Hutori

[TheCollectivist]

June 4330


Image: A cemetery in a rural area in the Adelia Province where Rob Ayton is buried.

Lalia Ayton has come out in support of the Ataraxians' plans to decentralize the national Hutorian military apparatus and their HOPE Act of July 4330. She is the mother of Rob Ayton, a Hutorian combat veteran who fought in the military intervention in Hulstria. Rob had battled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for years following his return from service overseas. At the age of 26, his struggles eventually brought him to kill himself. Miss Ayton has said that due to her son's experiences and subsequent death, she had developed strong views against war and the military.

My son only wanted to defend his country, he ended up fighting for geopolitical interests instead. Now he's gone, I'm left without a son, and politicians tell me he's a hero. My son is not a hero, he's a victim to possibility the greatest disease to ever face humanity: war. It's easy for the military to just wipe their hands of responsibility, after all, my son didn't die in combat. His experiences ate away at him like a cancer, slowly breaking down every aspect of his individuality. He came back as a shell and was discarded as such. I don't care about the reasons for the war, the reasons don't change the fact my son is dead.

If the Ataraxians want to dismantle the force that killed my son, then I am fully behind them. I think it's good to have a government that is anti-war for a change, helps stirs up the assumption that everyone is behind the military. Even if they fail, it will at least send a message.

[TheCollectivist]

September 4330

After about a year of majority rule, the Ataraxians yielded their power, citing issues with exhaustion subsequently stretching their human resources too thin. In July 4329, the Ataraxians for the first time in the party's history gained a majority with 52.43% of the vote. The election turn out was an abysmal 36.50%. The reasons for such high amounts of abstention are unknown, although some political analysts suspect the population is either going through a phase of political apathy or have felt partly disenfranchised since the fall of the republic and the dawn of the monarchy. Political analysts suspect the unprecedented vote for the Ataraxians may have been in part a protest vote. With the Conservatives (previously known as the Republicans) changing their stance on the formation of a republic, now favouring the monarchy, pro-republican Hutorians are expected to be even more cynical about the current situation.

On July 4330, the Ataraxians approved of a call for an early election, which was held in August. The early election hoped to bring out more voters due to the Ataraxians' highly controversial move to dismantle the national security apparatus in favour of greater local autonomy. In reality, it resulted in a miserable turn out of just 16.78%. Just 12,532,690 voters participated in the last election, even less than the Ataraxians' previous majority backed by 14,289,455 voters. While the Ataraxians lost their majority, the other parties received equally abysmal turn outs.

The Ataraxians' cabinet ministers are expected to be replaced shortly, although they have not resigned in order to continue the operation of the government until replacement can be made. A cabinet of Royalists, Social Unionists, Liberal Nationalists, and Conservatives are expected to replace the Ataraxians. The National Unity Cabinet Proposal of September 4330 is expected to be passed soon and has already received approval from the Ataraxians, who wait eagerly to be relived from their cabinet duties.

After intense internal debate, the Council of the Ataraxian Confederation has unanimously determined that the current course is not sustainable. We have determined to abandon our plans of reformations. We have determined that we are not fit to govern Hutori. We are not just a political party, we are also a society. For example: Lyn Kopp is not just a chancellor, she is also a conciliator and a working structural engineer. We simply find it too exhausting to run both our society and the rest of Hutori. Please forgive us for trying.

This is not a change of opinion, but rather a reality of ability.

We now know our limits. For now we will not resist any attempt to repair our attempt at abolishing the national security, police and military organizations and we regret any harm that has occurred because of them. For the future, we will still vote on policies, but our actual involvement in Hutorian affairs not directly related to us will be kept at a minimum.

To put it simply, we are at a state of exhaustion, we have no choice, but to yield to the opposition.

We hope for our sake that the others forgive us and continue to tolerate the autonomy of the Ataraxian Confederation.

Incumbent Chancellor Lyn Kopp was appointed to the position of chancellor in May 4317, serving for about 13 years.

[colonelvesica]

Woodbury Lays out Ambitious Plan


Hutorian Chancellor Isaac Woodbury

Following the Royalists surprising victory in August's snap elections, newly appointed Chancellor Isaac Woodbury has laid out an ambitious plan in a series of town halls and meetings across Hutori has he takes the reins of power in Bekenial, ending 13 years of Ataraxian dominance in Hutorian politics.

A turbulent time in Hutorian politics has come to and end. The last year has been some of the most passionate and involved I've seen some, but we must move forward, that's the key to continued Hutorian success as a nation of many diverse communities, but moving together all the same. The Royalist lead Coalition will both introduce legislation ensuring all Hutorian citizens have open access to a quality education and healthcare while respecting provincial and municipal needs and concerns. We must reinvigorate the Hutorian economy and get it back on track, but by giving the private sector room to grow, but ensuring its done in a responsible way. We will keep our national military and security agencies in tip top shape, and make sure those who have served are not forgotten at anytime. It is high time Hutori moves forward into the 44th century and together we can all do that, regardless of political stripe!

Chancellor Woodbury has moved to create a National Unity Cabinet, comprised of parties from both the left and the right, including the new National Liberals and Social Unionists and the traditional allies of the Royalists, the Conservatives. The newly elected Chancellor has four years to prove Hutori's faith in his Party is well placed with a primary concern getting the vote out, which resulted in Hutori's worst election turnout in over 5 centuries. Already he has moved to repeal the highly controversial Local Military and Local Policing Acts that were passed by former Chancellor Lyn Kopp, while he has stated "further defence reforms are coming to ensure that our men and women that serve have the best possible equipment."

Chancellor Woodbury is stated to be leaving on an immediate international tour to traditional ally of Kazullia and began an plan of re-engaging Hutori aggressively back into the world, following almost a decade of de-facto isolation under the Kopp Administration.

[TheCollectivist]

January 4331


Image: Promotional material for the project, featuring the
"Benevolent Eye of Ataraxia".

The Ataraxian Confederation has announced the Ataraxian Benevolence Project as a way of mending relations with other parties and Hutori as a whole. Following their attempts to abolish the national security apparatus, including the military and reform it into highly autonomous units during 4330, the party received strong backlash from the other parties. At the time the Ataraxians gained a majority in parliament and sought to use it increase local autonomy. As the other parties refused to participate in a cabinet with them, the Ataraxians decided to take on all cabinet positions, effectively putting them in charge of the government as a whole. This resulted in the Ataraxians eventually exhausting their human resources, which led them to agree to early elections and concede that they are unfit for national governance. The elections of July 4330 resulted in their majority being lost.

Us trying to govern both Hutori and ourselves was a big mistake. Our society is made up of small autonomous communes. We can handle ourselves very well, but when it comes to handling tens of millions of people, our resources are exhausted very quickly. We regret that we didn't recognize this before attempting to make our reforms, but now we know better. The important thing is that we recognized our limits and didn't proceed forward in futile denial when it was clear we weren't going to handle it.

There is another problem with our actions. We stand firmly in our belief of non-interventionism. While true we were elected into power and we are Hutorian citizens with the same rights to participate in elections as anyone else, we shouldn't have tried to meddle too much into Hutorian affairs. We have autonomy you see. We are by and large left alone by the Hutorian authorities. It didn't make sense for us to try and change the entirety of Hutori when our real focus should have been ourselves.

For now on we're going to keep Hutorian politics at a distance. Like we mentioned before, we're still going to vote on bills in parliament, but our proposals will be restricted to projects concerning us directly. Frankly, we don't want to rule Hutori, we want only to rule ourselves, which for the most part we are and have been able to do. We only hope that the others are willing to move on from this and continue to accept our autonomy, which has benefited us and them for a very long time.

As part of the Ataraxian Benevolence Project, the Ataraxians hope to accelerate their funding efforts to install fibre to the premises (FTTP) infrastructure throughout Adelia.

We want to show everybody that we are no threat to their way of life and we aim to demonstrate this further by contributing to mutual projects of science and technology. Our goals have been slightly refined. Instead of trying to reform Hutori into a confederation, we will focus solely on our own internal affairs and initiating mutual projects with the rest of Hutori. We know we angered a lot of people and we regret that.

The Ataraxians have represented a unique cultural icon for Adelia, with their communes occasionally attracting tourism interest, albeit the communes themselves consider too many visitors to be a security risk. While Ataraxians are very transparent to the outside world, to a point where every council meeting is broadcast publicly, physical access to the communes is heavily restricted for outsiders. Most of their visitors involve potential initiates who are seeing what life is like inside before joining. The Hutorian authorities also have access to ensure the Ataraxians are following by their autonomy agreements. Many are attracted to the unique technophile culture of the Ataraxians, who focus primarily on developing and embracing emerging technologies.

Over the years, the Ataraxian population has gradually become more composed of scientists, engineers and others in the STEM fields. Their idiosyncratic ideology and internal laws make immigration highly selective. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are awaiting available openings in the communes. Sometimes this number has swelled to over a million. Due to their policy of sterilization, Ataraxians do not have children and are completely reliant on immigration to maintain their population, which rests at 52,200 residents.

All 65 Ataraxian communes pay an 8% tax on all their income, including donations. Individual Ataraxians have their bank accounts frozen to avoid any accumulation of wealth. Residents inside the communes live a comfortable life in exchange for work. The Ataraxian economy has maintained a high standard of living, although it often requires steep capital costs to expand and sees very little growth. Economic observers describe the Ataraxian economy as an example of a steady-state economy. Communes produce most of their own resources (including energy production, which they sell supplementary power back into local power grids), sell surplus goods and services, and import products they can't make themselves or just not enough of it. Sometimes Ataraxians will rely on outside education and or surgery, although this has gradually decreased over time. Money is not traded internally, but is instead used for external transactions. Ataraxians have been known to invest in gold reserves. The GDP per capita is around $86,934 HLR, although economists have noted that since the residents themselves do not get paid monetarily, this number more represents the living standards than individual wealth. This number is expected to grow in the future when older communes upgrade themselves to using more efficient means of production. After upgrades the GDP will likely return to stagnation.

Life in the Ataraxian Confederation has been described as utopian, although because of its highly idiosyncratic internal laws, Ataraxian life is only applicable to a small proportion of the Hutorian population. Pervasive public surveillance, strict population control measures and other policies that most on the outside would find bordering totalitarian are normal to Ataraxians. One of the most notable policies in Ataraxian communes is universal access to euthanasia and bans on sexual intercourse, including romantic relationships, which are deemed morally impure and a threat to their ideas of comradeship. The Ataraxian political system is controlled by increasingly technocratic workers' councils and governed through a process of consensus decision-making, where unanimity is required for changes to occur to the status-quo.

[RileyHP]

Health Minister Announces New Hospital Projects



Today, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Gary Delorey, made some long awaited announcements regarding the increase in funding his department received in the latest budget. When the budget was announced, the finance minister had simply said the increase would help fund projects around Hutori. Today we found out just what those projects are.

"With the increase of 10 Billion HLR to the healthcare budget, this government said we would be spending it on new projects across Hutori. I am here today to announce just what those are. We have been working with municipal and provincial governments and have struck deals to provide federal funding for 8 new hospitals. This includes a new, state of the art, 5 billion HLR hospital in Acton, 2.5 Billion HLR of that will be paid for by the federal government. The other 7 hospitals will be in Port Prosperity, Carter City, Glentingham, Langdon, Saint John, Woodhurst, and Alyesbury. We are excited to bring these new hospitals to the people of Hutori that need them the most. We selected these cities based on the shape of current hospitals in the area and found that these cities needed new hospitals the most. We will continue to invest in our healthcare system so that Hutorians can have access to quality, efficient healthcare whenever they need it."

The minister released a list of how much each hospital will receive in funding from each level of government and we have the list here:
Acton: 2.5 Billion(Federal), 1.5 Billion(Provincial), 1 billion(Municipal)
Port Prosperity: 1 Billion, 500 Million, 250 Million
Carter City: 1 Billion, 375 Million, 300 Million
Glentingham: 1.5 Billion, 600 Million, 400 Million
Langdon: 750 Million, 300 Million, 150 Million
Saint John: 1 Billion, 400 Million, 200 Million
Woodhurst: 1.25 Billion, 500 Million, 250 Million
Alyesbury: 1 Billion, 300 Million, 150 Million

With these major projects underway and all expected to be completed by the summer of 4334, it seems as though the government has stepped up and listened to the Hutorians who have been calling for new hospitals and are working to get those new facilities opened as quickly as possible.

[EdmundS]

Joseph Green, former Chancellor, dies aged 89

Green in his official portrait as Chancellor

March 4332

BEKENIAL, ADELIA - Former Chancellor Joseph Green has died aged 89 at his home in Kincardine, Roccato. Green led the Progressive Conservative Party from its establishment in 4288 until its dissolution and merger into the Royalists in 4310. Green led the party to 109 seats in the 4290 election, winning an additional 28 seats in the 4294 election to equal the Ataraxians at 137 seats while narrowly beating them in the popular vote, before winning 159 seats and first place in the 4298 election to become the senior partner in the party's coalition with the Royalists.

Chancellor from 4299 to 4310, Green saw during his term the restoration of the Hutorian monarchy and was later ennobled as Lord Green, Count of Altar, in 4311. He leaves a son, William, who will succeed him as Count of Altar, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Sophia.

[TheCollectivist]

November 4332


Image: A much earlier "machine art" unofficial portrait of
Parish, unknown date.

Dr. Vinal Parish (93 years old, November 4239 - November 4332), founder of the Ataraxian Confederation and former Hutorian president (December 4286 - December 4290), has been euthanized. Parish worked as a general practitioner in the Commune of Lotus and served as its conciliator for 53 years. There he organized the Preventive Medicine Team and represented the commune's Health Cooperative. Parish also served as the Ataraxian ambassador from January 4290 to May 4303 before he was succeeded by Lyn Kopp.

Recently Parish was diagnosed with neurodegeneration and promptly requested euthanasia before his condition advanced. He was euthanized using inert gas asphyxiation, the standard method of euthanasia used among Ataraxian communes. In accordance to the Ataraxian culture of utility and sustainability, any of Parish's remains not suitable for scientific research will be processed into fertilizer.

It's unfortunate we are still victim to many diseases, nonetheless we were honoured to fulfill Parish's euthanasia request. Parish died peacefully, we are happy for him.

The Ataraxian Confederation provides euthanasia on request and recognizes the right to die universally, regardless of condition.

[Conser]

National Progress Party to be recreated by a group of student more than 50 years after its dissolution

April 4333

Carter City - Falristan - A group of students (and some teachers) from the University of Falristan have recreated the long-time dissoluted party known as the National Progress Party. The newly founded left-wing party has officialy register at the Hutorian Federal Elections Comission and will be running in the 4334 parliamentary election. The New National Progress Party, as they now call themselves, has chose as its new leader Jeffrey Burgole, a 26 years old recently graduated lawyer wich is also the descendant of the former President Jason Burgole.

Here's what he had to say to our journalist:

''The reason why we decided to recreate that party was because we really felt that for us, the more left-leaning people, there is no true alternative to vote for. Yes, of course, there is the Social Union that bring some good ideas but its clear for me that the National Progress Party was one of the greatest party in Hutori's history and I think that it is worth bringing back the dream of great men like Tom Bokota or Alex Bates in the political debate.

For now, our priorities are to end monarchy, to protect our rights and to give back to the federal government the power that belongs to it.''

During the first few months of its creation, thousands of people have join the rank of the NNPP and the party's popularity and visibility has grown remarkably fast. Some people even claim that the new NPP could become a serious competitor during the upcoming election. Only the futur can tell us if this is true.

[colonelvesica]

Woodbury Points out Fresh Future Head of August Elections


Chancellor Woodbury Rising in Question Period

With the 11th Seating of the Parliament of Hutori coming to a close, Chancellor Isaac Woodbury and his governing Royalists have mostly left the capital in Bekenial to begin campaigning for a second term as Hutori's top political party, following the end of a full Parliamentary term, the first following the 13 month terms of the 9th and 10th Parliaments respectively.

Our nation is back on a great track. Following years of fracture we have come back together as a nation, and have pushed forward a number of reforms and iniatives to further empower us. We have return federal control of our national security and defence forces, we have passed a new Tax Code and Budget that has allowed us to invest in Hutori, in it's health care, in it's education and in it's defence. We have reached out to allies, and reinforced our need for trade and friendship. We are on the verge of resecuring the Free Trade Agreement between Kazullia and Hutori, and are working on an iniative to reinforce the long historical links between Hutori and Luthori. This is however only the beginning; if the Hutori voters deem us worthy of a second term we will move to continue strengthening our international image and standing while further empowering Hutori itself. We will move to have deeper relations not just with Terra but our immediate neighbors in Davostan and Telamonia. Hutori is going on the Right Direction, let's continue the Path and work for a Hutori we can all be proud of!

The Royalists have slowly been pushing to the left over the past term, agreeing on numerable labour friendly reforms brought forward by the Socialist Worker's Party and their Social Union Cabinet partners. While Chancellor Woodbury wouldn't confirm that he would maintain the National Unity Cabinet that has kept Hutori steady over the past four years Woodbury did state. "We are stronger when we are together and we will continue to reach out to our partners in Parliament, both in the National Unity Coalition, but also on the Opposition bench to ensure we are moving together on a united path for Hutori as a whole."

Woodbury himself holds high personal popularity ratings, both immensely within his Party, but also with everyday Hutorians. He is ironically polling lowest in Adelia, the traditional heartland of Hutorian Monarchism, which is widely attributed to his new leftist leanings, though his face as the standard bearer of the Royalism movement, in the face of four openly Republican parties, is likely the mainstay reason for his continued popularity.

[RileyHP]

Conservatives Announce New Leader Ahead of Summer Election



The Conservative Party has chosen a new leader after a vote of party members found the former leader, Big Shack, unfit to lead the party. The vote was held after Big Shack failed to appear in parliament 65% of days that it sat in the last year which party members found unacceptable. The new leader is Barack Olatunji, the current Minister of Finance. In his first term as Finance Minister, Olatunji passed new tax measures and made investments in education, healthcare, science, and the military. Now he is looking to become the Chancellor of Hutori. He spoke at a rally outside the Conservative headquarters in Acton shortly after the announcement.

"For the last 3 and a half years I have proudly served as Finance Minister of the Kingdom of Hutori. During those years, we passed new tax measures that allowed for us to make new investments. We have invested in healthcare, 10 billion dollars and 8 new hospitals across Hutori. We have invested in Education, and should our education minister be given another term, we have plans to put that money to use by funding new schools across Hutori. We invested in our military, to help rebuild and repair the damage caused by the previous government. Finally, we invested in science, that extra funding has allowed our scientists to continue conducting and improving their research into new technology, cures for diseases, and much more. Now, I ask all Hutorians for their support. I want to continue helping Hutori thrive and I ask for the privilege of being your next chancellor. Together, we can build on a stronger Hutori."

We caught up with Olatunji after the rally and he says he is very much open to continuing working alongside the Royalist Party, National Liberal Party and Social Union after the election.

"We have had a very successful term in cabinet with the Royalists, National Liberals and the Social Union. While we may not agree on ideology,
we all want what is best for Hutori. Sometimes we do not all agree on what is best as you can see by the way our parties have voted on certain bills,
but at the end of the day, we all can see eye to eye on the most crucial matters and have done a fantastic job rebuilding Hutori in the wake of the destruction caused by the last government. We don't know for sure what the future holds, but we will definitely not rule out working with these parties for another 4 years."