Kafkian Uprising

"They've breached the gates! Parliament Hill has fallen, I repeat Parliament hill ha-!"

- Last broadcast from the Government immediately before its fall.

The Kafkian Uprising was a brutal, violent uprising the took place upon the Mid-Rim world of Kafka in 2554. It was apart of the larger, sector wide 2554 Mid-Rim Protests, yet unlike the other protests it evolved from non-violent protests that sought to simply end the monopoly the Government had created on its power as it had been in power since before the Human-Covenant War had began. As the government became more and more aggressive in its efforts to subdue the colony wide protest. This meant that they rolled on much longer than anyone had originally anticipated and allowed the United Rebel Front to success infiltrate the movement at a grass-roots level. Eventually this turned the movement from its non-violent origins into an openly secessionist movement that sought to remove Kafka from the United Earth Government and establish itself as an independent world. Such escalation deeply frightened the United Nations Space Command as Kafka was one of the few surviving worlds with an advanced military infrastructure. A Battlegroup was sent to quash the rebellion at all costs. The violent rebellion had raged for almost eight months before it ended when the of VIOLET-III successfully assassinated the Rebellion Leadership.

Motivation
The war with the Covenant had been all-consuming and had forced the economy of the UNSC to be solely focused on war production creating a state of total war. The United Earth Government's dominance in its original political role was slowly being superseded by that of the UNSC’s military role – soon the two became indistinguishable as the UNSC absorbed the last vestiges of the UEG’s old power. It became apparent to those at the top of the pyramid of power that it would soon become much too difficult to maintain effective administration of the colonies from Earth. As such, in 2535, the UNSC devolved a series of powers to the colony worlds they still held. It allowed the colonies to administrate their own fiscal and economic policy within a certain spectrum. Each colony was allowed to determine what it contributed to the war effort, and that was it - the economy was forced to be based on war production which left a general feeling of disdain in the ordinary people who were forced into making draconian cuts to their lifestyles. On top of that, each colony was allowed to create its own militia forces from those who were in the armed forces. When it became clear that the Mid-Rim worlds were not going to be attacked by the Covenant, many leaders enacted emergency laws that curbed civil liberties and strengthen their position of power. Propaganda was used to help solidify the position of the emerging despots. It was stated that what they were doing was in the best interests of the people, the war effort and the UNSC. Civil strife was at a minimum and life went on as best it could in the times.

However, when it became clear that the war would be won—news reached the Mid-Rim of the Sangheili fleet helping the stricken Home Fleet arrived a fortnight after the beginning of Raid of the Ark. Murmurings began as people questioned the need for the strictness of the colonial governments' control over the people. Many called for fresh, democratic elections as many of the ruling parties had been in office for the duration of War. The governments urged caution and patience from their populace. They argued that it was too soon after the war to begin the transition back towards democracy as they had yet to receive official word from the government on Earth of the end of the war and, on top of that, they had to allow the economy to wind down from total war and allow its transition into other areas of growth and development begin. This did much assuage the fears of most of the civilian population throughout the Mid-Rim. However, the rulers of the Mid-Rim were shocked by the sudden outcry and took steps to strengthen its grip on the colonies. A conference, styled as the 'Mid-Rim Gathering' was held, all of the leaders of the colonies met and came together discuss trade issues. Though in secret, a pact was created. They agreed that should one of the colonies suffer a protracted case of civil resistance, the other colonies would come to its aid. This pact led to the passing of a series of secret legislation that effectively turned the colonial governor into a dictator. Strikes and unions were banned and new political parties were forbidden from being formed. While political opposition was allowed, it was severely limited in what it could do. Censorship was strengthened and it was now illegal for any publications to openly criticise the governments. Elections were held, but they were rigged and monitored by state officials and throughout the Mid-Rim the pro-regime party—Coalition for Mid-Rim Stability (CMRS)--was returned with a vast majority.

The obvious curtailing of civil liberties had the precipitating effect of causing widespread discontent amongst the intelligentsia. They were most open in their criticism of the new policy direction from the government. They began to whip up discontent among the middle-class and the working class. Anti-Government propaganda was circulated in the work places that demanded the creation of unions. Many unions were created as a wave of anti-government feeling swept through the Mid-Rim and strikes were held in the manufacturing sector as well as among disillusion civil servants. The government sent in troops to disperse the striking workers, when they refused to move the leaders were rounded up and imprisoned without trial. This was a fool move by the governments, who were working in unison as they all faced the same problems, and it led to an even great resurgence in anti-government sentiment. Strikes turned into protests as millions marched demanding more democratic freedoms as well as the release of their imprisoned leaders.

Though political reasoning was a big factor in the motivation of the protesters, it was not the only factor. The state of the economy also played a large part in shaping people's feeling toward the government. The state of the economy in the colonies was grim. Each colony had almost exhausted its resources with its part in the war effort. After the war ended, there were massive lay-offs in the manufacturing industry as it was now unsustainable to keep on the surplus of people required to fit the quota tasked to the colony. As a result of this, unemployment in the colonies stood at a staggering 35% of the available work force. The colonial governments were unable to do much to rectify these problems as they themselves were in significant debt. The civilian population began to see the ruling elite to be unskilled and unsuitable to lead the colony and what's more - many people thought the government apathetic to its people's suffering.

Martian Dimension
It was widely accepted that the majority of the population of the Mid-Rim colonies knew of the Martian Food Riots that had taken placed immediately after the war had ended. The people of Mars had taken to the streets demanding an increase in their food rations as most of the population were close to starving. The Martian government were unable to satiate the demands of its people and as a result, the people began to rise against the government. The protests, which had started as apolitical, became more and more political in nature as the demanded greater freedoms from the grip the government had on the population and, indeed, from the crippled UNSC itself. Fortuitously, the protests remained largely non-violent as there was a great spirit of brotherhood between the people and they did not wish to see human bloodshed, especially after the horrors of the past twenty-eight years. Though that is not to say that there wasn't violence - rioting broke out, but it remained largely confined to the capital and as such causalities on both sides—civilian and pro-UNSC—remained low: fewer than three hundred people were killed during the eight month long riots. The riots were largely successful as rationing was loosened and fresh elections were held - the Martian people set a precedent for the rest of the surviving colony worlds.

The non-violent nature and the considerable rapidness of the success of the Martian protests inspired the repressed Mid-Rimmers into action. They took direct inspiration from the Martian tactics of civil disobedience against the ruling party. There were many tales told of how the United Earth Government had not been heavy handed in its attempts to quell the rebellion, instead it had taken the prudent decision to listen to the concerns of the people and address the issues where they could while also promising to address the others whenever it could. Many people in the Mid-Rim worlds believed the same would be applied to them and as the protests began, there was a degree of optimism that had not been in the colonies since before the war.

Overview
Kafka was considerably different from the rest of the Mid-Rim Worlds, as it had long maintained its own distinct characteristics despite the integration that had taken place across the sector. Of all the Mid-Rim colonies, Kafka was the most rigidly individualistic and had been known in the past to harbour Insurrectionists fleeing from persecution on the Frontier Worlds. Kafka became a 'stopping point' for those heading to cause mayhem on the far-flung secessionist battlefields, and those escaping it. It was because of these factors that the United Earth Government decided to focus Kafka into a military heavy world, in the hope of covertly keeping order while supplying its armed forced. It worked, Kafkians took great pride in being the biggest arms manufacturer in the sector. It became harder and harder for rebels to find succour upon the shores of Kafka, but the individualism remained in the forefront of the character of the Kafkian people. Politically, it made it difficult for governments to remain in power for longer than one term and the voting populace were fickle. When elections were suspended for the duration of the war, many Kafkians, rightfully, viewed this with suspicion. Indeed, when it became clear that the government was doing all it could to maintain its grip on power, the Kafkian people took to the streets with a vigour that many later political commentators saw as over seventy years of pent up frustration finally venting itself.

Non-Violent Protests
"Government for the people, by the people!"

- Main chant of the protestors.

The Kafkian people took to the street a week after the New Canadians began their campaign of civil disobedience against their own corrupt government. Beginning in the Capital of Vienna, the protests at first only attracted a few thousand. Like the size of the protests, the original demands of the protesters were small and easily achievable. They demanded elections be held again after the rigged ones that had occurred two months prior. Irked by this, the government began putting its propaganda machine into full-swing, creating fictitious high-profile members of the movement and spinning stories of looting, drug abuse and several stories of them raping women. Indeed, in order to give the stories meat and avoid suspicion of convenient happenings of aggression, several young women were paid by the government to go on television and say that they had been subjected to acts of sexual assault. The blasé manner of their interviews in fact invited more suspicion onto the government and hackers and freelance journalists began to dig deeper into the story to find out exactly what happened. It didn't take them long to discover that they had indeed been hoaxes. Sebastian Ward, a freelance journalist with several hacker contacts, compiled a thirty page document exploring and explaining the extent of the government's corruption and how the stories had been fabrications. He submitted to the e-newspaper The New Parisian Express, the most widely circulated and well respected broadsheet daily. The publication of the report sparked widespread outrage among the populace of Kafka and allowed for a mushrooming effect of the numbers of active protesters. Within three weeks, the protests of around five thousand had swelled to the hundreds of thousands and was growing daily. The government quickly responded and declared martial law to be in effect and began to increase the number of state-militia on the street. Parliament Hill became surrounded by troops and armoured equipment. Such an escalation shocked many of the protesters but they remained undeterred. The entire economy of the Capital shut down as the streets were a sea of people marching and demanding a return of their political rights and for the government to resign.

After the first month, protests began erupting throughout the Greater Vienna Area, as it housed the vast majority of Nexodus's fifteen million population. This made it the largest protest within the Mid-Rim sector when considered proportionally to population. 1.5 million people took to the streets, lead by the Students Union of the Colonial University. Commentators noticed the young, vibrant flavour to the protests as people passionate about politics and civil liberties preached a compassionate and inclusive message. There were daily speeches made by leftist activists who advocated for a greater transparency in how the government on Kafka operated and called for Mendel and her cabinet to resign. As the weeks droned on, and the government remained silent, the rhetoric became more and more aggressive and called for more action should the government continue to refuse to listen to the people. Caroline Danton and Oliver Thompson, two leading members of the realised the potential to turn the protests from just wishing to remove the government to actively fighting against the UNSC. The duo joined the movement on April 3rd with the intention of reaching the upper echelons. The protests concurrently started picking up in momentum, the protesters began to march closer and closer on the legislature, before they had always been wary of the militia which they had viewed with suspicion. In fact it was not the militia the people had to worry about, but the police. Riot police came out in force for the first time on April 7th, and faced a group of protesters numbering 3,000 in one of the richest suburbs of the capital. Thirty protesters were killed and one hundred and twenty-seven were seriously injured, while just forty police officers suffered serious injury, it was dubbed the Battle of Camden Avenue, and was the bloodiest day prior to the violence that later erupted. It did much to further engender the protests to the local populace. Police officers became ostracised by their communities and it became harder for them to leave for work as their cars were vandalised. There were localised incidents of violence towards family members of police officers, actions that were largely condemned by the movement.

As the second month neared its end, the government's silence had been remained total. The heavy handed treatment continued, with police officers using water canons and tear gas almost daily. Indeed, the daily arrest count was in the low thousands. On April 21st, the government issued orders for known notable members of the protest movement to be arrested. On the night of April 23rd, the Special Branch of the police launched raids on dozens of homes with the intention of arresting key members of the movement. While heavyweights within the movement were arrested, the vast majority of the core leadership remained free. Once again raising the stature of the protests while further denigrating the government's position. Shockingly, on April 27th, the Minister of the Interior resigned publicly and endorsed the rebellion. This gave the protests a much need momentum boast and on the 30th of April, the students of the Colonial University led the march on the Parliament as they believed the fall of the government was imminent. What greeted them was unexpected and struck fear into movement, the militia had been deployed in an aggressive posture with machine-gun positions being erected and the limited armoured capability the militia had was deployed. Furthering this, several circled overhead with snipers. The protesters and militia faced each other down for several hours, with each side expecting something to occur. Eventually, the protesters backed down and retreated back into the city with no blood having been shed on either side. The leadership was beginning to become disheartened and believed that they were making next to no progress in their ambitions. Caroline Dalton began to make herself more and more vocal, and she suggested they take a radical approach to the protests and have them become increasingly more violent. While her plans were not adopted, they did create a foundation for her and Oliver to exploit in the weeks that were to follow. At the end of the meeting, the group announced that they would continue marching on the capital building until a response was received.

Secessionist Uprising
On May 6th, Caroline and Oliver had successfully infiltrated the movement and had the ear of the leading council. The duo began quickly radicalising the movement, testing the waters to see how people would feel about an armed struggle.