Athens and Midlands
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| Flag of Athens and Midlands | |
| Motto: Mediterraniean Islands' longest serving UN Delegate | |
| Not published yet | |
| Region | [[1]] |
|---|---|
| Capital | West Athens |
| Official Language(s) | English (British) and Greek |
| Leader | Constantina Cataloña (Elected August 2005) |
| Population | 1,010,000,000 as of 28th December 2005 |
| Currency | Athenian Drachma |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Contents
History
Government
The Capital
People
Religion
Athens and Midlands has no official religion in terms of the Government, as the current prime minister is stuck between Islam and Hinduism. However, no religions are banned there. The majority religion is the Hinduism, and accounts for 62 percent of the population.
Athens and Midlands has been neutral from the spread of Christianity.
Religious breakdown: Hinduism 62%; Christianity 2%; Buddhism 20%; Islam 4%; Other and Non-Religious 6%
Leader
Constantina Cataloña
- Date of Birth: 6th September 1978
- First elected: 4th August 2005
- Terms in Office: 1
Language in Depth
- English and Greek are equally used side by side although Greek is the first language for 43 percent of the population
- Esperanto was once the chief lingua franca until 1982, when Greek was gradually adopted between 1967-1981. Meanwhile English was becoming popular since 1971.
- Greek became an official language alongside English in November 1989. Today, the people of Athens and Midlands are strongly critical of Esperanto, because it is poorly constructed.
- There was once plans to ban the speaking of Esperanto in public, but it was turned down in Parliament in April 2005.
- On Spetember 16th 2005, after hard consultation with the Parliamentary committees, The language transition project was finally completed on 1st November 2005.
Transition Project (pressured by citizens of the country):
- Stage 1: Natural and Gradual language conversion. Free language couses for citizens introduced by public consultation in July 1986. Language breakdown on 1st December 1989: Esperanto 16%, Greek 41%, English 28%, Other 15%
- Stage 2: Introduced Greek and English to 'generic public signing' from February 1986. Esperanto ceased to be used in 'Generic public signage' from 25th December 1991. Did not include the Health service and Education service.
- Stage 3: The Health and Education systems transitioned languages over a period between 1st January 1993 to December 31st 2003. This was an exceptionally long process becuase there were still criteria for esperanto to be used. Language breakdown on 1st December 1993: Esperanto 12%, Greek 43%, English 28%, Other 17%
- Stage 4: The transition project was reviewed over language discrimmination. Esperanto was therefore recategorised as a minority language of Athens and Midlands since January 1st 2004.
- Stage 5: Esperanto on official documents are no longer predominantly used since 31st October 2005, but Esperanto written documents continue to be availible on request.
Currency
The Athenian Aber was introduced in 1982 to replace the riddled Lirasi, which had serious inflation. Currently there are coins of 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 pence and banknotes of 1,2,5,10 and 20 Abers.
The Media
The Media in the country is rarely mentioned in the NS world, but it allows free thought. The main broadcaster is the MBC (Midlands Broadcasting Committee), which is non-commercial and funded by a licence fee, in which all households owning a television set must pay.
MBC Television
- MBC One
- MBC Two
- MBC News Service
- MBC Greek Service
- MBC World Service
Commercial TV
The most popular commercial network is the AMNS (Athen and Midlands Network System), which consists of 6 regions. The commercial television system was only introduced in August 2004.
AMNS Network System:
- Athens: Parthenon Television
- Midlands: Midlands Independent Television
- North: Moors TV
- South East and Spartan Peninsula: Sparta Television
- North West: Grampian Television (By co-incidence, happens to match the UK ITV broadcaster)
- East: EastTV
The MBC is the only radio serivce as of September 15th 2005, but on January 1st 2007 there will be changes to the law on radio broadcasting to allow commercial and independent broadcasting. By mid-2007 regional radio broadcasting is being introduced starting with the capital, West Athens.
- The MBC Radio system is non-commercial as with their TV service and there are 6 stations currently in operation:
- MBC Home Service (Speech Based)
- MBC World Service
- West Athens Service (Political discussion)
- MBC Journal Service (News)
- MBC Music Service
- MBC Arts Service
- Some potential commercial broadcasting companies are taking up the airwaves by 2007
- City Radio Group
- Virgin Radio
- AMIR (Athens and Midlands Independent Radio)
Principal Holidays
- 1 November Constitution Day: the formal recognition of Athens and Midlands
- First Monday of each month Bank Holidays
