The Union Tribune Newsletter - January 2022 Edition

[center][font=georgia][size=250][color=firebrick][b]The Union Tribune Newsletter[/b][/color][/size][/font]
[font=georgia][size=160][color=goldenrod][i]The Official News Source of the Social Liberal Union[/i][/color][/font][/size][/center]
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[center][spoiler=[size=120]Welcome to our newest nations... (click to show)[/size]][nation]Los Misilistas[/nation], [nation]Liberarum[/nation], [nation]The Ruddlands[/nation], [nation]Eque[/nation], [nation]Sutadito[/nation], [nation]New Zanarba[/nation], [nation]North Robinland[/nation], [nation]Ardenia Exploia[/nation], [nation]Senagal[/nation], [nation]Rasaidenu[/nation], and [nation]Auxiliums[/nation].[/spoiler][/center]

[box][center][size=180][font=georgia][b][color=firebrick]General News[/color][/b][/font][/size][/center][hr]

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[tr][td][font=georgia][size=140][b]Regional News[/b][/size][/font][list][*][font=georgia][size=110]Voting is open for the World Assembly Delegate election! After serving as delegate for 2 terms, [nation]Brys Questions[/nation] is no longer eligible to run again. [nation]Toonela[/nation] is the only candidate. If you are a member state of the SLU (in the WA, been in the region for at least 7 days), you are eligible to vote— check your telegrams for the link to vote.[/font][/size]
[*][font=georgia][size=110]The Ministry of Domestic Affairs ran a regional banner contest where any resident could design a banner to be displayed on the region's homepage. The winner was [nation]North American Republics[/nation]'s design: congratulations![/size][/font]
[*][font=georgia][size=110]Join our [url=https://discord.gg/JrrqUCm]discord server[/url], where most of our community's activity is, as well as our region's [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1327777]"getting started guide"[/url] if you are new.[/font][/size][/list][/td]
[td][font=georgia][size=140][b]International News[/b][/size][/font][list][font=georgia][size=110][*]Congratulations to the following nations elected onto the [region]NSLeft[/region] Central Committee: [nation]Kavagrad[/nation], [nation]Helvurium[/nation], [nation]Goncar[/nation], [nation]Erynia and Draconia[/nation], [nation]Zulanka[/nation], [nation]Super Awesome Fun Times[/nation], and [nation]New Astri[/nation]. Due to one of the elected candidate's resignation, a by-election will occur soon to fill the vacancy.[/size][/font]
[font=georgia][size=110][*][region]The Leftist Assembly[/region] celebrated its 6th anniversary (Assembly Day) with its allies. Over the weekend, many game nights were scheduled such as Chess and Among Us.[/size][/font]
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[box][center][size=180][font=georgia][b][color=firebrick]SLU Celebrates 11th Anniversary[/color][/b][/font][/size][/center][hr][font=georgia][size=110][tab=25][region]The Social Liberal Union[/region] saw its [b]11th anniversary[/b] on the first day of January. To celebrate, the region held four game nights on its discord server. Both residents and members of allied regions joined the games, which included Among Us, Gartic Phone, Skribbl.io, and Jackbox. In its 11 years of existence, the SLU has built a flourishing community and a strong democratic tradition, as well as faced significant turmoil, such as the 2020 coup by regional founder Ainland and the 2018 invasion. If you are interested in learning about the history of the SLU, you can visit the [url=parliament.slugov.org]Library of Parliament[/url], which contain our region's archives on politics and government.[/tab][/size]
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[font=georgia][size=110][tab=25]To commemorate the SLU's 11th anniversary, [nation]Goncar[/nation] interviewed longtime member of the region [nation]Kanoria[/nation]. Kanoria has been on NationStates since November 2012 and a member of the SLU for 9-10 years. Kanoria is currently the SLU's cartographer, and curates the regional map and roleplay. His contributions to regional roleplay and the region all around have been and continue to be tremendous. Here are some parts of Goncar's interview with him:[/tab][/size][/font][hr][font=georgia][b]Goncar:[/b] Over the many years you've been here, who would you consider your friends?[/font]

[font=georgia][b]Kanoria:[/b] A great many of the people who I have shared a region with, and still do, I would consider friends, including some I haven't seen online or spoken to in years. Though the bulk of them have been right here in the SLU, and I am glad to say many are still around and we can still talk via discord. I am glad to say that our little corner has a culture which lends itself to, and perhaps even attracts, good people who I find easy to befriend, for the most part.[/font]

[font=georgia][b]Goncar:[/b] What positive things have kept you here in the SLU for 9-10 years?[/font]

[font=georgia][b]Kanoria:[/b] I am glad to say it was the SLU itself that kept me here. Once NS got old (which didn't take all that long), the forum games, chats, the whole process of imagining Kanoria and later Miyana [the SLU's RP planet]... and the trying to find solutions to the governance problems we as a region were having at whatever time all were important in keeping me here. The wonderful people should be a mention. mainly it was the free cookies though, obviously.[/font]

[font=georgia][b]Goncar:[/b] As you know we just passed our 11 year anniversary. What do you think is key to another 11 years and beyond, if it's crazy enough that any of us are here to see that?[/font]

[font=georgia][b]Kanoria:[/b] ... I would see the key as being continuing to change with the community itself, and thus listening to the voices of newer members as they come through. [...] I don't know if our future as a community exists primarily on or off of NS, or as a decentralized network of subterranean termites for that matter, but I do know that the SLU, and the community around it, will ensure that much of what is best is carried forward, and, if we listen to them, newer members will give us the opportunity to carry them.[/font]
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[box][center][size=180][font=georgia][b][color=firebrick]This Month in History - MLK Day[/color][/b][/font][/size][/center][hr][font=georgia][size=140][i]The Whitewashed Radical[/i][/size][/font]
[size=120][font=georgia][i]Written by [nation]North American Republics[/nation][/i][/font][/size]

[font=georgia][tab=25]We end January having celebrated both a new year and the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. You would have seen “I have a dream” inspired messages splattered in corporate memos, school curricula, and advertisements. You may have also heard promises and speeches made by leaders in our communities and governments to advance his efforts. What does that really mean, however? If we take guidance from the White House, it means setting forth on volunteer efforts to aid others in your community. In the corporate world, it may mean that executives promise to use more inclusive language and speak on some parts of black history. In schools, it may mean a quick deviation to cover specific events at the time he lived and maybe a restrained discussion on issues in your own community. If you experienced these side effects of injustice, you may be suffering from White Moderate syndrome.[/tab][/font]

[font=georgia][tab=25]I am very glad that we have paid attention to this important civil rights activist. His work uniting people to effect change must not go unrecognized, but should you advocate for his methods, you, too, may very well face the troubles he did in pushing for progress. In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King succinctly describes the crux of the problem with people calling for calm in the face of injustice, reproduced here:[/tab][/font]

[spoiler][font=georgia][tab=50]"First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."[/tab][/font][/spoiler]

[font=georgia][tab=25]I ask you to read this quote and think back to the George Floyd protests of two summers past. Think about what you heard about the protests then, the complaints you may have heard from both those who have called themselves liberals and those you know to be conservative. They, too, called for peace, for order. They called for complete passivity in the face of injustice and their leaders demanded it, moving police forces in against civilians as soldiers to war. They have claimed that they wanted to open up a dialogue, but these protestors would not let them. Peace was re-established, promises of change made, but what progress has been made in two years? Dr. King, too, saw this in his own time:[/tab][/font]

[spoiler][font=georgia][tab=50]"Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants--for example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. … Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene 'Bull' Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer."[/tab][/font][/spoiler][/box]

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[size=110][font=georgia]Thank you for reading the Union Tribune's [u]first[/u] Newsletter edition! If you liked it, give it an upvote. This month's edition was written by [nation]Erynia and Draconia[/nation], with the exception of the "This Month in History Article", which was written by [nation]North American Republics[/nation], and the interview with [nation]Kanoria[/nation], which was hosted by [nation]Goncar[/nation].[/font][/size]

[font=georgia]The Union Tribune Newsletter is a subsidiary of Union Mass Media, which is managed by the [url=https://parliament.slugov.com/Ministry_of_Domestic_Affairs]Ministry of Domestic Affairs[/url]. Please contact Secretary of Communications [nation]Erynia and Draconia[/nation] or Minister of Domestic Affairs [nation]Helvurium[/nation] with any questions, comments, or suggestions for improvement.[/font]