Welcome to Liberland: World's newest country

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Welcome to Liberland, the tiny patch of woodland claiming to be the world's newest country - Telegraph

Welcome to Liberland, the tiny patch of woodland claiming to be the world's newest country
Self-proclaimed libertarian micro-state whose founder admires Nigel Farage welcomes its first citizens on Friday, with the first 100 arrivals to be granted honorary citizenship

Liberland, a tiny patch of woodland and fields on the sandy banks of the River Danube


By Nick Squires, Rome

5:29PM BST 30 Apr 2015

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The first citizens will arrive on Friday to populate the world's newest self-declared country – Liberland, a tiny patch of woodland and fields on the sandy banks of the River Danube.

The establishment of the pocket-sized nation was declared earlier this month on land wedged between Croatia and Serbiawhich, its founders argue, was never properly claimed by either country.

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Liberland has its own flag, which features an eagle and a sun, a constitution, and a motto – "To live and let live".

Its self-appointed ruler is Vit Jedlicka, a conservative, anti-EU Czech politician and admirer of Britain's Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP.

The Liberland flag

Known officially as the Free Republic of Liberland, the country's independence was formally declared on April 13.

Some 120 would-be citizens are expected to arrive on Friday for what has been dubbed the state's first Liberty Day.

Prospective Liberlanders are encouraged to bring food, beer and "all necessary equipment for comfortable survival in nature", including tents and sleeping bags.

As yet, there are no houses or other buildings on the no-man's-land sliver of territory.

The first 100 people to turn up to the site, which lies at the end of a dusty road on the west bank of the Danube, will be granted honorary citizenship.

Liberland has not been recognised by any other country, least of all Serbia or Croatia, but that has not stopped 300,000 people around the world from applying for honorary citizenship.

Citizenship is open to anyone unless they have "Communist, Nazi or any other extremist past" or have a criminal record, according to the microstate's constitution.

Liberland's right to exist may be legally questionable but that has not stopped its founders from dreaming of building a thriving, free-market economy – a sort of Balkan Hong Kong, with a large population living in yet-to-be built skyscrapers.

The fact that their new country occupies less than three square miles is no impediment to nationhood, they say – both the Vatican City State and Monaco are smaller.

The founders claim that Liberland is neither a stunt nor an elaborate joke but a serious proposition based on the fact that the patch of land is "terra nullius" – unclaimed by any other country.

"This is about limiting the powers of the state. Governments have grown so big. The system is immoral, but I found that it was impossible to change it from within so we are going to change it from the outside," 'President' Jedlicka told The Telegraph.

"We are part of a great libertarian movement that is growing around the world. "Governments are becoming increasingly unpopular."

Mr Jedlicka says he translated into Czech many of Nigel Farage's speeches and that he hopes to see him one day elected Britain's prime minister.

"I think he's a great chap. I'm a big fan. We are excited at the possibility that Great Britain could leave the European Union. People would be much better off without the EU, with all its crazy subsidies and its thousands of regulations."

Liberland is the latest in a long history of micro-nations that have declared independence, generally on dubious legal and constitutional grounds.

The micro-nation of Sealand was established on a Second World War anti-aircraft gun platform off the coast of Suffolk in 1967 by a former British Army major.

It has a motto: E Mare Libertas, or From the Sea, and issues stamps, coins and passports.

A grain farmer named Leonard Casley set up the Principality of Hutt River in Western Australia in 1970 after falling-out with the authorities over wheat quotas. The 29-square mile plot of farmland grew into a tourist attraction.

Last year Jeremiah Heaton, from Virginia, declared himself the ruler of the Kingdom of North Sudan, an unclaimed patch of desert that he identified between Egypt and Sudan.

He wanted to fulfil the dreams of his seven-year-old daughter, who told him she longed to be a princess.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Self-proclaimed Liberland attracts Egyptian youth - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Self-proclaimed Liberland attracts Egyptian youth

A young Czech named Vik Jedlicka invited global citizens on April 13 to become citizens of a new state called Liberland, which he founded on an area of 7 square kilometers (2.7 square miles) situated between Croatia and Serbia on the banks of the Danube River. This initiative has caused a stir in Egypt. Liberland exists only on the Internet, and no state or international organization has so far recognized it. But what is strange is that many Egyptian youths have filled out the online immigration form available on the website set up by Liberland’s founder. Out of 50,000 immigration applications submitted, 20,000, or 40%, were submitted by Egyptians, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Social media has paid much attention to Liberland and how to immigrate to it.

Summary⎙ Print Egypt’s young generation is hanging by a thread, but Liberland has given the youth some hope amid mounting instability and high unemployment rates in the country.
Author Rami Galal Posted April 29, 2015
TranslatorRani Geha
Mohammed Hashim Bahri, the head of the psychology department at Al-Azhar University, told Al-Monitor: “From Liberland’s official website, we found that the slogan of the alleged state is ‘live life and let others live it with you.’ This slogan has attracted Egyptian youth, who dream of immigrating amid a fiery political conflict and political divisions. Rejecting the other has become indicative of the current situation. Every party believes that it is right and wants to eliminate the other side. Young people have become frustrated and now dream of a place where they can freely exchange views.”

Bahri said that Jedlicka has placed conditions on obtaining citizenship. They include respecting other people’s freedom irrespective of race or religion; respecting other people’s property and not infringing on it; holding no extremist views; and having no criminal record. These conditions make Liberland the utopia that young people have been looking for; Liberland's citizens will be not be subjected to extremist ideologies and will live in a tranquil and safe environment on the Danube.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, 61% of Egyptian youth want to emigrate in any way possible, even if it's illegal, because of unemployment. The quest for a livelihood is a major concern for most young people, with the unemployment rate approaching 25%, according to the World Bank. The Egyptian government estimated unemployment at nearly 13% in January 2015.

Bahri said that a distinction should be made between temporary and permanent immigration. Temporary immigration is useful for the homeland because of foreign remittances and because the homeland acquires the immigrants’ experiences when they return. Permanent immigration, on the other hand, cuts off the immigrant’s relationship to their homeland, which they would only visit as tourists while investing their money in the country they immigrated to. Thus, the homeland does not benefit from the foreign experience.

Bahri added that the Egyptian brain drain and the loss of citizens who hold advanced degrees in rare specialties are harmful to the overall well-being of Egypt. Many Egyptian professionals work abroad in the fields of nuclear engineering, nuclear physics and space science, after having completed their studies in Egypt. There are several reasons why these scientists leave Egypt, some of which are linked to the scientific climate in the diaspora where the latest technologies are available. Egypt's scientific research budget is only 1% of the state budget. Moreover, low wages, unfair promotions and government bureaucracy have prevented progress.

Ahmed Refaat, former dean of the faculty of law at Cairo University, told Al-Monitor that talking about a new state on a piece of vacant land is “some kind of fantasy.” He said that new states are established when two or more states unite — as was the case of the Soviet Union — or when part of an existing state secedes and declares independence. He said that the establishment of any state is associated with three elements: people, territory and the state. The people and the state in Liberland’s example are nonexistent. Moreover, Jedlicka, according to Refaat, falsely claims that Liberland’s territory belongs to neither Croatia nor Serbia. In fact, all the land on earth, except Antarctica, is claimed by states.

With regard to the possibility of Liberland joining the United Nations by satisfying these three elements, Rifaat added that Liberland must be recognized to get UN membership. No country has yet recognized Liberland.

For his part, Ambassador Badr Abdel Ati, spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said in a TV interview in regard to the emergence of the new European country Liberland that the consular sector in the Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to citizens that these invitations may be attempts to defraud them. He said there is no country with such a name and people should get information from only one source, the consular sector, not through social media. He appealed to Egyptian citizens wishing to travel abroad to rely on accurate information so as not to fall prey to fraud.

The fact that Egyptian youths have rushed to apply to emigrate to a virtual state is a clear indicator of the extent of frustration and dissatisfaction of many youths, whose dream to live in freedom, dignity and social justice after the January 25 Revolution has been ignored.



Rami Galal

Contributor, Egypt Pulse
Rami Galal is a contributor for Al-Monitor’s Egypt Pulse and works as an investigative reporter for the Rosa el-Youssef website. On Twitter: @ramiglal

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Original Al-Monitor Translations
إقرأ باللغة العربية

 

[gau8av]

Prospective Liberlanders are encouraged to bring food, beer and "all necessary equipment for comfortable survival in nature", including tents and sleeping bags.

Citizenship is open to anyone unless they have "Communist, Nazi or any other extremist past" or have a criminal record,

win

 

[Lord ZeN]

I proclaim the establishment of newest country of the World the " Republic of Ivanland ". Our country's independence was formally declared on May 1.. We proclaim our country as a tax heaven and specially welcome the super rich.