Liberland founder planning festival near border

Liberland: How one man plans to build a new libertarian paradise in Europe | Europe | News | The Independent - Adam Withnall:

April 17, 2016 - "When he plunged a flag into the banks of the Danube and declared the birth of the Free Republic of Liberland, Vit Jedlicka was dismissed by governments and media organisations as a joke.

"Yet one year and many diplomatic missions later, his vision of a libertarian paradise born on a patch of unwanted land has 400,000 would-be citizens, the backing of a range of political movements around the world and even its own national beer.

"Thanks to the efforts of the Croatian border police, Liberland has still technically not got a single inhabitant, and its 7 sq km of boggy wetlands boast just one dilapidated building, an abandoned hunting lodge.

"But speaking in an exclusive interview with The Independent, 'President' Jedlicka reveals that plans are nearly in place for a group of Liberlanders to break through that police blockade in such numbers 'there is nothing they can do to stop it'....

"Liberland lies on the Croatia-Serbia border, roughly halfway between Zagreb and Belgrade. A product of a border dispute between the two countries lasting a quarter of a century, it lies on a portion of territory which neither country is willing to claim."

"In the year since Liberland was founded – on 13 April, Thomas Jefferson’s birthday – Croatia has set up police patrols and arrested dozens of people for attempting to access the unexpectedly hotly-disputed territory....

 "That’s all about to change, however. This weekend Mr Liberland and his volunteer ministers held a conference to discuss Liberland’s future at a Croatian hotel just 5km from the border.

"And in the summer, he plans to stage a 'state celebration' in a field next to the disputed territory which, if all goes to plan, could snowball into something much more. 'It’s going to be a big media event,' he says. 'We would like to invite 5,000 people, with the best artists who support Liberland [attending], and we already have two or three major festival organisers in the area helping us.

"'That could be the time when we actually take over control of this territory,' he says, with a clear sense of anticipation. 'We are not pushing for it yet, but there is no way you can stop 5,000 people taking over control of Liberland'....

"Liberland will have just five laws, he says, with the state’s only responsibilities surrounding justice, security and diplomacy. Tax would be paid on a 'voluntary' basis, with people free to smoke marijuana, drive as fast as they like and own guns – all as long as they don’t hurt anyone else."

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-libertarian-about-to-launch-a-hostile-takeover-of-europes-newest-country-a6988741.html
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Standoff in Liberland

Inside ‘Liberland,’ the Place of No Taxes Where Crowdfunding Rules - Bloomberg Business - Ed Kiernan:

July 21, 2015 - "Liberland, or the Free Republic of Liberland to give it its full title, is a would-be sovereign state founded April 13 by Vit Jedlicka and two fellow libertarians. Its total area of approximately seven square kilometers would make it the third smallest sovereign state in the world, after the Vatican and Monaco.

"It's sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia on the western bank of the Danube River. On some maps, this area is referred to as “Gornja Siga'.... When the former Yugoslavia was split into new countries this small patch of land was forgotten about. Neither Croatia nor Serbia claimed it, making it a terra nullius or no man’s land.....

”According to the founders the objective is to build a country where honest people can prosper with minimal interference from a centralized government. 'We need more countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Monaco, especially in Europe,' Jedlicka says. 'We really needed another tax heaven, not tax haven'.... All taxes will be voluntary, and the nation’s services - such as power, healthcare and waste disposal - will be run either by private enterprises or through crowdfunding campaigns....

"According to Jedlicka, Liberland has established embassies in several countries including the U.S., the U.K., France and the Czech Republic. He plans to open embassies in 'a hundred more countries by the end of the year.'

"Liberland is attempting to use the homestead principle, which states that unclaimed and undeveloped land can be legally claimed by any group willing to develop it. But some legal experts have stated that even though the land may appear unclaimed, it is most probably already part of Serbia....

"Croatian border police are arresting anyone who sets foot in Liberland. However, this has not deterred members of the Liberland Settlers Association, which attempts to reach it on a daily basis and often clashes with local police in the process.

"The Liberland Settlement Association (LSA) is an NGO based in Serbia, funded by the Liberland Settlement Corp. It is made up primarily of volunteers who attempt to maintain an active presence on Liberland to help it become a recognized country.... According to CEO Niklas Nikolassen, the Liberland Settlement Corp. (LSC) “is a group of liberty-minded investors who are funding the LSA.” The corporation, based in Switzerland, has a claim on 80,000 square meters of Liberland and is hoping that the actions of the LSA will help Liberland achieve recognition as a sovereign state and thus make the land valuable."

"Liberland has already received almost 400,000 applications for citizenship, however only around 45,000 of these are considered to be serious. According to Jedlicka there will probably be a total of 30,000-40,000 Liberlandians, not all of whom will actually live in Liberland."

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-21/inside-liberland-the-place-of-no-taxes-where-crowdfunding-rules
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Reason interviews Liberland founder

Interview with the Founder of Liberland, a Possible Libertarian Paradise - Reason.com - Jack Davies:

May 12, 2015 - "Like a lot of people in Europe, Czech activist Vit Jedlicka was dissatisfied with the state of affairs in his country.

"'You know, it was rising taxes every single year, rising number of regulations every single year,' he said. 'So I felt like I had to do something about it'....

"'Everybody told me, "You should start your own country to prove that your ideas of liberty work,"' he said in a phone interview. 'So I did.'

"There’s something charmingly maniacal about Liberland’s self-proclaimed president. Despite giving more than 200 interviews in the last fortnight, he’s chatty and his voice trills with a ha ha ha when something pleases him. But underneath this quaint exterior lies a Napoleonic self-assurance that he will build a second Dubai on a seven square kilometer patch of land on the west bank of the River Danube as it runs between Croatia and Serbia....

"On April 13, Jedlicka and his compatriots planted a yellow and black flag in the Serbo-Croatian no-man’s land and gave birth to Liberland. A little over two weeks later they have already received more than 300,000 applications for citizenship. Impressive, considering the only permanent residents for the last thirty years have been wild pigs; doubly so, given that the Croatian border police are refusing to let anybody into Liberland.

"Publicly, the Croatian government is dismissing Liberland as a bad joke — a 'virtual quip' unworthy of comment, is the foreign ministry’s official line. In private, however, Jedlicka insisted Zagreb is taking the issue very seriously indeed. Jedlicka claimed to have insider knowledge regarding an extraordinary meeting held last Sunday in the Croation government to discuss options for dealing with the country’s tiny new neighbor. His insider source? Wannabe citizens present at the meeting, he said.

"Whether the meetings are real or not, Croatia has been remarkably reluctant to claim Liberland for itself. Jedlicka claimed his presidential assistant is thrashing the issue out with an assistant to the Croatian president. Despite Zagreb’s frostiness, Liberland’s president is confident that 'we will be able to set up good relations no matter what they do.'

The Serbian foreign ministry was less equivocal. Its stance is that Liberland's formation was 'a frivolous act which needs no further comment.'

"But that is apparently not a position shared across the Serbian government. When I spoke with Jedlicka, he had just come out of a meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the Serbian National Assembly, Vladimir Marinkovic. In this meeting, Jedlicka claimed, Marinkovic endorsed Liberland’s sovereignty."

Read more: http://reason.com/archives/2015/05/12/interview-with-the-founder-of-liberland
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250,000 applications for Liberland citizenship

250,000 people have requested citizenship in a country that might not exist - Washington Post - Adam Taylor:

April 22, 2015 - "About 250,000 people have applied for citizenship in Liberland in less than two weeks, Vit Jedlicka, president of Liberland, told the Czech news agency CTK on Tuesday.

"However, some of these potential Liberlanders may be in for a shock. For one thing, it's unclear at the time of writing whether the country they are applying for citizenship in really exists at all.

"If it does, it would be Europe's newest nation. Jedlicka proclaimed the Free Republic of Liberland a sovereign state April 13. The Czech politician – known for his Eurosceptic, libertarian views – claimed a disputed area between Croatia and Serbia to make up the state.

"Realizing that the land was claimed by no one, Jedlicka claimed the approximately 3 square miles by the Danube river. He set up a Web site, created a flag, a coat of arms, a motto ('To live and let live') and drew up laws and a constitution....

"The proposed country would be a libertarian paradise. Taxes would be optional in Liberland and government power severely restricted, Jedlicka told the international press. On the Web site, anyone could apply to be a citizen – providing they do not have a criminal record or a 'communist, Nazi or other extremist past'.

"This idea seems to have captured people's imagination. Liberland and Jedlicka have become an international news story and 110,000 people have liked a Facebook page devoted to the new country....

"Exactly how serious Liberland is is unclear right now. When one group of journalists tried to visit the new country last week, they were turned away by Croatian border police. They were told that a Liberland flag that had been planted at the site has been removed.

"And so far, no other state has recognized Liberland. Croatia and Serbia have made no public announcements about their new neighbor. Politicians from further afield don't seem to be taking it seriously."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/04/22/250000-people-have-requested-citizenship-in-a-country-that-might-not-exist/ 'via Blog this'

Libertarian microstate founded in Europe

Meet the Man Who Claims He Just Founded a New Country in Europe | TIME - Noah Rayman:

April 16, 2015 - "Vit Jedlicka, a member of the conservative Party of Free Citizens in the Czech Republic, is the self-appointed president of Liberland, which he says sits on unclaimed terra nullius territory wedged between Serbia and Croatia. The 3 sq. mi. 'country,' where taxes are optional and a military is nonexistent, does not “interfere with the territory' of the two states, according to Liberland’s website.

"'The objective of the founders of the new state is to build a country where honest people can prosper without being oppressed by governments making their lives unpleasant through the burden of unnecessary restrictions and taxes,' reads a statement announcing the creation of the new country this week. The country’s motto is: 'To live and let live'....

"The project has already received roughly 20,000 applications for citizenship, according to Jedlicka, who estimated that the country will receive as many as 100,000 applications by the end of next week (Liberland’s website has details of how to apply for citizenship, including sending an email of introduction—a C.V. is optional). Jedlicka added that some people already have plans to relocate....

"Liberland is a 'peaceful' country and will have no standing army. If neighbors Croatia or Serbia were to oppose, he said he would put up only 'passive defense.'

"'We will move, but we will keep our claim to the country,' he said. So far he’s still awaiting a diplomatic response from the country’s neighbors."

Read more: http://time.com/3825100/man-claims-new-country-europe/
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