Langford’s Aarbaro press conference tells us nothing new
Artemis Langford, Supreme Executive of the Soviet Socialist Republics of Aarbaro, convened a press conference yesterday evening. Read the Daily Micronational’s take.
Artemis Langford, Supreme Executive of the Soviet Socialist Republics of Aarbaro, convened a press conference yesterday evening.
It was light on information.
Having attended, I can confirm that I now know nothing about the direction of the country I didn’t know or could have inferred before.
What I do know is this: Langford is very, very confident that this new nation, which she refers to as a future “juggernaut”, is going to succeed. She even gave us a date – 2020 – by which time the SSRA will have hit a critical mass of influence within the micronational community.
I’m afraid I don’t see it.
I asked how she could be so confident that the nation would succeed; she responded by informing me that it was the result of her “strict socialist principles” and “will to succeed”. I pressed this point, with a view towards getting some more detailed policy proscription. She declined this implied invitation, and instead pivoted to more socialist rhetoric: “The democratic will of the people and the consent of the governed is a strong belief in socialism, in particular the SSRA. The socialist principle of determination and the unity of workers will try our nation to success.”
Not to be disappointed, I pushed the point still further. This time, I asked point-blank: “Do you have any grounds to believe the SSRA will be a success other than faith?” At this, she appeared to at least partially concede: “Success can never be planned or said right now until later.” At this point, she excused herself.
Regarding specific policy, we still know very little. She parried a question on the international community by maintaining that the nation would view potential international ties through the lens of “anti-capitalist” policies. She declined to answer a question from my colleague at the Aariania Weekly when queried on whether the nation would attempt to convert other micro- or macronations to the socialist cause.
We do know vague government priorities. “The SSRA is in the current process of territorial claims and government formation and development,” she remarked when asked what the immediate plan was for the nation. “The SSRA intends to finish a constitution, and then proceed to legislative matters and other government business and expansion.” She didn’t clarify what legislative matters or government business she had in mind.
It seems very much like a lot of the goals of the new incarnation of Aarbaro rest on Langford’s faith in the grand design – and she has a lot of it – but for those wavering communists in the community, I fear more than faith will be needed before they hitch their colours to Supreme Executive Langford’s national plan of action, such as it is.
This is perhaps an unfair assessment; the new nation has had merely a day or so to establish itself. This is the chiefest problem I have with the new administration; they simply have yet to have anything to say. This is why, were I in the shoes of one of Ms. Langford’s advisors, I would have counselled not holding a press conference until the government can come back to the public with results rather than rhetoric. As it stands, this conference tells us nothing.
