North Dovani

[Zanz]

http://forum.particracy.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7803

[beifengxiaoxiao]

June 10, 5567

Doctor of Novani Chinweike Ugochukwu delivered a statement in Amarachi Uchechy square regarding the anniversary of the progressive revolution. The Dovania Daily reprints his comments in full below.

Friends, Compatriots, Novanians;

Today marks the anniversary of the refoundation of the Novanian nation, the Progressive Revolution. The Progressive Revolution: what has its' significance been to our people? Put bluntly, it was the triumph of the dreams of unity, prosperity, and above all technocratic meritocracy of the people. The centuries of war, ethnic identity politics, and bitter division were done away with. The ill and destructive institution of the Political Parties, those divisive and chaotic institutions, were firmly rejected by the government of the people through their prohibition. A new government was founded, one of reason and unilateral equality. The national languge, the Novanian language, was instituted and spread by all people. Our beautiful Rambyeoksaek Kitbal, the Novanian Flag, was hoisted on high proud and resolute.

What was the result? Good, meritious, and just government commanded not by the lowly and deceitful scheming of career politicians and greedy corporations, but based upon the basis of intelligence, emotional control, and competence. Instead of awarding government positions, the revolution demanded of the state apparatus that it fill its' ranks with only those most qualified and of the most relevant knowledge and experience. The status of the state became a robust center of learning and committing to lived understanding and involvement.

Consequentially, the revolution created a state of both opportunity and enlightenment. Novanian people of all ethnicities and regions, whether they be from the West, East, North, or Center, have congregated and committed themselves wholeheartedly to the building of our nation. Rejecting the outside financial system of the international markets, those who plundered Novani of her resources in times past as the result of western imperialist hegemony in the First World, Novani endeavored to achieve a self-sustaining economy of Òtù Ụmụnna (praised in the foreign Kitembo tongue as "Ujamaa"), Self Reliance. The nation forged its own path of independence, self-dignity, and sustainable construction. Undoubtably, it can be said that Novani has stood up.

The revolutionary state will undoubtably endure for centuries in the future. No mountain is too high enough, no winter too fierce, no imperialism too cruel for us to stop our people. Although the imperialists and westerners belittle our nation, we know it is only because they grow increasingly desperate and worried. Showing the rest of Dovani the path towards liberation, thousands upon thousands join the path of Òtù Ụmụnna every day. As the revolutionary spirit is sanctified in the resolute progress of the nation, the bright future forward is clear: Novani will triumph.

[Kubrick]

THE COLLAPSING CIRCUS TENT: the ungovernable nation of North Dovani

November 8, 5705 5:18 pm

Members of the Federal Council earlier today.

42 years ago, in 5663, the Keobi and Huhoa united to unseat the Kyo-led dictatorship of the nation. Under the autocratic rule of the 'geniocracy' the Kyo minority of the nation had locked away any form of democracy behind closed doors of a government clique of 'doctors'. Only those selected by a secret committee could reach the upper echelons of the nation. For many Keobi and Huhoa this simply meant they never had any say in the running of their nation. The Novanian dictatorship officially regarded the 'Novanian people' as a singular entity, enforcing the Kyo language and requiring it for state positions. On paper the nation was a meritocracy based on rigorous testing to find competency but as with any ideological system, corruption crept through the cracks. The tests required for head of state and its governing body were secret and set up by those already in it. Keobi and Huhoa candidates were rejected en masse, while Kyo candidates advanced. By the 5650's the tight grip of the 'doctors' started to wane, with protests appearing across the nation. After police put down several protests they calmed down, until the Bloody Wednesday March of 8 October 5659. What was supposed to be a silent protest turned into a massacre of protestors at hands of state-aligned militias, several police units intervened to stop the violence but the dominos had fallen. The government promised reforms and free elections, with a first attempt in 5660 being condemned by an independent international committee for electoral fraud. A second attempt in 5661 ended with terrorist attacks aimed at Kyo, Keobi and Huhoa inhabitants. After this the government post-poned elections again, resulting in the Storming of the Supreme College in January 5663. Shortly after, a committee comprised of Keobi, Huhoa and non-government aligned Kyo organised new elections and drafted a constitution for a new federal republic. The main parties behind the Keobi and Huhoa banded together in this political campaign, gathering over 70% of the seats in the temporary parliament. The constitution remained in draft for the next two years as factions bickered.

By 5667 the political fighting stopped just long enough for an actual federal constitution to be adopted. The three main cultural groups were each given a dominion, with states dividing these dominions again. Within all three dominions referendums were held to decide the outline and all three settled on republics with presidents. The three presidents would form the Governing Council of the Federated States, headed by a fourth independent Chairman - the head of state of the Federated States of North Dovani. Each republic has their own parliament, but also elects separate representatives to the Federal Council which is the overreaching body to which the Governing Council reports. States within the republics function as de facto sovereign states and all also have their own parliaments. All in all, the framework of North Dovani is both impossible to follow and nigh-impossible to make work. Nonetheless, all states accepted it and a nationwide referendum approved the constitution of 5667 with a 71% vote in favour. Over the next year elections were held and for a moment it looked like peace had finally reached the northern plains of the great continent of Dovani. Markets stabilised and looked to be growing, the governments for some time even cooperated and unemployment reached a national low of 10%. Then a scandal hit the national news: the first Chairman of the Governing Council had embezzled four million pounds from a special fund that was to be used for a federal program for drinking water wells in rural villages. The funds had been paid out by an international NGO, or so was initially thought as it was later revealed that the treasurer of this NGO was the nephew of Chairman Osita Lawali Fuwape. Both were arrested and sentenced by the federal courts in 5571. The Governing Council however was split three ways on how to continue, with the Kyo President Chi-Sook suggesting to continue without a Chairman, the Keobi President Adeniran pushing for new elections and the Huhoa President Dozie wanting to nominate an acting candidate until the next elections. The stalemate lasted twenty months.

The word stalemate would come to define the next three decades of North Dovanian politics. Presidents would be elected, Chairmen and Chairwomen would take position, the Federal Council would be gridlocked by indecision. At times a corruption scandal or physical fight would break out, or a candidate would be murdered or imprisoned. No real progress was made, the economy stagnated. Nonetheless, while politics was a circus the people seemed to do alright. During these decades the average North Dovani citizen moved further away from poverty, with the poverty line decreasing from 82% to 60%. This however did not stop the calls for action in politics, with many realising things had to be done to preserve the Federated States. In 5701 the current Chairman Yahaya Ogbonnaya was elected on a platform of reform. His aggressive approach to politics has led to several altercations in the Federal Council, most famously he punched Representative Idris Maduagwu in 5703 after the latter accused Ogbonnaya of being attracted to children when the Chairman forcibly passed a new budget for federal schools and free school lunches. Whenever the Federal Council stalls the Chairman finds an excuse to wake them up. He has racked up record numbers in suspending Representatives and suing the governments of the republics. Some have tried to impeach him and oust him from office, but this requires a national vote and the Chairman's approval rate is still quite favourable. The techniques of intimidation and suspension however seized to work after two years and the new tactic has been to call elections. Today, on the 8th of November 5705, the Federated States of North Dovani have called their eight national election in a year on behalf of the Chairman. The system sloppily built forty years ago is showing its cracks, and even the iron fist of Chairman Ogbannaya cannot seem to keep the circus tent raised upright. The ever-lasting rumours of Ogbonnaya's bad health are also circling the Governing Council, but for now he will keep working tirelessly to keep the nation going.

The National News Network (Keobi: Netwọk Akụkọ Mba, Huhoa: Cibiyar Labarai ta Ƙasa) is the largest national news outlet of North Dovani (Keobi: Ugwu Dovun, Huhoa: Arewacin Dovin) and receives federal grants to report the news of the nation to a broad audience.

[Mbites]

North Dovanian Institute for Economic and Human Development releases bi-annual economic report: Minerals and Husbandry dominate

January 5706


Mining Community in the Hinterlands

Researchers of the Cibiyar Ci Gaban Tattalin Arziki da Dan Adam ta Arewa Dovanian /Ụlọ Ọrụ North Dovanian maka Akụ na ụba na Mmepe Mmadụ (Luthorian: North Dovanian Institute for Economic and Human Development), financed by international NGOs and from donations by a handful of rich philanthropists, has released its regularly published report on the state of the North Dovanian Economy. While Ogbannaya and his government have repeatedly stated that his struggle against the systemic issues of the Federal Republic have been beneficial to the economy and cite positive growth numbers gathered by the central government itself, the independent report is seen as a more serious and honest look at the state of the national economy of the impoverished nation.

For anyone reading the report for the first time, we’re going to explain some fundamental facts about the socio-economic reality of North Dovani. Generally speaking, as already stated above, North Dovani has to be considered one of the poorest nations on Terra, even among its Dovani peers, the Federal Republic is not looking like a very competitive national economy. 80% of citizens live in medium-sized rural communities surrounding sources of minerals, meaning that in the inland mining-towns do dominate the landscape.
The most important center of economic activity hails from its immense natural gas and oil reserves, its profitability has been dramatically diminished due to the widespread availability of cheap oil by both more developed suppliers as well as the decentralized oil-cartel of Vamaj, the most recent crash in oil-prices after the Trigunian entrance into Vamaj has halted growth of the industry in North Dovani. Accompanied by the political insecurity of North Dovani, neither foreign nor domestic investors have recently shown initiative in exploring the wealth of natural resources of the Federal Republic.  Not only oil but also other minerals like nickel, gold, lead and coal are extracted in the mining communities of the inland, while this could potentially have shown potential North Dovani suffers from a mistakes committed by both past and the present governments as concessions and extraction rights have been freely given to foreign companies, with many papertrails leading to Kazulia or Dankuk.

Additionally, local bureaucrats and administrations have notoriously failed to ensure infrastructure needs and safety. Experts explain that either budgetary constraints or straight-up corruption have been causes for these problems, a recently publicized legal controversy showcases the problem very well. Ndulu Diji, a federal coordinator for the Ministry of Economic Development, has been blatantly documenting his correspondence with a Vamaj aligned oil company in which he demanded “donations” for accelerating the examination of their application for a gas-facility. During the investigation of the Diji-case, prosecutors found that he had built a one-stop-shop system for foreign companies to acquire the necessary government approvals for starting economic operations within North Dovani while ignoring legally mandated priorization of domestic applicants for extraction-concessions.

Looking toward the coast and away from the petro-state, the few Urban Centers of the Federal Republic host the largest populations of Kyo inhabitants, the group which has put the majority populations of North Dovani under the yoke of a syncretic-authoritarian minority rule of the Supreme Doctor, it’s clear that they’ve been treated preferably, the Kyo-dominated urbs host impressive infrastructure – for North Dovanian standards -  and even has a minimal service as well as some heavy manufacturing industry to show off. Data shows the discrepancy between the ethnic groups very well: the average Kyo salary hovers around 50.000 North Dovanian Pounds while Keobi and Huhoa citizens have an average salary of around 20.000 NDP, while this is not news, the still stagnating developments on ethnic-inequality have strained the economic relationships between the rural communities and the urban centers also factoring into the political circus tent the Federal Republic symbolizes. The report outlines a system where the minority-dominated “urban” centers profit extremely from the laissez-faire exploitation of natural resources in the large landmass of North-Dovani with the central government clearly having difficulties of projecting control and enforcing many of its regulations away from a handful of seats of governmental agencies.

The furthest away from any political activity are the many peoples of North-Dovani living is herding and reindeer husbandry communities. They’re very dispersed and lead simple lives away from the troubles of the natural resources, some scholars argue that they’re intentionally steering clear due to age-old suspicions against both the central and local governments. Larger groups of these peoples sometimes referred to as the Tushen (Luthorian: The base) can be seen around lakes and rivers due to subsistence fishing remaining an important factor for the continued survival of the Tushen communities. Parts of the report dedicated to the primary sector have explained that the failure of connecting these communities into the national economy has completely alienated these groups from the political happenings, they’ve hardly profited from any public-works infrastructure projects or any regulations passed as political pressure rests and maintains around natural extraction and the institutional struggle of Ogbonnaya against remnants of Kyo predominance.

Lokutan Kasuwanci/Oge Azumaahia (Luthorian: The Business Times) is one of the few private news media outlets focused on economics and enterprise.