FIRST VOICE, LAST WORD
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| SPORTS – NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL POLITICS – ENTERTAINMENT |
On Tuesday, 13 January, the campaigning for the 9A elections began, introducing a new political party, the Liberal Noaborot. In a short but substantive speech, party leaders Saanvi Rout and Prakruti Dhanankar outlined proposed policies and initiatives.
According to the party, it places an emphasis on collaboration and ‘shared glory’, and its proposed initiatives include:
1. A collectively agreed upon hand signal to quell disruptions during learning time. The party reasons that the hand signal would save much time and effort on all sides, yet concerns have been raised by critics as to how the party plans to implement this in a physically challenged environment, as visually
impaired citizens may have trouble following along with the gesture.
2. A turn-based cleaning system, in which students take turns on a scheduled basis to clean the classroom after a school day. Supporters of this initiative argue that it promotes environmentalism and responsibility, teaching citizens that 9A is a shared space that must be respected. However, some citizens ponder the potential for exploitation and unequal workloads, questioning the party’s claim that all responsibilities are shared equally.
3. Electing an assigned organizer to keep all worksheets safe and in order and remind citizens to absent students to collect worksheets. Though citizens acknowledge the proposal to be ‘enticing’, raise concerns for its practicality. One anonymous citizen commented, “Liberal Noaborot’s initiatives seem promising yet rather impractical to implement.”
“The ballot is stronger than the bullet”
Concluding the discussion of the Liberal Noaborot party’s proposed initiatives, citizens expressed mixed reactions to the party’s campaign video and speech. Supporters of the party described the
campaign as well-organized and professional. While collecting private statements from individual citizens, one citizen commented “They tried to deliver their message in a professional and formal
way, comparing it to actual government systems but with less persuasion”. Another citizen, who requested to remain anonymous, stated that she had jokingly suggested to party leader Prakruti the inclusion of content related to previously controversial files.
She says “I didn’t think they would actually do it. I said it as a joke, but I think she took
it as...not a joke.” She also mentions that she had promised her vote to the Liberal Noaborot if they
followed through with the suggestion, saying that she must now fulfil her end of the bargain and vote for them. The allegations this citizen levies against Liberal Noaborot are serious, implying a blatant violation of article 4(A) of the Moral Code of Conduct.
When pressed about these allegations in a private interview, Party Leaders Prakruti and Saanvi state that they were simply gathering information on what their citizen’s wanted to see. They state, “That was what had initially been said before the release of the MCC and what was agreed upon. So, we just went
by that logic and by that association and we had texted some other people also to, you know, like make posters, make slogans.” The party also states that after the MCC was released, they ‘directly backed out’, and ended all affiliation. Supporters say the party leader’s response was fair and
reasonable, while critics say that the party has contradicted their claims of shared glory by not crediting the citizen for her contribution.
The Liberal Noaborot party is a promising choice, all in all, with a few concerning weak points. Its two worthy candidates propose a start for a society where responsibility is shared and opportunities
are equally distributed. Surely, a society worth living in. By sharing classroom responsibilities between fellow students, they aim for a class that prioritises collaboration and teamwork. Spending a large majority of our day with a large number of people as classmates, cooperation and team bonding are
valuable lessons. Their vision is exercised into solutions like the ‘all-silencing’ hand gesture, the turn-wise system of student cleaners, and the class worksheet manager. It is important to note that these
ideas encourage an ideal class where inequality and discrimination are abolished. They promise us, with
confidence, a system of zero individual glory, where no one is alone.
Yet these tempting promises do little to the fact, that they did, quite seriously, violate the MCC. A violation of associating themselves to a fellow citizen of 9A, and exploiting her idea to their selfish advantage. An outright violation that left her uncredited for her contributions, all the while obliged for her vote in return for the idea. The party’s promises of zero individual glory and fairness go down the drain, really. The gold stars on the Liberal Noaborot party’s scoreboard do not outnumber the black marks, nor do the black marks outnumber the gold stars. It really is a double edged sword. In the end, it is up to us, the citizens of 9A, to truly evaluate whether the Liberal Noaborot party is the right match for us, so vote wisely.
Good luck to the Liberal Noaborot!
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By Ayushi Vinod, Nieva Shinjo, & Joanna Mary Jijo
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