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Fraser "Razor" Macmillan, Mongrel In Chief (razorfraser) wrote in neeps,
@ 2017-11-23 23:37:00

Entry tags:

! ic/ooc, # bil, fraser macmillan

IC/OOC: BIL Public Testimony Regarding Striking the War Season from BIL Records
The British and Irish Quidditch League represents the best in modern quidditch and are responsible for the history, tradition, and continuity of the game invented in these islands which has spread around the world. It has been proposed that, due to interference of the corrupted Thicknesse Ministry, the records of the so-called "war season" be dropped from BIL records and the season not be considered a BIL season at all.

While this may seem to many to be a technicality or a band-aid to cover deeper wounds, it is not a proposal we take lightly. In order to determine what the best path forward is for the league, the teams, the players, and the fans of British Quidditch, the league is soliciting public opinion. This and any follow on meetings will involve both public access and invited guests who will speak for the record.

All meetings and hearings of this subcommittee will be public and open to the press. A formal report will be issued before the January 30th BIL Quarterly meeting.

I ask that all speakers prefix their remarks with their name, their profession, if the statement they are making is in support or opposition to the motion, and if they are willing to take questions from the commissioners.

Speaker: Name Profession: Speaking In Support or Opposition: Will You Take Questions?:

Thank you for volunteering your time and your opinions, the BIL looks forward to learning more from each of you!

R. Fraser Macmillan
Commissioner, District 4
Chair, Ad-Hoc Subcommittee on Wartime Quidditch Records

(Post a new comment)

	Comments/Questions? razorfraser 2017-11-24 05:53 am UTC (link)
	(Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Comments/Questions? gilliflower 2017-11-24 03:45 pm UTC (link)
	Just commenting that Peggy attended as part of her professional duties and is taking notes on all statements and questions. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: Comments/Questions? partandparsel 2017-12-03 06:02 am UTC (link)
	Okay okay Des was here, mainly to cackle inwardly at how this is taking up time for other people. (And because he wants to hear firsthand what people say.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Statements Spoken at Meetings razorfraser 2017-11-24 05:55 am UTC (link)
	For all statements without questions read or spoken at a public meeting. (Reply to this)

	Statements Read Into the Record razorfraser 2017-11-24 05:56 am UTC (link)
	For you written testimony fans... (Reply to this) (Thread)

Tuesday Hearing (28 Nov)

feelingyou
2017-11-26 05:29 pm UTC (link)

The muggleborn cohort will arrive as a group. Although technically ahead of Block 7 matches, they all have a bit of neon pink flare. Jason specifically is sporting a very bright fuchsia tie and shoes -- all about the accents -- to his rather smart black suit. He may have also let leak to the press that a cohort of muggleborn players would be speaking tonight and is hoping to get media coverage.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

King, Jason

feelingyou
2017-11-27 03:24 am UTC (link)

Speaker: Jason King
Profession: Professional quidditch player, Montrose Magpies Starting Chaser and International Broom Racing Competitor
Speaking In Support or Opposition: Opposition
Will You Take Questions?: Yes.

Although, I speak in opposition of the BIL proposal as it stands, do not take my stance as approval of what happened in the 1997-1998 season. It was a season in my prime in which I spent on the run, fearing for my life, and then in Azkaban -- not for a crime, but rather for my simple existence and being unable to prove any magical ancestors.

Our society now arrived at a period of rebuilding. We get to decide what happens next. I do not think it would serve us as a community to simply erase the parts of our history that we do not like.

Striking the season from the record means we can no longer speak to it. It forgives without actually addressing the underlying problems. While I will not begrudge anyone for trying to survive, they should not be allowed to forget that they did so at the cost of their peers, their co-workers, their families.

We cannot be allowed to forget. We cannot allow those who benefited from the war to simply cut their ties, drop their surnames, and hold out their hands and claim ‘not me, I wasn’t like them.’

The answer cannot be so simple as to just strike the record. It sets a dangerous precedent and does nothing to interrupt the cycle of hatred and prejudice that plagues the wizarding world. Some might say it is quidditch, it is only a game. It is so much more than that, it is a pastime that has captured the hearts and minds of the population.

We owe it to ourselves and society as a whole to find a way forward that acknowledges the harm that was done, but allows us to move forward, to be better.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: King, Jason razorfraser 2017-11-28 01:21 am UTC (link)
	Thank you, Mr. King, We appreciate your difficult position and your desire to e. Are you concerned that if the season is recorded as any other season it will be lost or forgotten in the annals of the past few hundred years? Does your cohort have any particular way they would like the record books to display this season? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	feelingyou 2017-11-28 01:48 am UTC (link)
	Thank you for the forum. I recognize the commissioner's questions. However, should it please the commission, I would like to yield the floor and delay any such questions or their answers until all of my colleagues have had chance to speak. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	razorfraser 2017-11-28 01:52 am UTC (link)
	The chair notes that Mr. King has reserved his time to answer at the end of his group's testimony. (Reply to this) (Parent)

Withey, Dawn

neeples
2017-11-28 02:16 am UTC (link)

Speaker: Dawn Withey
Profession: Professional Quidditch player, Wimbourne Wasps Starting Beater, English National Beater 94
Speaking In Support or Opposition: SUPPORT
Will You Take Questions?: Sure, as if my points aren't obvious enough. (ooc: cover children's ears please)

Lo to the high and mighty British and Irish Quidditch League! Now of all times you bring this out and suggest maybe just maybe that season wasn't the best idea? Why now? You had a year of rebuilding, you had the offseason, and now you trot it out?!

Well you asked so here's what I say: Fuck. That. Season.

Tell me, what do you lot remember about that 'war season'? Good quidditch? Stunning plays, wins, standout players? NO! You remember a ragtag league, teams in ruins and trying to patch up the holes left, people being FUCKING DRAGGED OFF THE PITCH where matches are used as an excuse to get muggleborn out in the open to snatch them. Are you telling me a whole bloody stadium of people can watch that and think 'oh, yes, this is what I look for in good quidditch'? REALLY?!

Fuck a season that thought it okay to make hiring decisions on blood, fuck a season that let snatcher come onto the pitch when they knew you were wandless, and fuck anyone who thinks that's a season worth keeping. Because if you can look at all that and want that sort of season on the books and people benefiting from it...that's pretty damn heartless.

Get rid of it, kick it to the curb and yell good riddance. I have standards, not just morally as you all should, but for QUIDDITCH too. There isn't a thing in that season worth saving, and even if there was, it's not worth saving over all the shit it dealt to every muggleborn remotely tied to this league. Let's not pretend things were okay, let's not pretend we can put on blinders and continue like nothing's wrong.

So you know what? ERASE the whole bloody thing!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

neeples
2017-11-28 02:28 am UTC (link)

Marcus Hyslop is there, but not with the bright pink muggleborn cohort, and not making a statement. He's wearing his glasses and trying to keep his head down and keep a low profile. For all his apolitical leanings, even he has feelings about this movement and wants to at least see where it's heading. He just hopes this doesn't mean more pressure on him to make a stand, or any backlash against muggleborn in general. He's finally making it big and just wants to play.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Cameron, Monte

camerontroubles
2017-11-29 12:22 am UTC (link)

Speaker: Stephen Montgomery Cameron
Profession: Professional Quidditch Player, Keeper, Falmouth Falcons
Speaking In Support or Opposition: Support
Will You Take Questions?: Yes

I played reserve for Portree for two years before the season in question. I only recently was made a starter for the Falcons during the current season. In between, there was a two year gap where I couldn’t play. A two year gap. That might not sound like much, but to a Quidditch player, to someone who intends to make this their job, their way of life, it might as well be a career death sentence. I can’t speak for the others, but I had to claw my way back to where I am now, and I can’t help but wonder if I’d had to work nearly this hard, for nearly so long, if it wasn’t for that forced gap.

There’s no way to ever really know how that season could have turned out if we’d been able to play, nor how many exceptional players missed their one shot just because of their family ties. Keeping the season on record is just a reminder of what we should have been a part of, and its existence hurts.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Lynch, Aidan (last to speak of the Pink MBs)

neeples
2017-11-29 03:20 am UTC (link)

Speaker: Aidan Lynch
Profession: Professional quidditch player, Kenmare Kestrels starting seeker, Irish National Seeker - World Cup Winner 94
Speaking In Support or Opposition: Neither
Will You Take Questions?: Yes.

I think you can all see, standing here in our lovely pink, that my fellow muggleborn and I are trying to make a statement. As individuals we might not all hold the same views but I hope you, the league and the public, see that what we're saying is: It's not enough.

This proposal is just a bandaid on a larger issue. Let's not pretend it makes any big changes for the people persecuted in this war. It's a symbolic gesture, and I can appreciate it if the spirit behind it is one of extending an olive branch. If this proposal is the start of saying 'that year was wrong, here is the first step to doing something about it' then I can accept it.

Let's use this as a stepping stone. If you want to make amends with the muggleborn in this community, then let's look at what needs to change. The fact it was so easy for so many to register us, then chase us out of the magical community, and then chase us down...all while keeping things we hold dear running? The ministry, the league...you did it without us and acted as if it didn't cause you as much problems as it did.

What it shows me is not that we're not a vital and significant part of the magical community, it's that the institutions in place do a lot to keep us out of them.

This may be beyond the scope of this proposal, I know. But it needs to be pointed out and it needs to be said. Because that season of quidditch and this proposal to get rid of it are just tips of the iceberg about the issues that plague this community.

Every single one of us standing here in pink? We've worked hard to integrate, we've worked hard to learn so much that wizarding children have grown up with and taken for granted, and we've done a lot of that while giving up our connections to the world we grew up in. And look, we've contributed big things to the quidditch world.

Twenty years ago, I had only just heard about quidditch for the first time. And yet a few years ago I had the honour of representing my country and raising the world cup for a sport I didn't grow up with, a sport none of my family play or even knew existed until me.

Is it a lot to say we need to start being more aware of the muggleborn plight? Is it too much to ask that we be more informed about the muggle world? A world we live right beside and spend so much of our efforts hiding from. And is it so much when we demand to be treated with the respect and given the rights you would any wizard or witch?

I'm glad people are acknowledging that season and that year were wrong. But let's do more than just that, let's do something about it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: Tuesday Hearing (28 Nov)

razorfraser
2017-11-30 02:21 am UTC (link)

Frazer watched the quick-quill take notes during the players' statements.

I want to thank the players who've appeared today and I appreciate their willingness to speak up, even if it may be uncomfortable, about an issue that is very controversial.

Mr. King, I will ask this question generally to you, but if any of your group wishes the answer, I will recognize them.

You spoke, movingly, of finding a way to move forward. However, your group has spoken both for and against the proposal before the board as it is. Do you have specific counter suggestions or amendments that would advance your objectives, individually or collectively?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	feelingyou 2017-11-30 02:41 am UTC (link)
	While we might not be unified in our support or opposition of such a measure, there is a unifying theme that the BIL proposal is reflective of a bigger society issue at hand. Before I respond to your question, if you would permit first, to ask a clarifying question: To what end is the commission hoping to achieve in striking the season from the records? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

razorfraser
2017-11-30 04:12 am UTC (link)

Fraser considers his answer carefully, and does not admit that he doesn't know.

Proposals such as this are brought by commissioners at their own behest or at the behest of the owners in their district. Certain Ministry officials can also make proposals.

When I posed your question to the commissioners who introduced this resolution, they said that they felt that season was played when we were, as a league, unable to require and oversee that the play and processes were up to our standards and that since the league did not exist as an independent body while it was absorbed by the Department of Magical Games and Sports, it was the inevitable consequence that we should not accord that season the same precedence and consideration that a regular season is given.

My conclusion from their statements is that they want the record to show that this is a part of unwinding the effects of the Thicknesse Ministry.

The end this sub-commission is hoping to achieve is, and should be, very transparent. We wish to find out how this proposal affects wizards of all sorts, including those most impacted by the Thicknesse Ministry's actions.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ic/ooc feelingyou 2017-12-02 01:39 am UTC (link)
	Jason would request formal testimony from the commissioners who made the proposal and a chance to be questioned directly. He would also propose that a sub-committee be created to discuss how to handle the war season in all fairness and urge for collaborative work with muggleborn integration and war time recovery groups (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: ic/ooc partandparsel 2017-12-03 06:13 am UTC (link)
	Although Des retains his dour expression, he is very pleased by this request and proposal. Mr. King certainly knows the questions to ask. And he very much wants to see Kavanaugh and Lethbridge cross-examined. He's also highly amused at the thought of this taking even longer and inconveniencing even more people who are not him. (Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: ic/ooc

razorfraser
2017-12-03 06:19 am UTC (link)

Fraser raises his eyebrow at the request. "I can pass along your request, but as this is not a court of law, I do not have subpoena powers. If the commissioners wish to answer any questions or present a case is up to them. Generally, subcommittee hearings are designed to provide supporting materials and testimony to commissioners, rather than from commissioners."

"The League is, despite the importance of Quidditch, a small and lean entity. This is the ad-hoc subcommittee on this matter and we hope to be able to report out and give our recommendations to the commissioners. If you would like to take your time and present your ideas in writing, I would hope to receive it before the end of the year to include it in the final report."

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Cameron, Isla

camerontroubles
2017-11-28 04:54 am UTC (link)

Speaker: Isla Cameron
Profession: Former Professional Quidditch Player, Pride of Portree
Speaking In Support or Opposition: Support
Will You Take Questions?: Yes, once all statements have been read.

Many of you have probably already read my letter to the editor in the Daily Prophet dated November 24, and so know that- yes- I have rather strong feelings about striking the so-called Thicknesse season from the records. While I agree with Mr. King that it would be a detriment to our shared history to have the season removed in its entirety, it is no less an affront to us- the muggleborn players- who were forced to endure that horrible time.

So let history remember that a season was played, but not the particulars. Strike the stats, strike the scores, but keep the names of the players who weren’t permitted to play, the ones in hiding, the ones captured and falsely imprisoned. Take the records of the money earned during that season, and re-invest it in programs that help redress the tragedies that the war caused.

We can’t forget what happened, but we also shouldn’t keep something around that has no business having existed in the first place.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	Statements and Questions razorfraser 2017-11-24 06:06 am UTC (link)
	Anyone who wishes to be questioned, especially Ministry Personel, and those invited to speak (if you have a good reason, Fraser will invite you). (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Melchior Yaxley (to answer questions) yaxels 2017-11-24 06:58 pm UTC (link)
	Mel is present in case there are questions but does not have a statement to offer. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Percy Weasley (Available for Questions) arulefollower 2017-11-28 02:02 am UTC (link)
	Percy did not made a public statement, but he made himself available for questions. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Dunbar Oglethorpe (available for questions) ogletwerp 2017-11-29 02:04 pm UTC (link)
	Though he didn't make a statement Dunbar was available for any questions anyone might have. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	neeples 2017-11-29 11:00 pm UTC (link)
	Aidan walks up to his old pal after the statements, giving an apologetic shrug though he didn't seem too contrite. "Sorry for not giving you more details earlier, busy making this pink," he gestured at his jacket. "What do you think? Looking like a fine thing?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ogletwerp 2017-11-30 06:18 am UTC (link)
	"It's fine, no worries y'know," he responds, with a slight shrug. Dunbar grins as he looks over the bright pink jacket. "Very fetching, mate. No doubt it'll get attention." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	neeples 2017-11-30 06:24 am UTC (link)
	"Then goal achieved," Aidan laughed. "Hey, can I ask a favour? Of QUABBLE sort of." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ogletwerp 2017-11-30 05:01 pm UTC (link)
	Dunbar arched an eyebrow. "Only sort of? So what's the favour you want?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

neeples
2017-11-30 05:24 pm UTC (link)

"So this whole thing?" He gestured to the pink coat. "I'm all in. I've hit my peak, I know I'm on the downslope of my career and the war accelerated that but I've still got push and a some good playing years left. But if there's fallout from this...well I made my mark. But them?" Aidan tilted his head in the direction of the Camerons. "Monte just got his first starting spot and Isla just got kicked from a team when she was finally making some headway. Watch out for them? Some teams might come down hard on us for this, and I think enough of us have had our careers derailed already."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ogletwerp 2017-11-30 08:13 pm UTC (link)
	It would suck if his friend suffered any fallout from this but he had to admire Aiden a little for still trying to do the right thing regardless. Dunbar followed the direction Aiden had intimated, and gave a nod. "Can do. Even if it wasn't part of the job, they're former teammates y'know." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Desmond Parkin (to answer questions) partandparsel 2017-12-03 06:15 am UTC (link)
	No statement, but available should you need him. Though why you would need him at this point, I have no idea. (Reply to this) (Parent)