[Politics] AFS Calls for Council Seat Removal

AFS Calls for Council Seat Removal

The past week has seen a sharp increase in protests across Citadel Space as the Political Action Committee “Accountability For Sur’kesh” has questioned the legitimacy of the salarian Council membership.

“A Council member’s duty is to protect Citadel Space as a whole,” explained Takus Tran, event coordinator for AFS. “Where was the Union during the Reaper War? Where was it during the single most important threat the galaxy has ever faced? Nowhere, because Allied forces wouldn’t pander to their little games.”

The tone was similar at the Presidium protest, with over 400 members of various races calling for the salarians’ removal from the Council.

“[The salarians] can’t even feel our pain,” argued guest speaker Opheus Lonad (H-Tier 14, Palaven). “Out of everyone in the galaxy, they’re the only ones with an intact homeworld, the only ones with a fully functioning industry. They should have been spearheading that war, but they could barely send a token resistance.”

While many protesters stayed “on-message” throughout the event, several members had their own to make. One salarian protester, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that he was there as a reminder of his own species’ dissent from his government.

“What I want is for our political caste to take a hard look at themselves, and spur my people into limiting our Dalatrasses’ power,” he said.

The protests were largely ignored by those uninvolved, though the Salarian political body has expressed mild contempt for the movement. Dalatrass Mendon (Miscigle, Jaeto) in particular noted covert actions taken throughout the war and afterward a statement condemning the protests.

“This is an outrage,” she said. “If you think we just sat there during the war and did nothing, you are grossly mistaken...We kept the galactic economy running, and overtly supported our allies as best we could. We were conducting thousands of simultaneous operations to give us an edge on the Reapers, and the worst simply came to worst.”

Mendon declined to comment on the Union’s wartime operations, citing operational secrecy, though she further noted the salarians' involvement in galactic reconstruction.

“The Council’s duties are not solely based in waging war,” she stated.

Further protests are scheduled for this week.

The protest is a concerning but not unexpected sign for the well-being of cooperative relations between the Council members. If the issues underneath are not dealt with in a satisfactory manner, more dissent will follow and there is a high chance public relations will be soured between the Salarian Union and other nations.

The implications are unpleasant. Only a strong-willed individual and dire threat of genocide of all life outside the Old Machines was enough to unify the galaxy against them. This unity is in danger of being shattered right now, and it will not benefit anyone in long-term.

It's a protest of four hundred people. Compared to the total population of all races involved that's nothing. That' probably less than a hundredth of a percent. I wouldn't be worried about this affecting relations.

Counterpoint.

Why didn’t every race take the word of a mass-murdering, relay-destroying monster at her word and not demand solid proof beyond a single dreadnought that was easily attributable to the geth?

Or did you forget her reputation before the war truly began?

You are an idiot. 

You realize there was an entire galaxy to fight in and defend? That indoctrinees turned entire nations against the rest of us? That there was fighting on fronts outside of earth when the Crucible went down? Those fleets were likely needed elsewhere.


Because every single point of evidence in the galaxy pointed towards Shepard being a fucking loony with no idea what she was talking about?

We need a movement like this for the asari, as well. Hiding the beacon for thousands of years is what got us into such a mess in the first place.

That said, I'm not sure a human/turian council would be the best thing. Maybe give the krogan a seat; they've saved the galaxy twice now.

I feel I failed to make myself clear –due to the wrong choice of words– I did not mean they would completely break-down, what I meant was that salarian tactics are optimized to for smaller size deployments.

I also wish to retort to your assessment that the Union has a ‘big’ fleet. While numerically it is bigger than the Alliance fleet you should not just take that into account. The size of a fleet should always be held into comparison of its population, size and of the area they control and how they deploy it.

The Union’s fleet compared with their population is smaller than the Alliance fleet that is they have a smaller number of ships per person than the Alliance. Case to point; we had fielded 9 dreadnoughts for a population of about 15 billion humans (this is severely rounded-up) or 1 dreadnought for every ~1.7 billion humans. Meanwhile they fielded 16 dreadnoughts for a population easily surpassing 50 billion, or 1 dreadnought for every ~3.1 billion salarians.

As you can see there is a serious discrepancy, one that is very well known as the salarians did (and do) rely on the turian fleet to guard their outer borders. While they deal with any internal conflict, this is mostly done by spreading out their fleets in to smaller deployment units (flotillas might be a incorrect term,) over a large territory and their pilots and crew are trained as such.

Does that mean they cannot work in larger groups, of course not, it just means they will be less effective.


Once again their martial contribution would only have resulted in more salarian deaths and little else, the strength of the Union does not come from its armies fighting in the open and insisting they should have suffered as the rest of the galaxy is just petty. I am nowhere in the position to know let alone disclose the what they did contribute – an inherent effect of shadow-warfare – but given how the governmental and Council leadership speak of the salarians it is clear to anyone that they – The Union – was not just sitting passively at the sidelines.


You are unfortunately wrong on that part, if you care to peruse the archives or talk to salarian aid workers like The Sarcastic Salarian you would be quick to notice that violence or at least the threat of violence is a real thing.

The reapers rebuilt the relays. Why not give them a seat?

We would need a bigger Council chamber to do that.

Hey now that might not be a bad idea!

I knew you would agree with me.

In all seriousness though the Council was a pretty terrible government before the Reapers turned up, and it shouldn't surprise anybody that it's a terrible government now.

@Diplomatic Immunity : I think everyone understands the point you've been making several times, the Union doesn't specialize in large scale deployment, using their fleet is not standard procedure from them, and comparively to humans they don't have that much ships.
BUT even so they still had a rather impressive army that they mostly didn't use! You say that they're less effective in overt deployment, but not deploying AT ALL is even less effective, for reasons that should be obvious.

I only meant in this very thread. I think it's nice that here at least people separate the salarian people from their dalatress. I have nothing but contempt for those attack the salarian citizens, especially the aid workers.


I didn't mean every race, I mean the people who were supposed to find out those things. It's crazy, you're talking as if you didn't actually notice that Sheppard was right all along! There really were reapers, and if nobody verified her claims, it means somebody dropped the ball BAD. I get that they were good at covering their steps, but if one N7 found proof, entire intelligence agencies should have to. Or, more accurately, they should have seen those proofs for what they were.

Also, I know that attacking people instead of their ideas is considered standard operating procedure on CDN, but it's still a terrible way to debate or to behave in general. I'm realize it must makes you feel some sort of pervert pleasure, but please refrain from it with me, and I'll do the same.

Yes. Somebody did drop the ball. And that person was Shepard, who failed time and time again to actually make her case. Who slaughtered 300000 people after “reportedly” coming back from the dead. Who blew up a relay. Who failed to provide crucial, actionable proof to the Council and the STG.

Also, I know that you think that people have infinite patience, but when you make the same exact claim over and over again, it’s damn hard for people not to assume “mental deficiency” on their part.

You keep saying that but how do you know? I doubt the salarians gave their deployment plans to you, so how exactly do you know they did not use their troops? That they let them twiddle their fingers so to speak.

Side note: Have you ever seen a salarian twiddle his fingers? It is mindbogglingly fast.

Just give it all to the elcor.

Humorous approval: I like the way you think, Ms. Palmer.

You don't want a Reaper near the chambers. Remember 2183? One of them tried to mate with it and look at the mess it left all over the Citadel!

Wait, is that the Union rationalization or just yours? Because it would explain a lot. "Wasn't our fault, Sheppard didn't present her case well enough". They're intelligence! If there is something to be found, it's their job to find it! When a specter blows the whistle on something big, it's their job to follow up on it and find out if there is truth to the matter or not. What good are they if soldiers are supposed to do their entire job?

Also you need to understand that from the opposite point of view, you're the one who keeps repeating the same thing over and over. Now, it's called "being in a disagreement". Maturity is about accepting that not everyone agrees with you, and that them having another point of view than yours doesn't mean they're retarded.
And if you can't stop equating different point of view with stupidity, please keep your insults to yourself.

Except that she undermined herself by failing to provide shred of documentable proof. As far as anyone could tell at the time, she was a mass-murderering madwoman, working outside of Citadel Space, with possible ties to the same group that would later take over Omega, attempt murdering the Council, and do everything they could to drag us to the Dragons’ Teeth themselves.

At the time, there was next to no reason to believe her wild claims, and next to no reason to believe her leads would come up anywhere. Who are you to say that the STG ignored them anyway? Do you know that they didn’t bother to check, instead of looking into it themselves and finding nothing to back her up?

shepard's name is spelled shepard.

no extra "p".