Intergalactic Summit

For public dissemination, 12/12/114. To be relayed dirtside across all available channels, and to be brought to the attention of the intergalactic capsuleer community.


Hello.

This message goes out to the State's disassociated and dissenters.

You are not alone.

Whilst I may be fiercely loyal to our State, and I do believe it to be the greatest empire in all of New Eden, I appreciate that we have a lot to learn.

The Big Eight afford us good, comfortable lives. Caldari enjoy a higher standard of living than of those living in the Amarr Empire, Gallente Federation or Minmatar Republic. I'm proud of this; but we do not all share the same metric of living quality.

The State sees a high rate of suicides and incredibly grim prospects for it's homeless. Many would call both of these types of people failures, and dishonorable. I argue that this is not the case; many of these are strong, productive citizens who simply have different desires and deserve more than the selfish, lazy and the dangerous.

We should be putting an end to the suffering of those who take their own life. In this regard, their Megacorporations are failing them.

We should be demanding more rights for the class of Caldari who have fallen through the cracks and in many cases don't even have their own families to look to for support.

Don't think that the disowned are the problems of the Megacorporations once they're gone?

Open your eyes.

The Megas are exploiting our homeless; once they are no longer corporate assets, they become wild-cards who operate in the grey areas of Megacorporate laws. These become loadjacks working jobs far too dangerous for a citizen, or pawns in inter-corporate back-stabbing games.

Open your eyes.

Many people that this message reaches will not be one of the unfortunates that I speak for. Many of you will not even be aware that this is a problem. The State presents a healthy outwards face. And yes, we are strong, but there is a disease that ebbs at our roots that we must eradicate.

We cannot afford to ignore the reality of this problem any longer.

We must act now, for a stronger State.

We must speak as a united, unequivocal voice to be heard.

Disassociated, disaffected, disowned; regardless of what you call yourself, regardless of any other beliefs that you may hold, agree together on this.

A stand must be made.

...

You can't stop the signal.

I would say there is a reason the disassociated are in the position they are in and that is primarily due to a failure of duty and a breach of either corporate or State law.

Are you seeking to act as advocate for criminals who have betrayed the CEP and the State?

I must admit, the thoughts presented are rather convoluted and vague. Speak out and act against whom exactly? The State? The Corporation? Caldari citizens who abide by the law?

Why should it be an issue if the disgraced take their own lives in order to regain some degree of honour in death?

Why should mercy and compassion be shown for the failures of society?

Why not permit relevant authorities such as the Caldari Providence Directorate to handle matters of State labour and employee-employer relations with the due diligence they require?

You are correct though, the disassociated and dissidents are a disease upon the State, am I to assume you shall present a proactive solution to the problem?

There is in fact a State-wide not-for-profit work agency called Second Chance that I donate to. Their approach is to find the destitute, homeless and forlorn and offer them a chance at redemption.

How many chances they get is a function of how they lost their place in the system. Addicts, criminals, debtors and the catastrophically incompetent get one shot at starting their lives over. They're counselled on their mistakes, educated, and given the opportunity to start back up the ladder. If they fall off again in the same way, they're written off, and rightly so.

Where Second Chance does its best work is with the ones who fell off the ladder through no real fault of their own. The ones made bankrupt because of their superiors' failures, who were left stranded when a transport got blown up, who were stuck on a mining colony that lost funding, who fell victim to nepotism, who were fired for the non-crime of homosexuality, or whose deadspace venture fell prey to rogue drones, pirates or trigger-happy capsuleers. They have infinite patience for these poor souls, so long as their fall was genuinely a product of forces they had no control over.

Their greatest success story concerns a young man who was fired without references when he refused to fellate his line manager. He is now en route to be a megacorporate director, and is the charity's most high-profile donor.

It's a noble venture, and sums of money that are negligible to a capsuleer allow them to do a lot of good work. It strikes me as the perfect balance between salvaging citizens who really will be an asset to the State, and not rewarding failure.

Ya know... we can take them off your hands for you if you want. We'll make sure they get food, shelter & plenty of on-the-job vocational training.

Before you freak out what I'm actually talking about is this new idea we've been trying lately - indentured servants. A nice little compromise between your way of doing things and ours. A simple contract to make them into servants for a predetermined period of time. During that time they'll get the things I just mentioned - food, shelter, medical care, and all that good stuff that comes from having a proper Holder. They'll get a nice solid foundation in which to get their crap together and learn how to be productive citizens. Once their contracted time is up they'll be free to go again... and hopefully with better prospects than when they came in. But if not, eh, they can always renew their contract if they still can't hack it on their own.

What do you say?

I would say no.

Even a Caldari who finds themselves outcast and disassociated is not a human commodity to be traded, bartered or indentured to foreigners as nothing more than unpaid labour. The individuals who find themselves in such a position in the State should still be afforded some degree of dignity and self-respect, for that at least is something even if they have nothing. They are a concern of the State and their lives are the responsibility of the State and its citizens.

The whole concept of preying on the vulnerable in such a fashion is abhorrent.

I would say any HR agent foolish enough to attempt in inserting a bonding clause between a Caldari and a foreign agent deserves to be rolled up in a heavy rug and thrown over the nearest bridge.

There appears to be a slight miscommunication in terms here. Are you all referring to bondable in the sense of literal servitude, or merely an extended employment contract with breach of contract clauses?

There are numerous foreign companies in operation in the State, and many Caldari workers gainfully employed outside of our borders. This is a good thing - it brings greater diversity to our workplace and more resilience to our models. Bonding contracts need not be undignified. I am in wholehearted agreement that no HR agent should form a disgraceful contract between a foreign company and a Caldari, and any that would should lose their license for the act.

There is no shame in bonded work. It can in the best of cases be a cleansing, illuminating experience.

I'm no contract lawyer, so am hesitant to pursue this route too deeply. I don't mean slavery, I'm referring to surety bonds, to the best of my knowledge.

I see! I will have to review the bondage clause of my contract, perhaps I have misread it. Thank you.