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Humanitarian of the Year announced
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Dendridge Orfling says he’s aiming for next year’s crown too!
Entire town Subjected en masse
Government defends decision to strip town’s occupants of citizenhood.
On the same day as it awarded this year’s Consumer of the Year prize, the government announced its decision to remove the status of citizenship from every single resident of the small town of Keep Out, in the southern district of God’s Valleys.
The unprecedented move follows several years of legal tussles between the townspeople and government at almost every level, from the district council all the way up to the Court of Prestations (which upheld lower courts’ rulings that the town’s renaming of itself as Fuck the Government was unconstitutional).
It is of course a regular occurence for government to revoke the citizenship of individuals who consistently flout the law, leaving them with the official status of subject of the High Minister, in his historic capacity as Residuary of the Deposed. Effectively this means they lose most constitutional protections, and the state can do more or less whatever it likes with them, without fear of the courts intervening. Usually that involves sweeping them under the carpet in one way or another, whether by execution, imprisonment or exile. And mostly the general public aren’t too bothered, because the sanction is reserved for genuine public enemies that the public are generally glad to see the back of.
Which is why the announcement of the Subjection of an entire town has left commentators mystified. Keep Out has been a thorn in the government’s side for some time, but no more so than many other communities that like to keep themselves to themselves. The government refused to comment yesterday, other than to say that it was still considering its next move. Perhaps it’s no more than an attempt to scare the town into submission?
Entire town Subjected en masse