Around 2,000 protesters gathered outside the embassy of Novella Islands in Buttercity on Sunday morning following the testing of a “Crop Killer” chemical weapon in Novella Islands at the end of last week. The demonstration was organised by SafeGreenFuture, an environmental-pacifist group that is part of Climate Alliance Lauchenoiria, the group behind frequent disruptions in both Buttercity and Usera over the past several years.
According to SafeGreenFuture’s website, they are a group ‘dedicated to a peaceful and sustainable future where humanity lives in harmony with nature’. Until recently, the group has, aside from their membership of CAL, focused on organising public meetings, holding workshops, and producing policy documents on issues ranging from GM crops to hydrogen to nuclear waste disposal. The Lauchenoirian Guardian spoke with Cecilia Aragones, a spokesperson for the group.
“After the Novellan test, we could not sit idly by discussing theory when such horrors are being unleashed on the world,” she said when asked about their choice to protest at the embassy. “This is a combination of SafeGreenFuture’s two worst fears: a devastating weapon of war, and something that could wipe out entire ecosystems in seconds. We exist in a precarious balance with nature, and we cannot know the long-term consequences if this weapon is used in war, or indeed in agriculture.”
When asked about the claim by a spokesperson of the Novellan First Minister that the weapon was considered ‘safer and more humane’, Aragones became agitated. “How can anyone claim such a thing? Is it more humane to subject a population to slow, painful starvation than a direct strike? Neither is humane, but the extended suffering that wiping out the food of a population would impose can hardly be called an improvement. As for safety, the manufacturers of this atrocity do not know what the long-term effects will be. They could very well destroy food supplies in an area for decades: and if this gets into the hands of terrorists or other destructive forces, the worst case would be a worldwide famine.”
The demonstration lasted for four hours, and included a “die-in”, where participants lay down in front of the embassy to warn of the ‘potentially deadly consequences’ of the weapon. The demonstration also featured a number of speeches calling on Novella Islands to immediately cease production of the ‘Crop Killer’ weapon and destroy all previously manufactured stock. No follow-up demonstration has yet been arranged, however SafeGreenFuture has said they will be discussing ‘further action’ if they do not receive a satisfactory response.