[GUEST SPEAKER] Martì-Pair Furxhéir

[Lüc]

Ladies and gentlemen, for the second guest contribution of this Sixth Congress, a man all Talossans know and love as the Resident Miracle Worker: the indomitable Secretary of State Martì-Pair Furxhéir! As he has chosen to send us his contribution, rather than post it here in person, I will post it underneath with no edits, as he sent it to me.

[Lüc]

M-P's speech:

Azul and good morning, MRPT members. It is with nonpartisan pleasure that I open your congress. Please wait until I will have left the building before talking about partisan politics, because as you know, as Secretary of State, I am bound to be neutral toward political parties.



But neutral isn’t apolitical, and it doesn’t mean that I have to hold my tongue and remain silent.



Let’s be honest, this is the 50th Cosa election. The 50th. It is a tremendous milestone and I remember with excitement when the 30th Cosa election occurred…. Twice!



Indeed, for those that don’t know, the Cosa numbering scandal meant that we all thought we were in the 31st Cosa when in reality, we were in the 28th.



Initially met with disappointment, we realized that the situation gave us a second chance. A second chance to celebrate the 30th Cosa which initially had been met with apathy and indifference.



We had the chance to fully celebrate a major milestone as the Cosa could celebrate its 30th Cosa election!



You are surely wondering why I am talking about this and are thinking that it is with excitement that I am awaiting the 50th Cosa election, so that we can celebrate once again a “decade” of cosa elections.



But it’s not. I have a quiz for you guys. I have 3 questions which I want you to answer in your mind before we move forward with my speech.



The first is easy, who discovered the Cosa Numbering Scandal? If you’ve followed me since my return to Talossa, you know that I did, when I was building the database.



The second isn’t that simple, but it’s not a major mystery either. Why did the Cosa Number Scandal even occur? The answer, if you’ve followed me, is that former SoS Charles Sauls mistakenly increased the Cosa number for 3 Clarks instead of the Clark number, without anyone noticing.



That leads me to my third and final question, what did the Kingdom of Talossa do to celebrate the 30th Cosa? The answer will come at the end of the speech, so hold on for a few minutes.



But regardless of the actual answer, there is a deeper question I want to ask from all of you.



The question is where is Talossa going? We’ve gone thru 49 Cosas already, and we are starting the 50th. I feel like its a major crossroad.



What did we learn in those 49 Cosas? What did we achieve? What failed?



This series of questioning isn’t futile. I believe that major anniversaries are perfect occasions for reevaluating our past, and possibly choosing a new road for the future.



When I joined Talossa as a prospective in 2000, there was a written history exam that you had to study for by reading Ar Pats.



That history book were subjectively written by our founder and former King and eventually, the practice justly disappeared as many pages of our history books were filled with propaganda to bite back at old forgotten enemies.



But what did we replace Ar Pats with? An hard to navigate Wiki that is omitting a lot of data, and provides no linear narrative.



I do love the wiki, but it’s not enough to get the full story.



So, at the crossroad where we are now, do we know where we’re from? Do we have a clear sense of our past? I do not feel like its the case.



I have my cross to bear on this, I could have spent more time on my own book so that it could be unveiled for the 50th. I could have imported more data into the database from the years I was absent.



I’d love for more documentation on our rich history.



But at the same time, it would be an error to only look back. We have the present, and the future to tackle.



So let’s talk about the present, the now. How many truly active citizens do we have? How can we recruit new citizens and keep them active?



In the past, before Facebook and Twitter, Talossa was more than a micronation, more than a political arena, more than a linguistic brotherhood.



Talossa was a social media network spanning the globe! It felt good to go to a place where everyone knows your name. It felt great to share your triumph to cheer with friends or to express your tragedies to receive empathy with people who understood what you went thru.



Today, we have Facebook for that…



In 2000, I was trying to get my friends to join Talossa to get the opportunity to learn about people from different countries.



Today we have Twitter for that.



In the early 2000, I got to hear about stories not-mentioned in my local newspaper or sites like CNN from other corners of the world from Wittenberg, from the eye witness account of many Talossans spread across the globe.



Today we have Reddit for that.



So, when I talk to friends, I see no reason to get them in Talossa, unless they love politics or linguistics and guess what?



I don’t have that many friends interested enough in either…



But not all is hopeless! There are solutions! The Talossan Risk game was interesting and I spoke to friends about possibly playing online boardgames with people from Talossa. They at least raised an eyebrow in curiosity.



I honestly think that to get people interested in Talossan politics or the Talossan language, we should first get them interested in Talossa itself. In being a Talossan.



In 2003, Ron and I were swapping CDs full of songs by mail and talking hours on the phone about our kids, our careers, exchanging jokes, etc…



But in Talossa, we were tireless rivals who bickered and fought over trivial issues, accusing each other of being various obscene things. People turned up to see how far we would go, without realizing that it was all in good fun and we often planned these outbursts over a phone call.



It was also a period during which I hired no less than 4 different Talossans to work for my company, part time.



We were more than a online social community like Facebook. We were friends, we were a gang, we were more than political parties or people interested in a language.



We had found common grounds.



Can we find a way, in the world of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Skype, to make social interactions in Talossa special enough to create social bonds outside of politics?



Can we get a way to engage socially not only existing Talossan but also prospectives, and even friends of Talossans?



Which projects can we do in the 50th Cosa that could bring a new dawn of social activity both on and off Wittenberg?

Sadly, I am not here to provide answers, it’s your congress after all.



But that leads me to my final subject. The future of Talossa.



Talossa evolved a lot, from the changes in the Cosa composition, the creation of the Senate, to the various changes in the Corts, multiple immigration reforms and more recently, the de-politicization of the Chancery.



It’s unclear how Talossa will be in 50 Cosas, but that future is being built, act by act. I personally tried to set fixed election dates in the last Clark, but unless every party gets on board, we can’t prepare Talossa for its future, whatever is in stores.



So, perhaps, just perhaps, political parties should start planning for the future, and by future, I do not mean the next Cosa, or even the next year. I mean starting to build a multi-year plan to ensure the future and the prosperity of our great nation.



Perhaps it’s time to stop thinking of the next 3 months, and instead, set long-term goals and plans over years and perhaps even decades.



Again, I do not have those answers. It’s your congress after all.



But I hope I set a tone which will inspire you to greatness. I hope I opened your mind to new ideas.



I hope I managed to start a conversation which will help stear Talossa toward a brigther future.



Oh, and the celebrations for the 30th Cosa you wonder? As far as know, they are lost to history… A far as I know, they are forgotten after almost 15 years of progress.



Please, don’t let our 50th Cosa pass by uncelebrated, and don’t let those celebrations be forgotten to the ides of time.



Have a good congress, and good luck at the 50th Cosa election.