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By: Kavagrad on October 20, 2021

(note: this is an opinion article, the views expressed here after do not necessarily represent the views of The Leftist Times as a whole, it was originally a statement on the leftist assembly's RMB that has been republished here with the approval of kavagrad)

What Is Going On?

It is clear that the last few weeks have drawn a fair degree of grumbling and general discontent, not least from myself, about the direction TLA has been headed. A community that has firmly leaned anti-WA for the last two years has been dragged into WA affairs well beyond our level of interest. If rumours I've heard and alleged leaks that I've seen over the last couple of days are correct, there may well have been discussions that could've led to this becoming even worse. I shan't spread the unsubstantiated further, nor can I speak on certain matters whilst maintaining a sound legal footing, but given that I would've never believed such things just six weeks ago, and yet I found myself believing them upon hearing them in the last few days, it is clear that things have gone too far.

Conversations in our community on WA matters are rarely productive as of late. This is to be expected when a community that leans anti-WA is discussing the WA with a WA Minister, you don't have to be a genius to see where conflicts may arise. Should these snippy disagreements be allowed to turn into substantive divisions in our community, we will be worse for it. As a Founder and the community server's Head Admin, it is my job to be sensitive to these issues, and I am speaking out in hope of nipping them in the bud before things go any further.

I suspect that the resignation of Cesnica also marks the Secretary's intention to scale back his MoWAA project. It seems reasonable to assume that the introduction of a Deputy Minister is off the table, for example. This is good news, but it isn't enough.

The MoWAA Project Is A Dead End

There is a fundamental conflict between the MoWAA project and the views of our community on the WA that simply cannot be resolved, and as such this project will never see the results that Secretary Greylyn is hoping for. This is a region whose only contributions of note to the WA side of NS in the last two years have been joke proposals designed to annoy people that take the WA too seriously. Most Assemblians are either anti-WA or simply do not care. We are not going to turn around and start taking it seriously ourselves, and a project based on the assumption that we might is doomed from the start. Even if you were able to do so, that process would rely on a long-term executive dedication to the project that simply wouldn't have the necessary staying power in a democratic region that doesn't like the WA to begin with, and the attempt itself would cause the development of the unnecessary divisions noted above.

Put simply, trying to shift the leanings of an entire community is the sort of process that takes months, if not years, and the downsides of the attempt simply aren't worth any perceived gains. This isn't working, and it would be even worse if it was.

Respect Our Community

This should never have been attempted to the extent that it has in the first place. Not only creating a Ministerial post that is inherently in conflict with the instincts of our community, but also appointing a relative newcomer with many WA-related ties outside of TLA, and then sanctioning the creation of a Deputy Minister position (a completely foreign concept to TLA) with the intended nominee being a complete outsider that arrived in TLA less than two hours before the creation of the post was announced. These are not decisions that would be made by a government that was genuinely considering what our community needs, rather it shows a lack of respect for Assemblian culture, with preference instead given to one's own poorly-evaluated policy aims.

Along with a complete lack of communication from the Grey on these concerns, this suggests to me that the Secretary needs to reconsider his approach to government-citizen relations in the remainder of his term. I wrote in The Leftist Times during the last election that Grey had the opportunity to be a "truly Assemblian Secretary". Six weeks later, I can't see it. The Secretary needs to step up, be the public face of the executive, and govern for Assemblians, rather than against our interests.

Moving Forward

Our government now has the opportunity to reconsider this project in the absence of a Minister of World Assembly Affairs.

My suggestion is simple: Don't appoint a new one. End this here. I've made mistakes during my time as Secretary, I've appointed unnecessary Ministers. Those mistakes were never held against me because I recognised those mistakes and eliminated those positions before my term ended. The Secretary now has the opportunity to do the same.

Combine this with an increased level of communication with the electorate, and a governing philosophy that respects the community at large.

This executive term is far from over. It can be salvaged, but we as a community must start seeing change, and that has to begin now.

By: Kavagrad on September 7, 2021

(note: this is an opinion article, the views expressed here after do not necessarily represent the views of The Leftist Times as a whole)

If you told most people involved in the politics of Greylyn-era TLA that Grey was running for a second term, and that Kava was writing an article about it, you might expect one of three responses: One group, at varying times during that term either the largest or smallest group, would likely be panicking and trying to prepare a response without politicking themselves into a corner, whilst another group would be interested in whether or not I would outright argue for voting Seek Other, as I’d stopped just short of the first time around. The third group would be wondering why on earth I’d failed to organise an “establishment” candidate against Grey for a second time, or even run in my own right. This is to make the point that many involved at the time would likely consider me one of Greylyn’s most open and fiery opponents, perhaps second only to Llorens. I might make the case that I did more work behind the scenes to oppose Grey and the wider Civil Service platform (though the extent of that work will likely never be fully revealed), but nonetheless my political stance at the time would be best described as anti-CSI or perhaps, less favourably, as pro-status quo.

Indeed, when Greylyn was elected Secretary, his Civil Service Initiative (CSI) didn’t work. Interest from Assemblians fell far short of the Secretary’s initial projections, the mentorship program that was a part of the initiative didn’t click with new members, and the Community Affairs section of the initiative saw no action whatsoever throughout the term. The three primary objections of folks like myself (that there wouldn’t be enough interest, that complaints about a lack of opportunity would continue regardless, and that many Civil Servants would have little if not nothing to do) were all proven correct in short order. As Grey’s successor, I personally oversaw the dismantling of the initiative, seeing very little worth salvaging in it.

I say all of this only to make it perfectly clear that if I, of all people, am arguing against holding Grey’s first term against him a year later (and as the title of this article suggests, I am doing exactly that), then that should hold a lot of weight.

So why should you, as an Assemblian voter, not write Grey’s campaign off?

Firstly, Grey has made clear over the past year that he knows that the Civil Service Initiative was a failure. We’re not going to have to deal with a repeat of CSI if he is elected. This is of course welcome, but it isn’t new. When Podria ran against Dyl 6 months ago on a platform that held significant similarities to the Civil Service Initiative, Grey was one of those that came out against this attempted revival, and indeed he was one of the most welcome voices that did so. To not only abandon his previous platform, but to actively oppose it, shows that Grey has come a long way since his last run at the top job.

Secondly, Greylyn’s platform this time around is far more conventional than his previous work. The actual content of his platform, the policies, are sensible, even if some can be argued against. The addition of a Minister of World Assembly Affairs has been tried before, sure, but as the community seems to slowly be moving away from the anti-Gameplay stance of recent past (though I, of course, remain staunchly anti-WA) such an addition may well have some legs. The movement of the Regional Update Telegram (RUTG) from the Secretary to the Minister of Information provides accountability and shows that the RUTG will be embedded into Cabinet duties for the foreseeable future, something which I welcome.

We must, of course, be cautious. If Greylyn is to become our next Secretary, I will be the first to criticise if things begin to go off of the rails. However, every indication suggests that this Secretary Greylyn would not be the Greylyn that implemented CSI, nor the Greylyn that went after the Discord server’s admin team, nor the Greylyn whose Vice-Secretary resigned under threat of impeachment. I don’t think Greylyn will ever be a same-old kind of Secretary, but I have every reason to believe that, with a second attempt, he could be a truly Assemblian Secretary. Only time will show whether or not he wants to be.

By: Wascoitan on September 1, 2021

Analysis

(the raw numbers for the poll can be found below) Well this was certainly a poll, unfortunately a high margin of error due to a relatively low sample size means that any findings I conclude in this Analysis should be taken with a grain of salt. I believe part of the reason for the fairly low sample size is a: a high number of questions and b: the lack of recent opinion polls making receiving one seem strange to newcomers, hopefully as polling becomes a more common thing again we’ll see response rates rise.

Anyways, on to the actual poll, it seems that a large portion of the government is currently suffering from a lack of knowledge about them, with everyone except for dyl, new samon, and kavagrad seemingly having an unusually high rate of unsure or neutral votes. Luckily for the cabinet however, besides perhaps Ghillemear, there doesn’t seem to be a cabinet member that more than one person is actually unhappy with. I believe that it is possible Antinios’s polling numbers may have been higher had the census gone out before we took this poll, though that’s just pure speculation.

Beyond that Callid’s high neutral/unsure numbers are to be expected seeing as anyone who isn’t a member of the roleplay would pretty much inherently vote unsure on them, perhaps greater advertisement of the roleplay would help here a bit, though of course to a certain extent there will always be people who just don’t care about roleplay. As for the current election, ideas on how to potentially increase how public the cabinet is with their work should likely be on candidates' minds if they want to fix the issue of large amounts of neutral and unsure votes.

Sample size: 18

Margin of error: ±22.3%

Please state whether you strongly approve, approve, are unsure/neutral, disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the performance of the following government members or institutions

Secretary New Samon

Strongly approve - 33.3% (6)

Somewhat Approve - 44.4% (8)

Unsure/neutral - 22.2% (4)

Somewhat disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +77.7%

Vice SecretaryDyl

Strongly approve - 22.2% (4)

Somewhat approve- 44.4% (8)

Neutral or unsure - 33.3% (6)

Somewhat disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +66.6%

Minister of Community Affairs Kavagrad

Strongly approve - 33.3% (6)

Somewhat approve- 33.3% (6)

Neutral or unsure - 33.3% (6)

Somewhat disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +66.6%

Minister of Foreign Affairs New Flamington

Strongly approve - 11.1% (2)

Somewhat approve- 38.9% (7)

Neutral or unsure - 44.4% (8)

Somewhat disapprove- 5.6% (1)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +44.4%

Minister of Information Antinios

Strongly approve - 11.1% (2)

Somewhat approve- 27.8% (5)

Neutral or unsure - 55.7% (10)

Somewhat disapprove- 5.6% (1)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +33.3%

Minister of Recruitment Ghillemear

Strongly approve - 27.8% (5)

Somewhat approve- 33.3% (6)

Neutral or unsure - 27.8% (5)

Somewhat disapprove- 11.1% (2)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +50.0%

Minister of Roleplay Callid

Strongly approve - 11.1% (2)

Somewhat approve- 27.8% (5)

Neutral or unsure - 61.1% (11)

Somewhat disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +38.9%

The General Assembly

Strongly approve - 0.0% (0)

Somewhat approve- 44.4% (8)

Neutral or unsure - 50.0% (9)

Somewhat disapprove- 5.6% (1)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +38.9%

Speaker Dyl

Strongly approve - 16.7% (3)

Somewhat approve- 44.4% (8)

Neutral or unsure - 38.9% (7)

Somewhat disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Strongly Disapprove- 0.0% (0)

Net Approval: +61.1%

By: Wascoitan on August 25, 2021

The Communist Bloc (TCB) has just elected a new Minister of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Judiciary after a particularly lively campaign period, bucking a recent trend of uncompetitive elections. Leaving many wondering who was running, what they stood for, and who won.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Former Minister of Domestic Affairs Eriadni, perhaps more commonly known as Aquila, announced his plan to contest the election after a short 4 month hiatus from NationStates. Sure enough shortly after nominations started, he nominated himself and released a campaign platform. The platform titled “Vote Aquila for MoFA for based eternal world revolution (Not really but also kinda) (I'm not a Trot I promise)” went through some of his history and promised what could only be described as a more left focused and interventionist foreign policy, in contrast to TCB’s previous more neutral foreign policy approach. Some of his main policies include the revitalization of NSLeft, the promotion of Leftism across NS to help leftist in other regions better organize, the establishment of a military with the focus of raiding right of center regions, and the encouragement of leftist outside of the region to get more involved in the WA, issues, militaries, etc. Eriadni ended his platform with a general appeal and responding to the potential argument that this all is not TCB’s responsibility.

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Legislative Committee Member CommunistAnarchicDemocracy, more commonly known as CAD, was widely seen as Aquila’s main opponent in the race. Originally running in the general election in July, he dropped out after Martyn Kiryu chose to stand in a bid to get NoTA’d (none of the above) and give someone other than CAD (who he viewed as unfit to hold the position) a chance to run in the by-election. Unfortunately for Martyn’s plans he failed to get NoTA’d and instead was elected, he continued to serve as MoFA until resigning and retiring from NS as a whole on August 10th, leading to this by-election. After nominating for the position CAD released a platform, promising a more moderate keep things the same policy that were pursued under Martyn, including opposition to the formation of a military, monthly embassy reports, and more cultural events with allies.

Outside the two main competitors of the race there were also 2 relatively new candidates, Anarchy-Communists and Bal Hen. They were seen as relative long shots without some great new idea. So what did they have to offer? Well Anarchy-Communists was the only one to release a platform, it was fairly basic just going over when they will be available time wise and the basics of what a MoFA would be expected to do, with their main point being the encouragement of political and civil rights legislation in the WA. The other ended up not releasing a platform at all

Most of the campaign's discussion was built off of CAD questioning Aquila’s platform. Beyond simply questioning if it is achievable and what it would look like CAD had two main problems with Aquila’s platform. The first major issue of the campaign was the formation of a military, which CAD expressed opposition to, citing former MoFA martyn’s opposition to it. Aquila defended his support of a military, arguing that it is a fun way to boost regional participation and spread TCB’s ideology to the whole of NS. Aquila also ruffled some feathers with his discussion of political parties in other regions, which some interpreted as meaning TCB directed parties in other regions. CAD critiqued this idea by appealing to the principle of regional sovereignty and arguing that directing parties in other regions would just lead to those regions distrusting said parties. Aquila clarified that he did not mean setting up TCB run parties but rather encouraging leftists in other regions to establish them, with TCB at most giving some advice from time to time. Aquila further argued against CAD’s points regarding regional sovereignty by arguing that following this principle would ultimately lead to an NS where bourgeois and fascist forces thrive and that we must challenge the idea of regional sovereignty where it does not promote leftist thought.

At the end of the election the results were a landslide in favor of Aquila, managing to receive roughly two thirds of the vote, with 18 votes. In second place was surprisingly not CAD but rather Anarchy-Communists with 6 votes. CAD, Bal Hen, and None of the above got 1 vote each.

Judiciary

The Judiciary election was comparatively less active than the Foreign Affairs election, but it still had it’s fair share of candidates getting 5 people to run for it, just enough to fill every position on the court.

Those running for People’s justice included longtime members of TCB such as Former Minister of Domestic Affairs NegativeTwelve, Former People’s Justice Karl Kuznetsov von Habsburg, and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs CAD. Also running were two relative newcomers HC_KingAlbert who had previously held the position and Muirsk who had not previously held an elected position.

There were relatively few campaigns released for this election, only 3, with many of the candidates seemingly relying on name recognition alone to allow them to win. Among the campaigns that were released, most were by the nature of the position more based on the candidate’s knowledge of TCB law and values, rather than any real policy promises.

Both CAD and NegativeTwelve’s campaigns were mostly just them stating their experience and knowledge of TCB law, with CAD’s being particularly short as most of their focus was on the Foreign Affairs election. Muirsk’s campaign was more based on stating their values, promising to “Suppress capitalism in all its forms. Minimize capitalism when it crops up in cases, and making no compromises when it comes to our socialist values.”, be as objective as possible, and make sure any laws pass adhere to Marxism.

At the end of the election, all candidates got elected, with Muirsk getting the least votes, only 13, and Karl getting the most, 21. There was a notable amount of none of the rest of the above votes with 10, meaning Muirsk only barely managed to avoid losing the election.

With the new Minister and Justices set to take office immediately we here at The Leftist Times will be sure to report on any new developments that occur as a result of their leadership, so stay tuned for more NSLeft updates!

After the resignation of Soviet Catgirls as Member of the General Assembly TLA will hold a by-election to fill the seat.
Shortly there after 5 nations nominated themselves for the position, with 4 fairly new nations and Podria, former Speaker, MGA and Minister.