Malivia

[alaskancrabpuffs21]

Dolgavia Slaps Harsh Sanctions on Malvia, PM Slams the Country for Fascist Ideals

[Aquinas]

Manas crowned

[Aquinas]

August 4776

Malivia demands extradition of Queen Eva over attack on Carlu

Foreign Minister Vrikodara Mahalanabis has written to his Keymon counterpart, Veronica Fabiano, requesting the extradition of Queen Eva to Malivia to stand trial for the attempted assassination of her brother and pretender to her throne, Carlu.

"Evidence is emerging connecting the Queen to the attack, and it is now time for her to come to Malivia to answer our questions", he said. "If she is innocent, then she has nothing to fear, for Malivian justice is the fairest in the world", he added.

Prime Minister Patanjali Ganapuli has condemned the attack as "international terrorism of the worst description" and "an attack not just on King Carlu and his staff, but on the whole of the people of Keymon, who he represents, and on the people of Malvia, on whose soil this carnage took place".

Carlu survived the attack, although he is said to have suffered cuts and bruises, and to be in shock. His security at Kajpur Palace has now been considerably increased.


Tariff on Kafuri oil reduced

The government has reduced its tariff on Kafuri oil from 50% to 45%. This is believed to be a gesture intended to at least partially conciliate nations who have been expressing concerns at the Majatran Economic Association. This is one of several occasions where Malivia has faced a difficult balancing act in trying to maintain good relations with its close but sometimes competing allies, Vascania and Deltaria.


Dolgavan leaders face travel ban

The government has drawn up a list of 200 senior figures in the Dolgavan regime who will now be denied permission to travel to or through Malivia or its territorial waters. This is in response to Dolgava's outspoken criticism of and imposition of sanctions against Malivia.

Prime Minister Patanjali Ganapuli called Dolgava's actions "disrespectful and irresponsible" and "not the way one World Congress country should interact with another".

Meanwhile, Education and Culture Minister Prashant Jadhav has announced the immediate withdrawal of all government funding for the Dolgavan Song and Dance Festival, which takes place in Hitam every July. The television station which previously covered the event has also announced it will not be broadcasting it next year. Jadhav is widely believed to have threatened to cut off the station's subsidies if it did not do so.

[Aquinas]

January 4777

Retired police officer castigates government over Cricket Day Massacre

Akshay Vaidyanaath, the retired former Deputy Police Commissioner of Kubir, has hit out at the government's handling of the notorious Cricket Day Massacre, which saw Esinsindus (OOC: Jamaicans) attacked by Rajutti (OOC: Indian) thugs, whilst the police looked on, or in some instances, actively colluded in the violence. He said:

I am speaking out not so much on behalf of myself, although I am indeed indignant and furious, but on behalf of my many colleagues who are still in active service in the police and feel just as strongly as I do, but cannot actively speak out themselves.

What happened that day was an absolute disgrace, and fully, in my view, the responsibility of the government, particularly the Internal Affairs Minister. There are bad apples in the police; this is not something I would wish to deny. But I also want to get the truth out there, which is that there were many, many, many police officers who were desperate to intervene to stop the violence, but who were prevented from doing so, due to the orders being handed down from on-high.

As it happens, I know for a fact there were a number of instances where police units ignored the orders and obeyed their consciences instead. Here in Kubir City, I know of several cases where the police lathi-charged the mobs in order to protect Esinsindus, despite how dangerous it was for them to do this, and despite the fact they were not being supported by their commanding officers. I want the world to know about this. Not all Malivian police are bad. We are a proud profession. It is the politicians who are the problem.

Since making this statement, Vaidyanaath has had his pension cancelled by the Internal Affairs Ministry due to an alleged breach of a confidentiality clause in his contract.


Pirates asked to stop interfering with parrots



Environment Minister Mina Jagatap has appealed to the "pirate community in the South Sea" to "leave the Malivian Parrots undisturbed, because they are an endangered species and highly sensitive to changes in their environment".

Pirates are reportedly capturing the parrots when they land on their ships, then clipping their wings and keeping them as status icons. Images of pirates with parrots on their shoulders have been trending on social media lately.

For a long time, the Malivian Parrot was Malivia's national animal, before being displaced by the cow some years back. They are best known for getting stoned on the Selucian opium crop, and for the controversial "parrot islands" (eg. see here and here) which Malivia has set up to assist them.


Concerns mount over Trysee cow dung mountain

Fears are now being expressed that the cow dung mountain adjacent to the Esinsindu village of Trysee in north-west Washebar is now so large and structurally unstable that it could endanger the safety of the village. The National Esinsindu Forum is continuing to take a lead on the issue, and is pleading with the Ministry of Cows to "take urgent action".

Satyender Ahluwalia, the Minister of Cows, says the mountain is "a temporary measure whilst we are trying to stabilise the price of cow dung" and that "it will not be long now until we begin dismantling it all in order to sell it off".

[Aquinas]

July 4777

Spy drama and Dali Yuga come to Pahladgarh

Ever since the Deltarian naval base, Czar Dušan, opened on the coast of Washebar, life in the nearby village of Pahladgarh has been turned upside down. There is more prosperity than ever before, and the village is expanding so fast it is predicted to be officially upgraded to the status of a town or even a city before long. The Deltarian base and its occupants are, by the standards of the village, spending big money on all kinds of goods and services, fuelling economic growth and creating well-paid jobs. Outward signs of modernity - like new cars, satellite dishes outside houses, computers and flashy designer clothes - are everywhere.

A casual visitor might presume everything is going swimmingly, but peek below the surface, and serious tensions can be seen at play. Marisa Jayanand, an investigative journalist from the Malivian Chronicle who recently did a special report on the village, describes the situation there as "like a powder-keg, waiting to blow up at any moment".

The community of Untouchables in Pahladgarh, many of them leather workers, has prospered the most with the arrival of the Deltarians. At least initially, this was due to the Deltarians' demand for leather, although Jayanand insists this is not the only factor, explaining:

The Untouchables, who are traditionally treated as the lowest of the low in Malivia, have always been really hard workers and shrewd innovators - they have to be that way to survive in the socio-economic conditions they struggle under. So they have been much more willing to adapt and provide for the Deltarians what they want. Many of them are doing well in the leather business, but others have branched out in to other things as well, such as setting up shops, cafes and restaurants. In normal circumstances, Untouchables might struggle in those businesses because so many caste Rajuttis (OOC: Hindus) refuse to buy food which has been handled by them. But the Deltarians? They don't care about the difference between an Untouchable and a Brahmin, so they'll do business with the Untouchables in a way other Rajuttis just wouldn't. To give another example, many Untouchables are now building nice homes with their savings and renting them out to the families of Deltarian officers when they come to visit. Again, most caste Rajuttis would refuse to even enter an Untouchable dwelling, but the Deltarians simply don't care about that.

I think it's also the case that the Untouchables are much more trusting towards and positive about the Deltarians than the other Rajuttis. Many of the Deltarians sense that, and prefer working with them. The Untouchables have begun adapting Deltarian ways far more than the others as well. Many of them are picking up on the Deltarian language, mimicking Deltarian fashions and listening to Deltarian music. A large number have converted to the main religion in Deltaria, the Terran Patriarchal Church. The Malivian authorities are not at all keen on that, but they dare not try to enforce the anti-conversion laws for fear of antagonising the Deltarian government, which subsidises the Malivian government to the tune of billions a year.

And how are the other Rajuttis finding the Deltarians? According to Jayanand, despite the fact they have also benefited from the massive boost to the economy that has come with the base, "they strongly resent the fact that the Deltarans have disturbed the traditional caste balance of their society, and that the Untouchables no longer defer to them in the way they used to". She continues:

They seem generally not to be able to work out whether the Deltarians are purely wicked, polluting the village with foreign and materialistic values whilst undermining the divinely ordained social order, or whether they are in fact absolutely crazy and gullible, in need of being protected against the devious manipulations of Untouchables who are using them for their own ends. Many Deltarians in the village have reported having conversations with caste Rajuttis, where they've been told "We are the ones you should trust and work with; you don't want to be having any business with the Untouchables - they are all bad people". I also know, from having spoken to caste Rajuttis, that some of them will say darkly that the Deltarians are bringing in the Dali Yuga, the Age of Dali, an era in history when the Gerajan (OOC: Hindu) god Dali (OOC: Kali) will take control of the world, ushering in chaos and destruction.

Jayanand has noticed how the group in Pahladgarh with the bitterest enmity towards the Untouchables are the Devadasis, considered in traditional Rajutti society to be the lowliest sub-caste in the Shudra caste - the Shudra caste in turn being the lowliest of the four castes, although still well above the Untouchables, who have no caste at all. She writes:

The Devadasis sub-caste were traditionally the ritual temple prostitutes, which placed them low down the social hierarchy. However, they are still higher in caste terms than the Untouchables, and in that regard have always been defensive about their superior status. If they feel an Untouchable is becoming "uppity", they become angry - often far more than even the Brahmins, who are right at the top of the caste hierarchy.

Devadasis seem to have adapted far less well to the Deltarian arrival than the Untouchables, and it would be fair to say have generally been massively overtaken by them in economic terms. There are a lot of very angry, very bitter Devidasis about. In turn, the Untouchables tend to resent the Devadasis the most. They have an attitude of "Those Devadasis think they are so much better than us, but they're not really, we're doing much better than them".

More recently, though, it seems that in a small number of extremely noticeable cases, the tables have turned, and certain Devadasi families have suddenly come across what is, at least by Pahladgarh terms, extraordinary and unexplainable wealth. Jayanand says:

Now this is really interesting - there have been a number of cases now in the village where, out of nowhere, a Devadasi family has become rich, and nobody can say how they came across the money. Everybody in the village is talking about it. There are all sorts of stories going around. Where is this money coming from?

The most popular theory, especially amongst the Untouchables, is that other international powers - possibly Vanuku, Dorvik, Vascania or Jelbania - have been paying people in the village for information relating to the goings-on at the Deltarian base. Several espionage experts I have interviewed say this is not implausible. When it comes to trying to get information on a military base, all sorts of apparently mundane information can actually be really useful - for example, if you know which vehicles or which people are entering or leaving the base at certain times, that can be invaluable information if you connect it with other information you already have.

The Devadasis are probably the most likely group in the Pahladgarh community to betray the Deltarians, for two reasons. Firstly, because they hate them the most, due to the way traditional village life has been altered so much, and their rivals, the Untouchables, have prospered so well. And secondly, because many of the Devadasis - male and female - still practice their ancient profession, and are finding their best-paying customers are Deltarians. This naturally raises suspicions they could use these opportunities to wean information out of Deltarians. Multiple sources attest that Deltarian soldiers have a reputation for being indiscreet when they become drunk.

Asheesh Yojit, one of the espionage experts Jayanand referred us to, told us:

It is hard to tell exactly what is going on, but I am inclined to believe there is some kind of paying for information going on. My feeling would be that middlemen are taking the initiative in trying to gather up information, and then selling it to foreign agents. If someone like Dorvik or Vascania was directly organising this, my guess is it would be done much more professionally. For example, they would have arranged things in such a way that their sources would not blatantly give themselves away by engaging in sudden and unexpected opulent displays of wealth, which is what has been going on here. If you're trying to do some spying in a village like Pahladgarh, you have to be aware this is a community where everybody knows everyone, where everybody gossips about everyone and where everyone wants to be one rung up the social ladder from their neighbour. If you give people large payments in return for information, then you can bet that, unless you organise matters carefully, that person is going to flash his money around and bring attention to himself. And that is exactly what has been happening, of course. So my prediction is that the spies - if spies they are - will now go quiet for a while, and think up more discreet ways of carrying out their business.

Internal Affairs Minister Chatur Nijasure has denied suggestions Malivians could by spying against the Deltarians, commenting "This is not something Malviians do, only foreigners do this".

It is no secret, though, that whilst the highly conservative Rajutti nationalist government will do nothing to offend Deltaria, it does not have a friendly disposition towards the Untouchable community in Pahladgarh. It has already ordered mass arrests of leather workers on suspicion of acquiring illegally slaughtered cattle and extradited one of the leatherworkers to Lodamun for terrorist crimes he is widely considered to be innocent of.

[Yolo04]

Keymon Implements Sanctions Against Malivia

[Aquinas]

January 4778

Malivia offers to host talks on "power-sharing" between royal Keymon siblings
Pongy effluent washes up on Keymon coast

Prime Minister Patanjali Ganapuli has made a television address alongside Prince Carlu offering to mediate talks about "power-sharing" between the Prince and his sister, Queen Eva.

"It is clear Queen Eva is struggling to run the country, and who can blame her, when she is only a woman?" he asked, pointing out Keymon is "turning in to chaos" and "will run out of money by the end of the year". He promised to guarantee Queen Eva's "safe passage" to Malivia for talks, promising she would not be arrested for her alleged involvement in an earlier assassination attempt on Carlu.

Prince Carlu then spoke, saying he "forgives" his "blood-soaked, fratricidal, bastard-born, half-sister" for the "high crimes she has committed against I, her Sovereign Lord and brother", because he understands she "is only a weak and feeble woman, unable to tame her hot womanly passions, and under the control of traitorous cads far more wicked and cunning than herself". He went on to explain how "a new, stable future for Keymon can only be brought about by power-sharing now" and that "this is the only way for both sides to move forward". He also thanked the Keymon people "for their deep love for me" and reminded them of his "affection and filial sense of duty towards you". Additionally, he thanked his Malivian hosts, the Malivian people and Emperor Manas "for all they have done for me and my country".



To the surprise of many, Malivia has not responded in kind to Keymon's latest round of economic sanctions and travel bans. It is being reported, however, that at high tide today the Malivian authorities pumped extraordinary volumes of sewage in to the ocean off the coast of Idhaghra, which experts say is guaranteed to mean that much of that sewage will be carried away by the waves and end up dumped on Keymon's western-facing beaches. Mahava Gulati, an oceanographer and expert on the impact of sewage on oceans, commented:

This is something that has not happened in centuries. Governments are usually very, very careful about which tides they release sewage in to, because they know how it can affect neighbouring countries. Was this an accident? I do not know. It could have been. We do know that due to the huge toilet construction project, the amount of effluent in the sewage systems has massively increased, and far larger amounts of sewage are now being dumped at sea rather than being treated in sewage treatment plants. So that could have something to do with it. But if this was deliberate, then this really would be a new type of eco-terrorism we are seeing here, and it would be appalling. I have spoken to my colleagues in Keymon, and they say some sewage has made its way to their beaches, with fish, birds and other wildlife being affected. Difficult to say yet how serious the scale of this is, though.

The Prime Minister has denied any connection between Malivian sewage and incidents being reported on Keymon's coastline. "It is just that the Keymonites have not been looking after their beaches properly," he said.


Esinsindu reggae musicians embark on "Freedom Tour" of Terra to raise awareness of racism in Malivia

A team of Esinsindu (OOC: Jamaican) Malivian reggae artists, headlined by big stars including Jerom Calder, Jamila Mais, Sakina Maidment, Delmar Kuckham, Jeron Mure, Hosanna Crymble and Resaunna Peddard, are planning a global tour in order to draw attention to the plight of the Esinsindu population in Malivia. Jerom Calder, the group's leader, says:

Music brings people together from every different background, from all over the world. Music is a universal language, and we want to use that language to reach out to music lovers, to reach out to fellow musicians, to reach out to everyone, and get them interested in the horrendous things which are going on in Malivia right now. We want Esinsindu Malivians to have a future. Right now it feels like we have been abandoned by the rest of the world, like we aren't being listened to, and we are determined to get out there and change that.

Esinsindus have increasingly felt discriminated against in Malivia under the Rajutti (OOC: Indian) nationalist government, both on the grounds of their race and culture, and on the grounds of their religion - most Esinsindus are Hosian (OOC: Christian) whereas most Rajuttis are Gerajan (OOC: Hindu). Events like the Cricket Day Massacre, the Protection of Children Act, the dropping of Patois as an official language, the jailing of Hosians under the anti-conversion laws, the exclusion of Esinsindus from the public sector jobs quota scheme, the construction of a Gerajan temple on the site where a church was brutally torn down in Seredeki, the exclusion of Esinsindus from higher education quotas, the dropping of Hosianism as an official state religion, the Blasphemy Act which protects Geraja but not Hosianism, and the exclusion of Esinsindus from political life following the dominance of the Rajutti National Party, have all contributed to bringing Esinsindus to a state of frustration and despair.

Kalistan, which has a home-grown reggae scene of its own, and where some of the Malivian musicians already enjoy a degree of recognition, is expected to be the Freedom Tour's first destination.

[Aquinas]

Malivia confronts Keymon's allegation at World Congress, offers 9 million KED in return for power-sharing talks

[Aquinas]

August 4778

Cow dung mountain collapses on Esinsindu village
23 dead, 8 injured

The controversial cow dung mountain next to to the Esinsindu (OOC: Jamaican) village of Trysee in north-west Washebar has collapsed, cascading in to the village at high speed, uprooting buildings and leaving 23 dead and 8 injured.

Campaigners have been warning for some time that the structure of the cow dung mountain was unstable and that a tragedy like this could happen.

The mountain was a product of a scheme by the Ministry of Cows to buy up cow dung on the open market in order to prevents its price from falling.

Labourers from the Ministry had been towing away the dung in order to sell it, now that cow dung prices have stabilised, but it seems that in the process of doing this, the structural integrity of the mountain was unsettled, leading to an avalanche.

Satyender Ahluwalia, the Minister of Cows, has expressed his "heartfelt sorrow for the victims and their families". As soon as he heard the news, he got in to his dung-powered motor vehicle and drove to the village to pay his condolences in person. However, as soon as he arrived, it became clear the villagers did not welcome his presence. His car was smashed up, and he had to barricade himself inside a wooden shack containing a compost loo before being rescued by police.

Violent scenes and protests are now being reported across the country, with Esinsindus taking to the streets to protest at what they see as the government's callous disregard for their lives and welfare.

[ChengherRares1]

Lodamese worker-owned company opens textile factories in Malivia, ensures fair treatment of all Malivians regardless of castes