El Nasionalima

El Natsionalisma is a Slokasian political movement which formed in 1970 and was adopted by the administrations of several presidents. Meaning “The National Way” in the Slokasian language, the term is also used to describe the period of Slokasian history from 1968 to 1994. Defined by rapid economic growth, nationalism and the cultivation of a national identity the primary figure was President Howard Xiang. Although generally democratic in nature, some aspects of El Nasionalisma are criticized for worsening income inequality and being authoritarian in implementation.

Development

Prior to the Costa presidency , Slokasian nationalism was a fringe ideology. Instead of identifying with the country, many identified with their province or ethnic group. Primarily an effect of the country's diversity and many foreign empires, many people saw themselves as their ethnic group first and Slokasian second. This largely changed with Juan Costa’s National Reforms which largely enforced standard policy and practices nationwide. Although these practices which also included social practices and language were dominated by the San Fernando Island, Costenoian elite. During the Slokasian Civil War, factions and armies were formed from these groups often uniting them for the first time. In 1966, in the liberation of New Liverpool, units from 17 provinces served in combat allowing for a united government to take hold. In a speech to gathered soldiers just after the liberation of the city General Semerjang Best declared “Not since this nation’s founding has there been such unity, I see the flags and banners of a dozen provinces and people’s all united for the creation of a common Federation”.

Overview

Founding

The spirit of unity was felt across the various factions of the United Federation government. In the first meeting of the United Federation Parliament, Speaker Howard Xiang stated in his opening remarks “I want to create a new united Slokais, a common tongue, a common name and a common goal”. This statement was actually taken from a pre-war nationalist book, yet was still well received by many. Just a few months later, the UFP passed a legislation to establish a sub-committee to build national unity known as The Parliamentary Sub-Committee on a Common Language (PSC-CL). In 1967, the PSC-CL passed a set of rules around language, a highly debated topic. Known as the Language Act of 1967, it would form the basis of the language aspects of El Nasionalima.

The Three National Languages

The Language Act of 1967, formally designated three languages for use nationwide. It required all government materials and functions to be conducted in English, Spanish and Slokasian. The act was extremely controversial as Mandarin was excluded from the act's language. The Pindai National Party protested the act by speaking entirely in Pindai Mandarin for the remainder of the 1967 UFP Congress. The primary argument used by proponents of the Three Language Plan was that no single dialect of Mandarin was spoken by more than 10% of the population while both English and Spanish had at least 55% speaking the language and Slokasian was constructed from several indigenous languages. By 1975 however, the Language Act was revised to require only two out of the three languages be included on all government materials along with the designation of Pindai Mandarin as a "regional" language which allowed it to be included as a primary language in province's which adopted it. Meanwhile, as Slokais rebuilt, the Slokasian language had issues with usage. Indigenous people had been speaking there languages along with English since the 1920s in a sort of dialect. This essentially meant usage of the language was initially confined to school-age youth. By 1985, the Slokasian language reached 25% usage and 55% comprehension yet lagged behind English which was the primary lingua franca. Additionally, indigenous languages lost speakers as repression in the 50s and 60s combined with education focusing on the national languages led to a rapid decline in speakers. The El Nasionalima Era saw the formal implementation of language in relation to government with supporters arguing have a common set of languages would led to national unity.

Bimhjar Ascension to Provincehood

With work beginning on a national language, the UFP turned to the issue of provincial sovereignty. A major issue behind many of the regionalist groups in the Slokasian Civil War was a sense for the creation of a province of their own. Boundaries often created multi-ethnic states with several such as Ambonar having ethnic violence. Some politicians argued creating provinces around ethnic or religious lines would discourage national unity. The first test for this debate was the ascension of Bimhjar Province. Bimhjar which consisted of the northern half of Dolphin Isle was home to the unique Bimha ethnic group. The Bimha were a mostly Muslim ethnic group prior to the 1700s before being conquered by the Ambonar State. Bimhajar suffered heavily at the hands of the Ambonar prior to the Sanctarian control and long-standing tensions existed. As of 1950, 78% of Bimhjar was ethnically Bimha with 66% being Muslim. During the Great War, Bimhjar formed its own independent republic from 1963 to 1966 before joining the UFP. In the post-war period, Bimhjar held a referendum in 1970 with 68% of those in the territory of new province willing to become part of a seperate province. The issue of Cupertino which had a Muslim Quarter despite being majority Costeno pre-war was a major barrier. Seeking to prevent political violence, Parliament in one of it's first act's in 1972 voted 289-78-2 to create Bimhjar Province by the first day of 1973. In the aftermath, minority groups in Bimhjar migrated to Islas Dolphines Province fearing a Islamic-fundamentalist government would take over. Bimjagarta for example saw a decrease of the minority Ren population from 21% in 1950 to 8% in 1975. Regardless, Bimhjar Province was founded on January 1st, 1973 with the Justice Party winning the provincial election soon after.

Ideology

The El Nasionalima Era, saw the emergence of neo-liberalism and civic nationalism as the dominant ideals in Slokais, with the Conservative Party being at it's forefront. Essentially spending to encourage business to grow and the regulation of labor was the key to economic success. This led to national debt becoming an issue, with the National Unity Party, rising to national standing during this period partly due to the issue. In addition, the question of provincial vs national authority was a definite issue, with Howard Xiang and Jamie Ocosta favoring provincial while Pablo Smith favored national right's. Socially, ideals moved away from traditional Catholicism as religious membership in other faith's grew.