The Reds are those who want to keep Mars in its primary state. They are opposed to releasing Terran biological agents on the surface and every terraforming effort in general. Ironically, despite their conservationist ideas, they bear a name traditionally attributed to revolutionaries. Areologist Ann Clayborne is commonly acknowledged to have initiated the Red movement, even though her purely scientific view on the Red cause was not shared by all the Reds. For many Reds, protecting Mars was something that touched them deeply, on a nearly religious level. Their eternal opponents were the Greens.

Marsfirst

Marsfirst is a political party with Red views.

Kakaze

The Kakaze is the most radical wing of the Reds. They often participate in sabotages and violent acts. Kasei was one of their leaders. Kasei, Dao and many Kakaze died during a failed attempt to take over the Socket of the space elevator at Sheffield during the Second Martian Revolution.

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The Third Martian Revolution happened over an extended period of time in the first quarted of the 23rd century. Unlike the previous two revolutions, this was a complex, smooth, non-violent revolution that resembled more a shift in values than a revolution.

The causes

• Strict immigration policy on Mars.
• Lower living standards on Terra.
• Paradigm shift brought about by the second renaissance of the Accelerando.

The revolution

Terrans took over the space elevator at Sheffield and illegal Terran colonies began landing everywhere, carrying guns on Mars (which was demilitarized) and resulting in the native Martian population to be overrun by Terran-born. The native Martians approached them and taught them the Martian way — told them how to hunt, gather and fish, what houses to build, how to live on the open air.

At Mangala, all branches of the Martian government agreed that this move meant a war with Terra. Then the ancient issei, led by Maya Toitovna, arrived and expressed their thoughts once more, and everyone on Mars watched. They said the Martian government had broken the law by forbidding Terran immigration at a time when Terra was in need; the population surge years were almost over because of the quick decline and they pleaded Mars to renegotiate its stance with Terra.

People became conscious that they could make things differently, that the mutation of values was there. The Terran police troops returned to the Socket as people shook their hands and kissed them.

The consequences

A new era of cooperation between Mars and Terra began.

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The Martian government was created following the Second Martian Revolution which insured Mars’s independence from Terra’s rule. Its form was established in the Martian constitution created in the Pavonis Mons Congress in 2128.

The global government was a confederation led by a seven-member executive council (inspired by the Swiss system), which was elected by two legislative branches:

• the duma, consisting of drafted citizens
• the senate, consisting of elected representatives from every town

Legislature was mostly left to towns. The judicial branch presented three courts:

• a criminal court
• a constitutional court (including an economic commission for eco-economics)
• an environmental court (including a land commission for no private property), the Global Environmental Court (GEC)

In all it was a strong global government with a weak executive body.

The first Martian government was composed by:

• Executive council: Nadia Cherneshevsky (president)
  • Zeyk Tuqan
  • Ariadne (Free Mars)
  • Marion (Bogdanovist Red)
  • Peter Clayborne
  • Mikhail Yangel (Bogdanovist)
  • Jackie Boone (Free Mars)
• GEC chief justice: Irishka (Reds)

The United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTA) was the international political body that dealt with all matters pertaining to human activities on Mars following the First Martian Revolution of 2061, taking over the activities of the UN Office for Martian Affairs. Officially, the UNTA was part of the UN; unofficially, it was a regulating authority entirely controlled by the private interests of the transnationals and later the metanationals. Presidency of UNTA rotated among its members.

In the 2080s-2090s, the presidency went Phyllis Boyle. She oversaw the construction of the second space elevator on Mars to replace the first one that had been destroyed during the revolution.

The UNTA approved of many terraforming giga-projects financed by metanationals. Under the UNTA were constructed the soletta and the solar lens. Entire canyons were also tented and genetically engineered organisms were massively released all around Mars.

With Martian economic activities recovering, the UNTA and the metanationals worried little about the Martian underground, which they suspected existed but did not know where. As the underground and the demimonde became more organized and started influencing great shares of the Martian population and the incoming Terran immigrants through such organizations as Free Mars, the UNTA and the metanationals made it a point to eradicate them. Metanationals security increased the ranks of the UNTA police troops and in the first two decades of the 22nd century they persecuted and destroyed all underground settlements around the South pole, among them Gamete. Sabishii was also burned extensively. Martial law with UNTA troops was established in several cities.

When the Second Martian Revolution finally broke out in 2127, Derek Hastings was the head of UNTA. The UNTA and the metanational forces were overwhelmed by the popular response to the revolution and the organized manner in which the revolutionaries went about neutralizing their offensive capabilities. Hastings retrieved to New Clarke with a group of UNTA officials and security and was forced to retaliate by force when the Kakaze attempted to take down the space elevator cable.

In 2128, the UNTA under Hastings was given a seat in the Pavonis Mons Congress that drafted the Martian constitution. The Martian government allowed the UNTA to keep a presence in Sheffield and manage immigration from Terra in terms agreed upon by both parties.

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