National reconciliation
National reconciliation (French reformed: Réconciliation nationale) was the dominant theme of Reda Kazan's tenure as President of Gylias. It was carried out through various initiatives that mainly used the presidency's ceremonial powers, most significantly by issuing commutations after the Arnak Trials and constructing an "official" historiography of the Liberation War that recognised the Nerveiík Kingdom as an honourable adversary.
Reda's goal for national reconciliation was to heal the divisions caused by the Liberation War and hasten the transition from the Free Territories to Gylias. She was very prudent in implementing the program, issuing very few pardons and avoiding amnesty. Her program complemented the Golden Revolution taking shape, and represented the most high-profile and extensive use of the presidency's powers.
Background
The Liberation War was an exceptionally long-lasting, bitter, and destructive conflict in Gylian history. War crimes, atrocities, abuses, and violent reprisals were committed by many participants, especially those attempting to terrorise and traumatise opponents into submission.
The Free Territories ultimately prevailed on 2 January 1958. However, the euphoria of victory was tempered by the exhaustion and acrimony caused by 20 years of war. The anarchists had a leading role, particularly after severing the "alliance of convenience" with statist–authoritarian leftists and carrying out the Lucian Purge.
Donatella Rossetti lamented in the first meeting of the Popular Assembly:
"The war may have ended, but this is not a country at peace. The people are angry. Angry at the years lost to war, angry at how many died and were injured…above all, angry at the guilt and fanaticism of the Xevdenites that have caused all this suffering. More than anything, they want vengeance. We have just exited a nightmare, and I fear that some unscrupulous and power-mad demagogues will stoke the flames again and plunge us into another nightmare."
The Arnak Trials began shortly after the war's end to investigate and punish collaboration with the Xevdenite regime, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. They lasted until 1961. Ŋéida Vaşad wrote that their vastness and length had an impact on the public mood: "If the people thirsted for vengeance in 1958, by 1961 they were simply exhausted and sick of the proceedings. Some even started criticising them as 'the thousand-year tribunal'."
The Constitution of Gylias came into effect in 1961, creating the post of President of Gylias. Its powers were strongly circumscribed, leaving it mainly a figurehead role. The first presidential election was won by Reda Kazan, the most iconic and successful entertainer of the Free Territories.
Aims
Reda defied the design of a ceremonial and unimportant presidency, and saw the role as "the moral conscience of the nation". She felt her responsibility as president was to set a positive example for Gylians, and to take positions on issues of national importance without worrying about her popularity.
Reda was concerned about the dangers of triumphalism and "blind vengeance" after the war. She felt that while Gylians were right to celebrate its end, any hint of triumphalism would simply inflame tensions and serve to further divide Gylian society. She believed that the victorious side of the war had a "special responsibility" to show restraint and kindness towards defeated adversaries, in order to assist the recovery of Gylian society. One of her private remarks captures her outlook: "We must all become Gylians after throwing away the guns. There's no room for splitting Gylias by a thousand cuts, deciding who is a Gylian and who isn't."
Reda's plans for national reconciliation were largely formed in private, with only her daughters Rhea and Penny being aware of them, and sworn to secrecy. In devising her plans, Reda relied fundamentally on the adversary–enemy distinction. She made final distinctions: the Nerveiík Kingdom and Lidia's Legion were adversaries, but the Tymzar–Nalo regime was an enemy. The Gylian public already viewed the defeated factions in a similar way, and thus once the initial shock of Reda's actions wore off, she proved herself an astute judge of popular sentiment.
Initiatives
Re-education
Reda worked closely with the Darnan Cyras government to devise a system of re-education as the Arnak Trials continued. The Free Territories had already abolished prisons and the death penalty, thus making re-education planning easier.
Re-education took place through a system of mandatory meetings, with a strong restorative justice focus. Those convicted had to attend meetings where they were confronted by their victims, or more broadly by Gylians who had suffered during the Liberation War. They were also taken on controlled tours of the countryside, and told to express their guilt in writing. The aim of re-education was to produce metanoia in the convicted, by forcing them to confront their guilt and repair the harm they caused.
The re-education regime lasted as long as necessary. Reda received regular notifications from local courts on the progress of re-education for those convicted, and officially declared the convicted reformed when she was satisfied the re-education process was complete.
In interviews towards the end of her life, Reda expressed pride that "most of the re-educations only needed a few years to succeed in making good Gylians out of the guilty".
Commutations
The Arnak Trials ended on 25 December 1961, and among the sentences were 10.003 expulsions from the community — the most severe punishment in the Penal Code. The next day, Reda used her presidential powers to commute all but 3 such sentences. The decision initially shocked the public, and was subsequently seen as "magnificent statesmanship".
She explained her reasoning in a highly acclaimed televised address, known as the Oresteia speech. She argued that carrying out the sentences would "stain Gylias' very soul", emphasised that there were no amnesties, and concluded that "we as Gylians must conquer our greatest challenge: to turn the Erinyes into the Eumenides."
Those whose sentences were commuted were still subject to lengthy terms of probation and mandatory community service. While undertaking community service, many were forced to wear wooden boards detailing the crimes they had been convicted of.
Conciliation
Reda firmly believed that the Liberation War had to end with a compromise in order to heal divisions and create a sense of shared destiny. A victory by a single faction, especially if accompanied by triumphalism and revenge, would merely deepen fractures in Gylian society and risk the outbreak of further violence. There had already been the "miserable compromise" between anarchists and liberals that had produced the Constitution, but Reda felt that compromise needed to go further in order to bring lasting peace to Gylias.
Ţaisa Eşal observed that "Reda seemed to regard the anarchists as the undisputed victors of the Liberation War, and felt that her role was to stand at their triumph and repeat memento mori. She thought victory in war brought heavy chains of responsibility, and that victors had the duty to look after the defeated."
Fortunately for her initiatives, the Nerveiík Kingdom was already regarded as an honourable adversary, and there was much sympathy for its overthrow by the Tymzar–Nalo regime. She thus focused her initiatives on legitimising the Nerveiík Kingdom in this capacity, and symbolically treating its leaders well to set a public example.
The Darnan Cyras government had initially planned to resettle the Varnaþ family in a village to live peacefully in exchange for leaving public life. Reda rejected this plan and pushed for a full rehabiliation instead. She had them resettled in Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk with public honours, pushed the government with "firm politeness" to grant the family an official pension (their possessions having been destroyed or confiscated in wartime), and encouraged them to remain active in public life and politics.
After the passage of the Law on Common Nationality of 1962, Reda creatively used her presidential powers to weaken the provision barring Xevdenites and descendants from Gylian citizenship. She got the government to pass a law that formally recognised the Nerveiík Kingdom as a state separate from Xevden, and granting automatic Gylian citizenship to former Nerveiík residents. Former members of the United National Movement were welcomed back into public administration and politics. Together with the Varnaþ family's renewed public profile, this contributed to consolidating the largely conservative tilt of Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk.
Sasa Ruişela, the former "national star" of the Nerveiík Kingdom turned first leader of the Centre Group, was a significant beneficiary of the national reconciliation initiatives.
As the formal commander-in-chief of the Gylian Self-Defense Forces, she ensured that former members of the Royal Guard and Lidia's Legion received veterans' pensions, and encouraged them to join the GSDF as members and consultants.
Reda urged Gylians to treat former Nerveiík Kingdom functionaries and Royal Guard and Lidia's Legion soldiers with kindness and respect. Even if they were now mere citizens, she encouraged Gylians to address them by their titles and use the Varnaþ salute. She also encouraged former soldiers to continue wearing their old uniforms in public so they could be recognised.
Penny wrote in her mother's biography that Reda had actually discussed with Mayor of Velouria Gerard Harmsen the possibility of rebuilding the destroyed Royal Palace, but ultimately decided to preserve its ruins as a monument to the war.
Public response
Reda's initial commutations after the Arnak Trials surprised the public, but soon her actions benefited her popularity. She proved an astute judge of popular sentiment, and limited her national reconciliation initiatives to factions already considered honourable adversaries. She refused to even contemplate the idea of extending similar treatment to hated enemies — the three expulsions from the community she allowed to proceed were for Tymzar, Nalo, and the head of the Storm of Steel.
Reda's national reonciliation was popular, and contributed to her image as a maverick leader, providing an eccentric counterweight to the government during the Golden Revolution. She highlighted the measures in her 1975 presidential re-election, producing a well-remembered PPB that used the tongue-in-cheek slogan "Reda Kazan plays by her own rules".
Reda's opponents latched onto the national reconciliation initiatives as one of their main sources of criticism. Maria Elena Durante attacked Reda for the initiatives during the 1975 presidential campaign. In an infamously ill-tempered public meeting, she told Reda, "You were never uglier than when you stood in the way of justice!" — twisting the title of her 1942 film You Were Never Lovelier.
Aén Ďanez also attacked Reda for overstepping the constitutional boundaries of the presidency, saying, "How can we tolerate the ridiculous charade where Parliament passes a citizenship law and the President plunges a knife into it, after she's already castrated the Penal Code with her commutations? We have a President who is the enemy of the revolution, who keeps company with people who do nothing but undermine the people's will, like Niloufer Khanum Sultana and Carmen Hidalgo y Ortega."
Legacy
Reda's theme of national reconciliation is seen by historians as a crucial contributor to the success of the Golden Revolution. Historian Nina Raukan credits Reda with using the presidency to "hasten the healing of wounds inflicted by the Liberation War", through the combination of re-education, rapid rehabilitation of the Nerveiík Kingdom as a respected adversary, and the commutation of nearly all expulsions from the community after the Arnak Trials.
In her biography, Penny quoted her mother's thoughts the day before issuing the commutations:
"I know I'm going to be tarnished in Gylias' eyes. I'm sure I'll be hounded, jeered, spat at, cursed, and abused. But somebody has to do it. Somebody has to step up and put an end to all this rancour and bitterness. Somebody has to stand up for the fact that we didn't fight for 20 years just so it could be our turn to abuse whoever we deem beneath us."
Penny wrote that Reda was shocked that the expected backlash did not happen, and instead, she was praised for her statesmanship and judgement. Penny observed that her mother was emboldened by the public support for what she thought would be unpopular initiatives, and "subsequently conducted herself in office with the swagger and playfulness becoming Gilda."
The national reconciliation initiatives represent the greatest use of a presidential power in Gylias since independence, and contribute to Reda's reputation as Gylias' greatest president.