A dark day has come my brothers and sisters. That which we as a nation have worked towards our whole life is imperiled. When we were young, we went off, for many of us, to war. To fight back the nomad invasion of our home, to fight for our homes, our families, our nation, Kusari. We had leaders who stood nobly above the fray, making choices based on what was best for all of Kusari.
Somehow, in the blink of an eye, we see a new nation in front of us. One of alien ideas and foreign influences. For so many years we have fought with pride to limit the destructive influences of Interspace Commerce on our beautiful home. Do we wish to see our space polluted as we see in Bretonia? All in the name of making money for some Libertonian company? Do we wish to see our resources stripped, like we see in Rhineland? All for the sake of paying David Hale's salary?
Brothers and sisters, I say no....and all noble Kusari should stand with me. Mine is a voice long absent from the debate in Kusari, but I am a man of experience. I fought as a pilot in the nomad war, fighting to defend Kusari from an existential threat, one that Liberty, Rhineland and Bretonia failed to stop. I and all of Kusari stood up, showing once again how superior Kusari is to the rest of the rabble who inhabit Sirius. When I returned home to Kyushu after the war, I found the encroachment of Interspace and Liberty to be even more pervasive than when I left. These Libertonians had used the time that we were at war, defending not only ourselves, but all of Sirius from the Purple Menace, they used that time to force one sided trade deals upon us. Helped by the traitors of Kishiro and the Guild, this is where things started to fall apart, and the rise of sectarianism first invaded our beloved Kusari.
I returned from the war to find Synthpaste in our stores, and Kyushu farmers losing thier farms because they could not get enough money for their product to provide for their families. Why? Because Synthpaste is not real food, so it costs a fraction of the price, and the cost of Interspace Insurance, required for hauling goods anywhere by ship, went off the chart as Interspace tried to make up the losses of the Nomad war, by raising rates on the one house that hadn't be devastated by the Nomads. And so Siruis rebuilt itself from the Nomad war, on the back of the Kusari working class, farmers and miners and fishermen. All the while, Interspace had record profits year after year after year.
Once I began to understand the truth of what was happening, I, with a few noble farmers from Kyushu, we took a stand. Under the banner of oppressed farmers and fishermen and factory workers and miners all across Kusari, we took a stand. And we were successful. The Artisan Farmers Alliance fought for the working people of Kusari. We turned the tide, making it so hard for Synthfoods and they have virtually withdrawn from the Kusari market, making it once again profitable for Kusari farmers to ply their goods. We have worked to make Interspace's operations here so costly, that they will learn to never again try to take advantage of the Kusari people. This has spurred Samura to work on creating its own insurance business to free Kusari from the oppressive yoke of this Libertonian company's stranglehold on the industry.
When the Emperor formed the Council of the Rising Suns to help advise him, I was asked to serve, and I loyalty took my seat. But even before the accession of Jien Kogen to the Chrysanthemum throne, I could see the writing on the wall and left the Council. A council so beset by infighting that the people of Kusari were mere game pieces in the political theater. In despair and depression, I left Kusari, putting myself in exile. And in exile I have been until recently. The GMG, Kishiro and Interspace coup against the Kogen regime, along with the actions of the new government in making workers standing up for their rights a crime, the wholesale outsourcing of Kusari industry, and our stance of appeasement and cowering in regards to Gallia has left Kusari in dire straights. In the days before Kogen was driven from the throne, Kusari was on it's way to completing a successful campaign against Bretonian, Libertonian penetration was at its lowest level in a generation, and Kusari stood at the head of the nations of Sirius.
In such a small amount of time, all of that has been undone. Our new government, turned tail and fled from Bretonia and the Taus, and what is worse, they left loyal soldiers and pilots of Kusari trapped, not lifting a finger to bring them home. When it turned its back on those who loyalty and selflessly defend our home, it turned its back on all of us. They backed down to the Bretonians, they backed down to the Gallics. They have castrated our nation and our honor in full view of all the community of nations. They have doomed Kusari to the status of a second class nation.
Unless we citizens of Kusari stand up and fight for our nation and our people, unless we take back control of our government, we face the prospect of an ever diminishing power in Kusari until we are literally eaten by Liberty and Gallia. We must stand up for ourselves, we must return Kusari to our rightful place of glory.
This situation is what brought me back to Kusari. I could no longer stand by, hiding in a far corner of Sirius. The governments ruthless campaign against the AFA has decapitated the leadership of the once powerful farmers, and thus I have returned, because my farmers, and Kusari need me.
My name is Ze'ev Barak. I lead the Artisan Farmers Alliance. Who will stand with us?