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Issue 31,
Volume 9, 23 December 302 AP The Story behind the news. |
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Cover
Zeitgeist of the year: Pedro Carmonte Runners up: Roven's President and Finance Minister Other key events this year Business Starlight's mistake Kyle Langley: pro-unions? Politics Gov. Hope tours the south "Pardon? There's a drought?" Are the Burovians a spent force? Law The bitter fight over Savante's millions International Gichadia: island paradise comes of age The Moun's Front legacy Pataki Communists refuse "dregs" Castronovia: recog- nition or bust Entertainment Samsarini games ICARA's Alphalpha 300 debacle |
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What IS a Zeitgeist?
Jerman for "Spirit of the Age". In this case it is to mean the "spirit" of the Utanian people, the magazine reporting the people's thoughts behind the press-releases and reported news. Want an article published? Would you like an article published by Zeitgeist Magazine? Please send the text of the article for evaluation, OR send us an email describing the issue/story you would like published to the email Editor@jaggedblue.com. Article authors It is the policy of this magazine not to identify the authors of any Zeitgeist articles. It was conceived in the early days of this magazine, by our founder, Mr van der Hamm, when authors were being threatened by Guwimithian Authorities for their anti-Imperialist columns. Our founder endured jail time in Imperial prisons for his "insolence". Now, the policy is to demonstrate that this is a magazine, not a collection of authors. |
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© Zeitgeist Magazine, 302 AP.
Email: Editor@jaggedblue.com <TECH> ©Mike Ham, 2002. All rights reserved. No reproduction without, at least, tacit approval. ;-) |
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The Carmonte Affair, continued...
Enemy of the State Few men could inspire less fear. Bookish, absent-minded, adorned with a mop of unruly greying hair he is not likely to bring down a government, or threaten dozens with a terrorist bomb. Yet, Pedro Carmonte has seemingly been judged as a dangerous threat, condemned to a prison term that, in other nations, he would have had to take a human life to receive. His crime: to breach a code of conduct for the Lendosan Confederation's millions of government employees that, amongst thousands of pages of regulations, dictates that no man shall, in the context of his or her government role, appraise or opine one religion or belief system above another, even in the context of expressing personal opinion. Pedro Carmonte could be thus considered a martyr, a willing victim of the state's anti-discrimination zeal. Yet, but his own admission, he is not.
"I don't think I could be considered a martyr," Carmonte says, "Martyrdom is only possible when you do something by choice." Carmonte admits that he did state personal opinions in the context of his lectures, but made clear that his personal opinions had nothing to do with "truth". "I stated my belief that Cruisianity was correct, and stated my belief that the other religions were not," Carmonte told Zeitgeist Magazine, "and I pointed out the differences. My statement of my beliefs and my comparisons of religions were separate." However, to the law, no matter how qualified the statements are, it is not enough: "Although Citizen Carmonte may well have identified his views as his own opinions, they were still spread and delivered by means of his official position" says Administrator of Justice, Senator da Tenio. "Personal opinions are respected by this government, and may be freely expressed, but to use a governmental position to do so is not acceptable." Carmonte claims to have been ignorant that this principle applies to lowly university lecturers. "I certainly didn't set out to defy the state," he says. "But on the other hand, I did set out to state my belief clearly and without shame - I always have. So I'm in a situation where I sort of violate the law as a side-effect of my belief - I didn't act against the state directly, but I seem to have ended up doing so because of another choice I made." Carmonte was the unwitting victim of his own ignorance, and of the unpitying Bureaucracy of the Lendosan government. In the middle of an appeal to the nation's highest arbiters, the Tribunes, Carmonte is like a child accused of a crime he barely understands, and certainly one he never believed he was committing by simply giving lectures in comparative religion. The Lendosan Perspective Yet, it is hardly the first time that Lendosan authorities have imprisoned a victim on this pretext. It is a law entrenched in the blood-soaked history of the Lendian Empire's last absolute ruler, and a judgement that contravenes the very essence of the Lendosan "Virtues". The Lendosan Confederation's famous six-coloured hexagon is more than just a flag decoration. It is rooted deep in the tradition of the "six virtues", including (loosely) vigilance, patience, seriousness, diligence and discretion. Merecedato is the sixth and least easily translated virtue: it loosely means reward for deeds done. It is loosely called justice, but represents the good being rewarded, and the guilty punished without mercy. (To Utani, it would be known as "Kahma".) From these, the Lendosan tradition is not one of Christianan-inspired liberal democracy. Instead, if the guilty are to be punished without mercy, they must be tracked, found and punished. To quote from the Lendosan government's own statement of philosophy: "The key value of the Lendosan Confederation is essentially security... It is impossible to be safe when one is not in control, and Lendosa aims to control very thoroughly indeed." Lendosan law is, therefore, one of the most intrusive and harshest of any democratic state on Vexillium. Lendosan sentencing follows suit, though magistrates have significant scope to work within. For example, murder sentencing begins at five years, typically for accidental death (manslaughter), and extends into decades for premeditated murders, even "life". (And one can be sure that in Lendosa, a "life sentence" means life.) This is the same penalty for a government employee who displays racism or sexism, while it is a hefty thirty years for a common citizen. Spreading demonstrable-untruths about religions, cultures or philosophies attracts five-plus years, while hate crimes attract life imprisonment, regardless of the actual crime. It is "political correctness at gunpoint" argue critics. "Fighting intolerance with intolerance." Similarly, sentencing for "Insecularity" begins at five years, with a premeditated breach able to also attract decades in prison. Ten years for Pedro Carmonte is certainly not as harsh as it could have been. While this might be thought to be widely unpopular, the Lendosan system benefits from the strongest popular support. Despite the apparent unfairness of Pedro Carmonte's situation, 86% of Lendosans support the Secularity law, and 77% believe Carmonte is guilty under the law. Furthermore, Carmonte himself concedes his guilt according to law, and holds little hope that a retrial will find otherwise. Carmonte's own union, the Teacher's Guild, is reticent to make any comment that could endanger his chance of repeal, but does not seemingly oppose the law. The popular support for a strong "Insecularity" law lie not in a hatred of religion -- 65% of the country is religious, two-thirds of those Cruisian -- but in a strong belief that the state must be without a preference for one religion over another. Indeed, asking any Lendosan on the street what they think of the Carmonte case, and they are surprisingly adamant that Carmonte's case is one of "abuse of power", not religious persecution. This belief is derived from two sources: the thirty-year propaganda war fought by the Lendian Imperial government, and the diverse religions that inhabit the country (see box). The Lendian Imperial government's war on the Papist Church (the primary, almost only, Cruisian body on the islands) began only when the Church gained a conscience, and began to defy the ruthless and corrupt Emperor Carigo (see box). Until that time, the Church and the Emperor were symbiotic, one supporting the other in a mutual dance of corruption. Carigo was happy enough to imprison and execute dissident priests, and the Church was happy enough to permit it. However, after Carigo seized power in a subtle coup, the upper echelons of the Church, including the Papa, began to oppose him. An incensed Carigo "the mad" ordered a full-scale assault on the Papa's palace, stunning the Empire. Carigo forced the Church to sign a "treaty", known as the Antario Accords, with the Church, forbidding it from speaking on political matters ever. The "Insecularity" law was then introduced, forbidding any state official from favouring one religion or another, on pain of death, and, finally, a concerted propaganda campaign against the Church, against religion in general, was commenced so as to prevent it interfering in state matters again. While there may be some debate in the minds of historians how supportive of these measures the Council was (as opposed to how opposed to Carigo they were at the time), there is no doubt that the modern Senate is favourably disposed toward the Antario Accords and "Insecularity law", reintroducing the modern, watered-down version of the law when the collapse of the Empire invalidated all Imperial law, with the Communists voicing the strongest support, and hardline Imperial Party Senators close behind. However, There are voices for change: the Lawyer's Guild has recently called for the Church to be unmuzzled, and there are Senators who are open to moderating the law. |
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