DRUCKENWELL – Senator Verity Stuyveris laid out an ambitious and frank policy shift today in her keynote address to the Druckenwell Policy Institute, where some observers classified her remarks as critical of High Republic inaction in the Core in the wake of the Galactic Alliance and the Galactic Empire's collapse.
"In a simpler galaxy, the humiliating defeat of an autocratic, totalitarian state would be an unalloyed good," Senator Stuyveris told assembled diplomats, industrialists, scholars, students, news media, and others at the annual meeting of the DPI. "But in the galaxy we have, the galactic situation -- to say nothing of the plight of the people living in the Core and the Deep Core -- has gone from bad to much, much worse."
Stuyveris went on to explain: "Whether we like it or not, Coruscant holds a unique space in the galactic consciousness. It is the de facto capital of galactic civilization, and whoever holds it also possesses a dual-edged blade: yes, a sort of legitimacy that comes from Coruscant's centrality -- not just geographically but its being an epicenter of trade, commerce, and financial markets -- but also a target. It was Natasi Fortan, I believe, who was said to describe Coruscant as 'the third rail of galactic geopolitics: if you touch it, you die.' This could go some way to explaining why, despite years of success on the galactic stage, Fortan's First Order never reached for Coruscant, even when it was at the apex of its influence as arguably the galaxy's predominant superpower of its day."
"I don't know if I agree with her; whether Coruscant is a death sentence for galactic powers is an argument for another day. What is clear – and what I hope is not controversial – is that the Sith Covenant must not be allowed to get comfortable there. It would be malpractice to allow them to squat on Coruscant as if they belong. Even were they not responsibilities for the brutalities that we all saw playing out on our holos in the Tapani Sector only weeks ago, they are -- by all accounts -- an unhinged band of dangerous anarchists whose struggle for control of the core cost the lives of millions – with estimates still climbing."
Stuyveris went on to outline a plan of advocacy in the Senate and in the public sphere wherein she would seek to put pressure on Republic leadership to take direct action. "This is a matter of the moral health of the nation," Stuyveris said. "But it is also sound strategy. We cannot have the industrial base of the Core languishing under a death cult, any more than we should have major hyperlanes controlled in any part by these dangerous criminals."
Stuyveris gave her end goal simply: "The Sith Covenant must be evicted from Coruscant and the Core. All the better if they are sent packing back to whatever dark hole they crawled out of, but at a bare minimum their party of genocidal psychopaths must be expelled from the center of galactic civilization. To contemplate otherwise is to risk the current crop of galactic powers giving the impression that it is willing to tolerate the current state of affairs. That for the sake of peace -- or stability, or prosperity, or profits, or whatever word we use to rationalize our inaction -- we would damn trillions of beings to the charnel houses of unhinged butchers."
Here, Stuyveris appeared to depart from her prepared notes, hesitating momentarily before staking her claim: "Allow me to be clear: I am not willing to tolerate it. I am not willing to stand in polished ballrooms and the halls of power in Theed or even right here on my beloved homeworld of Druckenwell while trillions are left to the tender mercies of the Sith Covenant. Some would say that my position demands that I represent the interests of Druckenwell on Naboo and leave the moralizing to the Jedi. In other words, that I ought to mind my own damned business."
Continued Senator Stuyveris: "Representing the interests of Druckenwell is a duty I hold sacred, and yet it is a duty which compels me forward on this mission. I cannot pretend to know the thoughts and feelings of every one of my constituents, but I can tell you that I have not heard from one -- not one -- that sees what happened in the Tapani Sector, what is happening on Coruscant, and what will soon be happening elsewhere as someone else's business, as someone else's problem. This is a galactic community, a family of nations and worlds. We must all look out for one another. And consider this: if the roles were reversed -- if Druckenwell were occupied by a Sith death cult -- we would pray for intercession and aid from those who by definition would have 'their own' to worry about. That is the High Republic: more than representative democracy, more than conditions in which business interests may flourish, it is a system in which we give when we can and take when we must, in which we all owe something to one another, and to the greater galactic good."
Following the remarks, Senator Stuyveris took questions from the media at a press conference. When asked whether her remarks were directed at any particular individual, for instance newly elected Chancellor Dominique Vexx, Stuyveris said: "A ship of state the size of the High Republic cannot turn on the spot -- the occupational hazard of a large democracy such as ours -- but I believe Chancellor Vexx has done better than most would in getting her arms around the problems at hand. As far as I know the Chancellor has not staked a public position on the question of intervention in the Core, though I'm certain she is taking advice from relevant executive departments, experts, and Senate colleagues. To that end, I will of course use my office to lobby the Chancellor and I'm optimistic that we will continue our positive working relationship."
In response to a question about the apparent assassination of Senator Monaray Dod of Toshara, Stuyveris seemed genuinely emotional. "It is always a tragedy when we lose a colleague. By all accounts, Senator Dod was a fine representative of his constituents' interests and his loss is felt deeply -- by them and by myself and my colleagues. We in the Senate will do whatever we can to see that there is a full investigation into Senator Dod's death and bring to justice those responsible."
When asked about her position as provisional senator, and whether she feared that her strong and possibly controversial stance announced at the DPI conference impacted her chances of being confirmed to the position permanently, Stuyveris seemed unperturbed: "I suspect that the provisional status of my appointment will be resolved in short order. As to whether running my mouth will get me out of a job -- it's always a possibility. But I think that anyone who expects the Senator for Druckenwell to do nothing put peddle giveaways to the military-industrial complex in the Senate should vote for someone else."
