HOW TO START YOUR OWN COUNTRY Princess Joan and Prince Roy at Sealand. Erwin S, Strauss HOW 10 START VOUR OWN COUNTRY Erwin S. Strauss PALADIN PRESS • BOULDER, COLORADO How to Start Your Own Country by Erwin S. Strauss Copyright © 1979. 1984, 1999 by Erwin S. Strauss ISBN 13: 978-1-58160-524-2 Printed in the United States of America Published by Paladin Press, a division of Paladin Enterprises, Inc. Gunbarrel Tech Center 7077 Winchester Circle Boulder, Colorado 80301 USA + 1.303.443.7250 Direct inquiries and/or orders to the above address. PALADIN, PALADIN PRESS, and the "horse head" design are trademarks belonging to Paladin Enterprises and registered in United States Patent and Trademark Office. All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, no portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the publisher. Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for the use or misuse of information contained in this book. Visit our Web site at www.paladin-press.com The author (right) stands with a member of Operation Atlantis, one of the many new country ventures described in this book (from Atlantis News/ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Erwin S. Strauss was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up along Embassy Row. He lived in Europe and Asia with his German-born father, a consul and First Secretary in the diplomatic service of the United States who served in American missions in Paris and Bangkok. After being expelled from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a book importing operation that undercut the campus bookstore and publishers owned by MIT and its faculty members, he returned there and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1967. Currently a consultant in the computer field, Mr. Strauss has conducted business activities in Canada, the United States, Costa Rica and Panama. He occasionally serves in a consulting capacity to new- country projects. This book is dedicated to all the new country organizers of the world — past, present and future. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank Frederick W. Lehmann and the International Micropatrological Society (society for the study of small coun­ tries) that he heads for greatly expanding the number of case histories with which I am familiar. I also wish to thank the publisher and all the other readers of the first edition of this book who have contributed information. Such a network of new- country enthusiasts is the best way to insure that future new- country projects move the state of the art forward, rather than repeating the mistakes of the past. Most of the pictures in this book have been obtained from the projects themselves, or from the sources listed in the Access chapter. Attempts to contact many of the sources have been unsuccessful. It is assumed that the promoters involved would want the publicity associated with their publication here. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface to the Second Edition The Call of the H orizon.......................................................................1 Present Opportunities.............................................................................4 Approach #1: Traditional Sovereignty...................................5 Approach #2: Ship Under Flag of Convenience............. 24 Approach #3: Litigation..............................................................25 Approach #4: Vonu (Out of Sight and M ind)..................26 Approach #5: Model C o untry................................................ 28 Comparison of Approaches.......................................................31 Internal Organization and Recruiting Settlers.............................37 The Future of New Countries.........................................................46 Case Histories........................................................................................51 A ccess.....................................................................................................156 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The first edition of How to Start Your Own Country has been enthusiastically received throughout the new-country community. A number of people who had each been working in the field for many years first became aware that there were others with the same ideas through the publication of that edition. One of the most important functions a book like this can perform is to get members of the new-country community in touch with each other, and to make them aware of the history of new-country projects. In that way, efforts can be directed toward advancing the state of the new-country art, rather than repeating the mistakes of the past. As a result of this nascent new-country network, I have been able to chronicle far more actual case histories in this edition than in the last. I have also found that there is a great deal of interest in the pursuit of traditional sovereign status. Because of the difficulty of achieving that goal, I gave it comparatively cursory treatment in the first edition. However, because of this interest, I have gone into this approach in greater detail this time, providing a road map for those bold enough to follow that path. Although the past few years have been lean ones for new- country projects, the principal older projects seem to be holding their own, and a number of new ones are underway. Perhaps the coming decade will be a Golden Age for new countries. If so, the readers of this book are in an excellent position to participate in such a flowering. Erwin S. Strauss Fairfax, VA November 30, 1983 THE CALL OF THE HORIZON When in the Course of human Events it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them. — Opening lines, United States Declaration of Independence According to the prevailing view of natural historians, the first true human being emerged about one to ten million years ago, in a band of perhaps a dozen to a few score primates. This band subsisted by practicing some combination of hunting food animals and gathering edible plants and plant parts (roots, berries, etc.). With their new-found human powers, this band became very successful at getting food, and it flourished in numbers. Before long, the game and forage in its vicinity were depleted. It became necessary for the hunters and gatherers to range farther and farther afield in search of sustenance. Soon, it was taking almost as much energy to get the food as the food gotten provided. Faced with growing hunger, some members of the band hit on a solution: to break off from the original band, and form their own group in a new territory. Thus was born the first “new country.” Throughout prehistory, this sequence of events was to play itself out over and over again as the principal means by which perhaps the most successful form of life the Earth has ever seen spread out to occupy most of the planet’s land surface. But waiting until hunger set in before striking out could mean that the new group would starve before it could get itself established in its new range. Therefore, natural selection favored those groups that split up when there was still adequate food, but when such things as the size of the group, the density of the population, etc., were such as to signal that the time to split up was at hand. But because, all other things equal, a larger 1 group has advantages in protection against predators, defense of territory against rival groups, etc., groups couldn’t afford to split up too soon any more than too late. Timing was (and is) critical. In today’s crowded societies, once again many people are feeling the drive to break away from existing cultures and establish their own institutions. Ignorant of human history, most people treat such an idea with scorn. The world of the here and now is the only real world, they say. Talk of starting a new country is “escapism.” One’s duty is to direct one’s energies toward making contemporary society a better place to live. And so on. But those who know better realize that schism is the fundamental human method for dealing with frictions within groups of people. In fact, it has been so for so long that factors predisposing people to break off from one group and start another may even have seeped into the human gene pool (though that’s another and very controversial question). After all, suppose that the members of the original human hunting/ gathering band had decided to stay put and find a way to better distribute their finite food supply. At best, they could have held on in their same numbers for a time — until a season of unusually severe weather struck, or until some new disease emerged, or until a natural disaster happened, or until something else happened to wipe out the original group. Without other groups spread out to carry on the line, the human species would have become extinct. Diversity and dispersion are the great natural insurance policies. If those with the vision to make the fresh start had worked to keep the old society functioning instead, it would have been like the lifeboats trying to keep the Titanic afloat. If there are enough lifeboats for everyone, so much the better. But if only a few can save themselves, is it better to embrace the perfect “fairness” of having everyone go under together than to tolerate the “inequity” involved in having some save themselves to carry on? But it’s easy to let the romance of the new-country idea go to one’s head. Actually planning and creating such a country is a complex, delicate process, and many people who have rushed into it have come to grief, as we shall see. The most important thing is to have a firm grasp of the cost and risks one is willing to accept in pursuit of the venture, and the benefits one is seeking.