Our peaceful efforts to keep the nuclear arms race at bay were crushed by Czech military police this week. Peaceland, a newly formed state sits on a site earmarked for a radar station for US anti-missile defence on Czech soil. Dubbed as part of the ‘Son of Star Wars' project, this American anti-missile circuit is apparently intended to destroy enemy rockets headed for the US, and Greenpeace activists responded to this ludicrous plan by inhabiting the proposed site and declaring independence, thus forming the new country.
But the peace didn't last for long as on Monday, Czech military police stormed the region and arrested all citizens including those high up in the trees. Greenpeace activists put up a passive resistance and didn't leave, even though they had known of the imminent attack. The fact that Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, is visiting Prague in July to sign treaties on the planned radar base may have prompted the Czech government to round up our activists.
We believe in defending the natural world and promoting peace, both of which the 'Son of Star Wars' project denies as it promotes aggression and US military dominance. This will lead to the development of increasingly advanced weapons to overcome the defence thus sparking an arms race. It will also make the Czech Republic a potential target if an 'enemy' decides to take out the proposed radar based in the Brdy region. Incredibly, there isn't even an existing threat to justify building the radar station as no missile has the range to reach the US from its supposed enemies.
Greenpeace activists created Peaceland in response to global safety concerns and the Czech government buckling under US pressure. Greenpeace Czech boss Jiří Tutter, who is also a citizen of Peaceland, said, "We are convinced that the whole project of national missile defense, including locating one of the components on Czech territory, brings with it serious risks like global imbalance, rising international tension and the start of new nuclear arms race. We don't consider this missile defense project the right tool to solve the serious problem before us."
After the crackdown this week on Peaceland citizens, Jan Freidinger, Greenpeace coordinator of the Radar project said: "We are strongly protesting against the intervention of the Czech military police. They had no authority to arrest within the borders of Peaceland. The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, whom we officially informed of the new state's establishment and invited to Peaceland, said he had known about the attack in advance. He must be crazy if he thinks of this attack as a friendly visit."
