*Amongst all the hustle of Q&A, Elrica O'Connell and her associate took the opportunity to approach Dato Itagaki, whilst the rest of the delegates were distracted.*
Hello Dato-sama
*She bowed in an awkward manner; her lack of confidence with Kusari customs was obvious. As some sort of reconciliation she offered to shake hands*
We very much enjoyed your speech on behalf of the Rising Sons. For me, your speech really hit the nail on the nail on the head. We're pretty trapped between corrupt regimes at present. Kusari, controlled by Samura; Gallia; and the Maltese drug lords; all wish us slaves or dead. We have a few questions, if we may?
What, in your opinion, could be done to help reduce the influence of these corrupt officials with the government and the Kusari Naval Forces?
Also.... what's the policy of the Blood Dragons regarding the Taus? Would your government respect the independence of settlers within the Taus? What about the Sigmas?
As I see it, the Rising Sons and our Commune have a common interest in a Kusari free to think for itself, without corruption in its ranks.
Dato always found funny the attempts of foreigners to imitate Kusari formalities, but of course remaining silent. 'At least she tried', he thought to himself. Refusing the handshake, the old Kusari man nodded slightly at O'Connell and grinned. After listening to her, Dato replied with his always serene tone.
I am pleased to hear that you and your Commune share our concerns about Samura's deep roots in the Kusari government elite. As for your first question, this 'influence' will not be removed anytime soon, you can count on that. There would be a slight chance if the Naval Forces actually retain a sense of honor and realized that they are doing nothing but neglecting their duties as guardians of Kusari, obeying an Emperor acting under the interests of a corporation.
Family's honor... Heh, I honestly don't expect a foreigner to understand this, so no need to spend uneccesary time explaining you our mindset. If your Commune wanted to aid in Kusari, all the Dragons require are supplies. I bet you already heard from Hogosha that Dragons are nothing but pirates... Do not be confused, we follow a military code, the same as our Navy followed back when Hideyoshi was ruling Kusari. If we 'pirate' it's because we need food and war materials to continue this fight, not for 'mere fun'. That's what they want you to believe, at least.
As for our plans with Taus and Sigmas... It's too early to think about that, miss O'Connell. The fight has been long and I'm afraid it will stay this way if no major events affect Kusari soon. I'm sure you already have enough to worry about with the Maltese barbarians and this upcoming Gallic fleet in matter of weeks.
Meisnerr had a bit of a heated discussion with some of his aides and colleagues to the side of the group of delegates, and while it did not disrupt the question time, it was only settled down by Meisnerr himself after it became more noticeable. Seeing the eyes on himself, he raised his hand and stepped onto the podium to address everyone.
Esteemed revolutionary brothers, after hearing your speeches, I would say it can be agreed that all of us fight against one or more governments of Sirius either passively or actively or even being a direct threat to their chosen government's seat of power. All of us can therefore realise the issues that each and every one of our movements faces in their fight against the great imperialistic "Goliath".
Therefore, to advance these talks, I will present a theoretical question to all the delegates about the degree to which they would commit to the principle of not damaging the causes of the other movements gathered here through their relations with the governments of Sirius that they are not currently engaged in a conflict with, and perhaps even maintain amicable relations -- should a united front among all of us be proposed.
While the answers that we may receive here may very well be controversial, it is a bridge that we all must cross in order to ensure transparency, and more importantly trust among the great movements and organisations gathered here.
So I ask you, delegates, who of you can and would support a united front like such, and to what degree, so that we can further all our revolutionary causes Sirius wide?
Meisnerr looked around the room for a split second, took a deep breath, then carried on speaking.
To begin the discussion with answering my own question, myself and the Revolutionary Council of the Red Hessian Army firmly believe that any relations the Red Hessian movement has with any governments will be firmly limited to agreements that will undermine Rheinland but also not hurt any of the friendly movements operating within the house in question. We have always maintained the house of Liberty as our enemy due to the Stuttgart landgrab, a position only strengthened further by the conflict in Hamburg. House Kusari is a close ally of Rheinland, and an imperialistic and unjust state, therefore another obvious enemy. House Bretonia has merely proven useful in the past for being pushed into conflicts with Rheinland's own forces, while they do not presently attack us on sight, we carry on helping the Molly movement in their fight for Dublin, while at the same time supplying nothing to Bretonia or their government backed corporations. And House Gallia, while already proven to be a menace, has made no contact with our forces yet -- though it is unlikely such a meeting would end with both parties leaving peaceably.
We would never trade what materials or funds we have or produce with any of those Houses, as it is against the principles of a united front to supply enemies of our allies with materials which they can use against them.
I hope that therefore makes our position more clear on the matter. I will now chair the discussion and give voice to the first delegate to raise their hand.
The Premier of the Coalition entered the chamber, motioning for the two Commissars to take back seats, as he adjusted the cuffs of his tailored shirt, turning his attention to the delegates.
"Gentlemen, I apologize. I was attending the funeral of the former leader of the TAZ, the Revolutionaries in this chamber, and around Sirius have lost a great ally, and a loyal friend. I am sure we all mourn in our own ways, but that is the past, and now we look towards the future, one that bears the threat of stormy weather."
"My esteemed colleague from the Red Hessian Army brings up the issue of unity, stating that our common cause is, perhaps, the way forward." Katz rested his hands on the podium and looked around the chamber. "But as I look around this chamber, I wonder if we are, indeed, ready for such a unified front?"
"In the North we have the imperialist movement of the Blood Dragons, who, while expounding their war of reform against Kogen, are, at heart, looking to re-establish an old order." He moved his gaze on to the next group. "We have the LRF, who are unbridled rage unleashed upon any that supply their enemies, unchecked and unfettered by public opinion. Why should this be an issue, you ask? Because a Revolution, a lasting one, needs to be more than force of arms."
He held up three fingers, "It requires the overthrow of the Governments, it requires the dismantling of the Corporate economy, and it requires the will of the people. Failing in any one of these areas, dooms any revolution to die a singular death at the hands of the NEXT great revolution."
"There are those here who see piracy as a means to an end, to some others it is a matter of survival, but is preying upon the weak in an effort to build your own strength really going to win the hearts and minds of the people you are claiming to defend?"
"I could, tomorrow, order the assassination of the Queen of Bretonia, a lone gunman with a sniper rifle would end her reign with a single bullet. But what would that achieve? It would make a martyr out of the woman, driving those undecided in their politics to flock to the Monarchists banner in a flood of sympathy and outrage... And I would have failed in the goal that I was setting out to achieve. Instead of ending the Monarchy, I have only served to make it stronger..."
"Piracy allows those in the House governments to vilify our whole movement... You want to talk about economics, Meisnerr, let us first talk about the direct threat to our revolutions, as opposed to the indirect ones."
He took a step back, motioning for anyone else to counter his argument.
[font=Lucida Sans Unicode][color=#CCFFFF]Mr Katz my name is Dr. Howard Taylor, a retired Guild Member. You have brought up some very interesting points in your speech.
Creating a united front requires sharing both the same goals and the same approach on achieving these goals. Furthermore, we should not forget that revolutionaries are not always socialists and vice versa which means that revolutionaries do not always have socialist goals or socialists are not always having revolutionary characteristics.
Esteemed delegates, we do not even have the same approach towards corporations, which was outlined by most of us helding corporations as the primary responsible for the current situation. Some fine examples would be the neutral approach towards Libertonian corporations by the Hellfire Legion or Coalition supplying Liberty with gold ore as a delegate has already mentioned.
That makes me believe that comrade Meisnerr's proposal looks unfeasible. However, this doesn't mean that certain alliances cannot be created on a case-by-case basis. Mr Katz, you have posed a rather intruiging question. As a Professor of political science, please allow me to share my opinion on it.
A revolution is threatened when it's goals are not reflecting it's era.
When you are considered obsolete, when your goals are not inspiring new people to fight for those, then your revolution is threatened. I believe that your points towards the Blood Dragon Movement is very accurate as it fights for the same thing half a millenium. However within 500 years the Kusarian society has evolved while the Blood Dragon Movement hasn't. So despite Kusari's unique cultural characteristics, that Movement might actually be threatened.
That's the main threat, I believe. A revolution cannot vanish if it still inspires people.
Peter merely rolled his eyes at the Coalition Premier's comment on the Front, he had heard worse before and wouldn't be baited by a foolish man like Alvin Katz who only sought to take what he had not earned.
"I was wondering when the Coalition would rear it's head." he commented lightly, folding his arms in a closed-off posture, Katz could see he was not happy with the man's presence, Peter viewed the Coalition with great suspicion unlike his former leader, Lachlan Phoenix, Katz reminded him somewhat of a vulture, ready to swoop down and devour any in what would appear to be a moment of weakness...Not to mention the Coalition had been less than helpful as of late coupled with rumors of them no-longer combating Libertonian Forces on any front.
"The Front frankly has no need for pretenders like yourself whose only concern it seems is to hide in the Omega Systems and having a slapping contest with the Corsairs, your not seen often if at all around our House, if you are than your not there to fight Liberty Warships nor spread propaganda, in fact the last time I saw a Coalition vessel of significance was last year, from where I'm standing it looks like you've abandoned the people of Liberty to pursue power-struggles in Southern Sirius, when you get back into the business of bringing a Worker's Paradise or destroying a corrupt regime visit us, until than..." He sneered in contempt, as if Katz were something stuck to the bottom of his boot.
"Keep playing Imperialist with the Corsairs." he sneered before looking away from the Premier of Omega-52, what he said was only the truth from his angle, many in the Front were insulted when the Coalition apparently abandoned Liberty in favor of Bretonia and the Omega systems, causing them to lose much faith in the Coalition's ability and turn to the Unioners and Red Hessians instead when it came to aid. Peter Tannor clearly disapproved of the Coalition and only actions would appease the Liberty-born revolutionary.
In the meantime he merely listened to Dr.Taylor's comments and when he mentioned the Coalition supplying Liberty with Gold Ore he sneered, if it was true than the Coalition was truely nolonger in the business of aiding Revolutions and instead strengthening the Houses by enriching them.
"The People's Flag is deepest red. It shrouded oft our martyred dead."
A middle aged man who was observing the debates from the distance for the last hour had stepped down the descent of the hall where the meeting took place. His adjutant with Rotfrontkämpferbund insignias gestured to the other delegates to clear the way to the tribune. Otto von Stierlitz touched the small circle on his shirt's collar to activate the microphone and his deep voice filled the chamber.
Premier, I must admit that your arrival was unexpected, so were your submissions to the discussion. While your opinion is highly valued, I believe that you misunderstand the nature of the united front proposed by herr Meisner.
[color=#000000]We are not the fist people who formed the respective groups with their own struggle for the perfection of the society and the state. We are not the first ones to face the malicious nature of regimes hold by the powerful verticals and corrupt by them. The history had happened to let us learn from it and avoid the mistakes made by our predecessors. United front isn't meant to standardize us and compromise our ideals by compromises, but to make us stronger in a mutual support among the people forming the future of Sirius.
Revolution is natural and as everything in nature it has its natural enemies - the hesitation and the reaction. Reaction flaws the very basis of the revolutionary effort, it brings opportunism and doubts, it lets the discordant chore of radicals to weaken the general course and there comes the hesitation that manages to alter the perfection into degradation. It happened enough times to make the same mistakes. It would not happen to us, otherwise our struggle is vain.
The mission of the united front is to ensure that every of the parties present here today would not fall as a victim of political conspiracy and stubbornness of reactionists, but would end up establishing its brave new world, no matter what the social structure it would be built on - it would be better than the latter one. We welcome the Rising Sons of Kusari along with the Hellfire Legion and Mollys movement, because beyond our differences our similarities prevail.
Considering it a problem of socialists would be a mistake and the same can be said about the attempts to speak of the revolutions without territorial linkage that bounds the issues and the solutions on local grounds. None of us requires a mentor in our formative revolutionary struggle, not to say the mentor applying the globalized ideology, and we have only two delegations which don't represent territorial revolutions: the Guild and the Coalition. Narrow-mindness of the methodological cosmopolitanism as one of its major flaws is what makes the revolutionary globalization a questionable concept.
Premier, you suggested to avoid the economical background, but what we don't see as a truly revolutionary move is the speculative business between the Coalition and the Liberty mentioned today. Considering the contents of the Liberty Revolutionary Front delegate's speech and our trust towards their deeper understanding of the internal processes in the Republic of Liberty, we find it generally unexpected that one of two globalist revolutionaries among us strikes a bargain with the merged political and economical elites of Liberty - which from the truly revolutionary position the Coalition itself shared for generations, looks like a bargain with one's conscience.
Sophisticated nature of resources, fund and labor market of the modern Sirius is self-explanatory and, unfortunately, there is no way to stop the governments from investing into their militaristic expansions, therefore the Mollys gold ends up being used for oppressing the bleeding edge of the civil society inside Liberty and the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Rheinland which could and should be changed by the joint effort of Rheinlanders, not the framework dictated by another of Sirius largest aggressors. None of delegations present here would tolerate the intervention into their subtle political approach and would be right given the deeper understanding of the social matter and the political ground.
Otto hadn't stepped back from the scene, he was patiently expecting the answer from the ones he had referred to.
Katz stepped forward again, "It is you, comrade, who are failing to see what I have said for the warning that it is. When two "Allies" lack any united ideology, they are destined to come into conflict."
He rested his hands on the podium again, and looked about him. "We are not in the business of supporting radicals who attack their own without wanton regard for the political masses. We are not going to support those who seek to establish outdated and outmoded governments for the sake of tradition."
He turned to the Rot Front, "I, out of most in this room, understand the Revolution at its core, they keys to a successful power struggle need to be more than just force of arms."
"The masses, and groups represented here, for the most part, hold a permeated hatred towards absolutism, and that means they claim, to hold a sympathy for the struggle and freedom of the common man. We need to concentrate this sympathy on those that are most dispossessed by war and economics, and turn it into revolutionary power, which alone is our vanguard and the strength needed to save Sirius from what is to come."
"We have our duties to Political Revolution, this we all know well. Combating the corruption and greed that has fermented in the upper echelons of the Houses, this becomes our trumpet call, the beat of the drum that has roused us to action. Our primary job is to wake the masses to the struggle, so that they, themselves, can reap the fruit of stirred popular hope and unfulfilled government pledges. Dissatisfaction has grown deeper, and this in turn fuels the more outspoken of the popular thinkers."
"It is not our task to use revolutionary slogans as tools of terror, as the LRF have shown us, they simply counter the will of the people. Nor should we use our slogans to purpetuate a new order of dictatorship, in which ever form those of the Blood dragons seek to impose. These revolutionary groups seek to exploit the masses, through bloodshed and turmoil, and in turn, will undermine our efforts with nothing but blood and turmoil."
"Threats breed hatred, it advances ridicule amongst our movements, allowing our enemies to rally the people to them, rather than educating them to think on their own. Because acute dissatisfaction without a proper outlet leads to discouraged failures like the LRF movement. They lack the traditions of the revolutionary struggle in the past, and have no clear prospects in the future. They must manifest in an outbreak of desperate terrorism that abandons the intellectuals to the role of helpless, passive onlookers, leaving the houses to cackle with glee as they exploit those terrorist actions to their own ends."
"The people of Sirius are seeking an outlet, thought that strives to become action. Popular unrest, such as that in the Ontario System, and the Dublin System, have proven crucial."
"We have learned, correctly, that a political strike turns into political demonstration, and this is the first success."
"The Economic front, this is the next challenge, and one you similarly fail to understand. The Molly groups require funding to fight their war of liberation. Try as hard as we like to vilify the core concept of economics, we are required to play that game, to facilitate trade in order to allow our war effort to continue. You seek to cut off the Molly trade arm with Liberty, to cut them off from the funds they so desperately need. Then I propose a counter argument to you, Hessians, will you fund the Molly war effort? Can you fund it? If you can, then the shipments will cease tomorrow, but if you can't then what is the point of weakening the Molly factions in a time when they stand to make significant public gains?"
Meisnerr standing back on the stage during the discussion, now stepped up to take voice once again in an attempt to begin bringing about a conclusion.
Although I expected some "back and forths", I would implore all delegates to keep it civil. This is not so much a trial, nor is it a witch hunt. It is more of a question of intent.
The SCRA used to be one of the leading forces in revolutionary politics, promoting their cause and defiance against house imperialism and absolutism Sirius wide, providing ample examples to all burgeoning revolutionary movements everywhere. This has all changed since the Volkhan usurper was deposed after his violent power play within the SCRA. Herr Katz, we've been following your politics closely and as you expand the power of your own organisation, so you also consistently put away the cause of the Sirius Revolution in favour of political reformism and mingling with the houses for inferior benefit.
Such actions immediately bring into question whether the SCRA is in fact still dedicated to furthering the revolutionary cause. The answers given to that are enshrouded in claims of political pragmatism and step by step gains, even in the face of the painfully apparent fact that our movements have all grown large enough that we now have our own internal economies that we can support each other with, without any need for dealing with the corrupt houses except for seizing their factories and resources when their own people grow disillusioned with the rule of the elites and bring what they can with them as they join the ranks of the Sirius revolution. Economics are on our side as we slowly but surely seize the means of production until the Houses have nothing left -- that should be our goal!
The aforementioned Mollys could likely make as great if not a greater profit by establishing trade relations with the Council who, considering their absolute control of several worlds, no doubt has great need of it for their own electronics manufacturing needs. This all without even taking into account the Red Hessian transport fleet still taking away great amounts of their gold to allied bases in Rheinland and edge worlds -- something that could be bolstered further by the same Coalition elements that are hauling gold to double dealing Liberty, where it is used to build ships that are then employed against Red Hessian, Unioner and other allied forces in Hamburg.
Unlike you, most of our movements actually take their roots from reformist movements who have tried reformism in the past and failed in the face of rampant stonewalling by the politicians and governments of the houses. We did not decide to be revolutionaries, we were made into them by the gruelling reality of this stellar sector. Therefore you must understand our concern when recent events and your own rhetoric make the SCRA appear like it is going through an opposite process.
So I suppose the question then is: where does the Coalition stand in relation to all of us? Are we to consider you a revolutionary movement like ourselves, or have you abandoned us in favour of collusion with the house governments?
Dato raised his voice, looking at the Coalition Premier.
I find amusing your lack of knowledge -just to avoid saying 'ignorance'- about the Blood Dragons, and still daring to bash our kind over and over again in all your speechs after your late arrival. Good thing there is no cloaking device to hide these fallacies.
You mentioned that the Blood Dragons seek to establish an apparently outdated and oppressive model of government. So I have a question for you; Do you define as updated model of government the one which allows groups like Hogosha and Farmers Alliance bandits roam around Kusari, pillaging and harassing both Kusari citizens and foreigners? But given you are still one of those types who believe that Kogen actually rules Kusari... Why bothering to explain if you seem to be the source of revolutionary wisdom? However, if you can send another almighty gunman of yours to assassinate Kogen, it will still help proving our point.
Now, I have another question for the IMG delegate, mister Taylor. What do you define as evolution? Do you think the Kusari society actually evolved in these past 500 years if they tolerate -or ignore- the piracy activities committed against IMG convoys in Kusari? How can Hideyoshi's reign be conservative and outdated if that government allowed the construction of Roppongi station and thus, lifting the foreign settlements restrictions inside Kusari?
Now back to Meisnerr's proposal, an unified front is still a relative term, especially if one of these revolutionary groups among us is supplying the enemy of the Hellfire Legion and Red Hessians in favor of the Mollys, or that's what I understood so far. Virtually impossible to achieve.