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AIDSERFS

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The Association for the Improvement and Development of Serfdom towards the Economic Revival of the Full Sector (AIDSERFS) is one of the many charitable organizations that coalesced following the dissolution of The Church of Humanity, Repentant. It aims to assist serfs throughout the sector in achieving lives of greater security and self-actualization, both as individuals and as members of their communities. It is a founding stakeholder of SERAPH.

Formation[]

Following the collapse of the Church of Humanity, Repentant, members of the church's bureaucratic departments of Arbitration (which took care of the church’s internal affairs) and Legal Repentance (which ran the Church’s legal efforts both in its own defense and that of aliens and serfs) received offers from numerous of charitable and corporate entities to join their efforts. Those interested in alien rights quickly joined the Maajid Memorial Foundation for the Education of Humanity, while others scattered to the defense and facilitation of other charitable or corporate entities, such as the Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation, Cabina Cups Tea, or the Cabina Coffee Initiative, based on their preference.

However, many in the departments of Arbitration and Legal Repentance remained recalcitrant holdouts, with plans of their own. After several weeks behind closed doors and in secret talks, and having secured many of the books and ledgers and other resources of their respective departments, these individuals announced that they had secured funding to go independent as their own charitable organization: The Association for the Improvement and Development of Serfdom towards the Economic Revival of the Full Sector, aka AIDSERFS.  In their opening press release, the new association announced themselves and their aims as follows:

We do not question the sincerity of the corporate and charitable entities that have requested we join them in their efforts. But we do question, in their mission statements, the absence of the plight of those most in need of a voice: those who all too often find themselves voiceless, disenfranchised, downtrodden in a sector geared more towards the power struggles of the great than the daily survival of the small. We have heard many beautiful words regarding helping the sick, the uneducated, those lacking access to caffeinated beverages. But we have heard too little about the deeper question: How do we help them towards lives of greater security and self-actualization, both as individuals and as members of their communities?

The backbone of our sector is the serfs, and the soil they work to produce the food that feeds our civilization. Here on Cabina, we have long since learned that to heal the broken soil -- and so much of the soil of our sector is broken -- we must respect not only it, but the people who work it too. But this respect requires people who are ever vigilant that it is maintained. Only so long as a supportive private and public welfare infrastructure remains in place; only so long as laws against serf mistreatment are strengthened, preserved, and enforced; only so long as watchdog groups and mediating institutions monitor serf conditions; only so long as there are nobles ready and willing to represent serfs against the interests of those who would violate their rights; only so long as all this is done will we be able to continue on our steady path to restoration of the planet, the sector, and our society.

Following this announcement was a lengthy list of statements of support by nobles, freemen, and serf organizations on Cabina and across the sector, including several initial endowments. Most prominently, both of Cabina's newly formed frontier coalitions, the League of Frontier Towns and the Towns of the Frontier League, voiced their support for the new initiative, as did the Repentant sects Gardens of the Repented and The Clockworker’s Faith. Additional sponsors included watchdog and advocacy groups such as the Cabina Legal Aid Society, the Freemen Protector's Union, and the city of Gadalfo's Serf Collectives for a Prosperous Cabina.

Initiatives[]

Though the group is in its infancy, it already has a broad list of working proposals and initiatives for which it is acquiring support and funding. Many of these represent a more formalized attempt to organize and expand pre-existing projects and trends on Cabina, and to further similar initiatives sectorwide. The proposed projects include, but are not limited to:

  • WELFARE: Soup kitchens, shelters, and other public works and “safety net” projects (including possible collaborative efforts with the Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation)
  • EDUCATION: Scholarships and assistance both educational and vocational (including possible collaborative efforts with the Maajid Memorial Foundation for the Education of Humanity) 
  • FINANCE: Financial assistance and debt relief for serfs; microfinance grants for serf projects; assistance towards financial independence and “freeman” status.
  • MOVEMENT: Facilitating changes of serf contracts and location desired by serfs.
  • SELF-DIRECTION: Rebuilding, investment, and infrastructure projects involving a high level of serf self-direction and responsibility. Includes financial and advisory support of arrangements with a “hands off” or absentia level of noble involvement, and support of serf collectives.
  • OVERSIGHT: Watchdog groups with an eye toward serf mistreatment
  • LEGAL AID: Facilitating serf connection to legal aid, and to nobles willing to advocate for serfs in court
  • ADVOCACY: A lobbying wing to push for changes in local and Imperial laws regarding non-noble protections and rights. These may include everything from harsher fines for serf mistreatment to attempts to secure actual legal definitions of "freeman" and "emancipated citizen."

Expansion[]

In addition to individuals and resources absorbed from the former CHR Departments of Arbitration and Legal Repentance, AIDSERFS also recruited from the departments of Charity, Xenology, and Property.

Much of the land of Cabina, especially its frontier, was owned by nobles in absensia, or had been leased at little or no cost to the Church of Humanity, Repentant. The CHR was largely content to let the monasteries, religious orders, planetary restoration projects, and frontier settlements occupying this land run their own lives as they saw fit. With the collapse of the CHR, the legal status of that land -- and of the individuals currently living and working on it -- was in limbo. AIDSERFS worked closely with as many groups as possible to ensure a smooth continuation of any absentia and "hands-off" arrangements, and itself began to take the CHR's place as the official holder of a number of these leases (at least where individual Repentant sects, the Cabina Coffee Initiative, or the Cabina Cups Tea Company had not stepped in first).

Controversies[]

AIDSERFS also entered the pitched battle with other emergent charities for control of CHR Welcome and Outreach Centers across the sector. Their spokesperson, Nidaei Palomia, declared their intent as follows:

While we must always work to maintain the advances secured here on Cabina, it is also with an eye toward the wider sector that this organization was founded. Yet unlike our competitors, who seem intent on reforming these facilities in their own preferred image, I believe it is imperative that we ask -- especially of those of who are not often asked such questions, or respected in this manner -- “Which interventions in particular will best aid your community?” In our own renovations we would follow the example of the recently founded Phoenix Foundation, which first spent weeks in discussion with both noble and serf representatives from of Orpheus to formulate aid both desired and appropriate to those they sought to help.

Additionally contentious, especially on highly Repentant Cabina, were rumors that AIDSERFS was reaching out to the High Church to discuss funding and collaboration. Nidaei Palomia did not deny the rumors, declaring that disagreements with the High Church on doctrinal matters should not preclude cooperation when it came to assisting those most in need. With many Repentant sources of funds already highly contested, the official position of AIDSERFS is that they are "open to funding from all interested parties" concerning any potentially compatible initiatives.

Mentions in the News[]

Society for Ethical Reform through Aid, Protection, and Humanitarianism (SERAPH)

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