Steve Bennett (Pacifica)
Steve Bennett | |
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| Prime Minister of Valkyria | |
| Assumed office 26 July 2022 | |
| President | Kate Murphy |
| Preceded by | Stella Kaufman |
| Leader of the Socialist Party | |
| Assumed office 18 January 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Amalia Rollins |
| Deputy Leader of the Socialist Party | |
| In office 14 March 2018 – 18 January 2020 | |
| Leader | Amalia Rollins |
| Preceded by | Viktor Carlsen |
| Succeeded by | Petra Malcolmsdotter |
| State Secretary for Defence | |
| In office 19 June 2017 – 9 August 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Harrison |
| Minister | Julia Burns |
| Member of the Valkyrian Parliament for Ravneby's 2nd | |
| Assumed office 19 June 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Devon Macdonald |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Steffan Torsson Bennett 13 June 1981 Ravneby, Qvait |
| Political party | Socialist |
| Spouse(s) | Kaja Stoltenberg |
| Children | 1 |
| Parents | Tor Bjarkarsson Bennett Sanna Hendriksdottir |
| Alma mater | University of Ravneby |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Qvait Valkyria |
| Branch/service | Qvaitican Navy Valkyrian Special Forces |
| Years of service | 2003–2017 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | Njord Group |
| Battles/wars | 2014 Qvaitican-Sporaltryan war |
| Awards | See below |
Steffan Torsson Bennett (born 13 June 1981) is a Valkyrian politician and former naval officer serving as the prime minister of Valkyria since 2022 and leader of the Socialist Party since 2020. A member of the Socialist Party, he has been a Member of the Storting for Ravneby's 2nd constituency since 2017.
Born in Ravneby, Bennett grew up as the son of a university professor and a socialist politician, both of whom the state imprisoned during the authoritarian dictatorship of Qvait. He later studied political science at the University of Ravneby from 1999 to 2003. While studying at university, Bennett joined the Socialist Youth, becoming regional president for Ravneby from 2002 to 2003. After graduating, Bennett joined the Qvaitican Navy in 2003 and served through the 2014 Qvaitican-Sporaltryan war until ending his service in 2017.
In the 2017 general election, Bennett challenged a liberal Labour Party politician for Ravneby's 2nd constituency, defeating him and several other opponents in the first-round ballot and earning a seat in the Storting. Appointed as a state secretary under Defence Minister Julia Burns, Bennett would later serve as the deputy leader of the Socialist Party under Amalia Rollins before being elected to succeed her in the 2020 leadership election. After the 2022 general election, Bennett became the third Valkyrian prime minister.
Early life
Steffan Torsson Bennett was born on 13 June 1981 in Ravneby, Qvait, where he grew up with his father, Tor Bjarkarsson Bennett, a professor at the University of Ravneby, and his mother, Sanna Hendriksdottir, a socialist politician and activist who served in the Ravneby Storting from 1980 to 1990. His parents met in 1967 during protests against the authoritarian dictatorship in Qvait, during which the police arrested them. The two would spend three years in Ravneby Prison before their unconditional release in 1970 following the collapse of the Fallenist regime. During their imprisonment, Bennett's parents endured inhumane treatment from the guards in the form of beatings and malnourishment, similar to what most other prisoners faced at the time.
Born 11 years after the successful transition to democracy, Bennett grew up in the capital and graduated from Torshov High School in 1999. While studying political science at the University of Ravneby, Bennett joined the Socialist Youth in 2000 and served as its regional president for Ravneby from 2002 to 2003. In May 2003, Bennett earned his bachelor's degree and graduated second in class.
Military career
Bennett joined the Qvaitican Navy in June 2003 after graduating from the University of Ravneby. After spending two months in officer training, Bennett earned the rank of junior lieutenant in August and was stationed on the Valkyrie class frigate QRS Mist for six months, a deployment that was obligatory for new sailors. During that time, the Mist travelled on the open seas of the South Pacific Ocean, making various stops at allied ports. At the end of his deployment, Bennett continued naval operations ashore while raising his daughter in Gullkysten. After his promotion to lieutenant in 2005, Bennett underwent special forces training, lasting six months. He graduated with honours and earned commendatory remarks from his instructors due to his exhibition of leadership while under stress.
In October 2005, Bennett joined Njord Group, recognised by the military as the most elite special forces unit in the Qvaitican Armed Forces. Most of Bennett's activities as part of the unit remain a secret, but declassified government documents show that Bennett took part in special operations and underwent periodic training alongside allied special forces. In 2014, Bennett participated in the Qvaitican-Sporaltryan war, fighting in the water as part of underwater demolition and sabotage operations and on the ground in the Battle of Gullkysten against invading Sporaltryan forces.
Bennett's time during the Battle of Gullkysten was the most meritorious period of his military service, earning him six military orders and his unit a meritorious citation, including the Order of Mjølner, the highest honour given to a soldier who does not die in battle. During the five-week urban conflict, Bennett gained credit for 86 confirmed kills as a sniper, some of which were against people who posed an immediate threat to fellow Qvaitican soldiers. At times, Bennett was also fighting on the ground in close-quarters combat. However, the act that earned Bennett the Order of Mjølner was his unit's impromptu evacuation of 17 civilians away from the battle, all of whom they successfully rescued, but four members of the unit died in the effort. Bennett also suffered a gunshot wound to his left shoulder that fractured his clavicle in his efforts to evacuate the civilians.
Bennett spent the remainder of the war in an underground bunker in northern Qvait, repurposed as a hospital for wounded soldiers and civilians. After the war, Bennett spent most of his time doing clerical work while undergoing rehabilitation. Despite the surgery on his clavicle, Bennett continued feeling pain for a year after the initial wound. In 2015, he again underwent a surgical procedure to correct a malunion. While the operation succeeded in reducing his pain, Bennett said in 2021 that he still feels an ache in his left shoulder from time to time.
Because of complications involving his clavicle, Bennett was at risk of being medically discharged from the Navy. However, he was granted an exemption from Vice Admiral Karlinna Danielsdotter and worked in her office through Njord Group's transition from the Qvaitican Navy to the Valkyrian Special Forces in 2016 before requesting his discharge in 2017, soon after his promotion to colonel.
Dates of promotion
| Ins. | Rank | Date | |
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| Austral | Valkyrian | ||
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Colonel | Oberst | January 2017 |
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Lieutenant colonel (2016–2017)[lower-alpha 1] Commander-captain (2014–2016) |
Oberstløytnant Kommandørkaptein |
January 2014 |
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War captain | Orlogskaptein | March 2011 |
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Captain lieutenant | Kapteinløytnant | February 2008 |
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Lieutenant | Løytnant | March 2005 |
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Junior lieutenant | Fenrik | August 2003 |
Political career
Member of Parliament
In 2017, Bennett stood for election in Ravneby's 2nd constituency of the Storting as a member of the Socialist Party, challenging the Labour Party's Devon Macdonald. In his campaign, Bennett promised to nationalise "essential industries" to stop corporations from profiting from people's daily needs and strengthen labour rights. Bennett also stressed Macdonald's liberal credentials, criticising him for voting in favour of legislation that increased economic inequality in Valkyria and contributed to the rising cost of living, the effects of which were felt in the constituency they were campaigning to represent.
In June, Bennett defeated Macdonald and his other opponents by winning 59 per cent of the vote in the first-round ballot, considered a landslide victory. In the neighbouring 3rd constituency, Kate Murphy won the seat, succeeding the retiring Malcolm Fitz after running on campaign promises similar to the ones Bennett made despite being a member of the Labour Party. Because of their similarity, liberals within the Labour Party accused Bennett and other Socialists of swinging the 3rd constituency over to Murphy and the Labour socialist wing by encouraging tactical voting. However, Bennett denied the accusation by saying that "democracy speaks for itself".
Due to his military experience, Bennett was co-appointed by Socialist leader Amalia Rollins and Labour leader Margaret Harrison as a state secretary under Julia Burns, a Labour politician serving as the Minister of Defence. Coincidentally, Burns also served in Njord Group at the same time as Bennett, but the two former soldiers have said they never met each other during their service. As state secretary, Bennett worked with Burns to complete the merger of the Qvaitican Armed Forces and Austurland Defence Force into a fully unified Valkyrian Defence Force and joined the defence minister on international trips to meet with her counterparts.
In March 2018, Rollins appointed Bennett as the Socialist deputy leader, succeeding Viktor Carlsen, who retired from politics. After he was appointed deputy leader, Bennett began attending Alliance meetings to discuss policy formation and implementation with the other member parties of the bloc. On occasion, Bennett would fill in for Rollins whenever she was absent, speaking on behalf of the Socialist Party in these meetings.
In the 2019 general election, Bennett faced nominal opposition in his constituency, handily defeating his opponents in the first-round ballot with 64 per cent of the vote, expanding on his margin in 2017. Despite having electoral success in his constituency, the governing Alliance of Social Democrats failed to win a majority of seats in the Storting, resulting in the New Conservative Coalition securing a governing majority after reaching a coalition agreement with the Centrist Democratic Party.
With a Conservative government under Stella Kaufman in power, the new government passed the Expansion of Security Powers Act 2019 (ESPA 19) and the Immigration Regulatory Act 2019 (IRA 19), two laws that curtailed civil rights within Valkyria. During the debate on the two bills, Bennett gave dissenting speeches and compared the legislation to Fallenist-era authoritarianism.
In late 2019, as Kaufman blamed Hystaiga for the June 2019 Ravneby nightclub attack and the Mount Kalkara jet crash, Bennett expressed criticism because the National Police investigators did not find conclusive evidence that Hystaiga was responsible for the nerve gas attack, nor was there evidence to suggest that Hystaiga shot down the fighter jet. On 5 November, Bennett joined the rest of the Socialists in voting against the Valkyrian declaration of war on Hystaiga. In June 2019, The Gullkysten Times found Bennett to be the eighth-most admired politician in Valkyria, but his staunch opposition to the war quickly made him unpopular.
Socialist leadership
On 1 January 2020, Rollins announced that she would resign as leader of the Socialist Party, prompting the party to hold a leadership election to determine her successor. On 4 January, Bennett announced his candidacy to become the next Socialist leader. Despite his record unpopularity among the Valkyrian public, the Socialist party membership conversely saw him as the most admirable Socialist in Valkyria, leading him to victory in the membership vote on 18 January, securing 78 per cent of the party vote in the first-round ballot.
Throughout the early stages of the Kalkara War, conservative politicians, especially in The New Right, denounced Bennett as a traitor for his opposition to the war. On 7 April 2021, his daughter, Lucilla, was killed in the Battle of Dystalia, marking the first killing of a Member of Parliament's immediate family in the war. On social media, Bennett wrote that his daughter was "taken by the valkyries so soon in her life after dying in a war that she never believed in". Due to his daughter's death and questions surrounding Hystaiga's responsibility for the 2019 attack, Valkyrian public opinion started turning in Bennett's favour, with a KTN poll showing that 44 per cent of Valkyrians agreed that the Kalkara War should end.
On 24 May, Bennett led the largest protest in Valkyrian history against the war and the current government, standing alongside former Prime Minister Harrison. In a speech, Bennett called for the unilateral withdrawal of Valkyrian troops and investigations into war crimes and the origins of the war and repeated the phrase "liars, thieves, and murderers", which he often used to describe Kaufman's government.
2022 general election
In the 2022 election, Bennett's campaign centred on ending the Kalkara War, with economic and climate issues being secondary. KTN polling in March 2022 found that Bennett's prioritisation of the issues fell broadly in line with the rest of the Valkyrian people. In July, the election resulted in the Alliance being one seat short of victory, but it also resulted in the Socialist Party being the largest party in the Storting. In the weeks after the election, Bennett successfully negotiated the reformation of the Alliance under Socialist leadership and the invitation of the Pirate Party and reentry of The Greens into the bloc, forming a government on 26 July and becoming the third Valkyrian prime minister.
Prime minister (2022–present)
On 26 July 2022, Jarlskona Murphy accepted Bennett's proposal to become prime minister, and the Storting formally ratified his appointment the same day.
Political positions
Bennett is a self-described democratic socialist and has often advocated for the nationalisation of most Valkyrian industries and spoke out against landlords in Valkyria, calling rent a form of slavery. He blames capitalism as the cause of economic inequality, homelessness, and the uncontrolled rise of the cost of living.
Social issues
Bennett supports abortion rights, believing that "women have a fundamental and unrestricted right to choose". He also supports LGBT rights, opposing attempts to repeal the constitutional right to same-sex marriage and gender identity. In 2021, Bennett opposed Referendum 6, which would have changed the constitution to reconise only two genders, and supported Referendum 9, which implemented constitutional protections for polyamory.
Bennett supported Harrison's reforms between 2016 and 2019 that implemented universal healthcare, homeless shelter programmes, and legalised assisted suicide and cannabis. However, he but did not think her government went far enough. Accordingly, Bennett supported 2021 Referendum 5, which decriminalised all drug possession; Referendum 7, which legalised voluntary euthanasia; and Referendum 11, which imposed rent control throughout Valkyria.
Foreign policy
Bennett also describes himself as being anti-war. Despite his participation in the 2014 war, Bennett later said he opposed the war and said that his comrades, the people he fought against, and civilians were all "victims of ideological aggression" between warring powers. He also believed that the Kalkara War was similar to the 2014 conflict in the same respect and expressed scepticism of the Conservative government's rationale for invading Hystaiga, saying that the government was "rushing into a war without all of the facts".
Bennett supports Valkyria's membership in the World Forum and other international organisations. He also expressed support for Valkyrian membership in a supranational union as long as the entity adhered to Valkyria's national principles of peace, freedom, and democracy and represented ordinary people instead of oligarchs.
Personal life
On 24 October 1999, Bennett married Kaja Stoltenberg, who he had known since he was 14 and graduated in the same class at Torshov High School. Stoltenberg attended the University of Ravneby, the same university as Bennett, but would instead study computer science.
On 9 July 2000, Bennett and Stoltenberg had a daughter named Lucilla Steffánsdóttir Bennett. Their daughter would latter attend the same university from 2018 to 2019, studying biochemistry. In February 2019, Lucilla was elected as the vice president of the university's Socialist Youth and later volunteered in Júlía Kjaransdóttir's campaign in Ravneby's 1st constituency during the 2019 general election. In November, Lucilla was conscripted into the Valkyrian Ground Forces due to the Kalkara War. Despite her personal opposition to the war, Lucilla attended training and was deployed to Hystaiga, where she would be killed on 7 April 2021 in the Battle of Dystalia.
Awards and decorations
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| Runes | Unit insignia | ||
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| Symbol of the Qvaitican Navy/Njord Group | Njord Group | ||
| Military honours | |||
| Order of Mjølner | |||
| Order of the Dauntless | Grand Order of the Protectors | Order of the Southern Cross | |
| Order of the Heroes | Order of Blood | Meritorious Unit Citation | |
| Service Medal | Humanitarian Medal | Precision Medal | |
Notes
- ↑ Bennett and his unit, Njord Group, transferred to the Valkyrian Special Forces after the unification of Qvait and Austurland in 2016. Due to the transfer, the newly-formed Special Forces adopted a land-and-air-based officer rank system, resulting in Bennett's fifth rank becoming lieutenant colonel (oberstløytnant).