Kensington sighed, having sat there with nary a word in the whole affair. "Look, King Andrew," he paused as he looked over to Evanthe and Serenity before looking back over to Andrew, "I'm a no-nonsense kind of guy, but I think you missed the point Evanthe was trying to make there. She wasn't dangling anything over you as a price, rather, she was highlighting the hypocrisy on display, using Rishiri as a counterpoint to Troyes. I'm sure if Rokkenjima had dug in its heels and declined to dismantle QAMB and agree to provisions it otherwise wouldn't agree to we'd have seen East Moreland, Seaforth, hell the whole of the Illumic, band together to kick them out and they'd have been justified in doing so. We've the Illumic Crisis 2.0, instead though it's in the Strait of Shaw and it's Seaforth that's on the other end of the whole affair this time. Hell you can fight this, nothing's stopping you from doing so, but what Evanthe was asking of you was to have the knowledge and humility that Empress Saisei lacked when the initial Rishiri affair went down, walk ahead while maintaining dignity because those were some of Rokkenjima's not finest moments, so to say."

"I'll leave the floor open to the ladies now," he said motioning to Evanthe and Serenity, "whoever should wish to add on to that first."

The economy of the Republic of Zolo is an exportation-based economy, as the vast majority of the GDP comes from the export of agricultural goods, minerals, lumber, and a few manufactured products; and the vast majority of the population has very little purchasing power. Fruits grown in the Republic of Zolo are eaten all across the Mundus, and beef, cheese, coffee, chocolate, spices, and sugar from Zolo can be found in supermarkets around the globe. The low prices of Zoloan exports are guaranteed by extremely low labor costs, extensive agricultural subsidies, and the relatively few environmental regulations in the country. Agricultural products are especially cheap because the government sells and rents-out land for extremely cheap to commercial farmers.
The country also exports significant amounts of cobalt, lithium, copper, uranium, and gold; all of which are mined in relatively large quantities in Zolo and exported to be used by more developed and industrialized countries, especially in their renewable energy and tech industries.
The country's massive rainforests are an abundant source of "exotic" and high-quality wood in bulk, which has contributed to a continual process of deforestation. But not to worry, investors! There's lots of rainforest to go around, and plenty of military support to ensure there's no disruption of production on behalf of environmentalists or the native peoples.
The government of the Republic of Zolo is business-friendly and takes seriously the needs of investors, be they Zoloan or international: governments or businesses which choose to partner with the government of Zolo or to do business in the country will find it to be an accommodating business partner and an environment conducive to high profits! (if sometimes at the expense of being ethically questionable)

Fruit
2023 Revenue: $254B
% of national production exported: 90%

Coffee
2023 Revenue: $207.5B
% of national production exported: 90%

Sugar
2023 Revenue: $184.5B
% of national production exported: 90%

Beef & Dairy
2023 Revenue: $115.3B
% of national production exported: 95%

Spices
2023 Revenue: $92B
% of national production exported: 99%

Minerals
Total 2023 Mining Revenue: $207.6B
% of national production exported: 96%

Lithium


Copper


Uranium


Gold


Cobalt


Lumber
2023 Revenue: $129B
% of national production exported: 80%

Chocolate
2023 Revenue: $58.3B
% of national production exported: 97%

Liquor
2023 Revenue: $69.9B
% of national production exported: 85%

Tobacco
2023 Revenue: $46.5B
% of national production exported: 80%

Fish
2023 Revenue: $45B
% of national production exported: 55%

Textiles
2023 Revenue: $68.3B
% of national production exported: 50%

Max followed the King mindful to keep one step behind, he didn't know whether this was etiquette here but he had been brought up by his father, a former Steward at Northfort Palace, that it was respectful to "In times of battle stand before your King at all other times stand behind him." and the words had become a kind of habit. Now as he began to age he often found himself not walking quiet as quickly so now it became an almost default motion. Max looked at the photo, it wasn't a difficult style to emulate and he can make them fancy if required. It was a style of blade not really popular among the Morelanders he often made things for, they preferred swords that tended to be heavier and would have been used both in the saddle and on the ground but he recognised the historical symbolism. He was satisfied that the King seemingly was a man that David could have done a deal with and so was comfortable doing so himself. "I think it'll take me quiet a bit of time to make that many swords." He smiled looking at the tapesty map, "If that's the case would you mind if my wife came out and joined me while I do the work? If its a problem then forget the request. As for getting to work I'll need the following" He removed a notebook from his pocket and scribbled down weights of metals, powders, fuels and the like and ripped the page from the notebook and presented it to Timur. "If everything is in order Your Majesty as soon as I have those items then I can begin the work."

In a sense, the Republic of Zolo was founded in war, and has been engaged in an asymmetric sort of warfare against "its own" population since its founding. Before its independence, Zolo was a colony founded by the violent expulsion or subjugation of the indigenous peoples by the settlers from Albion, but after its independence the state's policy of warfare against the native people and annexing their land continued. Much of the land claimed by the fledgling Republic, granted to it by its former colonial rulers, was still occupied and claimed by the indigenous peoples at the time of independence: they never ceded their lands or recognized the right of the Republic to occupy them. Between 1925 and 1955 the Republic fought 11 separate wars within "its own" borders against the Zolo, Sebani, Z'Boju, Lanuyana, and Si'lokan peoples, whose struggles for survival and autonomy were classified as "rebellions". In 1968 there was a massive cross-ethnic rebellion which was violently suppressed by the government over the span of 7 years in a brutal civil war which killed 4 million people; which ended with the destruction of the rebel groups and the more complete political subjugation of the indigenous peoples to the state, but which won (on paper, at least) equal legal and civil rights for indigenous citizens of Zolo and forced the government to legalize the Popular Front. Since 1968 there have been no large-scale wars, but there has been a near-perpetual low-intensity conflict between the indigenous peoples and corporate interests backed by the state intent on taking their land for commercial agriculture, forestry, or mining. Furthermore, indigenous activists have struggled to draw international attention to what they describe as a policy of "systematic criminalization and mass incarceration" of indigenous people by the police. In recent years, these issues have only intensified. Social tensions are high as people protest land theft, police brutality, and mass incarceration; all while the corporate rulers of the country seem to only accelerate their policies of land theft to expand commercial agriculture and mining, and give more funding to the police and military each year while leaving social services underfunded. Cultural, ethnic, religious, and class tensions are simmering. Now it seems that the country may be drawing closer to open war, as indigenous groups express their unwillingness to accept the current colonial state of affairs.

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This morning, May 10 2024, we attacked and destroyed 12 of the enemy's police cruisers in retaliation for the murder and kidnapping of Zolo people by the police. In the last year alone, these colonial occupation forces have murdered at least 438 Zolo. The police are a colonial occupying army on our land whose sole function is the terrorization of the native people of this land, including the Zolo, Sebani, Z'Boju, Lanuyana, and Si'lokan peoples, to maintain their exploitation and rule by the colonizers. They have stolen the name of our people for their evil colonizing state, for they have no culture of their own: all that they have they have stolen from our peoples. Right now, more than 300,000 Zolo are held captive by the prison system, kidnapped so that they may be forced to labor to enrich those same colonizers who claim ownership of our lands, who hoard all the wealth that we produce. Every blow struck against the colonial occupying army by the people is a step closer to freedom. So long as the occupiers remain, our people and our land will not be able to breathe. We will fight so that we may live with freedom and dignity. The land cries out to us to defend it from desecration, as the colonizers spoil our waters, poison the ground, cut all the trees, and kill all the animals. We are the land, and every assault upon it is an assault upon us, just as every assault upon our people is an assault upon the land. The colonizers cannot tolerate a people who will not sell their dignity, their culture, and their mother the land. They have no value but money, but for us, the colonized people, we have no greater value than the land; for we know it is the land that feeds us, and, above all, the land which gives us dignity. We call upon all the peoples trapped within this "Republic" to join us in struggling to overthrow our colonial shackles, and we call upon the people of the entire world to intervene to sanction the colonial regime and arm its indigenous peoples-- for the sake of the ecological wellbeing of our planet, for the sake of universal brotherhood, and to prove that all their talk about human rights is not just talk. Those who love freedom will not bear the colonial entity to survive any longer.

Death to the colonizers!
Long live the Zolo people!

-- Zolo Liberation Front

Nation Name: Republic of Zolo

Nation Link: https://www.nationstates.net/nation=the_tedshed_commune

Provinces you wish to claim:
1:W63
2:W64
3:W65
4:W66
5:W67
6:W68

Proposed colour of your nation on the map: Pink

I, Zoe, have read the rules set down above, and agree to follow them.