Society for Champanois-Kirenian Friendship

The Society for Champanois-Kirenian Friendship (Liguersien: La societat per l'amistat champanès-kirenès, SACK) is a mass organization in Champania founded in 1985 during the Champanian Thaw. The purpose of the society is to educate Champanois citizens about Kirenian culture and society, and historically, was used to dispel anti-Kirenian attitudes.

Political function

The Society of Champanois-Kirenian Friendship was originally formed to "convey the Councilist truth" about Kirenia to the masses in an effort to broadly reduce anti-Kireniean attitudes that had been prevalent across the nation following the Amatho-Kirenian Split. This was meant to help bosot the popularity of Jeremeis Dior's policies of rapprochement with Kirenia following the collapse of the Amathian Equalist Republic in 1979. Because of this goal, initial membership was strongly encouraged and many of the society's early membership was drawn from schools.

Following the creation of the Mutual Assistance Organisation in 1999, SACK was repurposed from dispelling anti-Kirenian attitudes, which had been reduced to acceptable levels by the late 1990s, to promoting friendship and cooperation between Champania and Kirenia, disseminate knowledge about Kirenia to the Champanois population, and to inoculate socialist and communist ideals. Membership was changed from being encouraged to compulsory to all children aged 6-18, all military personnel, and all members of political parties. This saw membership rise from just 800,000 in 1999 to over 6 million by 2000. Present membership is estimated to be approximately 9.2 million.

Persons not wanting to become a member must justify it. A refusal to join can be questioned by local political officials, but does not automatically lead to issues for standard citizenry. Most citizens see the society as a means for networking, particularly within the membership of their registered political party, but also abroad as the society organizes several international cultural events between Champania and Kirenia. Being a member of the society is meant to express solidarity with the socialist system and the "first councilist state," and membership is desirable from a political standpoint. For example, it is common for workers' cooperatives to have all staff be members in order to be recognized as a legitimate business by the government.

Organization

In many aspects, the society is organized like any other political organization. It is divided into local units at a municipal level, known as localities (localitats), which can vary in size from a town its outlying villages, to just several residential blocks in a city. Above localities are districts which are made up of several localities. District organizations have headquarters where district-wide events are held. Several districts make up the provincial unit, which are headquartered in canton capitals, and the provincial unit is directly below the national organization headquartered in Brigançon. The national organization is made up of a central committee with an elected general secretary. The general secretary is elected every five years by the Society Congress made up of representatives that are selected by provincial units.