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- Jul 19, 2011
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Liberland
Imagine a teeny tiny country where politicians are rare and taxes optional.
No army, no extremists.
And, as I interpret its motto, and thus its raison d’etre, freedom to do a lot of things you want to do, as long as you respect others, because politicians “could not interfere too much” in the self-proclaimed Free Republic of Liberland.
What started out as something more like a political caper – “a little bit like a protest,” the self-proclaimed president told Time – is now generating a lot of buzz.
Already, says would-be leader Vít Jedlička, tens of thousands of people have applied for citizenship in the supposed state, which is sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia. It measures about seven square kilometres along the Danube and, it says, was no-man’s land under international conventions.
There are no plans to tax the rich like, say, in Alberta and Ontario. Actually, there are no plans to tax anyone, unless they want to pay.
"The key idea is voluntary taxes, creating a state so small that there's almost no state,” Mr. Jedlička told Agence France Presse.
“Liberland came into existence due to a border dispute between Croatia and Serbia,” its website says.
“This area along the west bank of the Danube river is not claimed by Croatia, Serbia or any other country. It was therefore terra nullius, a no man’s land, until Vít Jedlička seized the opportunity and on 13 April 2015 formed a new state in this territory – Liberland. The boundary was defined so as not to interfere with the territory of Croatia or Serbia.”
As Liberland boasts, it’s now “the third-smallest sovereign state, after the Vatican and Monaco.”
It has a flag, a coat of arms, and a motto of “to live and let live.” It describes its government as a “constitutional republic with elements of direct democracy.”
Its official languages are Czech and English, which you’d need, of course, if you want to be a tax haven.
“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,” it says.
“One of the reasons for founding Liberland is the ever expanding influence of interest groups on the functioning of existing states and the consequent worsening of living conditions of people. The founders are inspired by countries such as Monaco, Liechtenstein or Hong Kong.“
Mr. Jedlička, 31, is a member of the Czech Republic’s Free Citizens Party.
He has been grabbing headlines around the world and, Liberland says, has met with several global leaders, among them Austria’s ambassador to the Czech Republic and the chief of the OECD’s Economic and Development Review committee.
For the record, Liberland says it needs citizens who respect people and their opinions, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
Or “orientation,” which one could argue makes Liberland much more palatable than Indiana or Arkansas.
One “untouchable” rule is respect for private ownership.
Oh, and you can’t be a Nazi, Communist or extremist, and can’t have a criminal past.
(I assume what all this also means, for example, is that you don’t have to wear clothes if you don’t want to, but neither could you peek over the fence to ogle your naked neighbour. But that’s not for sure since the English versions of its laws and Constitutions are “coming soon,” as the new state’s website puts it.)
http://liberland.org/en/about/
Imagine a teeny tiny country where politicians are rare and taxes optional.
No army, no extremists.
And, as I interpret its motto, and thus its raison d’etre, freedom to do a lot of things you want to do, as long as you respect others, because politicians “could not interfere too much” in the self-proclaimed Free Republic of Liberland.
What started out as something more like a political caper – “a little bit like a protest,” the self-proclaimed president told Time – is now generating a lot of buzz.
Already, says would-be leader Vít Jedlička, tens of thousands of people have applied for citizenship in the supposed state, which is sandwiched between Croatia and Serbia. It measures about seven square kilometres along the Danube and, it says, was no-man’s land under international conventions.
There are no plans to tax the rich like, say, in Alberta and Ontario. Actually, there are no plans to tax anyone, unless they want to pay.
"The key idea is voluntary taxes, creating a state so small that there's almost no state,” Mr. Jedlička told Agence France Presse.
“Liberland came into existence due to a border dispute between Croatia and Serbia,” its website says.
“This area along the west bank of the Danube river is not claimed by Croatia, Serbia or any other country. It was therefore terra nullius, a no man’s land, until Vít Jedlička seized the opportunity and on 13 April 2015 formed a new state in this territory – Liberland. The boundary was defined so as not to interfere with the territory of Croatia or Serbia.”
As Liberland boasts, it’s now “the third-smallest sovereign state, after the Vatican and Monaco.”
It has a flag, a coat of arms, and a motto of “to live and let live.” It describes its government as a “constitutional republic with elements of direct democracy.”
Its official languages are Czech and English, which you’d need, of course, if you want to be a tax haven.
“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,” it says.
“One of the reasons for founding Liberland is the ever expanding influence of interest groups on the functioning of existing states and the consequent worsening of living conditions of people. The founders are inspired by countries such as Monaco, Liechtenstein or Hong Kong.“
Mr. Jedlička, 31, is a member of the Czech Republic’s Free Citizens Party.
He has been grabbing headlines around the world and, Liberland says, has met with several global leaders, among them Austria’s ambassador to the Czech Republic and the chief of the OECD’s Economic and Development Review committee.
For the record, Liberland says it needs citizens who respect people and their opinions, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
Or “orientation,” which one could argue makes Liberland much more palatable than Indiana or Arkansas.
One “untouchable” rule is respect for private ownership.
Oh, and you can’t be a Nazi, Communist or extremist, and can’t have a criminal past.
(I assume what all this also means, for example, is that you don’t have to wear clothes if you don’t want to, but neither could you peek over the fence to ogle your naked neighbour. But that’s not for sure since the English versions of its laws and Constitutions are “coming soon,” as the new state’s website puts it.)
http://liberland.org/en/about/
