Mabifian Democratic Republic
Mabifian Democratic Republic République démocratique mabifienne | |||||||||
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| 1943–1978 | |||||||||
 Flag
 Emblem
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| Motto: "Brisez les chaines, ouvriers baïens!" "Break the chains, Bahian workers!" | |||||||||
| Anthem: Main dans la main Hand in hand  | |||||||||
| Capital | Ouagedji (1943-1958) Gollobesare (1958-1978) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Gaullican (official) | ||||||||
| Religion | State atheism | ||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Mabifian | ||||||||
| Government | Socialist council republic | ||||||||
• 1943-1950 | Léopold Giengs | ||||||||
• 1950-1972 | Pierre-Julien Onziema | ||||||||
• 1972-1978 | Soleïman Keïta | ||||||||
| Historical era | Great Game | ||||||||
| 1942 | |||||||||
• Established | 1943 | ||||||||
| 1942-1943 | |||||||||
• Declaration of the Democratic Republic | 13 May 1943 | ||||||||
| 5 October 1968-25 March 1969 | |||||||||
| 1972-1978 | |||||||||
• Disestablished | 1978 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Mabifia | ||||||||
The Mabifian Democratic Republic (Gaullican: République démocratique mabifienne) was a socialist state located in Bahia, which would become the Kingdom of Mabifia. The Mabifian Democratic Republic was established in 1943, following the victory of the Popular Liberation Movement in the First Mabifian Civil War. In 1972 it fell into the Second Mabifian Civil War; by 1978 the regime lost the capital Gollobesare and the President, Soleïman Keïta, fled the country, marking the MDR's end.
History
With the conclusion of the civil war, the Mabifian Section of the Worker's Internationale-led Popular Liberation Front took complete power. However, the effects of the civil war had left Mabifia devastated. Economic infrastructure such as roads and railways had been targetted by all parties, while mines and oil extraction infrastructure had been largely abandoned or damaged. To compound this problem, the flight of the colonial elite and much of the indigenous Bahian middle class both during the conflict and at the victory of the socialists had left a major skills shortage. Léopold Giengs, the first State President, faced a difficult task in restarting the nation's economy. He opted to seek help from abroad, inviting specialists from Valduvia and Chistovodia to the country in order to train local technicians. Farmlands which had been owned by Gaullicans, as well as those owned by local elites who had fled during the civil war, were seized by the state to be run through collective farming. Land was distributed to local communities in order to be run by localised councils called 'foujodes', which would in principle give every peasant land, housing and food to support themselves.
The difficulty of moving Mabifia towards a socialist society as envisaged by the more ideologically purist wing of the MSWI was quickly evident, however. The population were largely illiterate and dependent on subsistence agriculture, with the fledgling industrial base created by the colonial administration in ruins. Giengs, a member of the more pragmatic wing of the party, quickly realised that the popular support for the socialists had been in their promise of land for all and an end to oppressive landowners as opposed to the promise of an industrialised classless society and opted to focus on this rural base as a means of consolidating the MDR's hold on the country. A member of the Mirite minority, Giengs was unable to anchor his support upon the loyalties of an ethnic group and this forced him to take a highly cautious approach to administrating the country. Giengs took a lenient stance towards many elements of traditional Bahian society, aware that any strong repression of religious groups could destabilise the young state. However, Mabifia under Giengs was anything but free and Giengs presided over the creation of the Agence nationale pour la Défense de la Révolution, which was responsible for the suppression of all political opposition to the socialist government. Another key area of development was education, which was seen as a key element of ensuring successful socialism in Mabifia. Schools were constructed across the country, as well as universities at Ouagedji and Kangesare. These schools were tasked with "forming a revolutionary generation", and the content of their classes was highly politically motivated. Children were taught to love the party more than their own families and to oppose all traditions which were deemed un-socialist.
In 1950, Léopold Giengs passed away due to a cardiac arrest. He was succeeded by Pierre-Julien Onziema, a younger military officer who represented the more hardline faction of the MSWI. Onziema viewed Giengs' cautious approach as cowardly and a betrayal of the true principles of the revolution, and began a major program to modernise Mabifia along socialist lines. His vision for a new Mabifia was based strongly on the creation of Villes nouvelles, new cities which would be centred on industrial production and take people away from their traditional lands in the hopes that they would be forced to abandon any remaining traditional beliefs or identities and instead embrace the melting pot of a Pan-Bahian proletarian identity. Many traditional leaders were killed even if they did not offer any resistance to the regime; the ANDR was involved in the disappearances of many prominent Irfanic and Catholic clergypeople. The villes nouvelles were unsuccessful in destroying tribal and regional identities, but the melting pot of cultures combined with sense of dissatisfaction with the regime lit the spark for Djeli pop to emerge as a musical genre.
By the mid 60s, tensions with neighbouring Rwizikuru following the collapse of the United Bahian Republic had grown over the Yekumaviria, a province of Rwizikuru which had historically been under the influence of the axial Houregery in Kambou but which had been granted to Rwizikuru by Estmere following independence due to its Rwizi-speaking population. In particular, Onziema desired the sea access that possession of the area would grant, as Mabifia was limited to a very small coastline. Fishing rights were another issue, as well as the potential presence of oil in the Maccan Sea. In 1968, these tensions boiled over and Mabifian forces invaded Yekumaviria. This war lasted just five months, with the Mabifian armed forces outnumbering their enemies and helped by the economic and military support of the Association of Emerging Socialist Economies, but saw high casualty rates for both sides. Mabifia would eventually be successful in this conflict, with the Community of Nations-backed Purple Line drawn up to demarcate a demilitarised border between the two states.
Despite victory in this war, Mabifia's economy was struggling under the weight of the socialist system and the costs of the war effort. Productivity rates had lowered in most areas, while the rural population who had been the backbone of the party's support felt attacked by Onziema's policies of forced urbanisation. Even in the villes nouvelles, which had been intended to be the backbones of support for the regime, people were feeling disillusioned with the authoritarian nature of the state and the destruction of old traditions. News from Garambura, which was smuggled into the country, gave the population hope for democratic reforms. While the cult of personality surrounding Pierre-Julien Onziema helped to glue together the state, his death in 1972 severely weakened the already struggling state. His successor, Soleïman Keïta, was a member of the reformist wing of the party and sought to ease back some of the more oppressive measures put in place by Onziema. However, by this point tensions were so high that he only succeeded in precipitating the fall of the Mabifian Democratic Republic.