President Rach Pulls Europeia from the World Fair
By Writinglegend
It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing that Europeia will be pulling out of the Nationstates World Fair (NSWF). Despite the theme, the fact that we were hosting and our leadership with regards to investigations and keeping communities safe; we were not consulted or involved when it came to the Committee’s decision to ban Imki. The committee banned her without explanation. It wasn’t until public outrage began to swell that an unsatisfactory explanation was given. As a result of a lack of transparency and communication; regions including The West Pacific, Osiris, The East Pacific and Gay left the Fair.
Discussions were thus held between members of our administrative and executive teams, and members of the World Fair Committee. These discussions did not inspire confidence. The NSWF team were unable or unwilling to provide any further details to justify the course of action they chose, other than referring to preliminary findings from a The North Pacific (TNP) admin investigation, of which only a minority of the Committee even had access to.
To be clear, our decision is in no way intended to preempt the integrity of the TNP admin investigation, which should be considered in total separation to this flawed decision. We encourage everyone involved in that to take the time to complete their work with the thoroughness it deserves. Furthermore we also express our respect for any decision that the TNP admin team make with respect to Imki’s ability to participate in their own community, and we will then judge their investigation on its merits in terms of its application elsewhere.
Our concern is solely with how the Committee used partial knowledge of an incomplete investigation to issue a hasty ban without even consulting affected parties such as regions where Imki is involved, or conducting basic due diligence. For Committee members to use the NSWF as a platform to ban members based on an incomplete investigation, without even seeing adequate evidence themselves, is clearly a deeply inappropriate and problematic way of running what is supposed to be an inclusive Global event.
The Committee’s actions have caused the event to fall into disrepute and the whole process has now descended into chaos.
In sum, we no longer have confidence in the ability of the Committee to run the Fair. Even though we are hosts, communication with the World Fair committee has been akin to pulling teeth. I cannot even begin to describe how disappointing this whole affair has been for me personally and my region. So many of us have put in challenging work to make this happen. Europeian’s have stayed up late trying to make sure that everything was perfect only for the Committee to bring the entire fair into disrepute without even giving us a heads up.
We all worked tirelessly to find a different outcome, but we have been unable. The present situation leaves us with only one possible recourse: to remove ourselves from the World Fair. That will now occur with immediate effect.
Discussions were thus held between members of our administrative and executive teams, and members of the World Fair Committee. These discussions did not inspire confidence. The NSWF team were unable or unwilling to provide any further details to justify the course of action they chose, other than referring to preliminary findings from a The North Pacific (TNP) admin investigation, of which only a minority of the Committee even had access to.
To be clear, our decision is in no way intended to preempt the integrity of the TNP admin investigation, which should be considered in total separation to this flawed decision. We encourage everyone involved in that to take the time to complete their work with the thoroughness it deserves. Furthermore we also express our respect for any decision that the TNP admin team make with respect to Imki’s ability to participate in their own community, and we will then judge their investigation on its merits in terms of its application elsewhere.
Our concern is solely with how the Committee used partial knowledge of an incomplete investigation to issue a hasty ban without even consulting affected parties such as regions where Imki is involved, or conducting basic due diligence. For Committee members to use the NSWF as a platform to ban members based on an incomplete investigation, without even seeing adequate evidence themselves, is clearly a deeply inappropriate and problematic way of running what is supposed to be an inclusive Global event.
The Committee’s actions have caused the event to fall into disrepute and the whole process has now descended into chaos.
In sum, we no longer have confidence in the ability of the Committee to run the Fair. Even though we are hosts, communication with the World Fair committee has been akin to pulling teeth. I cannot even begin to describe how disappointing this whole affair has been for me personally and my region. So many of us have put in challenging work to make this happen. Europeian’s have stayed up late trying to make sure that everything was perfect only for the Committee to bring the entire fair into disrepute without even giving us a heads up.
We all worked tirelessly to find a different outcome, but we have been unable. The present situation leaves us with only one possible recourse: to remove ourselves from the World Fair. That will now occur with immediate effect.
(Europeia – December 20, 2017) – President Rach has announced that Europeia will be pulling itself from the World Fair after the World Fair Committee used an incomplete investigation to issue a hasty ban on NationStates member Imki, and failed to communicate with potentially affected regions.
"For Committee members to use the NSWF as a platform to ban members based on an incomplete investigation, without even seeing adequate evidence themselves, is clearly a deeply inappropriate and problematic," President Rach stated in a fiery address. "We no longer have confidence in the ability of the Committee to run the Fair."
Europeia won the bid to host the World Fair several weeks ago under the theme 'NationStates of Tomorrow', focusing on security and protection in NationStates after a number of Out-Of-Character (OOC) banning's of prominent players within communities. Despite the theme, the World Fair fell descended into chaos after the 'security ban' of Imki, where the Committee itself failed to communicate necessary information to their wider audience and to potentially affected regions.
"Despite the theme, the fact that we were hosting and our leadership with regards to investigations and keeping communities safe; we were not consulted or involved when it came to the Committee’s decision to ban Imki," President Rach noted, highlighting the lack of communication the Committee had with Europeia. "The committee banned her without explanation."
A little over twenty-four hours ago President Rach called for more transparency from the Committee, threatening that if information was not provided that Europeia would pull itself from the World Fair. With this announcement, it is beyond clear that the World Fair Committee did not give a satisfactory reply.
The North Pacific, a Europeian ally, is running their own investigation into Imki which was one of the sources regarding the World Fair ban. "Our decision is in no way intended to preempt the integrity of the TNP admin investigation," President Rach highlighted. "We encourage everyone involved in that to take the time to complete their work with the thoroughness it deserves."
The pulling of Europeia from the World Fair is the climax to this controversy. Europeia, as the host region, put an abundant amount of time to make the Fair work within the 'NationStates of Tomorrow' theme. Multiple citizens were disappointed with the Fair results following the hard work that was put making the Fair work.
President Rach could only call the whole situation 'disappointing'.
Several prominent Europeian citizens and members of the World Fair Committee agreed with the decision to pull Europeia from the World Fair.
"This is the correct move on your region's part," Todd McCloud stated. "The committee is so dejected and has been beat up by many sides over the past few days." Todd would later go on to note that the Committee is made up of hard-working members who mean well and tried hard. While the Committee undoubtedly made a mistake in their handling of the situation, they put fruitful work into the establishment of the World Fair.
The World Fair will end in a few days. With Europeia. as the host, and several other prominent regions removing themselves from the World Fair, it is beyond clear that the international event will end not on a bang, but a whimper.