PRESENTS
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THE FALSE INDEPENDENCE
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THE FALSE INDEPENDENCE
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"Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot" - Vladimir Lenin.
INTRODUCTION
You have been told a lie. You have been told a lie for all of your existence and you have believed it. It is the vilest illusion ever to have permeated through our corridors of power.
They said an independent region is neither “invader” nor “defender”.
They said an independent region allies with both invaders and defenders.
They said an independent region is open to both invaders and defenders.
They said an independent region does not protest the invasion of non-allies.
And if you did all of these things, they said you would be free – that you would be “independent”. But you’re not free. Accepting conditions upon conditions on your behavior does not make you free –it limits you.
Almost every Game-Created region has sat in this box -- this social construct they call “independence”. They promised you a plateau of freedom, but all you have received in return is a prison of your own design. By all falling for the same lie and obeying these same conditions, each of these Game-Created regions has been robbed of their individuality and their identity. Their wishful revisionism leads them to believe that they have always shared these ideas, but they have not.
This false independence has kept our regions indistinctive, inactive and, perhaps most concerning of all, it has kept our regions dependent on foreign aid.
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WHO ARE “THEY”?
Who has brought forth this manifest lie? The bourgeoisie. The elites whose ruling party wished to maintain a power structure favorable to them.
The wealth of the bourgeoisie is not in the form of traditional capital, but of political capital.
Defenderdom was once rife with these elites; The Alliance Defense Network was plump with politicians thirsty for power and privilege. But, having no loyalty to the cause, they abandoned defenderdom and left it to die in favor of “independence” – their greatest invention.
Independence was an ideology that could tie together the masses – it would promise freedom and good governance but instead perpetuate the power structure that they wanted perpetuated.
For the bourgeoisie in the invader spheres of NationStates, Independence also fit as a perfect ideology to advance their own power and (similar) interests – they too would soon adopt this package of ideas.
But what of the Proletariat? How has “Independence” helped them? The answer is simple: it has not.
Invasions are a projection of power against the proletariat – those with less means of political production in NationStates than the bourgeoisie who authorize and try to justify these acts of violence. Yet those with even the littlest of means are told to adore a system of violence and exploitation against them – embrace independence!
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THE FOLLIES OF INDEPENDENCE
Indeed, Independence is at best a political ideology that aims to perpetuate an oppressive superstructure against the proletariat for the advancement of the bourgeoisie, the projection of their power and the pride of the fat, pestilent broker-regions such as The New Inquisition, Europeia and The Black Hawks which soak themselves in glory for every region, a tenth of their own size, they have occupied and beleaguered.
The ideology promises to be in the interests of all Game-Created Regions, but it fails in almost every avenue to better these regions.
First, Game-Created Regions, once independent, are indistinctive. Every Game-Created Regions becomes a boiler-plate structure devoid of Regional Identity, when they agree to think a certain way, have the same allies and enemies and say or not say the same propositions.
Second, Game-Created Regions, once independent, are inactive. All populists in a democratic setting will prefer the proposal amenable to the most people, but does political support translate into participation? No. Independent armies are largely inactive. They suffer from lacking a moral direction to motivate one, while in general the lack of identity has a downturn effect of the entire region’s activity. Lazarus for years has been the most inactive Game-Created Region -- it is not a coincidence that it has also been the most “independent”.
Third, Game-Created Regions, once independent, are militarily quarantined. With the lack of a commitment to a moral direction, independent armies will likely be avoided by other powers when considering allies for their more important and interesting of cross-organizational missions – not when there is a risk of leaks and disloyalty. Bearing this in mind, it follows that independent armies of Game-Created Regions are more or less invited only to do the grunt work of Invader and Defender powers.
Fourth, Game-Created Regions, once independent, are distracted. The external focus of Game-Created Regions is not on the oppression of the proletariat, but in the areas of external activity where an independent army, limited in scope, can operate. This means to say that Game-Created Regions are lead to believe that the focus of nearly all of their attention should be on marginalized groups: Nazis, Ad-Spammers, Fascists, Forum Destroyers and Macedon, among others. Furthermore, the popular hatred of these groups is used to justify exploitative relationships with foreign userite powers under the pretense of military cooperation (e.g., Sovereign Confederation, War on GGR).
Fifth, Game-Created Regions, once independent, are destructive. It is a grand lie of Independence to claim that with the rejection of both Invaderism and Defenderism comes a toleration and openness of both Invaders and Defenders. This is a false narrative. When the independent region inevitably attacks the proletariat, the defender member is torn between his loyalties to his or her region and his or her duties to defend the proletariat – these members become outcasts for their disloyalty, while those who perpetrate and support this aggression against the proletariat are given promotions and greater political support in the independent region.
Lastly, Game-Created Regions, once independent, are dependent on further userite military aid. Without a strong military to defend its own borders, Game-Created Regions are dependent on assistance from userite powers. This creates a vile Military-Political Complex, wherein members of the bourgeoisie from the invader sphere perpetrate attacks against Game-Created Regions (whose defences have been weakened from following the ideology of these same individuals), meanwhile the bourgeoisie as whole in the form of Europeia, Equilism and others reap the opportunity to gain politically from supporting these Game-Created Regions in the time of their need.
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CONCLUSION
For these reasons, “Independence”, this farce of a military ideology, should be abandoned. Game-Created Regions have been systemically restrained and held in captivity under the spread and diffusion of Independence’s core beliefs.
The independent region is an inactive region, structurally forced to be dependent on the aid of others in a world that (subsequently) does not believe in unconditional aid. These independent regions are culturally and politically indistinguishable from one another which encourages mass disenchantment. Likewise, Game-Created Regions as independent powers become periphery actors who are often excluded from important cross-organizational military operations. Furthermore, the independent region is distracted with petty fights against the scapegoats and bogeymen of NationStates, instead of focusing on the greater political-military-social issues that are too plain and manifest to continue to ignore.
Independence is an ideology used by the bourgeoisie to help protect their own power and privilege, in addition to justifying their use of force against the proletariat. Those citizens who stand up for the protection of the proletariat, defenders, are discredited and ostracized as “disloyal citizens” in the independent region.
With any proletariatization of a government should come a different outlook on the role of themselves in relation to smaller regions that lack the same means of political production. The protection of those in need, those with the least means to protect themselves should be the goal of a People’s Government. The oppression of these communities, sought by the richest and plumpest of the bourgeoisie’s invaders, imperialists, and demagogues, should neither be tolerated nor acquiesced.
Workers of the World, Unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains!
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This manifesto originally appeared on Lazarus' forum. It is reprinted here with the permission of its author, Harmoneia
