Ronval Rubat
'Rusty'
From Warriors, Citizens. From War, Peace.
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out one part of Alliance politics and lobbying from the POV of non-profits and civil organisations
- Image Credit: Clip art sword and olive, stars from GA symbol here, edited by me
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
Ronval Rubat
- Organization Name: Galactic Alliance Veterans' Information Network (GAVIN)
- Classification: Non-Profit Group
- Affiliation: Galactic Alliance
- Organization Symbol: A sword pointed down, with two olive branches growing up from its tip in the rough outline of the GA symbol, surrounded by GA stars on a field of Alliance Blue
- Description: GAVIN is one of the oldest and largest private support networks for GADF veterans, providing counselling civilian vocational training certification and regular networking and social gatherings for veterans. GAVIN also acts as a lobbying arm for 'pro-defence' interests to the Senate, and more broadly campaigns against political groups antithetical to the GA's founding principles; in general this means supporting anti-Sith politicians and parties and countering Imperialist political rhetoric at the ballot box and the public sphere.
- Headquarters: 860 United Trade Avenue 2, CoCo Town, Coruscant. Regional headquarters exist on other worlds like Brentaal IV, Corellia, Chandrilla etc.
- Domain: None
- Notable Assets: Apart from mid-sized offices, call centres and co-rented classrooms in community centres on almost every planet in the GA, GAVIN has little in assets other than its sizable reserve fund, with which it uses to expand its network, fund programmes for veterans and upkeep several battlefield preservation & memorial trusts.
- Hierarchy: Standard non-profit setup, GAVIN has a small board of directors from outside the day-to-day operations of the organisation, overseeing an executive committee of modestly-salaried officers that are generally divided by the planet they are stationed on. While volunteers make up much of its vocational programmes, they are compensated for their time. Primarily, the actual staff of the orgnisation is a pool of for-hire writers, clerks, salaried vocational specialists and on-staff professional 'consultants' and lobbyists that carry out the organisation's magazine distribution, programme planning and lobbying efforts.
- Membership: Though much of the staff are civilians, most that work in the org proper are veterans themselves. There is of course the large army of associate members who are veterans that join for free to gain updates on networking opportunities, certification and work skills programmes, social meetups, and updates on job opportunities. Full members pay a small fee to receive a swathe of medical, insurance etc. benefits as well as receive access to the monthly GAVIN magazine.
- Climate: Both within the org and towards the public, GAVIN staff are friendly and helpful, willing to go the extra mile for a comrade. Unlike many similar non-profit groups, org policy on political discussions are loosened, and its members are slightly more outspoken on political and partisan matters in the Galactic Alliance.
- Reputation: Liked by its members and the general public, GAVIN also has a reputation for outspoken political activism, frequently using its 'war chest' to fund senate races, demonstrations, and publicly lobby for certain policies. It has even donated to legal funds of some controversial radical veterans. Contrary to expectations that such 'partisan antics' might cause withdrawal of memberships, funding from the public and increased membership rates has apparently increased with these high-profile incidents.
- Curios: Staff and members get membership cards that can be used for a discount programme at participating retail outlets. At bigger events, members of GAVIN are known to partake in old-school GADF social rituals such as the chit toss and rose-planting.
- Rules: GAVIN's staff are subject to the usual corporate by-laws and code of conduct. Unofficially, however, staff are screened for certain political opinions, and must at least support the Alliance institutions such as civil rights, democracy etc.
- Goals: GAVIN's goal is to act as a support network for the growing number of veterans of the GADF. By funding counseling, vocational certification, networking and social gatherings, GAVIN aims to honour and support those who have already given so much for freedom.
GAVIN also acts as a lobbying arm for 'pro-defence' interests to the Senate, and more broadly ensures that the sacrifices on the front line are not lost at home. What this means beyond lofty missions statements is that GAVIN's lobbying and political donations aims to represent veterans against political groups antithetical to the GA's founding principles; in general this means supporting anti-Sith politicians and parties and countering Imperialist political rhetoric at the ballot box and the public sphere.
In this way, through helping vets, GAVIN also indirectly prevents them from being radicalised to anti-republic/strongman politics. By providing information and financial support it also shields many of them from becoming exploited by the expanding megacorp and banking presence in the GA.
Indirectly, GAVIN is part of FORESTER's information network and influence operations. However, the only direct link between the two is some of its founders and a handful of its staff. In terms of actual money flow, personnel transfer and knowledge of operations, the vast majority of GAVIN's staff and almost all its members are purposely kept completely separate from FORESTER operations.
Ronval Rubat
- Co-Founder & Vice SecretaryHISTORICAL INFORMATION
After the founding of the current iteration of the Galactic Alliance, and in the aftermath of its struggle against the Sith Empire, large numbers of soldiers, many inherited from the precusor Core Imperial Confederation and Grayson Imperium, were retired from service as the GADF restructured to meet the new threat against the Maw and New Imperial border defence. The partial demobilisation of a large number of soldiers (many of whom would have imperialist sympathies) entering a new economy raised the possibility of social unrest. GAVIN was thus founded to provided assistance to these veterans and be their advocate in the public sphere. By giving support to them, it also ensured many 'bought in' to the new Galactic Alliance as a viable society and economy. On another level, the founding of GAVIN and other large-scale veteran organisations helped to lay the foundations of a new, solely GA-based civil society identity as well as kickstart the new senate's lobbying ecosystem.
