Noumonde

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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Tue Sep 11, 2018 4:47 pm

February 4453

Malgy discontent grows as progress stalls and official inquiries run into the ground

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Anti-government Malgy protests in central Renivohitra

Twenty years on from the historic power-sharing agreement, the shine is rubbing off Tombovelo Tsitohery's premiership in the eyes of his growing number of Malgy (OOC: Madagascan) critics, who feel the progress of Malgy advancement has been much too slow and that the Canrillaise (OOC: French) still hold the fundamental economic, social and political power in Noumonde.

The land redistribution program has been painfully slow, beset by under-funding, lack of international financial support and embarrassing scandals.

Little has been done to increase Malgy representation in the police, army and judiciary. A Royal Commission set up to examine this failed to reach any substantive conclusions because it was hampered by royalist appointees who refused to acknowledge "institutional racism" or other serious problems. Other Royal Commissions and official inquiries which were set up in a spirit of optimism at the time of the signing of the power-sharing agreement have similarly run into the ground.

In Noumonde's cities, the capital Nouville in the west and Renivohitra in the east, and the major towns, support for Tsitohery and his Alliance for Progress is stronger. Here, the Malgy tend to be more prosperous, better educated, more "Canrillaised" and more likely to be either Hosian or secular in their outlook.

However, it is a different story once you enter the rural village communities, the forests and the mountains. Here, the Malgy tend to endure very poor living conditions. and to be fiercely defensive of their Malgyist (OOC: Madgascan pagan) rituals and belief systems, and their traditional way of life. These people were on the whole never enthusiastic about the Alliance to begin with, but their discontent has grown over recent years, and they have come increasingly to see the newly-enriched Malgy elite in the cities as little different to the Canrillaise rulers who have dominated Noumonde for so long.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Thu Sep 13, 2018 2:03 am

October 4453

Trans-Dovani Railway plans trigger Famadihana protest

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Famadihana or "the turning of the bones" is one of the strangest traditions practised by the Malgy (OOC: Madagascan) people. It involves people digging up the bodies of their ancestors, parading them around their local communities, dancing with them, re-wrapping them in fresh cloths and then re-burying them. According to traditional Malgyist (OOC: Madagascan pagan) belief, the spirits of the ancestors have a vital role to play in everyday life, and these rituals are necessary for the well-being of both the living and the dead.

For centuries, the Canrillaise (OOC: French) authorities have sought to repress this custom. Until shortly after the power-sharing agreement, it was technically illegal across Noumonde, although in practice, in different parts of the country and at different times the authorities enforced the prohibition with varying degrees of strictness.

The Aurorian Patriarchal Church in Noumonde once fiercely opposed Famadihana as a crude pagan rite, although in recent decades its position has become more subtle, with some bishops and priests conceding that at least in some circumstances, it might be seen as a cultural tradition rather than a sinful sacrilege.

Once Malgy politicians began to share power with their Canrillaise counterparts 20 years ago, a law was passed making the ritual legal again, although on extremely restrictive conditions regarding when, where and how it could be done. The Malgy politicians from the Alliance for Progress were generally content not to push the cause of "Famadihana Rights" any further than that, for truth be told, most of them frowned upon it as much as their Canrillaise counterparts and saw it as an embarrassment to the cause of Malgy advancement. The Alliance leadership has always been dominated by wealthier, better educated Malgy from the cities and the towns, where Malgyist practices like this are seen as irrational and primitive.

For the last week, across the villages, forests and mountains, Malgy have begun spontaneously partaking in the Famadihana ritual en masse, deliberately flouting all of the regulations requiring them to obtain licences and seek official permissions first. This activity was triggered when the government announced plans to connect Noumonde up to the trans-Dovani Railway, which would cut through many small traditional Malgy communities and lead to the demolition of numerous Malgy burial sites and other places of religious or cultural importance.

On the one hand, the outbreak of Famadihana appears to be a firm declaration of cultural and religious identity, but it is also a very political protest - an expression of frustration against the failure of the government to meet their aspirations. This time, the protest is certainly at least as much at Prime Minister Tombovelo Tsitohery and the Alliance as it is against the traditional Canrillaise establishment. People are feeling their way of life is under threat by the pressures of modernisation, and they are reacting - in the only way they seem to know how.

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Noumon police challenging Famadihana protesters

To begin with, the police took a relatively tolerant approach, but over the last two days, with the Famadihana protest escalating, they have become much more assertive. Tsitohery has been as condemnatory of the activities as his Canrillaise deputy Prime Minister, Louis Poullain, openly accusing those involved of "acting like idiots" and "undermining all the progress we have achieved", and demanding the police act to "uphold the rule of law and protect public safety".

Clashes between the police and Famadihana participants are now increasing and becoming increasingly fierce, especially in the eastern part of the country. The government is believed to be considering imposing a state of emergency if order is not restored.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Maxington » Thu Sep 13, 2018 2:52 am

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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:37 pm

February 4454

Row breaks out in Parliament over Trans-Dovani Railways proposals

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Noumonde's Parliament yesterday

The government came under fire from backbench MPs from both parties yesterday over the controversy surrounding plans for the Trans-Dovani Raliway to pass west through central Noumonde right down until the coast.

Alliance MP Lazafeno Rabenarivo led the charge of criticism, pointing to statements from Kazulian railway officials denying the proposed route of the track is unchangeable. "The Transport Minister tells us that the route of the railway is a done deal, but it's not - it's all still up for discussion!" he insisted, continuing:

The government - and I'm afraid I have to include my Alliance colleagues in this - are going along with an agenda to ride rough-shod over the traditional Malgy (OOC: Madagascan) way of life. They could not have handled this in a more callous and insensitive way. They tell us the route is unchangeable and we just have to accept it, but we know from what the Trans Dovani Railway people are saying that this is simply not true. What the governments needs to do now is to sit down with representatives of these communities and start listening to them. There has got to be some give-and-take here when it comes to demolishing communities and demolishing places of cultural and religious sensitivity.


Zafimiarina Mahatafa. the Alliance's Minister for Transport, dismissed the criticisms as "ungrounded", adding:

When constructing any railway line of this length through this part of the country, it is absolutely inevitable there will be some pushback, some political opposition. We have to accept that. But what we cannot accept, and what I will not accept, and what this government will not accept, is to stall the advance of progress in Noumonde for the sake of NIMBYism (OOC: Nimby = "Not in my backyard").
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:58 pm

February 4454

Aldurian crisis splits the government

Noumonde's power-sharing government is openly divided over how best to respond to the persecution of the Majatrans in Alduria. The Malgy-dominated Alliance party is demanding the imposition of strong measures against the Aldurian government, whilst King Norbert, National Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Louis Poullain and the majority (although not all) of his party are arguing for a "soft diplomacy" approach.

In Noumonde, every issue regarding relations with the Canrillaise world tends to be politicised, with the Canrillaise politicians wanting to keep on good terms, and the Malgy politicians - with their animosity towards the legacy of Canrillaise colonialism - tending to be more suspicious.

However, the two sides do seem to have come to a compromise of sorts over Alduria. For the time being, much to the resentment of the Alliance, there will be no sanctions against Alduria. However, it has been agreed that if the Security Council passes Istalia's proposed motion against Alduria, then Noumonde will agree to honour the motion and go along with the sanctions proposed therein.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:13 pm

April 4454

Verninac ladies exposed in scandalous ménage à trois with Malgy male model

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Baptiste Ramamonjisoa

The celebrity gossip magazine La Vigne ("The Grapevine") has just uncovered that Lady Murielle Verninac and her daughter Tatiana Verninac, who moved to Lourenne after hitting the jackpot with compensation pay-outs from the land redistribution scheme, are living at their mansion in the Lourennais capital, Eroncourt, in a scandalous ménage à trois with Malgy male model Baptiste Ramamonjisoa, who triples up as their hired chauffeur, masseur and tennis instructor.

According to witnesses, the two women "can scarcely contain their lust for Baptiste" and "have their hands all over him at private parties and even in public bars, restaurants and clubs".

Most commentators now believe they moved to Lourenne in order to be away from prying eyes in Noumonde, where there is significant stigma against inter-racial relationships.

Sources close to the Verninacs report Lady Murielle has determined the bachelor King Herbert of Lourenne must be gay, because he has so far resisted the advances of both herself and her daughter. They say she is now on a mission to try to entice the King with Ramamonjisoa, and then use him to exert her own personal influence on the King and the royal family. Tatiana, who is said to be deeply in love with Ramamonjisoa, is said to be "furious" and "heartbroken" by her mother's designs, and Ramamonjisoa himself has been described as "unenthusiastic" about the scheme but willing to do whatever Lady Murielle requires of him.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:52 pm

October 4454

BREAKING NEWS: PLAGUE REPORTED IN EASTERN NOUMONDE

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Reports are coming in that seven people in eastern Noumonde have contracted a plague-like illness believed to resemble the Wolfsheim Plague which caused devastation across Terra over a century ago. Two have died, whilst the other five are being treated under quarantine in hospital.

The Famadihana protest, where Malgy (OOC: Madagascans) dug up their dead and paraded them around in defiance of the authorities, is believed by experts to be linked to this outbreak.

The revered Malgyist (OOC: Madagascan pagain) High Priest, Manahirana Ramamantsoa, has told his followers:

We brought out our ancestors to dance with us, but they have not blessed us, they have cursed us. They have cursed us because they are angry at what we Malgy have done to ourselves and to our country. They are angry that we are selling out to the Canrillaise. They are angry that we are going into the towns and cities to live like Canrillaise, think like Canrillaise, dress like Canrillaise, eat like Canrillaise, worship like Canrillaise. They want us to return to our traditional way of life, and they will not stop punishing us until we listen.


Marion Silvestre, Noumonde's Chief Medical Officer, has described Famadihana as "unhealthy and dangerous" and demanded "an immediate halt to the practice".

However, Andrianary Rakoto, the General Secretary of the Malgy Medical Association, argues:

Famadihana is relatively safe provided all of the appropriate precautions are taken. What went wrong here is that very large numbers of people engaged in Famadihana who had no experience of being involved in the ritual before and who did not really know what they were doing. They were not following the proper guidelines.


At the request of his government, King Noumonde has declared a state of emergency, granting the army full powers to intervene to prevent any more Famadihana and to repress any civil unrest.

Skirmishes between anti-government Malgy protesters and the police and army are being reported across the countryside, although the main towns and cities are so far relatively stable.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:02 pm

March 4455

Speculation mounts over Poullain's successor

At 82 years old and reportedly in declining health, Louis Poullain, former Prime Minister, serving Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Canrillaise (OOC: French)-dominated National Party, is not expected to remain in office for much longer. Few in high places are prepared to speak publicly, but behind the scenes in Noumonde's Canrillaise establishment, all sorts of jockeying and positioning is going on in an attempt to influence who will replace him.

The National Party is unique amongst political parties across Terra in that it has no formal official process for determining its leader. By convention, the leader "emerges" following consultations between the monarch and what is know as "the secret circle" - the political oligarchs of the National Party and the establishment - meaning in particular, senior figures within the civil service and the army.

Poullain is believed to favour Leon Cormier, the Minister of Education. Cormier, like Poullain, was born outside of the grand old Canrillaise families, and comes from a background which is, by Noumon Canrillaise standards, comparatively humble although by no means poor. To the establishment, he is something of an outsider, especially given the fact he was not even born in Noumonde, having emigrated with his family from Lourenne when he was 9 years old.

Cormier comes with a mild whiff of notoriety about him because his political patron has long been Lady Murielle Verninac, a now somewhat notorious woman mired in scandal and saucy gossip. Lady Murielle, who is said to have enjoyed an affair with him during his younger days, used her influence and contacts to help get him elected to Parliament, and then to advance his political career from there. Cormier's critics warn he is too close to Lady Murielle and has too much history with her. However, his supporters argue many politicians have benefited from political patronage at some time or other, that Cormier has never done anything wrong or corrupt and that in any case, Lady Murielle can not be said to have any influence over him now, now that she is out of the country and popularly seen as disgraced.

King Norbert, who is thought to have the ultimate choice over who to pick, is reported to share Poullain's preference for Cormier. Despite his reputation for old-fashioned snobbery, the King is known to prefer his most senior ministers to hail from outside the Canrillaise social elite, because he feels less threatened by them and finds them easier to dominate. This is one of the reasons he appointed Poullain decades ago. However, those who know Cormier describe him as having a stronger personality than Poullain's, and believe he would be more likely to have his own opinions and resist being merely the King's placeman. Politically-speaking, Cormier is believed to be more progressive and internationalist-minded than the other National Party ministers. He is also known to have gone out of his way to build links with the Malgy community and to have a good working relationship with the Malgy members of the government, particularly with Prime Minister Tombovelo Tsitohery.

Nevertheless, despite having the sympathy of both the King and the current leader, and for all his apparent personal qualities, Cormier is not without opponents within the National Party. These come mainly from the "Old Guard" of the Canrillaise establishment who in recent years, have come to resent losing power and influence not only to to the Malgy, but also to the new rising class of upstart Canrillaise "New Guard". Many of them felt it was bad enough having to tolerate Poullain as their leader when he was appointed some decades back, and are determined not to allow the leadership to be held by someone outside of their immediate ranks twice in succession. Their preferred candidate for leader is Count Henri Beaumanoir, the Minister of Defence, a former naval chief and the grandson of a former Prime Minister. However, Beaumanoir, despite being a member of the government, soured his relationship with the King by fiercely criticising him privately for agreeing to share power with the Malgy. Of all the Canrillaise Cabinet Ministers, he is the least enthusiastic about power-sharing, and the least popular with Malgy leaders.
Last edited by Aquinas on Tue Sep 18, 2018 11:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:33 pm

February 4456

Calls rises for "Full Democracy", Tsitohery challenged for Alliance leadership

With frustration growing in the Malgy (OOC: Madagascan) community at the failure of the power-sharing government to deliver more significant reform, demands are growing for the abolition of the power-sharing agreement and the introduction of what Malgy campaigners call "Full Democracy" and their Canrillaise (OOC: French) opponents call "Malgy Majority Rule".

Masoandro Androkae, a former Health Minister, is challenging Tombovelo Tsitohery for the position of chairperson of the Alliance for Progress. He insists he remains "loyal to Tombovelo Tsitohery as the Prime Minister of our country" and says he has "no intention to dislodge Tsitohery from the premiership", and praises Tsitohery as "the father of the Malgy people", but argues "the Alliance needs to be led by a person who is outside of the government and who can represent the party and the people, and make the case for what this country really, desperately needs - which is the introduction of Full Democracy and the abolition of special privileges for the Canrillaise".

Tsitohery has responded that he "understands and shares the aspiration of the Malgy people for Full Democracy" but that "to achieve this, we need to be realistic and work within the power-sharing political framework we have all agreed to".


Trans-Dovani Railway plans "postponed"

Minister for Transport Zafimiarina Mahatafa has announced that the project to build an extension to the Trans-Dovani Railway running through Noumonde has been "postponed". Transport experts are confused as to what this means, or even whether it means anything at all in practice, since work on the construction of the railway has not commenced and the direction of the route it will take has not even been finalised. Most political commentators believe it is simply a means of quietening down the Malgy opposition to the plans. If this was the intention, it appears to have worked, since the lively protests against the project have now considerably died down.


Two more plague victims die

Two more plague deaths have now been confirmed, in addition to the seven earlier reported. Medical experts believe the plague outbreak remains a danger in Noumonde, although it appears not to be spreading in the way that was originally feared. A widespread vaccination campaign is credited for helping to contain the outbreak.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Maxington » Tue Sep 18, 2018 1:50 am

"The future of the Nation is in the children's school bags" ~ Dr. Eric Williams
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