Axis Mundi Zen Collective

The Axis Mundi Zen Collective is a political party in Keymon. It is committed to the twin ideals of furthering Zen Buddhism in Keymon as well as promoting collective ownership of production and overall equality.

Party Name History

 * 2220’s – August 2232 – Partisan Political Front
 * August 2232 – February 2235: Socialist Solidarity Movement
 * February 2235 – February 2248: AM Socialist Solidarity Movement
 * February 2248 – 2255: N/A
 * 2255 – November 2260: Gustav Petroleum Memorial List
 * November 2260 – December 2263: Keymon Sovereignty Movement (ZC)
 * December 2263 – October 2269: Free Shih Kao!
 * October 2269 - April 2290: Axis Mundi Zen Collective
 * April 2290 - Today: Revolusjonær Komite Av Naturlig Lov (Revolutionary Committee of Natural Law)


 * (November 2257 – Today: Zen Collective)

The PPF/The SSM/The AMSSM and the Collapse
The Partisan Political Front existed in Keymon in various forms since the early 2220's as a clandestine revolutionary committee. It involved itself mainly in literacy programmes for the nations poorest as well as minimal attacks on major banking companies. Yet in March 2232 and following the departure of the Red Star Movement from Keymont he PPF was officially transformed into the Socialist Solidarity Movement (SSM) and ventured into party politics to fill the gap vacated on the left. This involved the formation of a central committee of Chairman Gustav Petroleum and General Secretary Missak Sergei Manouchian who, as their first move, founded the Hobrazia-Keymon-Likatonia United Left Front in February 2235. In its first election (October 2237) the party was able to pick up 19 seats and become the third largest party as well as strengthening its international ties by joining the Axis Mundi organisation and officially changing its name to the Axis Mundi Socialist Solidarity Movement (AMSSM). However the July 2243 election was not as successful as had been hoped. Although the AMSSM remained the third largest party and the largest opposition party, it lost two seats whilst the Christian Democrat coalition dramatically improved its situation. Furthermore in the December 2247 election the AMSSM lost one more seat. The party still remained politically strong however just two months later disaster struck as Gustav Petroluem was assassinated whilst walking through a Isthmus market. The result was a catastrophe for the AMSSM as it effectively collapsed and fell out of Keymon politics. No one was able to maintain control and various factions began blaming various people. A notably bloody event was when members of the moderate Evolution faction murdered twelve members of the more radical ¡Ya basta! faction, claiming that they were responsible for the death of the party chairman.

The Reformation
For nearly a decade nothing was heard from the party until in the mid 2250's members of the former AMSSM central committee began reuniting with the aim of once again returning to politics. This was motivated not only by the desire to bring change to Keymon but also by the threat of the Likaton Fascist Front and so in 2255 the party was reformed as the Gustav Petroluem Memorial List as a tribute to the deceased Chairman Petroleum. However in November 2257 the party was once again reformed, this time taken a dramatic turn and establishing itself as the Zen Collective. This was done with the blessings of both the Supreme Patriach of Keymon His Holiness Tep Vong and the General Secretary of the Unified Trade Union Congress of Keymon (UTUCK) Gregory Peterson. Yet it planned to continue operating under the GPML name until the December 2261 election.

At this point in time four high command members of the AMSSM remained in the party hierarchy; Igor Sologub remained as Finance Spokesperson, François Moustaki remained as Justice Spokesperson, Gevorg Adamov remained as Food and Agriculture Spokesperson and Elizabeth Camus remained as Internal Affairs Spokesperson, although by now she had changed her name to Elizabeth Kerouac, in recognition of William Kerouac. Serge Yamagata remained briefly in the role of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson until Maha Ghosananda of the RCNL replaced him.The remaining positions in the central committee were taken up mostly by members of the RCNL although the position of Grand Master (forged by the unification of the previous AMSSM posts of General Secretary and Chairman) was filled by Shih Kao, a spiritual and political leader of the Zen Community. This was significant of the fact that rather than being a continuation of the AMSSM, the Zen Collective was a union of various organisation.

The Keymon Sovereignty Movement
In November 2260 the term of the GPML was cut short when the party reorganised itself as the Keymon Sovereignty Movement (ZC) in the hope that other parties would join them. This followed Director General Jaques Phargle's permission of Likaton troops to enter Keymon and a yes vote by the Christian Democrats on a referendum as to whether to join Greater Likatonia. Unfortunately soon after this, and despite being joined in the KSM by the DPP and the KGP, Grand Master Shih Kao was arrested by police and military units in 'Black November' and placed into custody. Elizabeth Kerouac subsequently took on the role as Provisional Party Chairman and in April 2261, following continued Likaton and Christian Democrat supression of the population the KSM (ZC) signed the Keymon Loyalists Agreement along with the other members of the KSM, the Keymon Ruling Party and the Liberal Representatives. Yet as this included a clause to support the AGK it resulted in a mass split in the party. As well as many party members and the Peacenik Federation leaving the organisation, the party also lost Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Maha Ghosananda (replaced by Gregory Peterson of the Unified Trade Union Congress of Keymon), Justice Spokesperson François Moustaki (replaced by Loetla Nabhalai of Dharma Autonomy International - Keymon Branch) and Environment and Tourism Spokesperson Ramji Ambedkar (replaced by Pierre Hunt of Dharma Autonomy International - Keymon Branch).

In the December 2261 election the KSM (ZC) was only able to pick up 8 seats. The election itself caused political stagnation as both the Keymon Unitary List and the Keymon Loyalists Agreement had 58 seats. A cabinet was proposed by the Liberal Representatives which encompassed the Keymon Loyalists Agreement parties and the 4 seats of the Fig Party yet it failed due to the KSM (KGP) abstaining. Furthermore in December 2263, Elizabeth Kerouac dissolved the Zen Collective wing of the Keymon Sovereignty Movement and reformed the party as Free Shih Kao!

Free Shih Kao!
By January 2264 the Christian Democrats had managed to force through legislation calling for new elections. FSK! was able to obtain 6 more seats giving a total of 14. However the Unitary List also improved its position as it now had 60 seats, 2 more than the Loyalist Agreement parties.

Under the legislation of the CD run State of Emergency the government in this time began a campaign of political suppression, including what the party refers to as ‘The Keymon Genocide’ in which up to 30,000 Zen Buddhists were murdered under the supervision of Acting Director General Jonah Mallory. Due to continued protests against this policy as well as the continued imprisonment of Shih Kao, in August 2265 the party was declared illegal and banned from the political process. However following the May 2267 election in which a coalition of liberal parties was able to form a cabinet the State of Emergency was repealed and the party once again legalised. In October 2269 Shih Kao was finally released through an Assembly vote and the party once again renamed as Axis Mundi Zen Collective.

The Return To Prominence
Following his release, Shih Kao immediately resigned from the position of Grand Master and in the May 2270 Party Conference Suzanna Kukai was elected to the position. Immediately Kukai faced a situation whereby the shadow cabinet had been cut of many members and so her first move was to organise a mass shake up.

In May 2273 the AMZC fought its first election since being legalised and it was a great success. The party was able to jump into second place with 20 seats and hold mass sway in the Assembly. It was given five cabinet posts in a coalition government with the Progressive Capitalists and Keymon Social Democrats however by May 2277 both these parties had collapsed following assassinations and the AMZC proposed a new Provisional Power Sharing Agreement with their old enemies the Christian Democrats. This included Suzanna Kukai taking the role of Director General, a first for an openly leftist party in Keymon and also the first for an Axis Mundi Party. The party could now claim to be the most dominant in the nation, despite the Assembly only having 67 out of its 120 seats filled, as it was the largest party as well as controlling the roles of Director General, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defence and Minister of Justice. In the May 2278 elections the party had its best ever finish obtaining 48 seats and 40% of the Assembly. It decided to leave the cabinet the way it was and continue with the informal agreement with the Christian Democrats. This resulted in them agreeing a deal whereby state energy provision would be restored and the death penalty ended if the AMZC voted in favour of banning DWC's, making euthanasia illegal and legalising abortions only in medical emergencies. The party had no major issues with the last two articles due to its religious nature but only just managed to get the support needed to ban DWC's. This however was shortly after the Collectivization of Keymon Bill, proposed by a new party the People's Liberation Front (Marxist), had passed meaning that DWC's were required by law to run all businesses and the state nationalised a number of industries. Due to its overwhelming desire to see state energy provision restored and threats made by the PLF(M) to use DWC's to launch a militant uprising, the party voted in favour of the bill, entitled the AMZC/CD Compromise Deal.

In the May 2283 elections the AMZC lost 16 of their seats, the number dropping to 32 and the party falling to second place behind a rejuvinated Christian Democrats. The 'Grand Coalition' of the two parties however was able to continue and although Grand Master Kukai lost the position of Director General she took that of Minister of Internal Affairs with the party also keeping hold of Foreign Affairs and four other posts.

The Radical Era
In August 2286 Kukai announced she would not be leading the party to the next set of elections and declared her resignation. At the 29th Party Conference Teitaro of the RCNL was elected to the position, beating Alexander Petroleum by 12 votes to 8.

The former Defence Minister soon began exerting his control over the party and signalling a dramatic shift to the right with the AMZC still supporting regulatory economic policies but becoming much more hardline of moral issues, proposing such ideas as banning abortions, pornography and prostitution as well as leaving the Socialist International and supporting the 'Keymon Neutrality Act and Communism Ban'. Around this time the party also strengthed its links with the now pseudo-socialist CD's encouraging them to ressurect the now defunct Unitary List and subsequently joining. The December 2286 election however proved to be unsuccessful as the party lost yet more seats falling to 19 and having to witness the collapse of the ten year AMZC/CD governing coalition as a right wing alliance led by the Democratic Industrialists but also including the National Party and the Fig Party. The now Unitary List parties under the guidance of Teitaro on the AMZC front and Rob Nairn on the CD front as opposed to moderating their ideas in fact became more radical moving more extreme on conservative and regulatory issues. They were able to force through early April 2290 to the Legislative Assembly which had now effectively been split into two sides, the rightists consisting of the Democratic Industrialists, Fig Party and National Party and the Leftists consisting of the Axis Mundi Zen Collective, Christian Democrats and Keymon Liberation Front (Marxist)

Despite losing three seats the Rightists were however able to hold onto power despite only having a majority of only 6 seats. The gains for the Leftists however were mainly felt by the Marxists and the AMZC actually lost 4 seats making this the third election in a row that resulted in a loss for them. Criticism soon began to mount on Teitaro yet the now increasingly insane leader responded by radically purging the party of moderating influences and in April 2290, following on from the expulsions of Suzanna Kukai and Alexander Petroleum in August 2289 expelled 6 more shadow cabinet members (it should also be noted that Pierre Hunt and resigned two months earlier) meaning that by now except for Lady Kosowak Zettel in the office of Finance Spokesperson, Norodom James in the office of Defence Spokesperson and Simon Daisetsu in the office of Infrastructure and Transport Spokesperson all posts in the shadow cabinet were under the control of the Grand Master. Furthermore Teitaro also took the step of dramatically eradicating the faction led affiliated organisation system of the party and giving all power to the RCNL. This resulted in his famous statement of "The AMZC is the RCNL" and the reorganising of the official name of the party to the Revolusjonær Komite Av Naturlig Lov (Revolutionary Committee of Natural Law).

Affiliated Organisations
For most of its history the Axis Mundi Zen Collective has been run on a semi-federal voting system of affiliated organisations and factions, each given different voting blocs.

At the time of the 2257 reformation affiliated organisations included:


 * Socialist Solidarity Movement (SSM). The SSM although no longer an official political party does exist in a clandestine format, much as the Partisan Political Front did prior to 2232. Yet as it is no longer a fully-fledged political party it has been forced to drop the Axis Mundi prefix (led by the current Internal Affairs Spokesperson Elizabeth Kerouac).
 * Revolutionary Committee of Natural Law (RCNL) (led by the current Health and Social Services Spokesperson Kelzang Choklang).
 * Radical Literary Circle of Keymon (RLCK) Originating as a small book club, the RLCK now exists as a nationwide organisation and is used as a major cultural think tank by the Zen Collective (led by the current Education and Culture Spokesperson Petr Asek).
 * Unified Trade Union Congress of Keymon (UTUCK). Although not officially linked to the party, policy directives tend to be discussed with UTUCK. In addition to this in 2261 General Secretary Gregory Peterson officially joined the party as Foreign Affairs Spokesperson. The following members of UTUCK are officially tied to the party:
 * Independent Workers of Keymon (IWK) (led by the current Trade and Industry Spokesperson Dipankara Copani)
 * Solidarity Amongst Farmers (SAF) (led by the current Food and Agriculture Spokesperson Samuel Mersault)
 * Dharma Autonomy International - Keymon Branch (DAI-KB). A controversial organisation that has branches in more than 20 nations and argues for seperate Buddhist states. The Zen Collective hierachy however argues that it merely believes in equal rights for Buddhists (led by the current Justice Spokesperson Loetla Nabhalai)
 * Anarcho-Democratic Foundation (ADF). The ADF has devised its own ideology of Democratic Anarchism by which by existing as an organisation it hopes to wither away the state before disbanding itself. It has been largely disowned by most anarchists and to the majority of political commentators is not anarchist at all.
 * Peacenik Federation (PK). A extreme anti war organisation that sees the Zen Collective as the best passage to complete disarmament of Keymon.

At the time of the 13th Party Conference (the election of Suzanna Kukai) the system had been reorgainsed with some organisations leaving and the voting blocs were as follows:


 * Socialist Solidarity Movement: 6
 * Revolutionary Committee of Natural Law: 4
 * Dharma Autonomy International - Keymon Branch: 3
 * Non-affiliated: 3
 * Independent Workers of Keymon/Solidarity Amongst Farmers: 2
 * Radical Literary Circle of Keymon: 1
 * Anarcho-Democratic Foundation: 1

Around the time of the early 2270's the situation of the affiliated organisations was dramatically reshaped as the 12th May Committee, under the leadership of Petr Asek regrouped and subsequently took control of the Socialist Solidarity Movement, the Radical Literary Circle of Keymon and the Anarcho-Democratic Foundation. In response to this the Revolutionary Committee of Natural Law and Dharma Autonomy International-Keymon Branch merged to form Religious Freedom. As such the party was now home to only three factions with voting power as follows:


 * 12 May Committee for International Rejectionism (8)
 * Religious Freedom (7)
 * Independent Workers of Keymon/Solidarity Amongst Farmers (2)

In addition to this non-affiliated members of the AMZC were still given a voting bloc of 3.

By 2278 however the unified factions had split up but due to switches in loyalty their voting blocs had been altered meaning they now stood at the following:

It should be noted that the RLCK and the ADF remained as part of the 12MYCFIR and IWK/SAF effecitvely dissolved itself as a political institution and instead became the trade union front of the SSM


 * Socialist Solidarity Movement (IWK/SAF) (7)
 * Revolutionary Committee of Natural Law (7)
 * 12 May Committee for International Rejectionism (3)
 * Dharma Autonomy International - Keymon Branch (1)
 * Non-affiliated (2)

This represented a shift towards more traditional institutions within the party and effectively split power between the SSM and the RCNL.

In August 2281 Dharma Autonomy International-Keymon Branch left the party over internal disputes claiming "they have done nothing to further Buddhist independence and appear more concerned with protecting atheistic communism."

Through the new calculations the Socialist Solidarity Movement (IWK/SAF) now had enough support to obtain an extra voting credit meaning that the voting blocs were the following:


 * Socialist Solidarity Movement (IWK/SAF) (8)
 * Revolutionary Committee of Natural Law (7)
 * 12 May Committee for International Rejectionism (3)
 * Non-affiliated (2)

In April 2290 however this system was eliminated by Teitaro as he removed the idea of faction voting blocs and placed all power in the hands of the RCNL.

Party Conferences
These are held in November each year.

International Organisations
The Zen Collective participates in the following:

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 * Synodus Axis Mundi (Leadership)
 * Hobrazia-Keymon-Likatonia United Left Front (Leadership)
 * Keymon Society (Full)
 * Keymon Unitary List (Full)