The Peasants Are Revolting
An Examination of the Maquis Situation


Taking their name from an ancient French resistance group, the Maquis fight against Cardassian oppression. Some consider them heroes, the Federation see them as a threat to galactic peace. At least, they're supposed to... But do they?

Although the Maquis first appeared in the Deep Space Nine episode, "The Maquis, Pt 1", their origin is traced back to "Journey's End" (TNG).
In this episode, the Federation has made a new treaty with Cardassia which redefines the Federation/Cardassian boundary. Admiral Nechayev sends Picard and crew to tell a colony of Native Americans that their world is now in Cardassian territory and they will be given a new home. Of course, the people don't want to move and they agree to give up Federation citizenship in order to stay where they are. They know the dangers but decide to brave them anyway.

Fast forward to "The Maquis, Pt1". We see that others are in the same position as the Native Americans we saw earlier: their homes are in a new "demilitarized zone" and they are being harassed by Cardassians. Upset that the Federation refuses to help them out, some of the colonists decide to strike back at the Cardassians, calling themselves, the Maquis.

Before we go any further, we must establish the citizenship of these hapless colonists. First, in "Journey's End" the Native Americans give up Federation citizenship. True, they are actually in Cardassian space, but surely the colonists in the demilitarized zone were given the same choice: move or lose citizenship. However, in "The Maquis, Pt1", the Maquis seem to believe that they are Federation citizens (in fact, this is the basis of their terrorism: they think the Federation should still be helping them out). However, Commander Eddington in "For the Cause" states that the Maquis (and presumably all colonists in the DMZ) are not Federation citizens, and he was definitely Maquis! I think this clears that up.
Once again I state: the colonists willingly gave up citizenship to remain in their homes in the DMZ.
We now return to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

Okay, now the Federation decides that terrorism is a bad thing (duh!) and the Maquis must be stopped. However, many people, including Sisko, have much sympathy for the Maquis, and disagree with this. In "The Maquis, Pt2" Sisko lets his old friend (who is leading the Maquis) get away, when he could easily have captured him (in fact, Gul Dukat is on the verge of firing on them when Sisko stops him. I would have let him). Kira is also very sympathetic and actually is on the Maquis' side.
Similarly, in "Pre-emptive Strike" (TNG), Ro joins the Maquis and Riker and Picard do very little to stop her.

Did I miss something? Okay, it was wrong of the Federation to give these people's land away, but this is the 24th century and they could have made a world exactly like the old one! (Remember the terraformer in "Second Sight" who could sculpt a planet however he chose.) These people gave up their right to Federation help, then expected support when the Cardassians "unexpectedly" started harassing them. Hello! What did you expect them to do? Their Cardassians for goodness' sake! How stupid are these colonists anyway? Then, fed up with Federation apathy, they decide, not to relocate, but to become terrorists! When has terrorism ever accomplished anything? I understand the need to lash out but they should think before doing something like this. The Maquis are rash, violent, unthinking fools and I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.

The Federation is odd in this too. Starfleet Command wants to stamp out the Maquis but too many officers sympathize. Why? Do modern politicians sit back and feel for the IRA? Of course not, they're terrorists! That is inexcusable behavior in any situation. They should come down a lot harder than they do on the Maquis.

This is rectified in For the Uniform when Sisko shows the correct attitude. He is willing to do whatever it takes to stop the Maquis. He has a great scene with Eddington. Michael Eddington makes Ben look out at the poor colonists to see the consequences of not supporting the Maquis. Ben responds with words similar to (but not exactly!):
"Do you know what I see? I see victims. But not of Cardassia, or the Federation. Victims of you: the Maquis."
Couldn't have said it better myself. The Maquis are not only harming themselves, but all inhabitants of the DMZ.

In conclusion then, the colonists are put in a bad situation by a poorly thought out treaty. They then willingly give up Federation citizenship to stay where they are, get mad when the Federation doesn't stop the Cardassians from allegedly attacking them, and then start blowing up Cardassian people and equipment, both military and civilian. These are not nice people and they should definitely not be felt sorry for.

Death to the Maquis!



Back to DS9 Page...

Back to Main Page...





Get your own Free Home Page!