Was Eddington the wrong leader for the Maquis?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I'm thinking that the whole matter of sovereignty is a bit overblown. Or I just don't see the significance of it. Whether or not the Maquis or any of the planets they settled on were considered sovereign governments, the principal characters on the stage are the Federation and Cardassians, with Starfleet being the agent handling the situation for the Federation. The Maquis were always part of the federation technically, just not a part of Starfleet.

I thought the Maquis were named after the French resistance against the Nazis.

That makes sense considering maquis is a french term.

[Darth Wedgius]

The settlers gave up Federation citizenship and protection in return for a particular planet because they didn't want to move. There was no evidence that the new worlds they'd be moved to was going to be worse than the ones they left, and reasonable probability that life under Cardassian rule was going to be unpleasant. The Cardassians may have signed treaties, but the Cardassian government has been less than honest in many of its dealings.

In short, moving is really stressful, but people have fled homes for less. Eddington, motivated by dislike of the Federation and some idea of being a hero, might have been as good a leader as they were likely to get. IMHO, anyone going for a dispassionate weighing of benefits and risks would have been back on some colony world within UFP borders, sipping on a syntharita.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Gave up Federation citizenship? It certainly wasn't a Federation planet anymore, but it's not like the Federation disregarded them considering they had Starfleet around as an attaché specifically for their living circumstance. And it's not as if the Cardassians were forcing them to move out as per the treaty (despite of course running underground operations to disenfranchise them any chance they got).

[CharlesPhipps]

Weird typo that I put down French Revolution than French Resistance. My bad, it was like 4:00 am.

I'm thinking that the whole matter of sovereignty is a bit overblown. Or I just don't see the significance of it. Whether or not the Maquis or any of the planets they settled on were considered sovereign governments, the principal characters on the stage are the Federation and Cardassians, with Starfleet being the agent handling the situation for the Federation. The Maquis were always part of the federation technically, just not a part of Starfleet.

Well the Federation doesn't recognize them as citizens, they're fighting for an independent set of planets, and the Federation arrests them. The Maquis aren't even allies with the Federation let alone part of it.

Gave up Federation citizenship? It certainly wasn't a Federation planet anymore, but it's not like the Federation disregarded them considering they had Starfleet around as an attaché specifically for their living circumstance. And it's not as if the Cardassians were forcing them to move out as per the treaty (despite of course running underground operations to disenfranchise them any chance they got).

They gave up Federation citizenship when they chose not to leave. They were Federation citizens until they remained behind when the Federation ceded X worlds to the Cardassian Union. In political terms, they're a secessionist movement from the Federation (or more precisely, they're a secessionist movement from the Cardassian Union).

Given the Federation chose to arrest and persecute Marquis as well as Marquis sympathizers, they are enemy combatants in Marquis territory. On planets where the Marquis lived, they would be justified in killing Federation officials because they're actively aiding the Cardassians in carrying our relocation-based genocide (forcible relocation of a people is one of the defined forms of genocide by the United Nations).

The Federation is justified in arresting Marquis conducting crimes in their territory like arms trafficking, theft, and terrorism but there's a good question as to whether or not they are actively collaborating with a fascist government to oppress their people. If the Jews in Poland were buying guns to fight the Nazis, the US government would not be covering itself in glory by arresting them. Part of what DS9 did that would never fly with American audiences later was the fact that it very often questioned the "terrorists vs. Freedom Fighter" element of history. The Marquis was supposed to have that questioned on Voyger but I think DS9 did that much better.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I understand that the Maquis are essentially separatists, even if not fully then to a significant extent as for Starfleet to deal with them as to hold up the treaty. Until they cross that line though they were still Federation colonists in the DMZ, as Sisko describes explicitly.

[CharlesPhipps]

I understand that the Maquis are essentially separatists, even if not fully then to a significant extent as for Starfleet to deal with them as to hold up the treaty. Until they cross that line though they were still Federation colonists in the DMZ, as Sisko describes explicitly.

Which is ironically a good reason why sovereignty would have benefited everyone. The Federation could have avoided their part in the treaty and recognized them as sovereign.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I understand that the Maquis are essentially separatists, even if not fully then to a significant extent as for Starfleet to deal with them as to hold up the treaty. Until they cross that line though they were still Federation colonists in the DMZ, as Sisko describes explicitly.

Which is ironically a good reason why sovereignty would have benefited everyone. The Federation could have avoided their part in the treaty and recognized them as sovereign.

Only if the colonist disbanded themselves. Otherwise I think it's considerable that the Federation had no right to give the colonists land to the Cardassians. That and it'd be somewhat antithetical in their design to just strip them of their privileges as members in that case.

[CharlesPhipps]

Only if the colonist disbanded themselves. Otherwise I think it's considerable that the Federation had no right to give the colonists land to the Cardassians. That and it'd be somewhat antithetical in their design to just strip them of their privileges as members in that case.

The colonists have already left the Federation by not living in their territory and agreeing to live under Cardassian rule. That was the nature of Picard's deal in TNG, wasn't it? They're not even a secession movement from the Federation really. I mean, why wouldn't the Federation recognize immigration from its territory in a place as large as the Alpha Quadrant?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Only if the colonist disbanded themselves. Otherwise I think it's considerable that the Federation had no right to give the colonists land to the Cardassians. That and it'd be somewhat antithetical in their design to just strip them of their privileges as members in that case.

The colonists have already left the Federation by not living in their territory and agreeing to live under Cardassian rule. That was the nature of Picard's deal in TNG, wasn't it? They're not even a secession movement from the Federation really. I mean, why wouldn't the Federation recognize immigration from its territory in a place as large as the Alpha Quadrant?

In the Picard episode, it was arranged with the Cardassians that the colonists could still live on the planets. That episode having the colonists be Native Americans simultaneously added weight to Picard's role as Starfleet arbitrator and established precedence for all the other colonies to object. I imagine the Cardassians didn't like that second part.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I mean, as of now, I'm kind of leaning on the Federation kinda fumbling things by not handling the Cardassians better. Picard knew that they were shady from the very first preconception of the Maquis with the Starfleet renegades. Then from there, was Cal the only Starfleet officer handling the colonist/Cardassian situation? More intelligence could have shown that the Cardassians were clearly violating shit.

Really though, the major conflicts always regarded Starfleet infrastructure being used to attack the Cardassians, and disdain for the Federation was mounted early on with the resistance for the treaty arrangement. From Maxwell to Cal to Eddington, it was a horrible situation for Starfleet to handle because it was always internal.

Picard and Sisko let Ro and Cal go essentially because they couldn't really argue with the resistance, but Eddington was indeed the one that took it too far, bombing any Cardassian he could get his sights on. He might as well have said that the only good Cardassian is a dead Cardassian.

All and all I don't really blame the Federation since they made it perfectly clear to the colonists the danger of staying on the planets.