Intergalactic Summit

Trust me, she is. She just doesn't know it yet.

There is nothing wrong with Anarchy....And if you feel otherwise it would be a pleasure to debate that with you.

My dear lady,

You'll note I had nothing to say about the rightness or wrongness of the Intaki exile, merely that the descendants of said exiles had devolved into villainous slime, clustered around floating spacetrash and peddling chemicals to their free brethren in Placid. You can't seriously disagree with this statement.

People of that sort need the order the Federation provides. Just like the in the fable of the Ring of Gyges, once the consequences are removed, that sort show their true nature, nasty and brutish.

And they were worried I was going to embarass the FCO when I joined...

I find this a curious comment from someone who purports to champion the Federation's model of society. One of the tenets of your free democracy is supposedly to improve the lives of all sentients the Federation graces (imposes upon) with its presence, yet where Syndicate (or any other group the Federation deems lacking to its so-called superior standards) is concerned, often we see Federal patriots and representatives sneering with contempt for those who choose, or are forced to choose, to follow a path that is different to the Federation's ideal. You want people to accept what you think is the best way of life while simultaneously spitting on them for not having done so, or being unable to do so.

Have you ever thought to question why or how the Federation was able to bar the exiles from colonizing planets and moons even though it had no territorial claim to nor governance over the area? Or is it easier to just blame others and ignore the gross extents the Federation goes to in breaking its covenant with freedom of choice and speech and self-determination in examples like Syndicate? And while crime should be worked against, I do wonder how things might have turned out if the exiles had originally been able to access planetary resources instead of being forced to adapt while still under the Federation's heel from afar.

The Federation's definition of freedom is quite narrow. People are free only if they believe they need 'saving' and the Federation will be that savior. Those of us who would prefer another way are supposed to accept the Federation's proclamation that the way we live is wrong and inferior and subsequently allow the Federation to shove itself down our throats. This is a form of tyranny, even if there are also many other worse kinds plaguing New Eden.

True freedom must be married to respect and a realization that an individual or a group of individuals can reject the Federation's ideals and not be persecuted for doing so.

Col. Nardieu, it never ceases to amaze me how easy it is for defenders of the Federation to ignore the grievous wrongs it has committed while pointing out the shortcomings of others.

For all the good you claim your Federation has done, you seem to have forgotten the horror of the exile. As others have already noted that exile was not for nothing more than having an unpopular minority opinion.

For that they were stripped of land, possession and citizenship; sent to the harsh reality of wild space and told to build a new life for themselves. But were they given freedom? No, they were told that if they dared to settle a planet, if they were so bold as to colonize a moon that there would be even greater retribution laid down upon them.

So, left to carve a life for themselves with both hands tied behind their back, they were left to die in space. But they didn’t die, did they? They fought tooth and claw and not only did they live, but they thrived and built a society for themselves.

Sadly, that society isn’t everything that it could have been. Many of the traditional values of the Intaki have been lost, but that is the price they paid. They did not ask to have this evolution thrust on them, but they accepted it rather that allow themselves to be subjected to a slow execution.

But maybe I’m being unfair to cast stones at the Federation for this great travesty of its own core beliefs. After all, no one alive today was responsible for it. It was a mistake, a lapse in the true and inspired vision of the Federation, one that could never be repeated.

In today’s enlightened age all men and women are equal under the Eagle and none are marginalized. We live in an unprecedented age of prosperity where all share equally in the bounty of the Federation’s greatness and voices of all are heard in the great halls of government.

Except that isn’t true, is it? We Intaki live in an age where the members of the government elected to represent us agreed to CONCORD’s plan for a proxy war that flooded our home systems with privateers and brigands sanctioned to wage war in our skies. And then, when it came time to us to voice our displeasure and to elect new leadership, we were disenfranchised and denied one of the most basic and fundamental rights of any citizen in a democracy.

No, Col. Nardieu, the population of the Syndicate is not perfect. But they are honest about their sins.

Madame, this is the real fallacy of this tragedy. They do have a choice and they've chosen it. And it is the youth of Placid whom organisations such as the IPI purport to defend that pay the price.

It is a misleading verbal trick to try to dub criminals as exiles. The least the Federation can do to protect travel and free enterprise is to try to limit the damage they are causing to the law-abiding citizens.

Any Intaki from the Syndicate can join their hard-working, conscientious and highly respected cousins living in the Federation just by following the procedures to demonstrate that they can be expected to be constructive and trustworthy members of the society.

- Escaping from the Syndicate grasp. A station docking bays are easier to watch than land and spacelines boundaries. High probability of failure, and death or severe injury.

- Affording the black market cost of the travel, or traveling in a clandestine manner. Uncertainties of underground dealings also mean that there is a certain probability of being racketed and lured into a pirate/slaver trap. It is not uncommon.

- Entering Federation spacelines and passing through customs. High probability of being scanned out and returned to Syndicate.

- Providing identity cards or a federal citizen ID or risking to be exiled again. The Federation has never been the open beacon that everyone thinks it is. To a certain degree only.

- If one fails at this point, returning to the Syndicate can prove hazardous and dangerous.