Anti-Earth Movement
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The Anti-Earth Movement was a political movement in the late 27th century CE dedicated to ending the hegemony of the United Earth Government over the Colony Worlds. It eventually became the name of a loose military alliance of colony worlds, centered around the Sirius Revolutionary Congress during the early years of the Earth–Sirius War.
The Anti-Earth Movement ended in 2691 when Carle Palmgren founded the Black Fleet, a successor to the Anti-Earth movement that was dedicated wholly to the destruction of Earth's tyrannical government.
History
Diplomacy
The Anti-Earth Movement's origins can be traced back to the 2527 Military Expenditure Hearings before the United Earth Government's Humanity Congress, but the movement itself wouldn't coalesce into a legitimate political movement until the mid-27th century CE.
By the early 27th century, the natural resources of the planet Earth had been completely depleted. This led the United Earth Government to interfere more directly in the affairs of its many colony worlds, forcing the formerly-autonomous colonies into disadvantageous trade-deals designed to perpetuate not only the Earth's survival, but its political authority over the rest of the galaxy as well.
Earth's attitude toward the colony worlds became increasingly condescending and authoritarian as time passed, leading the colony worlds to begin advocating political reform, hoping to eventually attain full autonomy and independence from the increasingly-parasitic United Earth Government. For the most part, these reformers were ignored, which served to strengthen the reformers' resolve. In the early 2680s, reformer politicians from the colonies began to accept more and more radical philosophies after harsh words were exchanged during debates over the obvious social and economic disparities between Earth and her colonies before the Humanity Congress in 2680 CE.
During the 2680 hearings, a colonial congressman said, "In the name of capitalism, earth has pillaged the wealth of her colonies and increased her military power," in condemnation. The colonies pleaded with the representatives from Earth for more equitable trade agreements, claiming to be forced into starvation due to over-taxation. The congressmen from Earth blithely ignored the complaints and pleas of the colony worlds, one congressmen even going so far as to declare the people of the colonies incompetent, comparing them to ungrateful slaves.
In 2682, a number of colonial congressmen, led by the delegate from Rondolina, in the Sirius Starzone, delivered a series of Ultimatums to the Humanity Congress, demanding their autonomy and the disarmament of the UEG's militaristic Space Force.
The 2682 Ultimatums were largely ignored by the United Earth Government, but they did succeed in making the colony world of Sirius into a symbol of the colonies' struggle against the oppressive Earth government. The UEG noticed this, and began to act pre-emptively against Sirius, initiating a massive anti-Sirius propaganda campaign known simply as, "The Sirius Threat."
Intended to discredit both the government of Rondolina and the Anti-Earth Movement, the propaganda campaign ultimately worked to the opposite effect: it convinced the people of the colony worlds the Sirius was, in fact, plotting to overthrow the UEG, and had the power to do so. This prompted the Anti-Earth Movement to band together: the Sirius Revolutionary Congress was formed on Rondolina, with representatives gathered from every colony. The Sirius Revolution Congress declared its autonomy from the United Earth Government and began to build up its military might. (LOGH: 'To Earth')
War
On the surface, the United Earth Government accepted the colonies' autonomy, and even seemed to welcome it. In actuality, Earth was already determined to go to war.
In 2685 CE, the United Earth Government's Space Force sent a fleet to Rondolina to participate in a joint military exercise, ostensibly to further the cause of cooperation between Earth and her colonies. Under the pretext of providing artillery fire for the exercise, the Space Force launched a pre-emptive attack on the United Colonial Army before it even launched. With its military destroyed, the Sirius Revolutionary Congress fled Rondolina, and the UEG forces occupied the planet. This marked the beginning of the Earth–Sirius War.
The occupation of Rondolina's capital city by the Space Force was unconscionably brutal. Undisciplined and unscrupulous, the UEG soldiers beat civilians in the streets and looted the capital city. Civilian casualties numbered 600,000, but the UEG over-reported that number to Earth, saying that there were 1,500,000 casualties. In order to match the estimate to the reality, the Space Force slaughtered civilians and dismembered corpses. The occupying UEG forces also under-reported the number of their own casualties, so that corrupt officers could embezzle the salaries of fallen soldiers. These facts would eventually be exposed by a war-correspondent from Earth, but the guilty soldiers were all exonerated in the 2690 Military Trials.
The occupation quickly worsened, culminating in the notorious Bloody Night massacre in Laglane City. The brutality of the United Earth Government incensed the colony worlds and strengthened their resolve. In 2691, the four leaders of the Anti-Earth Movement, Carle Palmgren, Winslow Kennes Townshent, Joliot Frankul and Chao Yuiling met on the colony world Prosperina, in the Proxima Starzone. There, they reorganized the Anti-Earth Movement into the Black Fleet, a military force drawn from all of the colony worlds wholly dedicated to the destruction of the United Earth Government. (LOGH: 'To Earth')
