Matari-Gallente Exodus May Be Underway, New Study Says
2006.01.23 | By Svarthol
Researchers at the University of Caille today published a study warning that a mass population exodus from Republic territories may be imminent. According to numbers published in the Federation's Year 107 Census Index, the influx of Matari immigrants into Federation-controlled regions, a figure with little historic variation, has within the past six months swelled to near sevenfold inflation figures from earlier periods.
The report cites increasing unemployment numbers, an ailing economy, and the increased influence of organized crime groups on the Matari population as the primary motivations of the exodus. Additionally, polling in Matari immigrant communities within core Gallente territories revealed that a number of Matari are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the perceived disunity of the Republic's Tribal Council.
Trar Odemenko, Chief Spokesman for the AME (Association of Matari Expatriates) in Darpagne, Renyn IV's cultural melting pot, said the consequences of tribal discord were "evident everywhere" in Republic society.
"Domestic reforms have been desperately needed for months now, but the tribes are too preoccupied with their constant game of one-upmanship to remember that there is a populace to support," he said.
In a claim echoed by the UoC's study, Odemenko also said that incidents of inter-tribal violence are on the rise. As reported by the Raurvor Feednet in Hulm last week, a Krusual funeral ceremony was interrupted by a militant group of self-proclaimed Brutor traditionalists, who claimed the Krusual's use of a particular traditional Matari symbol was in violation of their own tribal codes. The incident precipitated a melee which claimed the lives of seventeen Matari, all of them under the age of thirty. The incident is not an isolated one: similar episodes have taken place throughout the regions of Metropolis and Heimatar in the past months.
"Part of the problem is that as people - particularly younger people - feel the ties to their Republic weaken, they start looking for new identifiers," said Auzue Estisen, Deacon of Social Sciences at the University of Caille and one of the study's chief researchers.
"Clan and sub-clan identifications still serve their societal purposes, but in the absence of a larger unifying entity people will increasingly start to seek the tribal identifier. Under the current climate, with the seeming reluctance of the authorities to attend to aspects of domestic relevance, that makes for a very volatile situation. I believe that in the coming months, unless something is done, we're going to see tribal discord increase to truly worrisome levels."