[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.

Yes, perhaps they should have.

So like every political thread, this one's a hot mess. Just have to ask this, though:


If you want accountability, then why ask them to pull the council seat, which everyone knows wouldn't happen? I mean, back when we were at CDEM, when we wanted a pirate to surrender, we told them to surrender, not to give up all their possessions and take up jobs as dirt farmers.

And "for publicity" isn't a good answer, either. They're still releasing Lady Sweat albums, and she's dead.

Yeah, but when it came time to make the yearly budget request, I bet you asked for the really nice stuff you probably wouldn't get. It'd be nice if they pulled the council seat, and you don't start negotiations with the minimum you'll accept.

I suspect it was because of krogan like you.

Probably isn't the same as impossible.

And is there actually any benefits from taking the Salarians off the council?

Oh, I imagine there would be benefits for that but they wouldn't outweigh the consequences.

This is all a joke, anyways. Universe needs salarian tech. Salarians bow out or lose their council seat, we're going to have to settle with asari, turian, or - god help us - human tech. I'm not saying the salarians'll be gone, of course. I just mean that contracts between salarian companies and everybody else are going to get veeeeeeeerry interesting very fast.

Okay. There's fighting for a good cause and then there's overextending yourself. You want accountability for the Salarian Union? Good. All governments should be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof. But calling for a council seat removal is just plain stupid. The salarians have done their part, even if their reaction time during the war was negligible at best.

Everybody fought Reapers. Admittedly, a show of good faith, releasing information on some of the actions they took in the war would be nice, but there would obviously have to be parts that were redacted for the safety of those responsible.

Like, maybe the government that wouldn't remove their genocide plague even in the face of omnicide and then stayed out of the war for galactic survival out of spite shouldn't get to hold one of the most honoured and respected and responsible posts in the galaxy?

Look, I'm not associated with this group, it's not one of my protests, but the conversation always goes the same way. If you suggest that maybe some high ranking people be removed and charged for the horrible things they did and the damage that happened on their watch or that certain organizations be reigned in the response is always something like

"Ha ha ha! You want honesty? The salarians will never give up their ability to launch shadow operations that interfere with everyone else's legitimate governments! Silly idealist!"

I'm not accusing anyone HERE of saying that, I'm just saying that's the way it goes.

As if the other Council states don't do the same. The salarians are just the most notorious for it.

Like I said before: The only reason they're in trouble now is because they didn't help when everyone else needed it. If not for that, nobody would care that the salarians are out for themselves, just like every other species.

It is my belief that governments are only transparent when they fear their citizens and the only time they fear their citizens is when said citizens are in the midst of committing violent revolution, so, I'm with RememberTheBlitz on this.

The Salarian Union is acting as a convenient target of many opportunists and hurt people due to its less obvious role during the war, my opinion on the matter is that these people are being selective. Why stop at the Salarian Union? We should just disband the whole Citadel Council, because the Reaper War was as bad as it was because the Council completely ignored the Reaper threat until it was breathing down their neck, right?

The point is the people saying the Union should have contributed more are being petty and ultimately they have no effect on galactic governance, the average person really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of politics. My point is that the war is over, you can't change the past, and to worry more about the past than the present is insanity.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Aren't you the kind of person who'd agree we occasionally need to make a terrifying example out of people who go to far? :P Seriously. The fact that every system has some wiggle room built in is not a reason to just let everything go.


This does not actually make sense. In the present, you are dealing with a lot of the same people, and they have shown that they will abandon you when you need it, experiment on sentient beings, piss off allies, etc, etc, etc. It's so petty to complain about that, isn't it?

(There are a lot of politicians from the other council species I want to see strung up by their ankles, but the Union is particularly bad.)

Okay this has been droll for a few pages but I think it is time put some things out there.

First off, –and I know most sane and half-intelligent people would know this but I feel I should add this for completion sake– the salarians will remain in the council no matter how much and how big a protest there is. The only way the salarians would leave the council is that either they themselves decide to leave it or that two or more other Council races decide to expel them, neither of these scenarios is likely at this point.

Second of all, on the matter of accountability, rest assured that the Council holds its fellow members accountable. This process is a long one and one that requires a lot of cross-consultation on the part of the Council governments, rest assure however that the Union (and the other members,) will be evaluating and if they are found lacking there will be the needed interpellations and/or sanctions.

Third of all, the strength of the Council lies in the diversity of its members, but with this diversity there must be an understanding that not all species will handle the same situation in the same manner. Salarian contributions might not have been very notable in the larger battlefields, but that does not mean that they did not contribute to the effort. Even the most cursory review of salarian history sees that they do not rely on numbers to win a fight; therefore we should not be surprised that they did not switch tactics in this case. The honest truth is that if the Union had gone all-in it might have lowered the performance as the Union forces are just not that well trained to fight in large formations.

Finally, it should be emphasized rigorously that we –the galactic community– would not have recovered as well and as fast without the aid the Union and the salarian everyday-man selflessly contributed. It pains me that these people are mistreated because of some isolated incidents involving Special Task Groups. –incidents that are often either woefully unproven or can be attributed to rough cells–


On a personal note I wish to add that in my opinion much of anti-unionist and anti-salarian sentiment seems to stem from jealously over the fact that they had been spared a lot of pain by having an intact empire. Such a thing is petty and that people should voice such feelings with half-assed justifications is even more appalling.

Now I'm sorry Diplomatic Immunity but that sounds silly to me. As a people yes salarians prefer shadow wars, but in no case does it mean that that their pilots can't fight in large fleets, they *have* large fleets!
The paltry scout fleet they sent on Earth didn't suddenly panic and started firing wildly just because they saw so much people around them. They're professionals.
I don't know about secret operations the salarians conducted, but the majority of their land troops and their fleets, which are NOT easy to hide, were nowhere to be seen during the war while people died, and that's unacceptable.

This can't be stressed enough, although, call me biased, I don't see a lot of anti-salarian hate in this thread. It's mostly directed at their politic caste as, in my mind, it should be.

Call me cynical, but had Sur'Kesh been the first planet to fall I doubt humanity or any of the other races would have rushed in to be its saviors. Every species in that war demanded something for their help, because when people get scared they get selfish and protect their own. It's just sentient nature.

Regardless, the entire "Kick the salarians off the Council" thing is utterly retarded. Valern authorized the Third Fleet despite Linron and Narra playing their little political games and wanting to hold the fleets for protection of salarian space. You know, our Third Fleet, which has as much firepower as any other other major naval force. That's not even counting the rumors about the Shrelling STG being present plant side during the final push at Earth. As far as I am concerned, Valern is alright in my book.

But go on, piss on the blood of the soldiers and C-SEC officers who died trying to save the galaxy from extinction so that you can prove some vague political point against the entirely wrong governmental body.

Shrell, people sometimes.


Hahahahaha... no.

Ok, sorry about the "paltry" fleet, I went overboard on this one. But how about the first, second, and I don't know how many fleets there are after the third? Nowhere to be found. One fleet is not council member material.

So...

Now we have moved on to, "Okay, I guess they did help. But how much did they help?"

So how much would have been enough? How do you even quantify something like that when our military doctrine is based on first strike operations?

And you-

You know what? This isn't worth it. The dalatrass are idiots and deserve to be roasted for their inaction. But this protest is missing the point, big time. For your sake, I hope you can see that.

It's not entirely missing the point. The salarian union didn't do their job as a council member, and they want people to ask themselves why. None of those protesters are actually hoping for the Union to lose its seat.

Ok another thing. The main argument is "the Union didn't do much during the war because their specialty is covert ops and intelligence, so they didn't really fuck up".
Didn't they? Ok, then how comes for two years Sheppard and her crew knew all about the reaper invasion, but the STG never managed (or tried it seems) to verify that claim? They got caught flat footed, which means that they fucked up spectacularly in the one thing they're supposed to do. And I don't believe for one second it comes from STG incompetence.