Midrasian Spring

Midrasian Spring
Clockwise from top-left: Protesters at Lotric in late April; Initial demonstrations at the Column de Febrièr; CGT members protesting anti-trade union laws; Protesters clash with Police in central Lotrič.
Date	5th April 2017 - 2018
Location	Midrasia
Caused by	Political corruption Political apathy Economic inequality Other demographic factors
Methods	Occuptation Nonviolent protest Picketing Demonstrations Internet activism Hacktivism
Resulted in	Resignation of Consul Charles Vauban Election of Melcion Portas Growth in right-wing conservative backlash
Number
1,000,000 at Lotric (estimate) 200,000 in regions (estimate)

The Midrasian Spring (Midrasian: Prima Mydraziaine), or the 2017 Midrasian Protests refered to a series of demonstrations beginning on the 5th April 2017 and ending in early 2018. Most demonstrations took place within Lotric, however a number of other protests were reported in cities across Midrasia, most notably at Hiverbourg and Berghelling. The demonstrations initial emerged in response to allegations of political corruption aimed at several Midrasian politicians, most notably Consul Charles Vauban. However, a variety of issues came to be represented in the protests as official groups began to organise demonstrations in tandem with the initial demonstrations.

Following the initial protests on the 5th of April, many other political activist groups and parties such as Fight Against Corruption and the SPGS joined demonstrators in calling for the resignation of the government and actions to curb the involvement of corporations within Midrasian politics and prevent any potential future political corruption. As protests continued, several other groups such as the hacktivist group Incognito and the Socialist Party began to join demonstrations, protesting against other perceived issues within Midrasian society. On 6th April one of Midrasia's largest unions the CGT announced it would be holding a ballot on whether to join protests on the grounds of economic injustice and the erosion of labour laws. Within the first week of protests alone, around 100,000 protesters have taken part in demonstrations in and around the Lotric area.

Following almost a year of protests, Charles Vauban announced that he would be resigning as both Consul and leader of the Social Democratic Party, paving the way for the election of Melcion Portas to the Consulship in late 2017. Though a number of protests continued thereafter covering a range of issues from inequality to corporate influence over government, by 2018 the main aims of the movement had been met with the remaining protests becoming fractured and divided over their aims.

Nevertheless, the movement led to a growing right-wing backlash particularly from identitarian nationalist groups, as well as political parties such as the Alydian Democratic Union and Midrasia First. Many counter-protests were set up throughout 2017 which regularly clashed with the main protestors. The 2019 mid-term elections also saw considerable growth in support from many right-wing parties as a push-back to the legacy of the spring.

Naming

Many outlets have used a number of names to refer to the demonstrations taking place across the country, with the most common initially being the Lotric protests or Anti-corruption demonstrations. However as the event began to gain traction on social media, many, particularly organisers of the protests began to refer to the event as the Midrasian Spring, alluding to a re-awakening of Midrasian society and the period during which the protests began. As the protests expanded media outlets, such as La République began to officially refer to the event as the Midrasian Spring.

Background

Corruption allegations

Allegations of political corruption within Midrasia have been commonplace throughout the modern era, with newspapers regularly reporting stories regarding specific political candidates and their ties to outsider organisations regardless of the reliability of evidence. Specifically a wider fear of corporate influence within Midrasian politics has surfaced since the Bourgogne privatisations of the 1970s and 80s, with a large portions of the public, particularly those on the left believing Midrasian industries to have an unparalleled level of influence within the Midrasian government. Whilst initially this criticism was solely levelled at the Alydian Democratic Union in recent years the Vauban government has also come under such scrutiny. Specific recent criticism has mostly focused on campaign financing, with a number of key donors playing a major role in the funding of political campaigns. It has been alleged that such figures have sought legislative influence through funding of such political campaigns.

Political apathy

Due to growing corruption allegations, many within the Midrasian public have felt a sense of apathy toward contemporary mainstream politics. This sense of apathy was further amplified due to the Midrasian electoral system utilising first-past-the-post voting and the general trend of political parties to focus on centrist 'broad-church' policies over viable alternatives. Whilst this general political apathy was reversed somewhat with the electoral reforms of 2014, the PSDs move to adopting a third-way approach under Vauban can be seen to have only emphasised Midrasian politics' lack of a clear division between the major parties. Whilst in recent years trends have shown smaller more alternative parties gaining an increasing share of the vote, turnouts have remained low throughout the twenty-first century.

Other issues

Wider demographic and economic issues can also be seen to have contributed to the spring, with increasing levels of wealth inequality and particularly the poor economic outlook for younger generations. Over the past twenty years, Midrasian society has seen an increasing proportion of wealth being concentrated among the top 1% within society. This has been a particularly pertinent issue within the capital of Lotric due to soaring house prices and high levels of absenteeism, with many foreign businessmen owning second homes within the city. Lack of job opportunities for younger generations has also seen many become dissatisfied with Midrasian society, with the rising cost of university tuition leading many to turn away from higher education initiatives which are not guaranteed to provide employment in the first instance. This, coupled with an ageing population and demands for younger generations to work well into their 70s to reach retirement age has led to a 'generation gap' in Midrasian society.

Prelude

'Favours' from Mr Vauban

RECENT investigations by our crack team of dogsbodies here at Picayune's secret Headquarters, (Lotric, Midrasia, 12 Baccalaur, the white building on the corner of the high street) have uncovered a whole new swathe of information regarding the dirty dealings of a one Mr Charles Vauban.

Mr Vauban, presumably some form of government head honcho, bigwig, administration person appears in recent years to have had numerous dealings with several individuals of the shady nature. Mr Vauban also appears to have gone so far as to taken money off of these people in return for 'favours'.

Now, when we mean 'favours', we here at le Picayune are not exactly going to poke through Mr Vauban's private life once again (although that in itself is a story of its own... see Picayune 897). However reports suggest that Mr Vauban has been providing 'access' to influence within the Midrasian political system. This does not merely extend to simply lobbying, Mr Vauban has even allowed his backers a place on his oversees visit, providing his friends a 'leg up' on the competition. One incident involved the Consul providing insider access to two business officials from a a shipping company which we will not name (it rhymes with Serco) on an official ambassadorial visit to Vrnallia. It was believed that these officials were interested in bidding on a contract to expand one of Vrnallia's shipping ports.

In another incident, on an official trip to the Ardaiman capital of Cadmaria, the Consul was alleged to have spent more time in private meetings with media officials rather than actually preparing for the day's negotiations. That would explain his appearance on the day as 'tired and emotional' as described in a previous issue (Picayune 902). Nevertheless, it was not simply his friends in the media who gained access to such as conference, but also one of Mr Vauban's biggest backers in the 2013 election, Raymonde Calligule of Assoluto motors. Not only was Mr Calligule in Cadmaria to discuss a new contract for a new manufacturing plant, but also to discuss personally with Mr Vauban his desire for the government not to pass the new 'Clean Car Bill'. The bill which would have put stricter limits on car pollution and mandated the phasing out of diesel and petrol by 2050 was voted down by the PSD in November. An insider within Vauban's team who wished to remain anonymous has alleged that at the meeting in Torden, Mr Vauban was offered a significant amount of money both for personal use and his reelection campaign later this year.

Now, we here at le Picayune pride ourselves on our etiquette when reporting on stories of this nature, and as such we reached out to Mr Vauban for comment before publishing this story. For whatever reason Mr Vauban and his team declined to comment on our investigative work. Of course, responding to emails from journalistic outlets must be low on ones list of priorities when they have more important things to do.... Like ensuring business associates get back stage access to all your oversees meetings, or organising that big corporate dinner to discuss policy direction, or catching up with 'old chums' in the media.... (I think we get the point, Ed.)

'Leaky Leo' , Le Picayune

2015 Parliamentary corruption scandal

In 2015 evidence emerged that several elected MPs had breached Parliamentary code by engaging in unsolicited activities with private companies. It was alleged that such activities ranged for providing access to private governmental meetings for private individuals to taking undocumented campaign donations from specific firms or individuals. In the aftermath of the revelations, the Midrasian media ran a number of stories alleging that a number of MPs across the political spectrum were involved in the scandal. This was only further affirmed when Melcion Portas, a member of the Social Democratic Party resigned from the cabinet after criticising Vauban's 'totalitarian' control over the government's affairs.

Whilst initial media reaction had suggested that the scandal involved a large number of figures across the political spectrum, the Parliamentary Committee established to investigate the claims only found sufficient evidence to convict two members of the Assembly, with a third member involved, but without sufficient evidence of wrongdoing. Following the publication of the investigation all three individuals, two of which belonged to the UDA and one member from the PSD, resigned from their position as MPs, leading to three by-elections. Although the investigation had not found evidence to convict further members of Parliament, the scandal did much to alienate large sections of the Midrasian public, many of whom believed the government's response to be inadequate.

Le Picayune article

On 5th April 2017 Midrasian satirical magazine Le Picayune published an article titled "'Favours' from Mr Vauban" regarding the affairs of the Midrasian Consul Charles Vauban. The article, published by an anonymous author going by the name of 'Leaky Leo' alleged that the Consul had allowed campaign donors and business contacts access to oversees governmental meetings and had even lobbies on behalf of such companies on overseas visits and through the legislative agenda of the government itself. The article specifically identified two political donors, Merco and Raymonde Calligule of Assoluto Motors as receiving preferential treatment at the hand of the Consul.

The publication of the article and specifically the government's refusal to comment led to the issue gaining widespread media attention, with a number of outlets running stories relating to the allegations and anyone or anything remotely connected to the Consul in a negative way. Furthermore, following the publication of the article, a number of protesters began to gather in the capital, calling for the resignation of Vauban and an investigation into the activities of the Consul. Following these developments a number of other news outlets began to call for a wider parliamentary investigation into the Consul. Right-wing newspaper Le Frelon in particular called for the Consul to step down and provided readers with template letters to send to their MPs to call for Vauban's resignation.

Incognito claims

Following the allegations listed within the Picayune article and the emergence of protests in the capital, international hacktivist group Incognito, renowned for its history in attempting to infiltrate the Midrasian government's servers and a number of media outlets; posted a chirp suggesting that the group had far more information on the Consul than had been listed within the Picayune article. The chirp quickly gained traction online and media outlets began to speculate on the Consul's future. A number of unconfirmed reports suggested that the government was in 'lockdown' over the issue and was unwilling to release a statement on the issue. Incognito officially confirmed it would release its information on the weekend of the 8th unless the Consul resigned. The government officially released a statement denying any wrongdoing at 8pm of the 5th of April.

Despite assurances that they would do so, Incognito did not release their information by the weekend, leading to a reduction in the size of protests and a lapse in media coverage. Several days later however a number of Incognito members suggested that members of their group had been arrested by the Bureau of Investigation, having their information suppressed. Such allegations ultimately led to the creation of a Parliamentary investigation into the Consul and the Bureau following a vote in the Public Assembly.

Demonstration timeline

5 April 2017: Following the publication of the article "'Favours' from Mr Vauban" in the Midrasian satirical magazine Le Picayune several hundred protesters gather on Lotric Parliament Green, calling for the immediate resignation of Consul Charles Vauban. The hacktivist group Incognito reports that it has more information on Vauban which it will release to the public if the Consul did not resign immediately. Media coverage of the event caused thousands more protesters to gather at Parliament Green.

6 April 2017: Other protests break out in Berghelling and Hiverbourg. Several other groups join the demonstrations in Lotric, taking total number of protesters up to 100,000. Many groups begin to protest against a range of other issues, such as economic inequality and a perceived erosion of labour laws.

9 April 2017: The number of protesters reaches 250,000 in Lotric alone. Despite assurances that information on the Consul would be released, the hacktivist group Incognito fails to follow up on their claims.

10 April 2017: The Midrasian government condemns Johka for its alleged engagement in the 'genocide of the Johkk peoples.' The bill passed was introduced by representative Thierry Millón, a member of the PSD and a known critic of Mr Vauban. Several protesters call for Mr Millón to replace Vauban as Consul.

15 April 2017: The number of protesters is drastically reduced, with media attention increasingly focused on the situation in Johka.

16 April 2017: The CGT, Midrasia's largest trade union agrees to join protests, campaigning against eroding labour laws and a reduction in wages and living standards.

21 April 2017: An opinion poll released shows public support for Consul Charles Vauban to have recovered since the outbreak of the protests. Media outlets suggest a lack of evidence, along with the government's decisive action against Johka are causes for this change.

27 April 2017: Members of the hacktivist group Incognito claim to have been arrested following the announcement that they have information on Vauban, with the government seizing thousands of documents from the group, preventing information being leaked. The number of protesters in Lotric are reported at around 700,000 following these claims.

2 May 2017: A number of violent clashes are reported between protesters and police in a number of cities. Police disperse a number of disruptive crowds using Tear gas, a number of those involved in violent protests are arrested.

14 May 2017: The Midrasian Parliament votes to officially authorise an investigation into the affairs of Consul Vauban and a number of his close advisers. The move marked a split within the PSD-Liberal Coalition, which officially withdrew its support for the coalition government.

24 May 2017: Protesters climb the Column de Febrièr unveiling a banner protesting recent military interventions performed by Midrasia in Johka and elsewhere, calling for a peaceful solution and general nuclear disarmament.

8 June 2017: Berthou Park in Lotric is officially closed to the public over safety concerns due to the number of Protesters now camping overnight within the area.

21 June 2017: Protesters begin to collect donations and organise a concert within the city of Lotric in order to raise Campaign funds for Fight Against Corruption and the Socialist Party. Melcion Portas appears as a guest speaker at the protests.

4 July 2017: Berthou Park is reopened to the public as protests in the area begin to de-escalate.

15 July 2017: A concert is held in Lotric to support the protesters. A number of high-profile acts from Midrasia and wider Asura attend the event, which raises a considerable sum of money for the linked causes.

21 July 2017: Following the death of pretender to the Midrasian throne Louis XII, a small number of pro-monarchy protesters begin to call for the restoration of the Midrasian monarchy.

5 August 2017: Protesters announce their support for Social Democratic MPs who cut ties to Consul Charles Vauban. A number of these MPs are spotted among the crowds.

17 August 2017: Clashes break out between protesters and a number of far-right groups after Midrasia First denounces the wider movement of the Midrasian Spring. A number of arrests are made, mostly among the far-right groups. The majority of these self-identify as supporters of Midrasia First or the Identitarian movement.

28 August 2017: Protesters announce their support for the newly formed Progressive Alliance between the Liberal League, Independent Social Democrats, Fight Against Corruption and Green Party. The electoral alliance stages its first official campaign rally at Berthou Park at the heart ofthe Lotric protests.

8 September 2017: Protesters celebrate the resignation of Consul Charles Vauban. The resignation of the Consul leads the size of crowds to diminish considerably, however a sizeable portion remain, campaigning on issues relating to economic inequality, wider corruption and workers rights.

4 January 2018: Majority of protestors disperse, CGT votes to disperse its protest. Small groups remain, particularly those attached to the Socialist Party as well as a number of student groups.

Response

Midrasia

Initially following the publication of the Picayune article detailing the corruption allegations levelled at the Consul, and the gathering of protesters at Parliament Green, the Vauban administration issued the following statement: "The claims made within the article by the [Picayune] magazine on the 5th of April are not only false but a disgrace to the free media of Midrasia. News of the sort published by Picayune should be relegated to the category of 'clickbait' or 'fake news' and does not represent the fabulous in-depth reporting of some of Midrasia's more established media outlets. The fact that thousands have gathered in protest today over such a sham article simply shows the ability of these so-called news outlets to influence today's youth. There is no corruption, no story, full stop."

Following the emergence of the protest movement, Midrasian society was divided on the issue of corruption, however the vast majority of the public favoured an active investigation by Midrasian intelligence services into the corruption matter. An online petition calling for an investigation reached over 300,000 signatures within two days.

International

• Atresca: The Atrescan Embassy in Lotric issued a warning to Atrescan citizens urging them to stay away from the protests, despite the largely peaceful nature thus far. Several Green Party Senators have spoken about the protests on the floor Senate and have expressed their support.
• Newrey: The Newreyan Witenagemot expressed concern for the ongoing protests in Midrasia and their unforeseen consequences, however it has respectfully chosen not to comment on which side they support
• Crylante: Jenný Anadottir, the Director for Foreign Affairs and Trade, has warned Crylantians in Midrasia about their safety and told them not to participate. She also called for a peaceful solution, conforming with her staunchly pacifist foreign policy.