[ WP ] The first martian city cuts off ties to the Earth

I had a day off work and saw this, so why not: 
 
 A watershed moment in the history of the early colonization of Mars, the ‘ Martian Crisis ’ resulted in the complete overhaul of the United Nations ’ drafted approach to Martian exploration and settlement. 
 
 Established as the first permanent, civilian Martian colony in 2140 ( following decades of specialized scientific and survey missions on the part of America and various European and Asian governments ), Discovery was intended to serve as the transit hub for all further activities on the Red Planet. These activities were expected to include both further settlement and the return of Martian natural resources to Earth. Centrally located within Argyre Planitia due to the aquifer located beneath the basin in 2101, the settlement was perfectly placed to allow for localized expansion in a geographical feature largely protected from outside phenomena. 
 
 Initially populated entirely by ( largely American ) specialists and existing as a small collection of pressurized modules, massive investment on the part of private interests eager to begin extracting and transporting the enormous quantities of rare elements discovered on Mars to Earth resulted in the colony ’ s rapid growth. By 2170, Discovery itself had over 300,000 inhabitants from all ethnicities and supported another 200,000 colonists in dozens of smaller settlements and resource extraction camps spread throughout the basin and elsewhere. Discovery itself had begun establishing a service industry and constructed numerous large pressurized domes to allow for its population to spend the vast majority of their time outside of pressure suits. The construction of the Martian space elevator in the city in 2168 in order to allow for the easier transport of processed ores to Earth cemented the city ’ s position as the centre of all Martian actives of note. 
 
 As a result of this position, Discovery ( and by extension, Mars ) was by this time was the most economically valuable city occupied by humanity by far, with a GDP greater than that of any one country on Earth. The value of Earth-based stock markets were heavily dependent on the quantities and prices of Martian resources and the revenues of many national governments were largely comprised of taxes on national entities operating on Mars. 
 
 Despite this, however, Discovery itself had no representative government. The city was administered by the Martian Extraction Commission ( MEC ), an entity operating under the aegis of the United Nations and which was established alongside the original colony. A 17-member body made decisions by majority rule, and the 17 seats were divided proportionally, by financial contributions, among the countries that had sponsored the original expedition. As such, an American-European clique held complete control over the decisions of the MEC and the administration of Discovery and thus, over the entirety of Mars. Given Discovery ’ s immense wealth, neither the clique nor the corporate interests it had gradually fallen under the influence of were willing to part with any controlling power, and the early scattered calls for reform and local representation were suppressed and ignored. 
 
 However, following the ‘ Vörös Szikla Incident ’, in which a small mining settlement comprised almost entirely of ethnically Hungarian workers were massacred by Discovery police forces during a strike action, and following which the forced investigation uncovered staggering amounts of corruption and fraud among the MEC, political pressure forced Earth entities to make token measures at reform. One MEC seat was re-allocated to be filled by a Discovery citizen determined by direct ballot, and it was hoped that this would mollify the increasingly vocal democratic movement within the city. 
 
 This was not the case. Recognizing the empty gesture for what it was, a small group of angry colonists formed the ‘ Discovery League for Representation ’, or DLR. The DLR ’ s platform revolved around obtaining majority control of the MEC in order to establish a local municipal government for the city. Full independence from Earth and the United Nations was not a founding goal of the organization. Although it began with fewer than 300 members, by 2180 it boasted over 100,000 declared members, a sizeable proportion of the city ’ s population, and experts believed it had many thousands more sympathizers throughout Discovery and the Martian settlements, undeclared only as a result of harassment and intimidation on the part of the MEC and corporate concerns. 
 
 Making the simple argument that they deserved local self-autonomy and comparing their situation to that of the population of the Thirteen Colonies prior to the American Revolution, they began to gain significant support among Earth citizens, particularly those in America and Western Europe – the controlling members of the MEC clique. Although the plight of the Martian colonists was not initially a major domestic concern on Earth and corporate sponsors lobbied heavily for political parties to oppose or at least remain neutral towards the DLR, by 2187, following a second MEC corruption scandal, it was no longer feasible for leading politicians to oppose the DLR. Consequently, in 2188 it was declared that 15 of the 17 MEC seats would be filled by direct ballots collected from the Martian colonists every two years, with the final two being occupied by observers from the United Nations. 
 
 Though the old controlling interests sponsored their own candidates and placed enormous financial resources behind them, DLR candidates overwhelmingly won every seat. Earth governments hoped that the issues that had so dominated Martian politics would subside, however following the election, a power struggle erupted in the DLR. The party was split between moderates who wanted to continue business as usual with Earth, only with hugely increased oversight of all activities and public accountability, and radicals incensed over what they saw as the extremely poor and exploitative treatment of the colonists over many years. 
 
 The radical faction emerged victorious in 2190, with their candidates sweeping out the moderates in the MEC elections. 
 Using their authority as controllers of the MEC, the DLR exercised a previously unused clause in the original articles of colonization allowing for the collection of customs duties on Martian resources in order to support the colony ( considered potentially vital in the early days should the colony have proved unprofitable ), effectively levying enormous taxes on Earth-based commercial interests, and physically confiscating processed resources should they not be immediately paid. 
 This immediately provoked a diplomatic crisis as despite the vast profits realized by Martian mining concerns, the overhead on interplanetary transport left such concerns with very thin profit margins ( especially when Mars was not orbitally aligned with Earth ). The news of sudden taxes sent Earth ’ s economy into an immediate depression, as stock markets crashed and conglomerates dependant on the Martian trade were made insolvent. Only acts of legislation from hundreds of national governments prevented the collapse of the banking sector as well. 
 
 In 2191, the former American-European clique demanded that the United Nations revoke the MEC ’ s charter and assume direct control of Discovery and Mars. In a very close session, the original body that assigned the charter, the United Nations Organization for the Settlement of Mars ( UNOSM ), voted 78-76 to do so. The vote itself was mired in controversy, with allegations of bribery and corruption commonplace. 
 
 With the charter removed, the various national governments immediately began asserting that colonists originating from their territory ( and their descendants ) were once again under their jurisdiction, and that since they had no laws enforcing mandatory customs duties on Martian exports, the actions of the colonists were illegal. They further asserted that since Mars was unincorporated territory ( under their laws ), the DLR itself was an illegal organization and had no authority to enforce anything or to even exist. Though they knew the DLR had popular support, they by and large believed that the colonists would follow their legal directives in such a serious situation. They were immediately proven incorrect. 
 
 On Mars, the DLR refused to recognize the result of the vote, stating that the United Nations had no right to reassign the statehood of second-generation Martian colonists. Declaring the formation of the ‘ Free City of Discovery ’, they arrested the two observing MEC members and called for the Discovery police force ( the only major armed force on Mars ) to support them in establishing control over the city, which they did in overwhelming numbers. The DLR quickly seized the primary communication and transportation centers and, most importantly, both the base and orbital stations of the space elevator, effectively declaring Earth under embargo. The hastily convened ‘ Discovery Legislature ’ passed acts nationalizing all corporate assets within the city, and establishing an armed militia for defense. They also began sending armed parties to the various settlements, which, being wholly dependent on Discovery for all imports and exports, they believed would immediately agree to join them in defiance of Earth. 
 
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