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Carthian Unity
This pamphlet was laid out and printed onto a computer. It fits onto three pieces of paper (the inside cover left blank), folded and stapled in the center.
Text
- By Harriet Daley
Copyleft November 28th, 2007. No rights reversed. Print what you like. Don't litter. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
By now you've heard a little about what the Carthian Movement has to offer, and what the Movement doesn't stand for. This may leave the question of how the Movement operates. In any situation where there is a large group of Kindred as diverse as the Carthians it's hard to imagine that we agree on anything.
How do the atheists and the agnostics get along with the faithful that pepper our numbers? How to the Democratically leaning Carthians get along with the Communists? How do the rabble rousers get along with the conservatives? How can we possibly accomplish anything with such a socially, religiously and politically diverse group? How can we embrace the individual and claim to be a collective? The answer is simple, the differences that we have are the differences that we embrace.
Tolerance, Within Reason
The problem to be faced is: how to combine loyalty to one's own tradition with reverence for different traditions. - Abraham Joshua Heschel
I think you're wrong. I think you're misinformed and probably don't have any real idea what you're talking about. I also know that you think that I'm wrong, misinformed and that I have no idea what I'm talking about. In the face of the issues that Kindred deal with on a night to night basis does it really matter? Does it matter that you don't have the same political ideology that I have when we're faced with a Hunter? Does it matter that I'm religious and you're an athiest when there's been a Masquerade breach? Does it matter?
The diversity of the Carthian Movement gives us the distinct advantage of being able to have debates and discussions that are relevant to the purpose of the Movement. If we do not communicate with people who believe in ways that are fundamentally different from our own how can we learn? How can we grow? How can we elicit change? Because of this Carthians celebrate tolerance. Kindred of all religions and ideologies are welcome within the Chain! Every new idea is a new discussion to be had, a refinement to our collective ideology! We are all different at some fundamental level, and in the Movement not only is that OK, it's welcome and wanted.
Collective Action
A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. - Albert Einstein
There's a saying in the Carthian Movement that goes like this: "The fear of showing weakness is, itself, a debilitating weakness." In the Movement our talk about collectivism and brotherhood is not purely rhetorical. We are a chain because we are only as strong as our weakest link. It is in the best interest of the whole to help the individual. A Carthian can turn to any of their comrads for help for any reason and not be looked down on for their need.
The Carthian does for the Carthian not because of a promise of repayment, but because by doing for others they are doing for themselves. Within the Covenant we do not work with boons, the Kindred in need of help is not indebted to the helping Kindred. We do not help each other for any personal gain, we help because if we don't, who will? Be it a little blood, money to help pay rent, the phone number of a guy at city hall, help is always just a quick phone call away. After all, we're all in this together.
Individual Rights
I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot. - Horace Greeley
We are all in this together, but we are not all the same person. We do not hold the same beliefs, nor do we hold the same ideology. Does that mean that you shouldn't be free to practice and do as you would? That depends on who you ask. If you ask a Carthian the answer is no.
Does this mean there are no expectations of you? Not at all. As a Carthian you're expected to be tolorant of Kindred with ideas and beliefs different from your own. You're expected to be available for the Carthian in need and the Movement in general. You're expected to allow your covenant-mates to live and let live. You're expected to be yourself. Without upholding the rights of the individual the collective falls apart, the oppressed masses are not looking out of the interest of the masses, but instead for themselves. You can't have a collective based on self interest.
The Duty to be a Complete Being
I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference. - Jimmy Carter
We are not defined by our political ideologies. We are not defined by religion, status or lineage. We are defined as the entirity of ourselves, an all encompassing and complex creature with wants, dreams and aspiration. In the Carthian Movement we do not expect you to set yourself aside, instead we advocate that you embrace it, chase it, catch it and make it your own! A Kindred with no mission and no position is a Kindred who is flirting with stagnation.
In a Covenant that is constantly in a state of flux it would seem like the Carthians thrive on chaos. This, however, is not true. Instead we encourage all those in the Movement to achieve the personal stability that comes only in having a purpose. This is not to say that this is a stance that the Carthian Movement alone makes. All other Covenants offer positions and missions to their members. The difference is that in the Carthian Movement that purpose is yours to decide on, there is no party line to follow with regards to how you cope with your Requiem. This is your Requiem, and we want to help you own it!
When All is Said and Done
It is not "history" which uses men as a means of achieving -- as if it were an individual person -- its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends. - Karl Marx
Sure, this all sounds good on paper, but it clearly wouldn't work in practice. Or would it? There have been Carthians living and working with these ideals for at least 200 years now, since the first Kindred stood up and said "This doesn't have to be this way." We are not a Covenant entirely comprised of neonates and ne'erdowells. We have our share of elders and of Kindred working in City positions in domains that aren't the Carthians'. We are a complex and diverse organization of Kindred working to one simple common goal: the betterment of Kindred life, through cooperation and individual achievement.
It really is just that easy.