Prague Sit-in
From Acw
Revision as of 03:50, 29 June 2006
Russia's Migration Crises begane some ten years earlier than the other powers, because of a particulary loud protest by a large mass of Liberian refugees trying to emigrate into the Ukraine.
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Global Warming and Environmental Refugees
In 2114, the rate of Skin Cancer on Earth's equator spiked at one case in four people. The degradation of the atmosphere and the Greenhouse effect were causing the planet to slowly suffocate itself, and turnign the tropics into desert.
Liberia was a country that had been in trouble since its inception in the late 1800s. In 1994 it underwent a Communist revolution and sued for entry into the USSR. While that request was not granted due to the risk of inflaming American opinion (Liberia was originally an American creation), Liberia began to accept greater and greater aid packages from the Soviets.
By 2114 the country was effectively propped up by Soviet money. As the temperatures began to soar and crops began to die, Liberians began to emigrate en massee. At first they travelled in small groups, and though they preferred the USSR, they settled anywhere that woudl have them. Later on they exclusively chose Russia. This may have been due to the influence of Foreign Minister Kwame M'Boko, who advised the country constantly through radio and print media that 'Friend Russia' would come to their aid, or possibly just that the otrher powers were turning them away and Russia had always been associated with aid in the public's eyes.
Germany's policy at the time allowed for Untermensch to travel across the country if they had a specific destination in mind and declared it at the border when they entered. Used to larger than usual population movements by 2114, the German border guards were not too careful.
Beginnings - Liberians in Limbo
As with most things, the Prague Sit-in started small. A group of 40 Liberian refugees were refused entry at the Soviet Border in late 2113, and were turned back to West Prague. The German guards would not let them back through the gates into Germany, and they camped within sight of both sides of the divided city, in the three-kilometer strip of no-man's land between the two sides of the Prague Wall.
The Soviet guards began turning away further African in droves. It is not known exactly why they were doing this, but all of them strayed back to the Liberian camps and began to camp there. Traffic across the border was larger than usual in 2114, as less noticable groups of refugees were moving across the globe as well. Neither side wanted to deal with the Liberians, who steadily started to grow as a community in Limbo.
The Powder Keg Heats Up
The problem was exacerbated when a number of Slavic refugees from German territories joined the Liberians in Limbo. By this point the crowd was an estimated 2000 strong - large enough to be noticed, but too large for the border guards to disperse, and anyway, where were they to go? Neither country would let them in. By this point it was too hard to find a quick solution, and diplomatic talks on the topic were fruitless. The Slavic refugees whipped up serious unrest amongst the Liberians, whose numbers were swellign daily. Other North African refugees, from Libya and Tunisia, themselves also recipients of Russian aid, were also pouring into the Prague No-mans' Land. by August 2114 the small town had grown to a large collection of tents, and there were some 30,000 people crammed into a 3km by 3km square. Traffic through the border was slowed to a crawl and the whoel thing was an international
The Match
The Aftermath
General Secretary Chernenko