Would you join MAQUIS?

[RobertScorpio]

I have often wondered if I would have joined the Maquis. Think about it. You came to a world, years ago. You broke your back as a farmer, for instance, and built up the land that was rightfully yours.

Then, out of nowhere, the Federation says "sorry, but we are giving your entire planet to the Cardassians. Your legal right to the land that is yours, is no longer valid."

The Cardassians come in under the guise of letting you stay. But they start to harass non-cardassians and even poison your crop or whatever bullies do to run you out...or heck, they just come take your land and say, leave...

Do any of you own homes or are buying your house? I do. Could you imagine being told to just leave your house because it and the land you owned were given to another person and you are now homeless with no return on your investment of time and money?

I might have joined the Maquis my self!

 

[HRHTheKING]

I would join the Maquis and launch terrorist attacks against the Federation and Cardassian governments until the treaty was renegotiated with more reasonable terms.

 

[Son_of_Soong]

I would support the Maquis in anyway shape or form without actually joining... Of course thats in hindsight of knowing what happened to them all... I dont have a deathwish :-P

 

[RobertScorpio]

After Voyager got home, was it ever suggested what happened to the Maquis members of that crew? Did they do jail time for the Maquis act? Or were they forgiven due to the passage of time and the Maquis were, by that time, no longer a threat, thanks to the actions of Capt Sisko.

 

[Son_of_Soong]

They were model starfleet officers by that time I would imagine. No doubt there would've been hearings and stuff but my guess would be they were all fine.

 

[Dorothy_Zbornak]

No, it's just stupid land. Even if I thought I could hold it, living at the fringe with a hostile, aggressive and potentially superior force not far away is just inviting more trouble down the line. It's a big galaxy, and there would be plenty of opportunities within Federation space.

 

[Laren]

Well, my ancestors came from parts that fell to Poland after WW II. If they could deal without becoming terrorists, I'm sure I could, too.
It is certainly painful to lose your home, but I'm sure Federation offered adequate compensation.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The way they were introduced in TNG, no. They struck me as a bunch of stupid crybabies. They want to live outside Federation territory yet cry because Starfleet won't protect them? Phooey on that! The Federation has PLENTY of territory, they can move inside the boundaries or stay where they are and accept the consequences of their decision.

The Federation does have the right to "give away" their planet to the Cardies. All the years they lived under Federation protection gave the Feds that right. If you don't want the government owning your property, don't take anything from that government! If they'd had their own version of Starfleet fighting the Cardies all that time, the Federation would have had no jurisdiction.

The Federation is a big association of planets aimed at their mutual self-defense. But that does not mean the larger group will consider any one planet to be worth defending. What is and isn't worth defending is a matter of strategy and will of course change as circumstances change. Would the Maquis have been happy to be dragged into a no-win war over some planet they'd never heard of halfway across the quadrant? I doubt it. That's how the rest of the Federation saw them. They should have realized the trade-off they were making in accepting Federation protection in the first place.

 

[StarMan]

Nope. I'd pack up and relocate to Risa.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Temis the Vorta said:
The way they were introduced in TNG, no. They struck me as a bunch of stupid crybabies. They want to live outside Federation territory yet cry because Starfleet won't protect them? Phooey on that! The Federation has PLENTY of territory, they can move inside the boundaries or stay where they are and accept the consequences of their decision.

The Federation does have the right to "give away" their planet to the Cardies. All the years they lived under Federation protection gave the Feds that right. If you don't want the government owning your property, don't take anything from that government! If they'd had their own version of Starfleet fighting the Cardies all that time, the Federation would have had no jurisdiction.

The Federation is a big association of planets aimed at their mutual self-defense. But that does not mean the larger group will consider any one planet to be worth defending. What is and isn't worth defending is a matter of strategy and will of course change as circumstances change. Would the Maquis have been happy to be dragged into a no-win war over some planet they'd never heard of halfway across the quadrant? I doubt it. That's how the rest of the Federation saw them. They should have realized the trade-off they were making in accepting Federation protection in the first place.

QFT.

The Maquis colonies were not 'abandoned' to the Cardassians. It was the colonists' frakking IDEA to live in Cardassian territory in the first place!!! Those were the terms negotiated in "Journey's End" (TNG).

I have very little sympathy for the Maquis (as if it wasn't obvious already ). "But they don't want to abandon their homes", goes the whiney refrain. Well, screw them! There is a near-infinite amount of living space in the Federation. There's thousands of planets they could move to. A home is not sacred ground. They should have just shut the fuck up and moved.

And I swear, Eddington should have been pistol-whipped with a Varon-T Disruptor for daring to compare the Federation to the Borg. What an asshole.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Those planets were originally in Federation space, as I recall. They were given to the cardassians as part of a peace treaty, or so I thought. It would be like if you lived in California and your home was given to Mexico (and that might happen!)

 

[John Picard]

It depends. Do they have cookies?

 

[hellsgate]

Hell yes!!! Give me a refit courier with phasers & microtorpedo launchers & let's have at it!!!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

RobertScorpio said:
Those planets were originally in Federation space, as I recall. They were given to the cardassians as part of a peace treaty, or so I thought. It would be like if you lived in California and your home was given to Mexico (and that might happen!)

But as "Journey's End" showed, the colonists who lived there knew full well that they would be living in Cardassian territory - and they AGREED to it. They knew exactly what was going on, and were full and willing participants in it. They gave their O.K. to the Federation. (Presumably there were also Cardassian colonies which ended up in Federation territory and also agreed to that as well.)

Of course, the colonists did not agree to be harassed and attacked by those very same Cardassian colonists, but that was not the Federation's fault.

In any case, it's not like the colonists suddenly found themselves in Cardassian space against their will. They specifically agreed to it. They *wanted* to remain there, knowing full well that they were now subject to Cardassian control.

To use an example: Let's say that your home is located in a dangerous floodplain. The government notifies you of this and offers to relocate you at their expense. You refuse. Your home is subsequently destroyed by a flood. Is this the government's fault? No, of course it isn't.

 

[RobertScorpio]

The planets they lived on had been theirs for YEARS, far before any Cardassian treaty...then their planets were given to the cardassians and they could stay if they wanted to...meaning face the bullying tactics of their new Cardassian ruled planet...no way..that isn't fair and they got mad about it...

It would be like you owning your home for 50 years and told to give it to another country...you could still live in your home, but they would be your new landlords...uh uh...no way

 

[Ro_Laren]

Yes, I already have joined them...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

RobertScorpio said:
The planets they lived on had been theirs for YEARS, far before any Cardassian treaty...then their planets were given to the cardassians and they could stay if they wanted to...meaning face the bullying tactics of their new Cardassian ruled planet...no way..that isn't fair and they got mad about it...

The bullying by the Cardassians was not foreseen. That wasn't the Federation's fault. I'm not saying the Maquis didn't have legitimate grievances, but they were solely against the *Cardassians*. They had no right to blame the Federation for something that they didn't do.

And besides, the alternative would be what? War with Cardassia? That's what would have happened, had the treaty not been signed. *Some* compromise had to be made. The needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, and all that.

It would be like you owning your home for 50 years and told to give it to another country...you could still live in your home, but they would be your new landlords...uh uh...no way

Oh, spare me. I would still have a choice: Stay or move. I don't care if I lived there for a hundred years. It's just a house. Four walls and a roof, nothing more. Assuming there's plenty of places to move to, and I am provided with all necessary expenses, damn right I'm gonna move! Not become some pissant wannabe revolutionary.

 

[freak]

HELL YA! I wouldn't mind being under Chakotay's command. I'd salute him anyday. ! Anyway, all joking aside, I'd rightfully take back the land that was mine if the Cardassians took it over.

 

[Maurice]

RobertScorpio said:
Those planets were originally in Federation space, as I recall. They were given to the cardassians as part of a peace treaty, or so I thought. It would be like if you lived in California and your home was given to Mexico (and that might happen!)

Bad example. The U.S. TOOK California from Mexico in the first place.

And, please, the U.S. isn't going to give away any part of the sixth biggest economy in the world. Population drift is another subject...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

freak said: I'd rightfully take back the land that was mine if the Cardassians took it over.

If there was any land here that was ever "taken over", I might agree. But nothing of the kind ever happened (not in this example)...you know that, don't you?