Bashenk

Bashenk

Flag Emblem
Motto: Fraternité, Pacifisme, Solidarité
map of Bashenk
Region	Africa
Capital	Mbasewe
Official Language(s)	Bassè, French, Swahili
Leader	President Seydou Diawara
Sovereignty	1953
Population	3.2 million
Currency	franc bashenké (FB)
Internet TLD	.bsk
Calling code	+029
ISO Code	CCBK
NS Sunset XML

The Confederated Communes of Bashenk (Communes Confédérées du Bashenk) is a sovereign, communist nation in the African continent. It is known mainly for its distinctive political and economic system. By material standards, Bashenk is a poor nation, but most Bashenké people will say that "poverty" is a notion not applicable to their chosen way of life.

History

Main article: History of Bashenk

Bashenk, a former French colony, achieved independence peacefully in 1953. The Parti Communiste Bashenké (Bashenké Communist Party) was elected the following year in the sovereign country's first elections. It implemented a gradual transition towards communism, which was achieved and officially proclaimed in 2071.

Geography

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a village in southern Bashenk

A landlocked African nation, Bashenk stretches from the Sahara desert, which covers a third of its territority in the north, to Lake Ngatogo in the south, where a more fertile, less arid climate prevails. The capital, Mbasewe, is located on the shore of the vast Lake, which is almost an interior sea, and most of Bashenk's 3.2 million inhabitants live in the southern parts of the nation.

The terrain is fairly flat, save for hills in the south-east and low mountains in the south-west. The north is mainly endless stretches of sand dunes, while the south has beautiful, pristine, lush, sweeping grassy plains, with spatterings of indigenous vegetation.

Most of the towns are more like villages, and each constitutes a fully self-governing commune. Mbasewe, however, houses 900,000 Bashenké.

Images

These pictures were taken from orbit by West Ariddian media satellites.

• Mbasewe, the capital
• a particularly urbanised area of Mbasewe
• Mbasewe-Ewana international airport
• the town of Tehuen, on the edge of the desert
• rural Bashenk

People

The inhabitants of Bashenk are called Bashenké. Most of the population is Black. The main indigenous ethnic group are the Bassè. The Bashenké are noted for their heigh life expentancy (74 yrs for men, 80 yrs for women) and excellent health, due to a health service way above the standards of most Third World nations.

Non-Bassè Blacks are mainly immigrants from poor neighbouring countries, while Arab and European communities are descendants of settlers from the country's former colonial overseers.

Ethnicity

• Bassè: 83.6% (c.2,675,200)
• Other Black & mixed Bassè/other Black: 13.7% (c.438,400)

Total Black: 97.3% (c.3,113,600)

• Arab: 1.3% (c.41,600)
• European: 0.2% (c.6,400)
• Other/métisses: 1.2% (c.38,400)

Government & Politics

Main article: Politics of Bashenk

Elected in 1954, President Eric Okoue of the Bashenké Communist Party (PCB) implemented revolutionary social-democratic policies aiming at bettering the lives of the citizens, and developing among them a sense of solidarity, community and compassion. The PCB paved the way for a gradual transition to communism, as citizens were given increasing responsabilities for managing their lives and village and national affairs. Today, there is no national government in the usual sense, with all decisions, both local and national, being taken by the citizens via meetings in their respective communes.

A President is nonetheless elected every six years. His function is essentially symbolic; he welcomes foreign dignitaries and represents his fellow citizens abroad.

Culture

The Bashenké are often described as a friendly, kind-hearted and open-minded people, with a keen intellect. A century of socialism, and then communism, has witnessed the development of a strong sense of community and society, and the belief that each person has a responsability to assist those in need. This was helped by the existence, already in pre-colonial times, of society structures which emphanised the needs of the community and of all its members. Selfishness is an alien concept.

Bashenk has retained a vibrant, lively indigenous Bassè culture, enriched by cultural elements brought by other ethnic groups, including Arabs and Europeans. It is notable mainly in the fields of music, wood sculplting and painting. There is also a diverse Bashenké literary field, but the nation's culture remains predominently oral. Orality is seen as the means for the preservation of history and culture, and the transmission and evolution of social values.

Elders are respected and listened to, but young Bashenké are taught to develop a mind of their own, and a critical assessment of what they are taught. Education, predominently via oral means, is highly valued. The Université de Mbasewe-Centre welcomes students from many foreign nations.

Strikingly, 39% of Bashenké are vegetarians, a number which is steadily climbing.

Religion

Islam and Christianity were both imported by colonisers, and had a fairly significant impact, but did not obliterate traditional Bassè religions. Today, many Bashenké are atheists, and many retain religion because they consider it part of their cultural identity, without actually believing in any god.

• Atheism: 72.7%
• Indigenous religions: 18.4%
• Islam: 5.1%
• Christianity: 3.2%
• Other: 0.6%

Sport

The most popular sport in Bashenk is football, and children, teenagers and adults can often be seen playing the game outdoors wherever there is a reasonably flat surface. On the banks of Lake Ngatogo, sailing has become extremely popular, to the point that there have been talks of sending a Bashenké sailing delegation to the Olympic Games.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Bashenk

The national currency is officially the franc bashenké, but matters are in reality somewhat complicated. Bashenké do not use money in their own country, as the economy is not a market economy. People often work communally, and do so for the good of society, not out of desire for profit. Goods and services are thus freely avilable to all Bashenké nationals. A currency is, nonetheless, necessary for citizens travelling abroad, and for foreigners visiting the country. For such purposes, two currencies are actually used - the franc bashenké (devise nationale) and the franc bashenké (devise étrangère). See the article on the Economy of Bashenk for more detail.

Symbols

Flag

Main article: Flags of Bashenk

The Bashenké flag is unusual in that it has only one colour: black. Black is seen as the symbol of anarchy, but also of hope and of life. Bashenké explain that the flag does not represent the ethnicity of the people, but that it may, however, "symbolise our predominantly Black culture".

International codes