“We Will Never Go Back:” Cescolians in Metradan Announce Boycott of Tavari Currency
ARGIENTO, Metradan (TavariFax)-- The Republic of Metradan will adopt the Tavari Našdat as their currency at the stroke of midnight on Monday morning, but when they do, a significant portion of the country has announced they will refuse to use it. Announcing the move late Sunday evening, Diet Delegate Niballo Gargiulio, leader of the political party Zampana, the largest of the Cescolian parties in the Metradani legislature, defiantly proclaimed “the Tavari našdat, and the economy of evil that it represents and fuels, is one of the most visceral symbols of the violent colonialism that we Cescolians have and will forever continue to resist. We will not go backward. We will never, ever accept the Tavari currency as our currency, and we are announcing today that we will not use it.” Gargiulio has pledged that the ethnic Cescolian community, to which about one in five Metradani residents belongs, will refuse to handle Tavari cash in their communities and businesses, and will instead use Cescolia’s currency, the Aureo.
Flanked by dozens of community leaders and elected officials from parties from right to left, Gargiulio said that “Ninety percent of the membership of the Chamber of Cescolian Commerce has pledged to refuse to accept even a single Tavari našdat, nor will we ever pay one out. President Talakar will get his taxes from us in Aureo. We have been planning for months and we have amassed a significant reserve of Cescolian currency through lawful trade with our mother country. We will not be outlasted, but we will be heard. Our hands will not touch your disgusting, bloody money.” Groups that have signed onto the boycott include the Lucerist Church of Upper and Lower Zanzaria, the Cescolian Manufacturers Association, the Metradani Tobacco Growers and Processors Board, the United Northern Metradan Casino and Resort Operators, the Zampanean Alliance of Banks and Credit Unions, the Federation of Cescolian Labor Unions, the Zampanean Coalition for Civil Rights, EquityZampanea, Cescolian Students for a Free Society, the Grand Alliance of Zampanean Fraternal Lodges, and all three majority-Cescolian political parties in Metradan. Of the major Cescolian businesses associations, only the Cescolian Retailers Group has not signed on.
At the same time as Del. Gargiulio made his announcement, public protest marches commenced in both Argiento and the national capital, Acruni, consisting of tens of thousands of primarily ethnic Cescolians each. The police in Argiento, known as ACAB One [Editor’s note: this is a Tavari language acronym for Police, Fire, and Ambulance District], estimated that more than 100,000 people were gathered in front of Argiento City Hall at 9pm local time, by far the largest political demonstration in Metradani history. In Acruni, the Metradani Ministry of Internal Affairs estimated a turnout of 30,000-50,000, which is still the largest demonstration in the city since the 1991 mass protests against the murder of Cescolian Giobbe Pietrantonio. At both, the most frequently seen slogans on signs were “Non torneremo mai indietro”—Norvian for “We will never go back.”
The scale of the unity and solidarity in the boycott is unprecedented, and has taken the Metradani government by surprise. Initially, the only statement by the Office of the President of Metradan was to say “the President is monitoring the events and will issue a statement as soon as one is prepared.” As of press time, President Shtonar Talakar has not yet issued such a statement, nor has any government official on the record. Several unnamed sources close to the President and to the Metradani Diet have all indicated that the boycott has been a complete and total surprise, and that the sheer scale of the number of people and groups who have pledged to participate is far beyond anything the government ever expected in response to the political question of the Tavari Union. Said one source in the Office of the President, who TavariFax is keeping unnamed to allow them to speak frankly on the record: “A hundred thousand Cescolians marching down High Street in Argiento means that whatever agenda this government might have had before is now totally, completely gone. Not even in the police riots in ‘91 did a hundred thousand people march in Argiento. That’s half the population of the metro area, choosing to spend the biggest holiday party night of the year protesting. This will change Metradan forever.”
“The scale of this is incalculable. The solidarity is astounding. We have no idea what will happen,” said another source. “What will happen to the economy when one in five of us insist on using only foreign currency? What will happen to Cescolia’s economy, a not-insignificant trade partner? The Mirhaime sanctions already spooked the stock market. Thank Akrona the markets are closed tomorrow, but Tuesday will be financial armageddon.”
Among the protestors, the mood was much less gloomy. Lodovica Ventimiglia, 38, of Piombo, smiled as she handed out 100 našdat bills—worth about two Standard Hawking Dollars each—for fellow protestors to join her in burning. She passed around a cigarette lighter emblazoned with a Lucerist sun and led her fellows in a chant, “Nessun Imperio Tavareo, Nessuna Unione Tavarea!”—“No Tavari Empire, No Tavari Union!” Only after she had run out of Tavari currency did she acknowledge this reporter, which she did with a smile. “We are not Tavari. This is not Tavaris. This will never be Tavaris. Tavaris and the Tavari need to leave,” she said. “And they will.” With that, she turned back to her compatriots and resumed her chants. Another protestor, Eusebio Artuso, 21, of Argiento, said that the switch to the Tavari currency was simply too much to bear. “I guess I don’t really mind the free trade agreement, or, like, the border thing. It’s not ideal, I’m not gonna ever go to Tavaris, but whatever. But using Tavari money? It’s just outrageous that in this day and age we are seriously re-adopting the imperial currency. In 2024, Metradan, the country that declared independence like 120 years ago, is lining right back up to lick that Tavari boot. It’s so unserious. Having the Tavari King’s face on my money? I wouldn’t wipe my arse with the Tavari King’s face.”
In a first, the Metradani Ministry of Internal Affairs has issued a “Directive of Emergency Preparedness” that mandates the ACABs across Metradan to “assume a posture of emergency readiness.” While Metradan’s very strict regulations around local control of police and emergency services mean that, in general, the national government cannot issue orders to mobilize or direct the movement of police officers, this directive—allowed under the law but never before used—does require that ACABs take some actions, such as to permit the payment of overtime, to bring in off-duty officers on an “on-call” status, and to authorize the use of resources, supplies, and funds that are held in emergency reserves.
“At this time, there are no reports of major outbreaks of violence or any threats to the peace in Argiento, Acruni, or anywhere else in the country,” reported Minister of Internal Affairs Tobri Dacnažbi. “We are proud of our citizens for peacefully, safely, and respectfully of the law and law enforcement exercising their constitutional right to free expression. We are proud that these demonstrations have remained peaceful and we are working to ensure they remain so. We ask those who are out tonight to please, please, stay safe, stay smart, and to choose peace over violence.”
The Church of Metradan, an Akronist denomination and the largest religious group in Metradan, issued a similar statement, with Presiding High Priestess Lavedra Mízbízbi saying “We love our Cescolian sisters and brothers and we want them, and all of us, to remain safe and peaceful. As our Cescolian siblings stand up for what they feel is right, we stand with them, in love and respect. We pray for them, and for all the country, that we find the light we need to guide us through the debates and discussions we as a society will surely have in the coming days and weeks. It is right and fair for the daughters and sons of Zanzaria to call us to have this discussion. We will listen. We simply pray and ask that all of us keep peace in our hearts. Only peace, not violence, not hate, can solve what we must solve.”
Ms. Ventimiglia, the protestor in Argiento, was not impressed by the Akronist statement. “The daughters and sons of Zanzaria were burned, banished, attacked, and murdered by Akronists when they came here, to our country, which is older than Tavaris by a thousand years. Violence and hate were brought here by Akronists. It is not we who should be accused of risking violence and hate, it is the Akronists, it is the Tavari, whose violence and hate stole half our country, destroyed our environment, and erased our culture. And now, the Tavari have the gall, the nerve, to demand that we honor their king whose ancestors slaughtered and mowed down my ancestors, that we honor their symbols, their language, and their economy, that we once again enrich them at our own expense. No. The daughters and sons of Zanzaria remember. We are not calling you to have a discussion. We are telling you that our tolerance has ended.”