made available in Kirelesile within a week, although their quality is not assured.

The intention of the group is to act as a pilot which will spur voluntary adoption of the technology once it has advanced enough to become widely used

[Istkalen]

*Istkalen Information Service: The politics of Istkalen

Istkalen under the social democrats was an unusual place, an odd unity existing between a tamed elite taken from the "administrative class" and the working class represented through state-backed unions, both governing together and in concert. It was an authoritarian place, but at the same time one where ideological unity was truly reflected in reality. The regime provided stability to the vast majority of Istkaleners; and thus most genuinely supported it, until 2018 with the seizure of power of a radical nationalist faction.

Under the social-democrats, thus, party affiliation had, in its heyday, very little meaning. Partisan politics, so violent in the military era, had fallen away; much milder ethno-vocational interests prevailed. Statecraft was simply a matter of guaranteeing each vocational interest certain rights, and ensuring the unity of all interests, appealing to the nation to do so, sometimes violently (several attempts were made during the era to forcibly subjugate 'errant' cultures to the majority of culture, particularly by seeking to dissolve families).

The coup of 13th April represented an extremely radical attempt to cement the nation and the unity of the ruling and working classes by forcibly amalgamating them, violently, into a single mass. The state was made a violent mob, directed by similarly crazed people at the top; divergence in cultures and vocations were abolished in the name of the nation and the "leader" who represented it. So rapid and radical was its change that the pre-existing moderate system was completely abolished, replaced with something much weaker in terms of institutional stability that would itself rapidly come crashing down.

The coup of 18th April thus occurred in a nation that had lost its institutions, a nation which was a blank slate, and represented an attempt to restore the pre-social-democratic system of elitism and technocracy. Popular power was replcaed with the power of the most skilled, and the people's ability to participate in state functions reduced considerably. Yet the country's technical elite did not have the same unity as before social democracy; it was divided, squabbling over issues of ideology. The state was thus plunged into constant argument over what shape it would take, particularly whether it would move towards a "national state" (the vision of Kerel), or a more "liberal state" (the vision of Ikomar).

They organized themselves into the parties of the past; vocational interests fell away in favor of partisan ones. Power struggles in the cabinet were continuous; vocational bodies, previously "above" this struggle, were subjugated to it. A sort of Western-style democracy might have formed in Istkalen under different conditions, in which power was handed between the most popular party every few years; but the instability of the nation, and the extreme centralization of the elite in the capital, far away from the people themselves, made this impossible. Politics became a matter of private intrigue, factionalized; when a faction took power, it would seek to subjugate all other factions.

As time went on, ethno-vocational interests were increasingly threatened; their position in people's minds, if not in power, still strong, their influence began to pick up again. This culminated in the reaction against the policies of the liberal faction spearheaded by Dr. Koline, when people turned en masse to the so-called "imperial Realm," which promised a restoration of the old poltiics when these interests were protected and represented.

Rikkalek's assumption of full powers and his dissolution of the people's committees was the beginning of the post-occupation system. Vocational interests were strong, partisan interests week; all were dominated by an authoritarian figure. Interests respected, the country began to recover socially, resulting in increased support for the "new order."

The politics of modern Istkalen represent in part a return to non-radical social democratic systems, but not entirely. They are characterized primarily by paternalism. Allowing the elites to rule resulted in disorder; the presence of strong authoritarian figures to control the elites and politicians and unite the nation has thus become increasingly predominant - Rikkalek, then Malk, then Rikkalek again. Unlike under the social democrats, a partisan system still exists; but it is controlled through repressive and popular measures against it.

Vocational interests are also strongly institutionalized, as they were under the social democrats. They have a wide range of powers, and are the only bodies able to defend themselves against the authoritarian figures against the center of the regime. However, they have become in part subjugated to the central figure; their role is in part merely to assist the rule of the central leader. They are increasingly executive bodies which seek to prevent certain measures not exactly to represent their constituents but to prevent rebellion and thus encourage national unity.

Finally, the bureaucracy is subjugated to the central leader. In the past, they were one and the same; now, the leader is separate from them, closer to the people, and controls them in order to prevent "repressive" behavior

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: The state threatens to return us to a failed past

In 2018, Istkalen seemed to be a model for the world, an ultra-modern state that demonstrated how a form of socialism, or really a secularized distributism, could genuinely function. Heavy industry was almost entirely automated, agriculture dense, with the country having perhaps the only profitable vertical farms in the world, and light industry decentralized but also efficient, a wonderland where, with a workforce of the genuinely knowledgeable, additive manufacturing had genuine potential. It was effectively self-sufficient, and beyond that was a net exporter of most goods apart from electronics.

In 2018, it was seen as a country where the workers ruled through their unions, where an autocratic elite had been dismantled for a pure, anti-bureaucratic democracy, tempered by a sound and technocratic tradition. A calm and peaceful country, modern, progressive, prosperous, and democratic.

2018 was the pinnacle of Istkalen's modern history; but it was built on a foundation of lies. Yet it is to 2018 that the current leaders of Istkalen want to return.

Automation in heavy industry, in principle, was a good thing, but it caused numerous further problems. Technology was not yet advanced to the point that all manual workers in it could be discarded; and yet it was done anyways in a rudimentary way. Production facilities faced constant mechanical errors and damage; the country saw only a minimal increase, if not actually a decrease, in the production of raw materials and heavy machinery. The rapidity of the attempt at full automation - as soon as even a rudimentary form of such automation was developed, the government rushed to implement it everywhere as quickly as possible, often in the space of a few months - also caused significant unemployment. The state merely relegalized apprenticeship for no more than five years as a piecemeal solution.

The rapid expansion of additive manufacturing in light industry, while increasing efficiency when compared to handmade production, massively lowered the quality of products across the country. While standardization was more common, old craftsmanship had vanished. Waste also increased; errors were constant with the new technology, requiring far more to be used than usual. While the state pushed to open further recycling plants in order to combat this sudden increase, these recycling plants, themselves badly automated, were inefficient; at the same time, some of the material simply could not be recycled.

The vertical farms of Istkalen were perhaps the worst failure. While they allowed distributed ownership to continue in a more modern way, they used so much electricity that, in 2018, it was beginning to be rationed to ordinary consumers, despite massive increases in electric production with the breakneck construction of wind farms and nuclear power plants across the country. The associated expenses of this electricity were also far greater than the revenue generated from the farms; the state in response severely cut down on welfare and sought to subsidize the farms massively, while also cutting the pay of those in power plants significantly, deciding eventually to just stop paying them with money and instead with food seized from the farms themselves. This, too, resulted in unemployment; in ten years the percentage of the population of those engaged in agriculture fell from 60% to 35%, with few options available for the remainder. Significant unrest followed.

The expense of all of this still to an extent was laid on consumers; prices rose by over 75% in the space of five years, but wages largely remained the same. In response, the state forcibly imposed price controls, resulting in extreme shortage.

At the same time, the cost of all of this was weighing down on the state; the debt-to-GDP ratio was rapidly ballooning, and many were fearing a crisis, resultingin a unilateral "haircut" on all domestic bonds, followed quickly by a default on all these domestic bonds (the state was careful to categorize bond purchases as foreign and domestic, initially out of xenophobia and later out of a pragmatism of sorts that allowed them to take this action). The state then defaulted on all domestic loans, wiping out most of its debt (foreign investment was severely limited), causing financial collapse across the country. In September of 2018, the situation was at such a terrible point that the state decided it was better simply to abolish money entirely, resulting in even further unrest.

This resulted in the radical faction gaining control over the SDP leadership in November, and holding sham elections in December with an aim of returning to the older system. They abandoned the rapid technological advancement of the past era for a more conservative approach, relegalizing money and imposing a course of austerity. The economy appeared to stagnate; but knowing that the economic growth of the "modernization period" was really an illusion, this was really a stabilization. Inflation ended, and the state gradually stabilized until the war.

It is this disastrous path that we now appear to be embarking on. Again the rhetoric of this modernization, of automation and all these shiny things, is taken up; again are we promised that it is the future. We have forgotten already the disaster that occurred just four years ago, we have forgotten why we abandoned all of this.

The radical social democrats have been condemned, yes, perhaps that is why. People now see the past before them, even the past of social democracy in general, as better, and thus they lend their support to such a disastrous course.

Yet we have seen what happens when we advance recklessly; disaster. The position of the government must be more reasoned, and it must abandon its belief that modernization may occur by driving recklessly forwards, resurrecting the old and abandoned infrastructure.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Forwards!

Left to right: Minister Írenet Isteresskemar, Minister Yasemin Demirkol, Head of State Vistek Rikkalek, Minister Altay Sancar

The Council of Justice, assisted by the Council of Censors (an independent ombudsman with extraordinarily wide-ranging powers), unilaterally imposed a new constitution on Istkalen yesterday - the first written document the country will have for its governance that proscribes anything approaching democracy and the separation of powers since the 1975 constitution was suspended last year. Their motivation was clear and simple - extreme corruption within the bureaucracy, widely seen as an elitist and distant class.

The constitution spells a definitive end to the shortlived "liberal era" in Istkalen, where party politics and factionalism again began to rule, and a return to an older democracy. This time, however, the bureaucracy will not have to be subdued - it will simply no longer exist in its present form. In the new constitution, which proscribes a "new society" based on "industrial self-government," it will be a "National Directory," elected by the workers' associations like the former Congress of Producers, that will hold both legislative and executive power. Such directories have also formed at local and regional levels to take power from existing, appointed authorities.The center of power has moved from the civil servants to elected representatives; even if this is only in theory rather than in practice, such an arrangement being constitutionalized will still be historical. Similarly, Kirelesile is now the (primary) capital; Líressile will remain merely an administrative center, accountable to the workers' association and the Council of Censors even more so than before. Even the social democrats had to fear the civil servants reaching out and murdering them in some palace coup; with elected authorities and bureaucracy now separated, this terror will no longer remain. This informal stranglehold, thus, has finally perished.

More radically, society itself is changed by the constitution. Geography is ignored where possible in favor of workplace and industry based representation, the argument being that society in Istkalen has historically been occupation/class based without significant regional variations. Virtually everything is thought of as an act of economic planning or coordination rather than of legislating or regulating; where conflicts do occur, they are arbitrated by workplace-specific committees. This radical change has the effect of denying the creation of any more bureaucracies - all work is taken up by one, democratic institution, preventing others from arising outside of it.

With the collapse of the power of the bureaucracy, so have the parties. They served to provide a democratic veneer for the power-struggles within the upper echelons; with those echelons gone, thus, the parties have been abandoned. Interests have solidified around the vocation and the nationality, and have become far less ideological, a continuation of a general trend.

But new factions are arising.

Elections in Istkalen under the new constitution are scheduled for March 4, and while they will be nominally nonpartisan, it is likely that, just as the elections of but a few months ago were, most candidates will have informal political affiliations. With self-nominations already beginning, these affiliations have already become apparent.

Existing candidates can be divided into four rough factions. They find themselves centered around support for particular individuals in the government, who are united in their origin - all gained power within the upper civil service in unorthodox ways - and, to an extent, their ideology - all are to an extent opposed to the now-abolished system which elevated the civil service above all others. Isteresskemar, Demirkol, Sancar, and Rikkalek - these are the four who may very well see themselves becoming the new linchpins of politics in Istkalen.

Sancar is the leftmost, a socialist opposed to private property and markets. Of all, he is the only one who desires collectivization, but also the total elimination of any unelected institutions. He is considered very close to outright anarchism, separated only by his continued support for the existence of a military. With the modernization drive of the current government, which has sought to quickly restore the still relatively intact pre-2018 infrastructure, including great numbers of fully automated factories and vertical farms which might, for the first time, be both efficient and profitable, his views have become increasingly popular; for many, to continue supporting ownership or individual management of lands and production under the current conditions makes increasingly less sense, with collectivization being an efficient and rational way of managing the economy without compromising the principle of self-management.

Rikkalek is of the center-left, in favor of both private property and markets but also of a more communitarian economy. He sees the system of individual management of lands and production as the best possible system, but seeks greater cooperation and regulation within the workers' association to rationalize the economy. While opposed to the old practice of corvee, he strongly wants the associations to become integrated communities in which each individual has responsibilities to each other and to the community, and in exchange for these rights. Yet he is also for the expansion of the commons alongside this system, seeking to make available to all resources and certain machinery, seeing the private ownership of resources in particular as nonsensical.

Demirkol is difficult to place. Her ideology is a pure technocracy; she is in favor of democracy but wants everything to be administered by elected and (somewhat) accountable technocrats, with the creation of a planned and rational economy. Everything else falls away for her belief in the rule of technocrats; how property is owned, for example, does not matter to her so long as in the end it is the most skilled who administer it. Yet she is equally opposed to the old system of rot, seeing it as necessary for the new technocrats to be limited by terms and in pay, as well as for them to live "close to the people," rather than somewhere like Líressile.

Isteresskemar can be considered center-right. She is a secularized distributist, of sorts, wanting a free market of decentralized producers, but one in which employment is limited, excepting the employment of the young and inexperienced, which she views as acceptable and perhaps even good. She is strongly opposed to state intervention and planning, seeing any economic intervention as the sole prerogative of decentralized and democratic workers' associations.

None correspond well to any party which existed before; and yet, from current registerations, these four and their ideologies are quickly becoming the center of the new Istkalen. On March 4th, we will see what is to come.

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Turn left

Rikkalek has yet again reorientated the country towards his personal "non-aligned socialism;" now, however, he no longer has to contend with liberals and nationalists in government, and is completely free to do as he wishes. As the country prepares for the 4 March elections, radical change has begun in Istkalen.

Istkalen was historically a hierarchical society, heavily claSs-stratified and dependent on perceived levels of education and skill. The state formed and directed all social, economic, and political life; not to obey it, even in the smallest way, was seen as treason. In effect, it an extraordinarily strict meritocracy, where the ability to produce was the sole factor in climbing socially, but also one that was heavily authoritarian if not totalitarian - the state was everywhere and everything, and all were expected to obey it unquestioningly for the "good of all society."

This was a system that by-and-large collapsed with the occupation, which removed the elite from power, causing more participatory and democratic institutions, albeit also ones more unstable, to gain significant influence. While significant aspects of the form of society remained unchanged, the country began to see a liberalization of the social environment. The 31st of January, when Istkalen's courts removed the elite from power by force, was in effect a culmination of this general movement, handing all power to the representatives of the producers of Istkalen.

Here is where socialism began to make its emergence. Society in Istkalen is centered, almost unhealthily so, on work and the workplace; therefore, any change in favor of democratization, whether in society or in politics, must also favor the democratization of the workplace; in essence, the adoption of even a moderate socialism.

Where this change is most salient is in terms of the relationship between ward committees and workers, and more indirectly through the various workplace committees and councils. Previously, the institutions were seen as above the rest; workers had to obey their every word, and in exchange received a paternal sort of love. The system, despite there existing nominal elections, was deeply elitist and paternalistic in nature.

This has become increasingly increased by a collective system. Responsibilities have been increasingly delegated to direct assemblies of workers; the workers' associations themselves are increaingly distancing themselves from the older, more aristocratic model, and appear to be attempting to transform themselves into idealized trade unions, becoming more participatory in nature as worker-representatives come under increasingly pressure to better represent the interests of workers rather than merely themselves and society.

Similarly, collective principles are being increasingly applied to production itself. Increased levels of cooperation across smallholdings, in particular the sharing of machinery and the maintenance of irrigation infrastructure, have been observed at ward levels; craftsmen and "designers" have similarly begun to organize themselves through the workers' associations - they now divide tasks between themselves via the associations, organize cooperation via the associations, and retain only the right to do as they wish with the final product.

Even more radically, food distribution has found itself partially collectivized. In workplaces and communal living spaces, individuals now divide duties among themselves for the action of the distribution of food and cooking, rather than doing it individually - creating, in effect, communal, voluntary canteens.

Even religion has been affected by this movement. Hundreds if not thousands of places of worship have been taken over by "assemblies of believers," which operate according to democratic principles and which have begun to purge the ranks of the clergy of, in particular, the most extreme, while at the same time deeply undermining traditional religious structures.

The desire is to uproot the old, which is seen as corrupt, for the new, a more democratic and egalitarian system. Rikkalek and his followers in particular want to supplant the old state for the more democratic collective. For them, the state is suppressive, but the individual is anarchic; the collective is between both, permitting its members freedom from demands from the state but also preventing them from acting with total greed as they would as mere individuals. Everyone, in their minds, must be made dependent on each other within the collective, and every collective upoin each other, to definitively prevent competition and greed and ensure national unity.

In the past, attempts to synthesize Lirisianism with democracy have resulted in bizarre, hybrid systems. Rikkalek's formulation of "non-aligned socialism," however, remains Lirisian - it continues to place the welfare of the nation as a whole above the individual, but all the same seeks to remove coercion from the process. It is perhaps the closest that Istkalen has come to any semblance of democracy; and yet, all the same, it could fail miserably, as so many other collective systems have in other countries.

[Istkalen]

Elections - The Debate - Opening Statements and Free Debate

A woman, dressed in brown, sits in front of a flickering screen, on which a silhouette of the country is shown. Hands clasped, she speaks, first in Kitets.

Citizens, you are listening to the National Information Service. In preparation for the elections of 4th March, the leaders of the four major political movements and groupings have appeared here, for the purpose of communicating to you their ideals, their positions - in effect, how they intend to govern. At the heart of any democracy is information, information made freely available to all citizens. For this to be hidden leads to a crisis in governance and people's rule. We will - and are, now, here - making every effort to ensure that this tragedy does not befall us, to provide a flow of truthful information to the people, to the citizens, so that they for themselves may make their own decisions in a rational way.

Present, from left to right, are Altay Sancar, of his newly founded Ecological-Socialist Movement, Vistek Rikkalek, of the refounded People's Association, Írenet Isteresskemar, of the newly founded Democratic Movement, and Yasemin Demirkol, of the newly founded Progress Party.

The format for this debate is as follows. There will be no exact time limit, but the debate itself may not exceed four hours in length nor be any shorter than one hour. Candidates will begin with their opening statements, and then will move to free debate - before then moving to closing statements. Civility is an expectation; not conforming to these rules and expectations set out will result in warning, then expulsion from the debate.

She repeats this in the four other national languages of Istkalen.

The candidates will now present their opening statements. We begin, first, with Ms. Isteresskemar.

---

II: Good evening to all. Our nation is under attack. Our ways are threatened, our very sovereignty is threatened. Compradors, foreign agents, at every level of government and society act slowly to bring us down. The West does not like us, you see. Our ways are too free for them; they would prefer that we bow down to their materialistic neoliberalism, to become incessant, vapid consumers as the rest of them are. We are a nation of workers, of producers, and we will remain that way. The Democratic Movement seeks to turn our nation into a fortress. We will shut out the West, and seek total independence, politically, economically, and socially. We will make no agreements with the outside world; what agreements we have foolishly engaged in we will disengage from. To throw our lot in with them is to sacrifice ourselves. We will lead an internal drive for the expansion of industrial and agricultural product, while not forsaking the sacred independence and autonomy of our individual workers, not forsaking their humanity, the humanity of our production. We must take nothing from the West, neither imports nor their ways. If we do so we forsake our identity as workers and become idiotic, drooling consumers. Socially, every aspect of the West must be thoroughly eliminated. Foreign literature, foreign language, must not be taught in our schools; both corrupt the individual, corrupt the nation. Those citizens which seek foreign education must be expelled permanently; they cannot be trusted. The same goes with foreign clothing, foreign art. This clothing, this music, this art, this film, all of the West; they are inherently materialistic, inherently decadent. Our ways must be maintained against this; we will purge this all from the nation, and replace it with a wholesome and authentic expression of our own great and independent culture. Istkaleners - we must stand against the foreign hordes, and defend, uphold, our nation!

---

Thank you, Ms. Isteresskemar. We will continue to Mr. Sancar.

---

AS: Thank you to all who are listening. The basis of our nation is the agricultural worker and the miner. The rest merely consume from them. The cities, for example, take from them and return to them very little which they themselves cannot produce. This has weakened our nation greatly. What the Ecological-Socialist Movement wants to do is overthrow this inequality. Everyone becomes a farmer, everyone becomes a miner, performing other, more specialized actions merely part of the time, not for their own profit but for the benefit of the community, a community that will form through necessity and shared vocation. In the new society there shall be no divisions between people. Everyone together will hold everything in common, everyone will be perfectly equal; there will be a uniformity, and that uniformity a blossoming unity. The sobriety and strength of our people is rebuilt; they become able, again, to defend our nation from the foreign invaders, to defend it from internal corruption. Our society thus becomes equal, strong, and united.

---

Thank you, Mr. Sancar. We will continue to Ms. Demirkol.

---

YD: Good evening, citizens. Our aim is simple - rational government. We want to democratize the government, to make it more accountable to the people, to ensure that it acts in their interest; so too do we want to technocratize it, ensure that those sitting in government are genuinely qualified to their tasks. For too long have we had ideologues with nothing beyond a primary school education dictating to us what we are allowed to do, to produce, and how. No more. We want, in a nutshell, to remove from governance ideology and replace with it healthy and democratic pragmatism. We intend first to entrust power over all industry to the workers' associations, which shall operate on the collective principle. Then we shall engage in our political reforms. We will ban political campaigning, the tool of demagogues alone, completely. We should not elect people based on how well they lie to us, but rather merely how well they work, how skilled they are. We will seek also to strengthen the Council of Examination to truly ensure the ability of the elected to serve in office; accountability, democracy, are sacrosanct, but both are useless when power is allowed to go into the hands of the corrupt and the manipulators. We want finally to end the controls over social life. It is not for the state to determine what people can or cannot do, unless if they decide to harm other. Let the people do as they wish,; they will be happier. Let us, then, put an end to superstition; let us see science and reason prevail in our Istkalen.

---

Thank you, Ms. Demirkol. We will continue, now, to Mr. Rikkalek.

---

VR: Citizens, thank you. Istkalen is a nascent democracy. For the first time in perhaps the whole of its history, power is directly in the hands of the people, of the workers. Our aim is to protect this workers' democracy through social change. The present structure, the present norms, and in certain ways the present culture of Istkalen imply, necessitate, a more authoritarian state. They require the state to dictate to the people what to do, how to behave; they posit that the state is the highest authority on the good of society, and therefore that its will is inevitably good for society. Within the workplace, we see a slavish obedience to a master, which, even if elected, remains a master; within the city, the same obedience, but now to the municipal authorities. There is no question of accountability; it is simply believed that the state can do no wrong, and thus that the person who protests is themselves in the wrong, a traitor to our society. What the People's Association seeks to do is begin a peaceful "revolution" in culture and society in order to modernize the country and allow for the permanent establishment of democracy. We want first to turn the workers' associations from the elected bureaucracies they currently are into genuine communities, bonded by shared vocation. Obedience to the state, then, will become participation in the community, a democratic participation rather than the old slavish devotion. So too do we want to democratize the arts, the universities, housing, every conceivable aspect of life that is presently managed by the state, every aspect of life that demands obedience. We want, very simply, to pull down the role of the state and replace it with the direct rule of the people.

---

Thank you, Mr. Rikkalek. We will now move to the free debate portion of this debate.

---

YD: To Mr. Sancar - is Istkalen even capable of feeding its population under your proposals? That is what, I think, we all really need to know.

AS: It does not matter. Those who die should die, must die; they are sick and a cancer on the nation, on the world. Their deaths will be a mercy killing, and both the world and the nation will be left better off for it. A revolution is, and will be, always violent, and this is no exception. We seek to create a new society based on labor, and those who cannot labor, and who cannot survive on their own labor, do not have a place in it. As I said, we are not a society of the bourgeois and the proletarian, but of the urbanite and the non-urbanite; the former must either integrate into the latter or simply be removed from society.

II: This is all very well, but quite honestly I am not one for genocide. Do you feel, Mr. Sancar, that you have any moral...doubts about your plans?

AS: No. Those who die cannot even have been considered human. Humanity is labor; that is to say, it is created through labor. The urbanites do not work. Therefore, they are not human. They may become human, may be restored; but if they do not, they must be squashed as one would squash a cockroach or an ant.

II: But you yourself are an urbanite.

AS: Yes. Once the revolution is complete, I will kill myself, for I no longer have a use for myself.

II: I really don't think we should have to listen to this, but I will say one more thing. Mr. Sancar, please seek help, you obviously need it. Continuing on, yes, there is a difference between the cities and the countryside, or really Kirelesile and everywhere else, and this difference should be resolved, but not through these means. We should instead seek, through development, to make the countryside more attractive for the residents of Kirelesile - by constructing housing, and particularly by decentralizing industry, in line with traditional systems.

AS: I am not anti-industrial, if that is what you are implying. I too believe that industry should be managed by the communes I propose - that it should be decentralized, not abolished! Madam, please stop trying to pass these falsehoods on the people of Istkalen!

YD: Regardless, Mr. Sancar, without the 'urbanites,' how is any of this to be managed? How do you intend to maintain industry if you have killed all the experts and the manual workers? We do not imply that you want to abolish industry, we imply that you would leave it completely unusable.

AS: Workers, manual workers, are not urbanites, in my vision - they do work, and have the same sobriety and strength of those of the countryside, and thus they are honorary members of the citizens of the countryside. Even without them, the farmers can make do.

VR: Regardless, I would like to ask Ms. Istersskemar a simple question. How do you intend to maintain industry according to your desired system? A certainl level of cooperation is necessary, but you yourself have admitted, in the past, that you want an economy of independent producers who cooperate economically only in the context of the market . How does any of this work? Developed indutry requires cooperation between more than two people.

II: The answer lies in automation. Currently, it is not possible for any of these things to be maintained without the employment of manual laborers, an undesirable practice but a necessity. Once we push forwards automation - and much of the technology is already there - whole factories can be managed just by two. I am not one to abandon the principles of the nation to adopt those of the West, as you are; I will always remain firm to our own ways.

VR: The whole of society is based around cooperation. People are not atoms floating around; for anything to function they need to be bonded together. The economic vision of the People's Association reflects this. We seek to maintain the system of independent producers, but complement this with a system of cooperation. For the good of the community, together they will organize labor that is necessarily cooperative in nature. This is not a reflection of tradition, that is true, but it is a reflection of what developed with the collapse of the state during the occupation - it is a relfection of a more natural, democratic state.

YD: I would like to criticize the proposals of the People's Association from the other direction. How is this efficient, or at least more efficient that a more centralized or planned economy?

VR: Efficiency is not the most significant concern everywhere. Totalitarian government can be efficient, but it is not ideal. In the same way, totalitarian and dictatorial government in the economy is efficient, but far from ideal. Both trample on individuals.

II: The cat is calling the kettle black. You are the only dictator on this stage.

VR: Strong measures are needed in an emergency. But the emergency is now over.

YD: In an economic emergency, then, would this govern the economy? Would the state command the economy if it deemed it to be collapsing?

VR: The state would intervene, yes.

YD: So then individual rights matter only sometimes, not always?

VR: When the exercise of individual rights threatens the stability of the whole of society, they do not matter. Society has its rights as well, which must be respected.

II: In my opinion, the individual is sacrosanct. Society is constructed from individuals, it is not something above; society can only be free if all individuals are free. In no circumstance should rights be curtailed, even if it is harming the economy and the state.

VR: So you would prefer disorder and feudalism to order and democracy?

II: Disorder, yes. Feudalism, no. But feudalism would not arise if the people had rights; they would defend them, would they not?

YD: A person might give up their rights if promised stability. We must respect certain bounds of personal freedom; but we must also act always in the interest of the whole, in the interest of stability and the general welfare, in order to preserve a democratic and republican system. Extremism in either direction will get us nowhere.

II: When the 'interest of the whole' conflicts with these bounds you mention? What happens then?

YD: There should be no conflict. But the interests of the whole override the interest of one, and will always do so. The state, in such unlikely circumstances, should act in the favor of all society rather than giving in to one person, who might very well bring everything down. We must think not of rights but, again, of the preservation of the democratic and republican system.

AS; Does opening the country up to foreign powers do that? In reality, I feel, you want, and so does Rikkalek, to preserve only the power of a certain class.

II: I concur here.

YD: Trade and connections with the outside world are necessary - to maintain the legitimacy of the state, and to maintain its economy. To remain a hermit state is to become susceptible to a genuine invasion and takeover, whether political or economic.

VR: We must also rememeber that the occupation has thrust us into the wolrd, whether we like it or not. We must act to defend our position, lest we be eaten up. Anti-imperialism, non-alignment; these have helped us gain relevance and thus security. So too have economic agreements helped improve our economy and thus life for the average person.

II: Indeed, invasion is now a threat; but this is but another invasion. Preparation must be done by ourselves. At the same time, international connections will merely limit our ability to deal with this. The only way to remove the threat which faces it, the necessary and inevitable way, is a drive to the south and the expansion of the people of Istkalen. This is possible only by ourselves, outside of the international community. Even then, how does defense require the selling of the control of our resources to other bodies?

VR: Cooperation demosntrates our legitimacy, and what you speak of is not control, per se; it is beneficial to all parties involved, and will significantly better the lives of many Istkaleners.

YD: Exactly.

AS: Action is far above material. People do not care if they are starving or full; they care only if they have control or do not have control. A starving person with autonomy over their own life is happy; a full person without is not. So too does this apply here.

YD: But we are not sacrificing control over ourselves. The state entered into the agreement with the agreement of the workers, and it may exit at any time.

II: That is what they always see. It is not necessarily true.

VR: This is conspiracy theorizing.

II: Which is of course what they said about you going down to Kirelesile and doing all sorts of things, but that turned out to be true in the end.

VR: My personal life as no bearing on this.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Party of Labor, Center, Social Democrats complain about "nuts" polling at less than 1% being invited to debate as conspiracy theories abound

Current voter intention in Istkalen is as follows:

• People's Association (center-left to left-wing): 54,2%
• Party of Labor (left-wing to far-left): 18,1%
• The Center (center): 10,1%
• Social Democrats (center-right to right-wing): 10,0%
• Progress (syncretic): 6,1%
• independents; 1,0%
• Democratic Movement (right-wing): 0,3%
• Ecological-Socialist Movement (far-left): 0%

Yet, to the recent debate, it was the People's Association, the Progress Party, the Democratic Movement, and the Ecological-Socialist Movement invited. Representatives of the latter two parties and alliances aired bizarre views, calling for mass killings and for total isolationism. One candidate said that he would kill himself upon coming to office; another claimed that the solution to Istkalen's problems was to invade Reitzmag, conduct a genocide there, and then settle it.

"It was a total travesty, but not very surprising," tweeted a Twitter user. "Voting for Rikkalek to get rid of these idiots."

"Seriously," tweeted another, "how does anyone take half these people seriously?"

Some were confused to why Sancar and Isteresskemar, the candidates in question, were even there.

"They've done a good job as ministers," said a woman shopping in Kirelesile. "But as with so many of the rest of them, their politics are beyond insane. Everyone knows this; no one I know supports them for this reason. But they still appear there. Why? The whole of my ward is for the Party of Labor, and they are much more sensible. Tell me, why were they not there in place of the one going on about killing 'urbanites?'"

The three parties polling ahead of the Progress Party themselves complained about the debate.

"We must seriously question the integrity of democracy in Istkalen," stated a spokesperson for The Center, "when the state has conspired against us to deny us media coverage completely. This farce of a debate is only further evidence of this. The people of Istkalen were forced to watch the insane detail at length their twisted plans for our country, in order to place the Head of State in a higher position."

"These people are nuts," said Milrakas Ikoszer, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party. "Even nuttier than Ms. Meinl-Reisinger, the nuttiest ruler in the history of our country. Why these people are allowed a national audience I do not know. They ought instead to be locked up in an asylum for lunatics!"

"The state demonstrates its fear towards our movement," stated Dr. Grete Reiner, the new General Secretary of the Party of Labor of Istkalen. "in refusing to let our voice be heard. We have not been mentioned in the media once; we have been denied opportunities again and again to show to the public or ideas for establishing a government of labor and justice in our country."

At the beginning of the campaign period, it was widely believed that Isteresskemar and Sancar would be much more popular, with Demirkol and Rikkalek retaining the positions they hold now. They were, however, rapidly discredited by their campaigning. At his first rally, Sancar talked about how the "blood of urbanites," including himself, would sustain "the fields of Istkalen." Isteresskemar, on the other hand, spoke virtually the same language as that of the Northern Radio, claiming that there was a Vardic cabal controlling the state and that Reitzmics were "everywhere" trying to corrupt the culture of Istkalen.

Their support correspondingly dropped significantly, especially as they began to double down, and flowed to significantly more competent parties offering visions closer to what people thought they were offering - the Party of Labor, a party following "Elspeth Arkalis Thought" which emphasizes union control of industry alonside Leninist political organization; and the Social Democratic Party, which offered to voters the economic vision of Isteresskemar without the extreme isolationism and racism she espouse. The Center, on the other hand, was simply a dark horse. Styling itself as "civic nationalist," the party advocates for an economy of family businesses, cooperatives, and sole proprietorships, but has the same modernist outlook as all of the parties except for the Social Democrats and Ecological-Socialist Movement.

At the time of the debate, the Istkalen Information Service was still operating on the assumptions it had held at the beginning of the election period, and did not take into account current polling. The state had no role in the decision.

However, conspiracy theories have arisen regarding the debate and the general media coverage of the election, especially in regard to its choice to disregard virtually all of the major parties except for the People's Association and the Progress Party. Many have argued that the parties being covered, with the exception of the "regime-favored" Progress Party and People's Association, are manipulated by the state in order to behave in irrational and nonsensical ways, to discredit their respective ideologies while also possibly giving an excuse for the state to later crack down on the left and the right outside of the parties.

In particular, they point to the relative moderation of Sancar and Isteresskemar before the elections, and constrast them with their behavior during the campaign period, which has been extraordinarily erratic and extreme, claiming that the only explanation is that Rikkalek has forced them to act in such a way.

The belief of many of these conspiracy theorists is that the end game is either the re-establishment of a one-party state under the People's Association or the restoration of the monarchy, with Rikkalek as emperor. These theories have been adopted to an extent by the political parties in question, who mostly argue that the mistake of the national media of not giving them any coverage at all is a concerted attempt by Rikkalek to win a supermajority in the election; in essence, to retain power indefinitely.

Rikkalek, Demirkol, the People's Association, and the Progress Party have not responded to the allegations.

[Istkalen]

Emergency Message System

The following, bizarre message is shown on all television channels and radio frequencies in Istkalen, on the night of 22 February 2022. Copies of its transcript are plastered everywhere. It appears to have been accidentally broadcast, a message prerecorded from the war era, possibly for a military coup scheduled for 18 April 2021 thwarted by Kerel.

---

A woman dressed in a brown cardigan - the same from the debate, but seemingly slightly younger - sits again in front of a flickering screen, on which a silhouette of the country is shown. Hands clasped, she speaks, first in Kitets. She will repeat the message in all five major languages of Istkalen.

Good morning, citizens. For the past five days, you have been beset by a regime which desires to be tyrannical, warlike, in our nation of peace and gentleness. But we have not abandoned you; we have been aware. The orders for killing we have resisted; the war they have decreed we have resisted.

This date, the 18th of April 2021, will be a historical date. The mandate of the former government has been withdrawn; the Republican Defense Forces, in coordination with the Congress of Producers, have constituted an interim government, the National Directory, in which the peasants, workers, students, and soldiers of the nation will participate.

The priority of the government shall be to sue for peace. We have declared a unilateral armistice, and will be entering into negotiations with the governments of the Kingdom of Reitzmag and the Archrepublic of Vayinaod within the day for the ending of the war.

So too shall it be to reconstitute the state. The restoration of the constitution of 1975, undertaken illegally, has itself been annulled. True social democratic government shall be restored. Reaction shall be ended and democratic and egalitarian rule will be created through the unions.

New elections shall be held tentatively on the 1st of May 2021. The Social Democratic Party is to remain the leading force in society and politics, but will be opened to the people, the elitists and reactionaries removed from their places. The country will be freed, but we will not undo the accomplishments of the revolution; we shall not turn back the wheel of progress.

The restrictions on culture and the freedom of the press will end; they are intolerable and have led only to bloodshed. The revolutionary stance against the Abrahamic religions, and indeed against any deistic religion, will however be maintained. Reason and science are the basis of the revolution, and what opposes them will lead only again to the rise of those who tried to seize our nation and plunge it into darkness.

A democratic revolution, a second revolution to complete the aims of the original social democrats, has begun, birthed from the blood of the martyrs who died at the hands of the the reactionaries.

Long live the workers, long live the democratic and social republic, long live our Istkalen!

---

[Istkalen]

Istkalen Information Service: Court rules in favor of Reszelport Jezebel-Swift

Jezebel-Swift in her first public appearance since her arrest

After a month long trial, the trial of Reszelport Jezebel-Swift, otherwise known as Pope Tabitha, has come to a conclusion. Jezebel-Swift was initially arrested for inciting violence after a homily in which, to the sound of electric guitars, she called for the killing of her opponents and those she considered to be "sinners." She was kept in secret and solitary detention for two weeks until her trial finally began, under less than public circumstances, on the 31st of January.

Journalists and the public were not allowed into the trial, but Jezebel-Swift was allowed legal representation, and the trial is generally seen as fair, particularly as it ruled in favor of Jezebel-Swift instead of the state.

Upon examination of the evidence, in particular Jezebel-Swift's wide audience, armed enough and duty-bound to obey her words, but also her nominal status as Pope of the Arian Church, the court concluded that Jezebel-Swift, per her own claims and the history of the Arian Church, had effectively renounced her Istkalenic citizenship for Vatican citizenship, as, by the belief and history of the Church itself, it is the legitimate Catholic church and its Pope is the Bishop of Rome.

However, per Jezebel-Swift's own admission, they found that she remained clearly guilty of her crimes, and was completely without remorse. She was thus found guilty; but her lack of citizenship required deportation.

Jezebel-Swift is thus to be deported to the Vatican City "as soon as possible." Thousands celebrated outside the court chambers the decisions, largely because she was to go and thus that Istkalen would be free of her.

"The [woman] is gone!" screamed many.

Yet her arrest has given her widespread support. She is now widely seen among the Arian community as not a heretic but a martyr whose persecution reveals the truth of her beliefs. She is not merely regarded as the Pope but also as a prophet in her own right by millions.

Jezebel-Swift was temporarily freed before her deportation, although she remained under surveillance. She gave a relatively controlled speech, although she continued most of her most radical opinions, including her rejection of virtually all Arian principles for a self-created theology involving Pelagianism and modalism. Most was, however, dedicated to affirming her position as the one true Pope of the Catholic Church, the one true Bishop of Rome, as well as denouncing Pope Peter II, the current pope, as a "heretic," which many have termed "the pot calling the kettle black."

Jezebel-Swift then sent out a message to her followers, promising them Vatican citizenship if they "followed her in a grand crusade." Over 2000 are believed to have answered the summons, and gathered before the papal palace in the Arian territories, where she spoke to them again of the necessity of "restoring true Christianity" to the Catholic Church. In her "Popemobile," she then led them in a massive procession to the only airport in those territories, privately owned by Jezebel-Swift herself, which includes her private fleet of 50 planes, earned through profits from the uranium mines and banks the Arian Church owned prior to the occupation, in addition to the sale of agricultural products and textiles made through what was almost slave labor. Her so-called 200-strong "Papal Guard" (not, notably, the Swiss Guard, which the Arians and now Jezebel-Swift claim to have been an invention of heretics), also joined.

Carrying hastily made banners, they screamed various slogans calling for the "restoration" of the Catholic Church and the "true Bishop of Rome," as well as for the "wrath of God" to be brought down upon Pope Peter II.

"God, smash the delusion of Carlos Vallejo!" screamed Mikeli Neripas, an important Arian figure, from the forefront of the procession. "Smash it with your iron rod!"

"Strike, strike.... until you have victory, God!" shouted Erkas Tilisek, the head of the Patriotic Front. "In the name of Jesus!"

Onlookers claimed that many, if not all, of those in the procession were carrying automatic firearms, and that they had seen a large procession of trucks behind them carrying a large amount of ammunition, as well as large packages of an unknown material, which has been speculated to be explosives. It is a well known fact that the Pope, in her nominal role as the leader of the autonomous Arian territories, has sole control over armories for the religious police and militia of the area, which, while now much weaker, continue to exist, which include all these materials.

It is also known that the Arian Church has been preparing for a "reconquest" of the Vatican for hundreds of years; it is believed by some that these weapons may have been specifically inteded for the purpose of this reconquest

Hundreds if not thousands were seen emerging from their homes and cheering on the erstwhile crusaders as they marched on their way to Jezebel-Swift's private airport, almost hysterically. Some even walked behind them, some joining and seemingly given weapons, according to neutral onlookers.

Jezebel-Swift again addressed the procession, joined by the leadership of the Patriotic Front, when they reached the airport, telling them that they had to be "brave for God" and that their "holy and ordained mission" would be dangerous, and that many would "become martyrs before God." She then appeared to gibberish for ten minutes, before again exhorting the crowd before her to "follow her," claiming that she was "God's sole representative on Earth...his power now flows through me..." to widespread and hysterical cheering.

She then "conferred Vatican citizenship" on all of those present, before having an aide next to her request permission from the National Directorate for "self-deportation" - in essence, the right for her merely to carry out her deportation by herself, which under certain legal interpretations may be possible. The call was broadcast with the use of some speakers that were found inside the airport, and was repeatedly interrupted with mass outpourings of further hysterical cheering and screaming.

The National Directorate has not yet responded to the request of Jezebel-Swift. Some have called for military action to be taken; but the Republican Defence Forces have insisted that they do not have the authorization to act as of now. In the meantime, however, further convoys of trucks have been seen arriving at the airport, carrying large packages which many believe to be further weapons, ammunition, or explosives, with the excitement of the cfrowd apparently being kept up by regular exhortations from Jezebel-Swift, Tilisek, Neripas, and other figures within the Arian community.

Some went directly to Rikkalek's office to ask for intervention, but he did not appear to be present. It was rumored that he was to be found in a cafe, but no one appears to have investigated there, perhaps out of fear.