Antelope Txo
Antelope Txo Антелопе Тщо 令狐周 | |
|---|---|
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| Secretary-General of the Liberationist Party of Namor | |
| In office 1 May NMR 2358 – 12 November NMR 2373 | |
| Preceded by | Chanin Chen |
| Succeeded by | Antelope Shohai |
| Vice President of the People's Republic of Namor | |
| In office 29 November NMR 2347 – 1 May NMR 2353 | |
| Preceded by | Chanin Chen |
| Succeeded by | Kaitlyn Khan |
| 7th President of the Namorese Central Council | |
| In office 1 May NMR 2330 – 20 November NMR 2347 | |
| Preceded by | Su Shui |
| Succeeded by | Alicia Wolf |
| Deputy for the 47th Legislative District in the Namorese Central Council | |
| In office 1 May NMR 2330 – 20 November NMR 2347 | |
| President | Kong Jo Su Shui |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 May NMR 2295 Namo, Capital District, People's Republic of Namor |
| Died | 30 November NMR 2380 (aged 85) Txosiyang, Arra , People's Republic of Namor |
| Nationality | Namorese |
| Political party |  Liberationists |
| Spouse | Shun Sang |
| Children | Antelope Shohai |
| Alma mater | Namo University |
Antelope Txo (May 9, NMR 2295 – November 30, NMR 2380) was a Namorese politician who served as a Deputy for the 47th Legislative District in the Central Council from NMR 2330 to NMR 2347, President of the Central Council from NMR 2330 to NMR 2347, Vice President from NMR 2347 to NMR 2353, and Secretary-General of the Liberationist Party of Namor from NMR 2358 to NMR 2373. He is by far the longest-serving President of the Central Council and the second longest-serving leader of the Liberationist Party after Antelope Yunglang, who led as Chairman for 47 years.
Widely considered a third-generation member of the Antelope family, Antelope Txo was the grandson of Antelope Yunglang, the first President-General, and Antelope Gelai, the fourth President-General. His son, Antelope Shohai, is President-General since NMR 2378.
Biography
Early Life
Antelope Txo was born in May 9, NMR 2295 in Namo. Both his parents - father Antelope Gelai and mother Chen Mei - worked as faculty members in Namo University.
At the age of fifteen, Antelope Txo was invited in a letter by President-General Kiang Ssxu to join the Green Youth Organization. In the letter, Kiang hailed Antelope as "a potential model revolutionary of the new generation" and offered him a leadership position in the GYO. The invitation was received cautiously by his father, who was privately critical of the Fever and used his power as President of the Central Council to save numerous party members from persecution. On the other hand, Antelope Gelai feared that turning down the invitation would be perceived as an offense to Kiang. Ultimately, he confronted Kiang over the matter and the two reached a compromise: Antelope Txo would join the GYO, but he would serve as the captain of a local GYO chapter in West Namor - far from Namo and other major cities that were impacted the most by the Fever. Antelope Txo thus left Namo for Shachin, where he participated in the GYO and studied at a "revolutionary education center" which had replaced the district university. He stayed there until NMR 2315, when Antelope Yunglang died and President-General Kiang was overthrown in the crisis. Antelope Gelai, now the Acting President-General, called Antelope Txo back to Namo, where he studied at Namo University.
Tenure in Arra
After competing his studies in Namo, Antelope Txo moved to northern Namor to participate in the development of "new towns" as a part of his father's Northern Development policy. He was named Party Secretary of the "new town" of Txosiyang in Arra, overseeing its development over the next decade. During his time in Txosiyang, Antelope met Shun Sang, a native of Arra who taught at a newly-built primary school in the town. The two married in NMR 2324 and gave birth to a son, Shohai, the following year.
Central Council and Control Sector Secretaryship
In NMR 2330, Antelope stepped down as party secretary of Txosiyang and ran for Central Council. The Liberationists easily won a majority in the 47th Legislative District, and Antelope was thus elected deputy. After entering the Central Council, he was elected by fellow party members as President of the Central Council. Antelope moved back to Namo along with Shun Sang and Antelope Shohai, although he would occasionally return to Txosiyang to remain in touch with his constituents.
During the NMR 2330s, Antelope Txo made his way up the Liberationist party hierarchy - a process which was partially facilitated by his relation with Antelope Gelai. He entered the Politburo during the 18th Party Congress in NMR 2335. Five years later, he was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee during the 19th Party Congress, becoming Secretary of the party's Control Sector - considered the third most powerful member in the Standing Committee after the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary.
Vice presidency
Following the impeachment of Su Shui, Antelope Txo was named Vice President by the new President-General Chen Chanin. He was also named Acting Deputy Secretary of the Liberationists after Su resigned from the party secretaryship, causing a shakeup within the Politburo Standing Committee. Antelope's position as Deputy Secretary was cemented in the 21st Party Congress.
Chen and Antelope won the NMR 2348 presidential election, defeating Democratic Socialist challenger Win Xe by a narrow margin despite polls predicting a loss for the Liberationists. It was widely believed that Antelope's promise to be a "Prime Supervisor" of the President-General while in office appealed to many voters, assuaging fears that a Chen administration would inevitably lead to a scandal similar to that which involved Su Shui.
Party secretaryship
First term as Secretary-General
Following the Liberationists' loss to the Democratic Socialists in the NMR 2353 election, Chen Chanin resigned from the party secretaryship and Antelope took his place. Antelope Txo thus became the third member of the Antelope family to assume the position of Secretary-General.
In the first speech of his secretaryship, Antelope acknowledged that the Liberationists faced a "crisis in credit" and vowed to get the party back on track by initiating structural reforms and clamping down on corruption. He also called for compromise with the Democratic Socialists, stating that "while we are no longer in power, the people of this great country have given us another task - the task of supervising the new ruling party to prove to the world the success of Namorese democracy. We, the Liberationists of the new decade, will humbly take on this task." The "Liberationists of the new decade" speech is said to have greatly regained confidence in the party among party members.
Antelope sponsored reforms aimed at eliminating the influence of "big money" and encouraging the "all-out democratization" of the party. He hoped the "space-for-time" reforms would trade the party's "space" (its size and influence) for "time" to revitalize the Liberationists and win back public trust.
Under Antelope's watch, the party restricted leadership positions to working and middle-class party members and introduced direct elections for the Party Central Committee. The party also introduced harsher punishments for undisciplined behavior ranging from protracted suspension of party membership to expulsion. From NMR 2353 to NMR 2358, the party expelled up to 1 million members, causing the greatest shrink in party membership since the aftermath of the Green Fever.
Second term as Secretary-General
Antelope's secretaryship saw the "Great Shift," in which the Liberationists shifted from being the Democratic Socialists' main adversary to ally. The shift was made possible by Antelope's continued role as a "Great Compromiser" in the Central Council, co-sponsoring the Common Medical Care System and the ban on the death penalty. It was also made possible by the rise of the right-wing New Democrats, whose ideological differences with the DemSocs made the alliance between the two former opposition parties increasingly untenable.
Ahead of the NMR 2358 election, Antelope and his allies floated the idea of endorsing Alicia Wolf for a second term in office, although conservative elements within the party considered the proposal to be unnecessarily conciliatory. The Liberationist-DemSoc alliance was confirmed when Antelope and Wolf held a formal meeting, during which the two agreed to cooperate. As a result, Wolf won another landslide victory in the presidential election, but the Liberationists continued to lose seats in the Central Council. This prompted calls within the party for Antelope to resign, but Antelope insisted that he had made "the right choice for Namor." In the end, he retained his position as Secretary-General, while hardline Liberationists who viewed Antelope as an opportunist left the party and joined the ranks of the Namorese Revolutionary Liberationist Movement.
Antelope's "honeymoon" with the DemSocs ended ahead of the NMR 2363 election, when the DemSocs nominated Vice President Kaitlyn Khan for the presidency. Khan, a student protester who had participated in anti-Liberationist uprisings in the NMR 2330s, called Antelope a "political dynast who has no place in the new age." She also mentioned her early life during her acceptance speech, noting how she was once "sickly green" under Liberationist rule. These comments vexed Antelope, who responded by calling Khan a "Matteryorkist" and launched his own presidential campaign. The move drew back support for the Liberationists among hardline party members, strengthening Antelope's position in the party. But on Election Day, Antelope won over 21% of the vote, finishing third behind Khan and the New Democrats' Deng Mianbao. The Liberationists also lost several more seats in the Central Council.
Third term as Secretary-General
Following the election, Antelope changed tack and tried adopting a policy of cooperation with the New Democrats. He met with NDP chairman Deng Mianbao. Unlike the Antelope-Wolf meeting of NMR 2358, the Antelope-Deng meeting did not produce a pact of cooperation; instead, it led to a memorandum of understanding in which the two parties agreed to exercise their roles as opposition parties to "supervise the Democratic Socialists to prevent them from bringing about one-party rule."
But by NMR 2368, all prospects of a de facto alliance between the Liberationists and New Democrats had faded due to "ceaseless" disputes between the two parties on economic and social policy. After the New Democrats nominated businessperson Fu Wen, whom Antelope called "too vicious to rule" and announced that the Liberationists would field their own candidate for the presidency. While it was initially speculated that Antelope would be nominee, many in the party feared that nominating Antelope would set the Liberationists for another devastating loss akin to the one in NMR 2363. Antelope ultimately conceded "for the best of the party" and supported Txotai President Vang Jun for President-General, marking the first time a presidential candidate for the Liberationist Party isn't the Secretary-General.
Antelope accompanied Vang on the campaign trail, praising Vang as a "middle way person" capable of uniting Namorese society while the rift between the DemSocs and New Democrats threatened to "rip the nation apart." He criticized both Kaitlyn Khan and Fu Wen, hoping to garner the support of voters who opposed both candidates, but at the same time he adopted an "anti-right" strategy which supported anyone but Fu Wen, leading to confusion over who the Liberationists were actually supporting or opposing. Vang Jun ended up winning only 10% of the vote - the worst performance of any Liberationist presidential candidate in Namorese history.
Fourth and final term as Secretary-General
With the New Democrats in power, Antelope returned to cooperating with the DemSocs, who were now a fellow opposition party. But the two parties did not make as much headway in building closer relations as they did in NMR 2358 due to Antelope's tarnished reputation among many DemSocs. As a result, Antelope spent most of his fourth term as Secretary-General training younger party members and striking deals between hardliners and liberals within the party.
Antelope was diagnosed with stomach cancer in NMR 2371. In light of this, he started to reduce his own responsibilities within the party. The following year, he announced his retirement from political life effective the 27th Party Congress, endorsing his son Shohai as the next Secretary-General. As promised, in NMR 2373 he stepped down, ending his 20 year-long secretaryship.
Later life
After retiring, Antelope returned to Txosiyang, Arra.
He continued to make appearances in public, accepting interviews from the media.
In NMR 2375, Antelope published his autobiography, Supervise and Compromise, in which he considered his life as one of Namor's primary opposition leaders "the greatest accomplishment of my political life." He also called on members of all parties to "have the courage to change," calling change a necessary component of democracy.
Antelope supported his son Antelope Shohai during the NMR 2378 election. During an interview with the Mojing Sibo, he praised Shohai's ability to "bring the Liberationist Party back to the mainstream of Namorese politics," but added that "Shohai and I embody a political dynasty that has to end. As much as I support my son, I hope my grandchildren can be among the people so that others can get a chance to serve our country."
He attended Shohai's inauguration, but left early due to poor health.
Death
Antelope Txo died on November 30, NMR 2380 at 11:54 pm - minutes before midnight - in his home in Txosiyang. His death concluded a decade-long battle with stomach cancer.