Manifesto... How we got here: It helps to remember that our history shapes us.
CDS exists, continues to exist, because of a coup.... CDS was tempered in the fires that burned after Ulrika was ousted.
Ulrika, CDS's creator - the one with the vision who then put in her time and energy to create this dream of a government run virtual entity. Ulrika, who abruptly learned that CDS was no longer subject to her - it had become separate and even though she was the original creator and had invested and volunteered her time and creative spirit, it was no longer subject to her personal whims and desires to control it.
Some things came out of that lesson - both good and bad...
Of the good, CDS became the proof a virtual society could exist beyond the ideosyncracies of an individual owner. We became an entity of laws - laws created by elected representatives. Many many individuals debated, wrangled and defined laws that could be a touchstone for decisions and resolving disputes, for responsible sim/resource management, for ownership of property, and for trustworthy administration of assets.
Of the bad, first, there is a missing level of accountability for SL-client tools that has never been fully addressed. Even now, how those who have those powers wield them is highly dependent on trust.
As Ulrika said
“A virtual government with a structure that does not map directly to the SL-client tools for sim control and object permissions is unenforceable. In times of harmony, the system will appear to function, but in times of discord, the system will break down and authority will shift to the group that is in control of the SL-client tools.”
And second, beginning with the ouster of Ulrika and subsequent particle-fests and effigies mocking her; we have created a tolerance for meanness with a cursory gloss of “just kidding” or “its only virtual” that only just barely covers the very real hostility underneath...and this has been not just tolerated but even encouraged by leadership.
Now, there has become an ever widening disparity between what we "sell" - how we present ourselves to others - the ideal; and what we have - the reality behind the curtain once one comes inside....
(Calli had wanted everything said to be provable facts, so I have included an example that is verifiable for each of my points.)
1) We do have an elite. People who have been given privileges through estate management (those unmapped SL-client tools Ulrika talked about) or positions they hold in our government, then abuse those privileges outside the purposes for which they were granted. When called on it, the response is “oh, they volunteered a lot!” as if volunteering conveys some unwritten special privilege instead of those positions being ones of TRUST, not favored opportunity.
Documented examples of this:
*The unauthorized locking of the Hippo after Ludo Merit abandoned her Locus Amoenus water parcel to Rudeen Edo instead of the standard procedure which is to set the land to sale on the open market.
*The locking of an available parcel in NFS by Tor, as Chancellor, that should have been made for sale to anyone, but instead was locked for two weeks while a potential new citizen considered joining CDS.
* recently - May 4th, the transfer of land abandoned to Rudeen to the current Chancellor, Pat, in NFS 7 minutes after abandonment and then subsequently transferred to Rosie Gray 7 minutes later. There may be a reasonable explanation for this but by looking at the records, it has the appearance of land that upon abandonment, SHOULD have been put for sale on the open market by the Chancellor, but was grabbed instead by the Chancellor, who had no intention of keeping it, but passed it on to a 3rd party.
* the banning of individuals through estate management tools that completely bypass our judicial system. The banning that should be done is for griefers and freeloaders - when one finds a warren of a few thousand prims stashed high above public land by individuals/groups - then the protection is to ban the instigators of that kind of abuse. Rosie banned a friend of Cleo’s for bumping Andromeda on a skatebord. Banning someone for bumping against someone with a skateboard once should NOT result in an estate management ban, especially when the victim and the skateboarder worked it out later. As Gwyn has pointed out, even Ulrika isn’t banned from CDS lands, she just can’t be a citizen. The skateboarder actually had bought into CDS but decided it would be better to leave than fight for the right to stay. That doesn’t make what happened right.
2) Our leadership attacks citizens, circumventing our system of laws to resolve disputes. The most obvious example of this is the treatment of Cleo who was brought before the SC JUST ONCE and ACQUITTED; nevertheless she has been the target for blaming and misdirecting attention from problems that should be fixed. It has become a free-for-all with entrenched leadership not only fueling the fire but aiding and abetting others in their own personal attacks against Cleo.
Just look at the transcript I posted from last August RA meeting for proof of that.
Or, consider this documented example:
prim rezzed in the crypt of the Kirsche by Gaius on Oct. 4, 2012 at 8:04am that contains a texture spelling the word CLEO and placed on the tomb. Cleo was still a citizen during this time. This prim has been known about - admittedly - by Tor the former Chancellor - and most likely by others with estate as well as being the object of hidden snickers by many residents. This has been allowed to exist for over a year and half on public land - and even for those who appreciate symbology - inside what should be a sacred place, not the seeding ground for animosity. I only just learned about it last week and the only reason I didn’t return it was I wanted it to be in place when I brought it up in this post. Cleo didn’t know about it until I told her.
3) our land management is full of "wink wink nudge nudge" duplicity and little accountability.
Documented example of this:
An existing, notable example of this is land still deeded to groups, 2 years after the passage of CDSL 16-03 (passed on March 17, 2012) which makes land deeded to groups illegal. Not only are there groups that never relinquished ownership but even, most recently, a new group started by Tor deeding land in Locus Amoenus and whose first members included Pat, Calli, and Rosie as well as an alt of Tor’s. The irony in this is that Pat was the one who drafted the law and Tor was Chancellor at the time it was passed, so they both cannot claim any ignorance of their actions. Callie and Rosie should have known better but could ostensibly argue they forgot.
To sum up, the power base stays the same through innuendo against citizens by leadership, by manipulation of land ownership, and even outright denial of support for elected leaders that do not toe the line established by the entrenched elite.
Nevermind that I put in hours of work parceling, terraforming and figuring out the expenses for Locus Amoenus, the entrenched elite have done everything they can to discredit and now dissassemble as much of possible of what I have done there. My original plan for the causeway that was approved by the RA and delighted many of the citizens was wholesale dissassembled and returned to my lost and found even though it was mostly complete. The island I set for the center of the sim - also part of the original plan I submitted to the RA and got approved - so new visitors wouldn’t land underwater has been drowned. As I predicted, Pat and Rosie are claiming all the credit they can grab for LA’s completion when it was 95% done before they touched it. To say I feel insulted is an understatement.
To be honest, the reason I am running is NOT to please them, but for a large contingent of people who are CDS citizens, who have equal rights under the law, who feel the entrenched elite do NOT speak for them, who feel the entrenched elite are behaving contrary to the spirit of CDS. My mention of Ulrika and our history at the beginning of this was not my own idea, but the reflection of citizens who feel the entrenched elite are demonstrating the same sense of entitlement Ulrika had.
My goals are to fix the land management loopholes, demand a higher standard of officials to not allow abuse of public lands for private feuds or favors, and also further the desires of CDS to expand while protecting her stability.
Thank you.