Muralos

Muralos (Esperanto: La Unuiĝintaj Insuloj de Muralos) is a cosmopolitan collection of islands located in the corner of the Far East. Despite having been the center of many geopolitical struggles between China, Russia, and Japan-- motivated by its wealth of resources and because of historic territorial claims-- the country enjoys relative stability today. Despite being rather industrialized and urbanized, there is still much that has remained untouched on this island, and there is a certain beauty even to the cities themselves.

Cities:

(Orange indicates land under Muralosian control.)

Note: A number of groups are arguing against the renaming of cities from their former Russian names into their current, rather prosaic names in Esperanto. This is underway in many major cities.

Muralos is divided into two main provinces: Sahaleno and Kurilo. All but one of the cities listed below, however, are located on the large, most populated island province of Sahaleno.

Urbego (formerly known as Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and before that, Toyohara)- the capital and largest city of Muralos (lit. "big city" in Esperanto) Havenurbo (formerly Korsakov)- the southern seaport connecting Muralos with the island of Hokkaido in Japan (lit. "seaport" in Esperanto) Okcidenta-Havenurbo (formerly Kholmsk)- the western seaport connecting Muralos with Russia Alexandrovsk (formerly Saĥalena-Urbeto and Alexandrovosk-Sakhalinsky)- the town where the noted writer Chekhov stayed (lit. "Sakhalin Town" in Esperanto) Oleo (formerly Okha)- the northernmost city and the coldest city on average of Muralos (lit. "oil" in Esperanto) Kurila-Urbo (formerly Yuzhno-Kurilsk)- a remote city located on Kunashira Insulo, a tiny, but populated island of the Kurilo province. For those adventurous travelers who make it there, the weather is invariably rainy or snowy, but the geography and scenery are infinitely rewarding.

Prior to the settlement of Russian, Japanese, etc., present-day Muralos was inhabited by a number of indigenous tribes, most notably the Nivkh, who now mostly reside in the northern portions of the country.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the island (then called Sakhalin) was fought over in back-and-forth fashion by Russia and Japan, who governed the territory's southern portion. Chinese settlements had also been established on the island, and the land was indeed ceded from Imperial China to Russia in the early days of China's formation; however, due to mounting internal issues, China did not make any concerted attempts to conquer the island after its cession, and has not ever since.

In 1945, the Soviet Union gained complete control over Sakhalin, designating it as an oblast of Russia; however, it backed down two decades later due to widespread lack of support for its administration, particularly the government's treatment of the oblast as a "lesser territory." A brief, but bloody Muralosian Civil War also discouraged outside powers from intervening in the island. The residents of the island collectively decided to form the country now known as Muralos-- the name is a corruption of the Esperanto word for "walls." The new nation was recognized by the World Assembly in 1963. (N.B. Despite having been ejected from the WA in 2014, Muralos retains rather great international respect.)

Note: The Muralosian currency, the stelo, is worth approximately 0.26 US dollars. When inverted, 1 US dollar is equal to about 3.8 steloj ["STE-loy"].

Talk: The presence of the various groups on the island and the delicate issue of handling the divisions between them was of top concern to the newly established government after independence. In the early 1950s, it was voted to adopt Esperanto as the official language of the country. So as a result, Esperanto is the predominant language. While it is certainly not taken very seriously anywhere else in the world-- at least, not on a national level-- within this country the people have certainly achieved Zamenhof's ideal of uniting people of different cultures. However, English is taught widely, and Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian are all heard around the island. Muralos' powerhouse education system dictates that citizens learn a foreign language outside of Esperanto and their "ancestral" tongues.

Government: The structure of the Muralosian government is very much modeled after the British and American model, except it does not incorporate a bicameral legislature. The head of state in Muralos is the president, who approves the legislature of the Konsilio, the unicameral legislative body. The president may also submit legislature to be approved by the Konsilio. Since 1981, presidents of Muralos have each served either a single four-year term or two four-year terms.

More about the Muralosian governmental structure will be in another dispatch, Government in Muralos.

The movement for Muralosian independence from the Soviet Union was known as the Ligo Esperantista. In the 1960s, the Ligo Esperantista would split into the two main parties of Muralos: the Esperantist party and the Independent party.

Below are some of the major achievements by Muralosian leaders since the country's independence.

1947-1964 Alexander Zemlinsky, Ligo Esperantista One of the leading members of the Muralosian independence movement (Ligo Esperantista) he assumed the position of head of state during the first decades of the country's existence. However, he was widely popular among the Muralosian populace, was open to criticism from the opposition, and delegated much of his power to Ligo Esperantista members below him.

1964-1973 The Muralosian Civil War

Tumult broke out in Muralos as a faction of Japanese expansionists gained military might. Their goal was to capture southern Sakhalin and re-establish Japanese rule there, despite not having any affiliation with the Japan. The Muralosian Civil War broke out as members of expansionist factions stormed the Konsilio building in Urbego and held legislators hostage. The factions carried out similar sieges in Havenurbo and Okcidenta-Havenurbo.

During the Muralosian Civil War, Alexander Zemlinsky retained control of the Muralosian armed forces, and the nations of Fengjie and Li Qing provided troops to fight on behalf of the Muralosians. Officially, there was no president of Muralos during the war: members of Ligo Esperantista assumed joint responsibility for the nation’s affairs, and elections were suspended.

The expansionist forces remained a political and numerical minority in the nation of Muralos; however, they exhibited exceptional planning and discipline.

A peace agreement was reached between the Muralosian government and the rebel forces in 1973. Indeed, by 1970, morale among the Japanese expansionists decreased significantly, as their brand of militant nationalism fell entirely out of fashion and Esperantism gained appeal among young Japanese Muralosians.

1973-1981 Oleg Zemlinsky, Partio Sendependa Alexander's son and the first Muralosian president after the civil war. He operated under a platform of fiscal conservatism, believing that a free market was the best way to distance Muralos from the Soviet Union's shadows. He stunted Muralos' economic growth and industrialization through large government subsidies. In addition, President Zemlinsky, a big believer in Muralosian direct democracy, also created many new positions in the Muralosian government before stepping down. President Zemlinsky's policies became a model for many Sendependa politicians, much like FDR's or Reagan's in the United States. 1981-1989 Sofia Raro, Partio Sendependa Raro continued many of Zemlinsky's policies. To further address the problem of Muralosian unemployment after the civil war, Raro engineered a plan to construct a new network of highways throughout Sahaleno and establish a Ministry of Transport, creating millions of new jobs as a result. Because of her achievements in these areas, she was sometimes affectionately known as President CAR-o.

James Forta: 2009 - 2017, Partio Esperantista The direction of President Forta saw major reforms in Muralosian administration. The most notable changes include the granting of citizenship and high-level positions to artificial intelligence machines, as well as a significant elimination of loopholes in the Muralosian tax code. Forta also encouraged investment in alternative sources of energy, and supported the development of Hyperloop infrastructure in Muralosian urban areas. He also championed social welfare and justice, repealing all legislation viewed as discriminatory to LGBT community. Notably as well, Forta approved a resolution in April 2016 to abolish the death penalty in Muralosian prisons.

Madoka Kuznetsova: 2017 - present, Partio Esperantista Kuznetsova's presidency has been a particularly unusual one. She was elected primarily in hopes that she would continue James Forta's policies, and for the most part, she has done exactly that. Between 2017 and 2020, Kuznetsova pursued a policy of national self-containment, in which no substantial policy changes were made and international exchange was reduced to a minimum. Self-containment did not have any adverse effects on Muralosians' lives, but it did arouse discontent among national athletes, as Muralos no longer participated in international competition under Kuznetsova's doctrine. Astonishingly, the movement to revitalize Muralos' sports teams successfully led to the end of self-containment in October 2020.

Also in October 2020, Kuznetsova drafted a resolution to re-establish private enterprise in Muralos, which the Konsilio promptly approved. She later expressed regret for having done so and vowed to re-establish Muralos' AI-planned economy, calling it "as Muralosian as our democracy and diversity." Kuznetsova's sympathy to corporations belies her strong support of socially progressive legislation; many of her initiatives – including wildfire prevention measures – rely on government intervention and high corporate tax rates.

Another event of historic importance occurred during Kuznetsova's presidency: the re-admission of Muralos into the World Assembly after a 4-year absence. This event took place in the summer of 2020 to nearly unanimous fanfare.