As part of his
continued international work, President of Liberland, Vit Jedlicka, presented
recently in both Vienna and London. Opening his talks he asked the audience
“who has thought about founding a country?” In both cases, the audience
responded with humour and some awe. And in London about six hands went up. Vit
had hit upon a nerve which may or may not have been promoted by Brexit.
The Vienna show
case was hosted by Bruce Porter of Washington Elite. The conference was held in
the Schönbrunn Palace in old historic Vienna and was originally the summer
residence of the Habsburg Rulers. There are some 1,441 rooms in this massive Rococo
palace and its exterior is painted in a beautiful pale lemon colour. The choice
of colour was later explained as it was the least expensive paint in he last
century and the miles of paint required some frugality. The event also involved attending mass and an
awards dinner with royals. The Austrians can certainly host events in style.
London’s CC
Forum was not to be outdone. Two days in the Queen Elizabeth Conference in
Westminster, the event was a blockbuster in terms of people, crypto celebrities
and on (and off) stage drama. The speaker list was a who’s who of the crypto
world including John McAfee, Tim Draper, Bobby Lee, Roger Ver, Craig Wright,
Nouriel Robotina, Tone Vays, Vinay Gupta, Dinis Guarda, Thomas Power, David
Siegel, Jonny Fry, Nick Ayton, Bruce Jeong, Mru Patel, Jon Matonis, Evan Luthra
and more.
And of course
Vit was also presenting on the main stage. After asking his audience that country
foundation question he proceeded to explain that the world was becoming feudal,
going backwards if you will. He explained that citizens of Liberland can chose
to pay taxes – and if they do they have a greater say in the running of the
country. You could see members of the audience nodding their heads in
agreement.
“Liberland is
also very beautiful – and only 40 minutes by boat from neighbouring Somber,” he
explained. The country is run by an
elected congress and combines the best of a republic, a democracy and a
meritocracy.
“I don’t much
like democracy by itself – it can be mob rule – but we can create a better
choice by adopting the Swiss voting model where people can veto where needed.
People,” he said, “are not so good at creating positive policy but they are
very good at vetoing bad decisions.”
Liberland bases
its right to nationhood on the international legal rules which outline 4 key
attributes. The first is a population, the second a defined territory, the
third a government and finally the capacity to enter into international
relations with other states.
In fact, the
first attribute has been amazing. As President Vit explained: “The first day we
had 2,000 applications for citizenship, the second 10,000 and by the third we
had 200,000. This alone shows that there is a demand for what we are doing.”
Liberland was
founded in 2015 and since then there have been many advancements. There is a
tech team in place, Ghostbusters, building the world’s first autonomous
decentralised government, there are 100 global representatives and even 10
diaspora villages. Liberland has signed a recognition deal with fellow micro
nation Somiland and is actively talking with the UN for recognition.
And did I
mention the Liberland beer and wine, the Liberland airline, Miss Liberland and
the 100s of companies registered to Liberland. There is also the newly formed
Free Trade Zone established in next door Serbia. And that is not to mention the
Liberland Chess team and ski team.
