Dissident Movement in Drak-Modan
The Dissident Movement in Drak-Modan was a political movement that opposed the imposition of Draconian Supremacy upon the majority population.
Disorganized Beginnings (1690-6 AN)
From the creation of the Bovic Draconian State, pockets of discontent blossomed among Modanese ansdLaqi communities. In these early beginnings, the predominant source was political and social leaders who found themselves unable or unwilling to align themselves with the Draconian agenda. Protests were as disorganized and ideologically inconsistent as society as a whole, with the strongest voices coming from conservative circles, who found themselves descending into increasingly extremist rhetoric over the state's attempts to convert traditional cultural norms and subjugate their ethnic identities below that of the Draconians.
As the first years of the Bovic Draconian State wore on, these early sources of dissent were weeded out through reconditioning, exile, and imprisonment. The 1694-5 Laqi Cross-Border Raids did much to aid these early, more reactionary dissidents into reconciling themselves through nationalist and antiforeigner rhetoric, as these incursions presented an other more threatening to traditional law and order than that of Draconian Supremacy.
Modanese Inclusive Liberation Front (1693-8 AN)
What would become an existential threat to the Bovic Draconian State instead came from those who were initially more predisposed to support at least some of the new order's social program: cosmopolitan and queer young adults.
Origins
For this cohort in particular, those young enough that they grew up only remembering the chaos of the Kalirion Fracture, the struggle for Drak-Modan state to maintain stability through a cycle of governments and civil wars, and the perennial threat from backward-minded moralizers. Draconian Supremacy portrayed itself as a movement that made the "right kind of people" tops, the "wrong kind of people" bottoms, and turned queer people of all ethnicities into a broad middle.
Young Modanese activists helped bring Draconian Supremacy to the fore in mainland Drak-Modan, where ethnic Draconians were thinner on the ground. By late 1690 AN, the movement had gained sufficient traction that it presented an opportunity to be recuperated by the country's conservative leadership. Many in this original activist core found themselves integrated into the government as enforcers to the emerging order, which quickly turned a liberatory message, which used the Draconian identity as a rallying point for liberatory politics that valued them instead of scorned them, into authoritarian ethnonationalist policy.
By 1692 AN, a faction had emerged among this body of early supporters, composed of those Drak-Modani citizens that had become disillusioned by the new direction. Citizens who found family and friends under pressure to undergo reconditioning, keep to the closet, or leave. Allies to the movement who found themselves under state restriction for their low Kinsey Score. Some experienced hazing and gang-related violence, even if their Kinsey Score was high enough to qualify for Draconian status.
The Bajkir Rally
On 16.VII.1693 AN, Riman Valentin, the Mayor of Bajkir, resigned in protest, citing in his public statement that there needed to be room for all kinds of people to love and be loved without needing to fear scrutiny or oppression.
Three days later, he led a small rally in front of his former city hall. Before being broken up by police and its participants imprisoned, three speakers were able to broadcast their experiences under the new regime to those in the central business district of Bajkir:
- A self-described proud Draconian, who was beaten by thugs for having "turned fruit", after he was found dating a woman monogamously.
- A shy woman of Laqi descent, who found herself being shunned by her friends for "not trying hard enough" and "not picking a side".
- An office worker with a Kinsey Score of A, who ostensibly are protected under the state, spoke about experiencing workplace discrimination and being skipped over for promotion. When they attempted to file a complaint at the local police precinct, the paperwork was shredded and they were told to accept what good they already had.
This event helped to kick off what would become known as the Modanese Inclusive Liberation Front (MILF).
Singing Protests
| "Not Gonna Get Us" |
On 3.IX.1696 AN, the popular music duo, Agnes & Elin, released a new state-approved album titled Against Traffic. The content of the album was vaguely rebellious, in keeping with a less popular strain of state propaganda that leaned on the Draconian identity as subversive and liberatory, with songs that spoke vaguely about suffering persecution, about longing to live as one wished, about acting robotic while feeling overwhelming emotions, and about an artificial paradise. Thanks the duo's highly-approved lifestyle (both scoring high on the Kinsey Scale, being proudly Draconian, displaying their romantic relationship openly at their concerts, etc), the album received state approval and celebration. In an interview for its release, Agnes & Elin spoke about how the world has long looked down upon the Draconian people and the beauty of their love.
| "How Soon Is Now" |
Quickly, however, the album's songs became popular among the growing dissident movement. MILF rallies began using their music as filler between speakers, and their songs began to be sung during marches. Asked on 18.XII.1696 what they thought about their album's popularity among dissidents, Agnes answered, "We all are very different people and we should celebrate our differences. We should not be silent when we see any intolerance." When asked whether such an attitude was compatible with the principle of Draconian Supremacy, Elin said, "I think everybody should be free to live their life without shame. Isn't there room in the Sun for all of us?"
On the night of 7.III.1697, the duo ended their concert in Kurpla with the statement "don't let them tell you you don't belong". Their tour was immediately ended, and state media suppressed their appearance and music thereafter.
In V.1697, rumors spread that the duo had been jailed. In response, the Modanese Inclusive Liberation Front organized a "call-in", where fans were encouraged to flood phonelines for radio and television stations with demands to return Agnes & Elin to the airwaves. In conjunction with widespread economic troubles, the combination of economic anxiety, social justice, and indignant EDM fans culminated in massive demonstrations in demesne capitals, which were only put down through extreme police violence.
Strikes
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Following the beating of protesters outside of The Fury, MILF's organizing shifted from the streets to the workplace. Already straining from trade isolation and a recession, workers began to participate in work stoppages. By this point, MILF's coalition had grown to contain members from all corners of society, including sympathetic Draconians.
On 18.VI.1698 AN, representatives of MILF issued a press release, announcing its intention to initiate a general strike in all major cities, and services to be refused to anyone who did not bear the colors of their coalition: 🟥🟧🟨🟩🟦🟪. The symbolism behind the rainbow banner was twofold: firstly, to represent the ethnic and sexual diversity of their movement; secondly, to represent their goal for a free Modan in all its colors. When asked by international journalists whether the banner was chosen as an appeal to the Wechua Nation, the representatives answered that the resemblance is coincidental. This general strike would begin at the first of the next month.
By 15.XIII.1698 AN, sporadic citywide general strikes and public displays of noncooperation with the national policy, combined with a deepening fracture between the ruling party's two major factions, had brought Drak-Modan to a standstill. On that day, Riman Valentin led a march on city hall. Bajkir Police dispersed the rally using tear gas. During the struggle, a firefight erupted, leaving two dozen dead. On the following day, BP justified their action by stating that the rally was a front for an insurrection to overthrow the government. Among those remaining in police custody were MILF leaders Riman Valentin, Benita Karlgren, and Kyle Lochalsh.
A follow-up rally for the release of MILF activists and a vigil for the fallen was prevented by police barricade and travel restrictions within the city's government center. Decrees directing the deployment of the Drak-Modani Defense Force to Bajkir went unsigned by Co-Chancellor Gavrilov. In the absence of a decisive lockdown in Bajkir, MILF continued to encourage noncompliance against the regime, conducting flash rallies throughout the Bajkir metro area in order to overstretch and exhaust police resources.
Humanist realignment (1698)
Following rumours in the regional press 6.I.1698 AN Davit Teimuraz, Archon of the Modani People's Union, Co-Chairman of the Committee for United Modani Solidarity, and Grand Chancellor of Drak-Modan issued a press release confirming his formation of a matrimonial union compliant with Imperial Decree 865 with Farah Wren, a "triple-indent" graduate of the Dabirestân-e Pardanashin N&H Future Leadership Programme. The retinue of catamites, with which Davit had hitherto maintained his formal compliance with the tenets of Draconism, were to be retained as staff serving the newly established joint-household.
This announcement was followed thereafter by the issuance of a circular to the leadership of the Party Cadres giving formal instructions to emulate the example set by Davit and take matrimonial partners of the opposite sex from those within the Party likely to be of peak fertility.
Once news broke of this development, Kamil Gavrilov announced that he would not be co-signing any chancellorial actions until the Modani People's Union recommitted itself to the Draconian agenda.
Defenders of Draconia (1697-)
In response to government inaction to oppose the growing MILF movement, a corresponding reactionary movement coalesced during the wave of strikes that crippled Drak-Modan in 1698 AN. Calling themselves the Defenders of Draconia, or Double Ds, these vigilante groups would corner and attack MILF activists after they dispersed from their rallies. Their stated goal was to reassert the unquestioned authority of the Draconian Agenda, believing that the central government had gone soft.
On 20.XV.1697 AN, Lyhigh became the first city to prosecute the Double Ds after a local group took the violence to a new level and conducting a shooting spree, which targeted certified gold-star Draconians found to have participated at a recent MILF rally. Seven were killed before suspects could be apprehended, and the city's public prosecutor quickly announced that the evidence available and the shocking nature of the attacks meant that his office would be charging the suspects with murder and conspiracy to murder. In response, the Mayor of Lyhigh, Nikki Kosygin, attempted to use her office's influence to pressure the public prosecutor into reducing the severity of the charges. When pressed by news media, she briefly explained her stance:
"It was one thing to tolerate fruits and their ilk when they were quiet and knew their place, but when I hear about these protesters openly displaying their degenerate passions and offering up a prelude to breeding in full view of the public, I can only say that enough is enough! Who can blame any good, honest, and truthful Draconian for being roused to take a stand in such times?"—Nikki Kosygin, 5.I.1698 AN press conference
