The August Consular Office
Consuls Johanna Jura & Varus Nascorus
Opinion by the Augustine Office
The Augustine Office has chosen to divest itself of the opportunity to declare a representative to the IAN, and has instead chosen to bestow the opportunity on the nominations by the Conclave. Through a private meeting, the Conclave nominees were able to secure the assistance of the Senate and Augustine Office in utilizing their new powers to immediately institute two cabinet-level positions - the Urbane Consul and Peregrine Consul.
The Urbane Consul will be responsible for monitoring and defining voluntary August compliance with IAN treaties, acting as the final court of appeal pursuant to Imperial pardon, as well as for the same regarding the Novrith Pact and Pax Latina. The Peregrine Consul will be responsible for representations and negotiations within the International Association of Nations. The two will share a single Consular Office and staff, and will hence form a joint representation with both an external and internal component.
The nominees have selected to appoint Princess Johanna Jura Augustus to the position of Peregrine Consul, and Prince Varus Nascorus Augustus to the position of Urbane Consul. The two will be giving a statement each, reproduced in their original form.
Peregrine Consul Princess Johanna Jura Augustus has issued the following statement.
"Throughout my life, I have worked to preserve that which I hold most dear - the right of humanity to know. By my hand, I have worked to preserve the ancient tradition of an independent Medical Service, ensuring that even in times of crisis, all may be assured safe and fair access to medicine and healthcare. During the War of Latin Confederation, August medics protected prisoners of war and battlefield casualties with their own lives. It was because of their work that the Pax Latina was not built on a shaky foundation of blood, but on mutual honour. The day after the Execution of Confederation, August medical workers were the ones who organized the regional ceasefires, waving the white flag sometimes hours ahead of the diplomatic messengers that would announce the end. The week after, it was they who organized the safe, sanitary, and respectful burials of the dead on either side - together, as brothers and sisters in war.
It is necessary that, no matter what happens, we have the freedom to remember. My tenure as August representative shall be marked by memories. Those of war, of peace, of science. I ask that the Assembly grant me this opportunity to represent my nation on the Council, and elect Imperium to this august body."
Urban Consul Prince Varus Nascorus Augustus has issued the following statement.
"I am best known as a unionist. It is what I do. By my hand, August unions took charge of the Fiscal Senate seats. By my hand, August unions went from being the pariahs of our society - one built on equality through service - to the living, breathing communities that organize that service. In my time as a Prince, I have become hated - viscerally hated - by the wealthy. The powerful. My own siblings.
Why?
Because in my time, I have made the least of us their equals. My siblings dare not admit one who does not fence, who did not study in Alba Longa, who served in the Divine Service outside the clergy, that I can represent our nation. But I can. My father, Caesar, has built a nation of innovators, of entrepreneurs, of people who see our government-owned corporations and see not opportunity, but institutions. My friends in Ilamzat, in Cogoria, my nation is not one of colonialism. We are an Empire built on the fair and equitable treatment of all races, of all cultures, of all genders.
I have requested to serve the IAN as one half of our Council representation not because we are weak, but because we are strong. We are not beholden to the liberal democratic world system, in which institutions are sacred to the veneer of law. I want to further an Imperium that is built on the people who run our labour, on unions that resemble those of our comrades who own their means of production. Unions that control the corporations run by our public service.
I agree, wholeheartedly, with my comrades that the IAN cannot further the interests of the worker in the world order. To quote the endorsement from Ilamzat, crucial in securing my position as Urbane Consul, "[I,] if selected as Imperium's representative to the IAN, would further the cause of the worker across the globe as far as participation in liberal democratic politics can." I am not prepared to settle for participation in liberal democratic politics.
My sister, and dear friend, Johanna Jura, shall prosecute the case that is dear to her heart - the freedom to live, healthy and protected by the international community. She shall do so within liberal democratic politics, to protect that most basic right on which even the capitalist societies can accede to.
Without me, my union and its peers shall have none to prosecute their case at home. And so I have chosen to serve my union as one-half of our representation to the International Association of Nations. As our final court of appeal, I shall be a firm reminder to the workers of the world that it is possible to stand up to the world order. With every protection I guarantee against IAN legislation, ensuring that my sister may pass the laws necessary to guarantee good health and the ability to work for all and taking on the burdens of that legislation which furthers the capitalist order, I shall stand as a beacon reminding the workers of the world that - "Yes, we can take control."
My service to my home requires no such thing as a seat on the Council of Nations. But I dream, and I ask humbly, that my comrades grant my sister the ability to further my work at home by taking on a Council seat, where through our shared office we may extend my decrees on national compliance to those nations without the native capacity to hold fast. I know that there are many democratic powers that may fear my representation, even indirectly - but please remember that the power I ask for is not to mandate, but to grant pardon.
I call my comrades to protest, to petition, to call upon their governments to support the Imperium bid for a Council seat. We shall protect the ability of our comrades to legislate against capitalism, and my example shall be firm - the capitalists who see their governments accede to demand after demand shall not have what our workers have. A comrade willing to stand between the workers and the world."
Addendum by Consuls Johanna Jura & Varus Nascorus
The August Consular Office has selected to advocate a slate of five nations for the Council of Nations, including Imperium Augustum which is listed first and all others in alphabetical order.
Imperium Augustum, Guslantis, Ilamzat, Plembobria, Yeraennus.
The Consular Office wishes to comment that it believes this selection gives an ideologically diverse slate of nations, all of which are dominant in distinct spheres of influence.