Sep 23, 2021
Founding the Free Republic of Liberland
President Vit Jedlicka on the latest developments in the new country.
There will always be an America.
It just might not be in America.
Hong Kong, Singapore, and even Madagascar are candidates for future beacons of freedom to the world, as most of Europe and the United States have forgotten the heritage of the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, and enlightenment tradition of freedom. One dark horse candidate for the next standard-bearer of free markets is the Free Republic of Liberland — a new country project that has claimed a small strip of land between Serbia and Croatia, which neither country claims as its own. Croatia swears it belongs to Serbia, but Serbia begs to differ and makes no claim over the land.
As President of Liberland, Vit has gathered a small country’s worth of volunteers, citizen applicants, and supporters around the world, who could soon populate the world’s newest country as freedom-seeking pioneers.
Vit returned to update us on Liberland’s progress, and explain how this international movement is leveraging new technologies like cryptocurrency and the blockchain to build something of an America 2.0 — complete with a stable currency, clearly defined property rights, and an innovative Constitution for holding the future leaders of Liberland accountable.
“What is Liberland?” appeared as the correct question in a Jeopardy competition, showing that its fame is spreading. Now they just need recognition from five countries and they will themselves be eligible for UN membership and other perks of statehood.
TRANSCRIPT
Bob Zadek 00:00
This is the first time I have had the President of a nation on this show. Vit Jedlicka is the President of perhaps the newest nation on Earth — the nation of Liberland.
Most of us just complain if we are unhappy with the government we live in, but Vit has decided he’ll solve his unhappiness by creating his own country. Today you will learn the story of how Vit conceived of the concept of a free libertarian nation of Liberland, how it developed, how it was built from nothing (or perhaps from a sandy beach) to where it is today. Welcome back again, Vit, who is speaking to us this morning from Prague.
Vit Jedlicka 02:50
It’s great to be with you, as always.
Bob Zadek 02:52
First, where is Liberland? How did you find this land? How did it become not part of any country?
Vit Jedlicka 04:14
It’s a beautiful place that lies on the Danube between Croatia and Serbia, only 10 kilometers away from Hungarian borders. In 2014, we were looking for a place to set up a new country. There is a Wikipedia page, which lists these territories not claimed by any government. There are not too many. We were just thinking, let’s start a new country and let’s pick the best territory out there for it (we almost ended up between Egypt and Sudan). We believed this was the best solution to the problem that we had: the big government all around the world with 95% of states being overregulated and overtaxed.
Six and a half years ago, Liberland was the best spot to claim. It was in Europe. It is literally on the edge of the European Union, but we are not part of the European Union. It is a beautiful piece of land with a lot of nature, with beautiful sandy beaches, and one huge sandy island, a perfect place to start a new country.
Bob Zadek 05:34
Tell us a bit about the politics that created this land unclaimed by any country.
Vit Jedlicka 06:06
After the split of Yugoslavia, Serbia never claimed this territory, and Croatia neither. When we started Liberland, the last country that was ever in that particular place was actually Yugoslavia, which was dissolved. The previous rulers were the Habsburgs. This week I visited them in Austria. This place was left alone by both Croatia and Serbia. Shortly after we started the country, Serbia officially stated that they don’t mind the creation of Liberland. It’s not formed on their territory, despite all world maps showing that Liberland is part of Serbia. Serbia has directly denied that claim. Many world media misinterpreted this, saying that Liberland is claimed by both Croatia and Serbia. We had a direct statement right after its creation from the Foreign Ministry of Serbia that it was actually not built on the territory of Serbia. It was also not built on any known territory of Croatia. Croatia didn’t enter into the EU with Liberland as part of its claimed territory.
Building a new country is not without its hassles. Croatia is still overprotective of this area. On the other hand, since the inception of the country, they have not made any claim towards the territory of Liberland. From that point of view, we are in a great political negotiating position, in which we are not a separatist country by any means. We just started the country on a terra nullius.
Making a New Country Founder
Bob Zadek 07:55
Not everybody in the world has as one of their lifetime goals to create a country from scratch. That’s a tad ambitious. Help our friends out there understand a bit about who you are. What brought you to the position in 2014 of saying, “I think I’d like to form a country right now.” Tell us a bit about you and how you came to be so unhappy with, in general, the existing state of your country to decide you had to build one from scratch.
Vit Jedlicka 08:45
I studied Frederic Bastiat when I was 13. I came across his books by coincidence. I became a keen supporter of laissez-faire. I remember reading his book The Law. I really recommend it to your readers. It’s an amazing book, which summarizes all that is wrong with modern society, yet it was written some 250 years ago. It is really interesting how Frederic Bastiat was able to put all these problems of modern politics into a book that old. Unfortunately, he is not very well known in France. He has been really the grandfather of the libertarian movement from which Mises, Rothbard, and other thinkers were taking the source from. I was really keen to push forward his idea to free the society from the operation that was happening by the state and that is still happening all around the world.
I could understand through his book how much energy can be unleashed. When you come to this world, you want to be helpful, and you think how much you can be helpful. When you realize that the government is the biggest obstacle for the prosperity and happiness of the people on this planet, then you have to do something about it. Frederic Bastiat had the cure. He said, “Let people be. Let the blood flow. Let the blood of the body go through the veins without any obstacles. Don’t install barriers. Don’t tax the people. Don’t regulate them because all these regulations are there mostly for the benefit of few, usually some monopolies.”
That made me go and study economics at the Economic School of Prague and Charles University. I studied at CEVRO Institute – one of the few libertarian universities, based in Prague. I really recommend everybody that would like to do an MBA to go there as well. I studied at these two universities. I started a think-tank called reformy.cz, which has some 20 million views now on YouTube and other channels. It was quite a successful liberty campaign. After that, we also started a political party. We managed to get one member into the European Parliament fairly soon. When you realize that even if you had a majority in the European Parliament, you wouldn’t be able to change the system, you start to think, “Maybe it’s much easier to start a new country than to try to fix the system from within.”
It’s much easier to stop fighting the existing reality — change things and reality will change itself. Just go for it and build instead of trying to fight with whatever you don’t like. That really got me going on the Liberland story. From that time on, I was thinking, “Maybe there is an alternative. Maybe starting a country is really the easiest way to go.”
The Legal Process of Starting a New Country
Bob Zadek 12:17
It’s pretty strange to most of my listeners and to myself when you think that starting a country is easier than anything. How could starting a country possibly be easier than anything else in the world? That has to be the hardest thing there is on earth to do, which only means that is really a statement about how hard it is to change the way business is conducted in Europe, in the EU and the like. It’s not so much a statement about starting a country that is a pretty formidable task, but it’s a statement about how hard it is to get Europe into freeing it from some of its bureaucratic problems that it has, which are inhibiting its growth. You did nothing other than go on Wikipedia and find areas of our planet that are available, sort of like going on eBay or Amazon and looking for the perfect something. You went on to find the perfect area of land that you can acquire, to create a country. You found this land. Did you just declare it to be yours? Was there a legal or diplomatic process you had to go through in order to actually go from the concept to Liberland?
Vit Jedlicka 14:17
We went to Liberland the first day. We stuck the flag in the middle of it. We let the world media know. We also let all the world governments know. We sent everybody diplomatic letters, and we actually managed to get a couple confirmations that the letter was well received. Very recently I spoke with the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein. He acknowledged that he actually received it and read it at the time. We let the world know that Liberland exists. We let all the heads of the governments know that Liberland exists. We started to collect applications for citizenship because at the time we were only three citizens on the first day. I was thinking we might get 20,000 people to sign up in a year, so we will have a nice small nation of 20,000 people, and we will give everybody citizenship and it will be great, but on the first day, we actually received 200,000 applications. We received them in one day instead of one year. We received 10 times more than we expected for the whole year. It was a huge start. Then it was 400,000 by the end of the week. It was an amazing boost.
“We received 10 times more [applications] than we expected for the whole year.”
After all this interest by normal people, we received an enormous wave of interest from world media — Russia Today and all the major media, The Metro, Time Magazine, and CNN. Everybody wanted to do an interview. I was probably one of the few Presidents that didn’t reply to the Washington Post for an interview because I had more than half a million emails in my own mailbox. It was really difficult to filter through it. It was a crazy time. I was literally sleeping only two or three hours a day in order to try to manage that huge amount of interest in the creation of the new country. The interest still continues. It is more manageable now. We have a big team of people all around the world. We are represented in more than 100 countries. People can turn to their local representatives if they need something. I think we’re very well functional as a larger diplomatic body and probably represented better than in many other European countries now.
Bob Zadek 16:48
You mentioned that day in April, I think it was April 13, when you planted the flag. Was it a coincidence about the special date of April? Tell us what’s the significance of the day you planted the flag for the first time.
Vit Jedlicka 17:14
It’s actually the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. We appreciate his personal involvement in the whole American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence was a great document. We wanted to invoke the spirit of the American Revolution with that step. I think that was actually successful. Liberland is a modern day Tax-odus or a new kind of Tea Party movement that is creating a new country, but this time in Europe.
“You Need a Constitution. I’m Here to Help”
Bob Zadek 18:07
Our audience already has picked up, given the name of the country and the date of its creation, that it is founded on libertarian principles. Tell us how you went about building and drafting a libertarian constitution. What were the principles that drove that dictated how you wrote the Constitution? What model did you use in drafting the Liberland constitution?
Vit Jedlicka 18:52
When we started in Liberland on that day, we actually didn’t have the constitution ready yet. We stated in that first press release that we really want to make a country where honest people can prosper without over regulation and over taxation. I was really honored that probably a week after we had this great constitutional lawyer from London, a young guy, came to us and said, “You need a constitution. I’m here to help.”
He did a great job with the initial draft; we will use a lot of his work in the final version of the Constitution, which we are putting together these days. If there are some listeners who would like to be involved in this final drafting, which is taking place from this month until the end of the year, I would be very happy if people got involved in that process. It is a great exercise. Not only a great intellectual exercise for lawyers, but also a great exercise technically because what we are doing is that we are putting everything on blockchain, on decentralized platforms. Many of the things that are mentioned in the Constitution are actually going to function directly as smart contracts automatically on a decentralized network.
Bob Zadek 20:19
When you just invited lawyers to participate in the drafting of the Constitution, that was very very persuasive on your part, as I’m a practicing attorney myself. What had great appeal to me, throughout my years of practice, was that there were often invitations sent out through the American Bar Association and related lawyer organizations asking for volunteers. These are countries in Eastern Europe and in Asia, who wanted to enhance their economic condition. They knew that the way to grow economically was, first and foremost, to build a body of commercial law that would respect property rights or freedom enforced contracts. Without that, you couldn’t grow economically. The invitation to lawyers to help build a freedom environment will be very appealing to any lawyers in the audience who happened to listen to your appeal.
If lawyers are interested in contributing to the finalization of a free market, freedom-driven constitution how can they contact you and volunteer?
Vit Jedlicka 22:17
I’m very happy. I believe you have a very good audience. I’m very happy to give my personal email contact. It’s president@liberland.org. It’s fairly easy. I will forward them to our Justice Minister, who is organizing this group of people that are reviewing the latest draft of the Constitution before it gets launched on the blockchain.
Bob Zadek 22:42
Thank you so much for that. Be careful of what you wish for. You may end up with an increase in the half a million or so unread emails that you have, but you’ll get through it — just cut back your sleeping from two hours a day to one and a half, and you’ll catch up.
Diplomacy for Liberland
Bob Zadek 23:11
Here we are, you have drafted a constitution. You have, I believe a secretary of state.
Vit Jedlicka 23:21
Yes, Secretary of State Tariq Abassi, a very distinguished gentleman who is also a representative of the British Queen. I’m really happy about the team of diplomats that we have.
Bob Zadek 23:33
What do you go about doing diplomatically? Tell us about the process of starting with unclaimed land on the Danube. It’s orphaned. Neither Serbia nor Croatia asserted claim to it. We start with that. We start with you, libertarian-oriented, merely seeking to build an environment that encourages free choice of all its citizens and its business entities. How did you go about getting recognition, going from the concept to the reality?
Vit Jedlicka 24:23
First of all, it’s important to say that the existence of a state is independent from recognition. Those two things are separate stories. This is directly written in the Montevideo agreement, which lays out how the countries are created. Basically, the country of Liberland started to exist on the day of its declaration on the 13th of April 2015. Now we have close to 700,000 applications for citizenships. The nation is fairly big right now — a little bit bigger than Malta or Iceland. We are fighting for recognition from other countries. At the same time, we are building the ecosystem of Liberland. It functions like a real country, including the system of justice, the system of registries, and many other things. At the same time, we’re also laying out our plans for the physical construction of Liberland. I have really exciting news. Zara Hadid, one of the top architectural companies in the world, has taken on the task to prepare the first urban design of Liberland, which we are going to release in two weeks from now.
Bob Zadek 25:51
You’re actually going to start to physically develop your 7.2 approximate kilometers on the Danube River. There’s going to be a physical presence, as well as a political presence. It physically exists. Now, there’s going to be economic activity on the land itself.
Vit Jedlicka 26:18
We’re making a plan. We are already building on the opposite side of Liberland. We are building a construction base and place for people to gather for settlement of Liberland and for the construction inside of Liberland, but first we need a plan and we need agreement on that plan. This first initial draft is going to be available to anybody. The virtual reality done by a respected architectural studio is going to be released in 14 days. The next round of settlement and the next round of activity directly in Liberland — a serious activity — will happen again with the next anniversary and will peak in August next year, when we are organizing a big festival. We are always coming to Liberland building something there, and we are moving it to the next level. Right now is the plan, and agreement on what that plan is, and second is investors. That’s something which I’m going to collect hopefully in the next week in Dubai. Then, execution and I would really like to see some big moves happening next year.
Bob Zadek 27:38
When you go about having this become a reality, I’m just curious, how did you know how to do it? I imagine myself as a practicing lawyer, a client calls and says, “Hi, Bob, I’d like to engage you. I’d like to hire you to help me create a country.” That would be quite direct and a bit stumped. So what did you use as a model? How did you frankly know how to do it? How did you learn? There can’t be a kit or a template that you can buy online that tells you how to build a country from scratch. Did you learn while doing it? Did you have any advice?
Vit Jedlicka 28:35
I’m writing a book with that title right now. I was collecting everything that I learned previously. There is a lot of experience with configuration, for example, in Israel. There is lots of diplomatic experience from small countries, like Liechtenstein or Monaco. For example, Montenegro wasn’t created too long ago, and it’s close to Liberland itself. I was learning hard from these examples, as well from some other examples, like Somaliland, an unrecognized country, which is fairly big with 5 million people living there. We went and we recognized each other some two and a half years ago. We learn from the countries like Singapore and Hong Kong that are the beacons of the liberty of today, or even places like Dubai, which are good examples of how something can be built in a very short time from nothing based on free market principles.
One Merit, One Vote
Bob Zadek 29:49
Now, the structure of your constitution. We all are familiar with the American Constitution with the three tiers of government — the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Did you follow that model? Did you follow a parliamentary system or something in between? How did you build that governmental infrastructure in your constitution?
Vit Jedlicka 30:24
We were very much inspired by the US Constitution, a little bit from Swiss democracy and a little bit from Singapore meritocracy. We combine basically these three elements, and we give it a really fresh look on how to make sure that the constitution doesn’t go bad, like it happened in the United States, where many of the original principles are broken these days. We wanted to make some protective tools inside of the Constitution itself. We basically divided the government into three branches. These three branches are similar to what we can see in the United States. The Congress is forming a government. That government proposes laws, then the assembly or the Congress has to approve these laws. The important part is that people in that particular institution don’t vote — one person, one vote — but they vote one person for as many merits as they have. It’s important that people that have done something more for the country, or they paid more voluntary taxes have a bigger say than people that have done a little bit less, or they paid less voluntary taxes. I think that’s one of the important principles that needs to be fixed with regular democracy.
“It’s important that people that have done something more for the country, or they paid more voluntary taxes have a bigger say than people that have done a little bit less, or they paid less voluntary taxes.”
On the other hand, this government when it creates a law or regulation, it is subject to three vetoes. It can be vetoed by citizens, and that’s one person one vote, where the majority of society can get rid of any law, or it can be vetoed by the Senate or some House of Elders that Liberland has, or it can be vetoed by the Constitutional Court. I think it’s very important that the state creates as few laws as possible. There are many ways to get rid of them, so that the whole system doesn’t get clogged up, like we see in modern societies today. That element of Swiss democracy, which I would say is quite unique, and is working really well there, we decided to adopt as well. The citizens don’t have a direct right to impose something on the minority in the society, like in modern democracy, but they can get rid of any regulation that the government comes up with.
Bob Zadek 33:02
You said something that got my attention. I suspect a lot of Americans would perk up over and perhaps react negatively. You mentioned Merits. Merit is your currency. It’s the equivalent of the dollar. You trade, I think, at one merit for $1. You mentioned something that really caught my attention. You seem to suggest that those with more money have more political power.
Vit Jedlicka 33:50
No, it’s not like that. There is a great example of that. For example, the Prime Minister in Czech Republic is a very wealthy man. He doesn’t pay much taxes. He actually gets a lot of subsidies from the state. He is there because he’s able to manipulate the masses to make him a prime minister. He didn’t earn it. He didn’t have the merit, and he is actually using the state to get even more funding. When I say that, I’m talking about $512 billion a year or quarter billion dollars a year. It is an enormous amount of money that he’s getting both from the EU and the state budget. It’s not that the wealthy people would be the ones to rule the society like it is already today. It would be the people that contribute the most to the creation of the society. Those are not the same people. Please take note of that.
Bob Zadek 34:49
In other words, those people get credit for contributing value to the state. They get a benefit from doing that, for donating or making the state a better place. Tell us more about that.
Vit Jedlicka 35:11
Yes, exactly. Instead of you going and bribing to make some benefits, it’s much better if you don’t have to bribe anybody. If you have some problem that you want to solve, and you want to have more political power to push it through, you should be the one to put your money into the creation of the country. I think that’s actually a good way to put the incentives into alignment, not putting money inside of politicians’ pockets, but putting the money into a voluntary system of taxes in Liberland. If you think about it, it’s really cool that in Liberland, not just that the taxes are voluntary, but you actually get something in return for paying them. Think about it: In the United States, you pay $20 million in taxes, and nobody even says thank you in the tax office. You pay just a little bit less, and you end up in jail. In Liberland, we actually do appreciate the amount of taxes that you pay. We do reward you for paying those taxes with a bigger say inside of Liberland, by basically giving you a little bit more say than the others.
“In the United States, you pay $20 million in taxes, and nobody even says thank you in the tax office. You pay just a little bit less, and you end up in jail. In Liberland, we reward you by basically giving you a little bit more say than the others.”
Bob Zadek 36:37
You are providing a think piece for Americans and those in other countries as well to have a chance to examine what is wrong at present with where we are politically because you have thoughtfully observed a system that starts with principles that you greatly admire, but in your opinion, and those others who have drafted the Constitution, and you have identified where there are things that are not working out so well. You have started from scratch and taken the best that we have to offer and rejected the worst that we have to offer. It’s a fresh look at the same concepts.
You start with the same principles that our country did 240 years ago. You start with the same principles, and you get to a slightly different place — many would say, an improved place. Intellectually, it’s quite interesting to see where you are in your process and to see what we can learn from it. You have, as a byproduct, a lot of interesting points for Americans and those of us who are liberty-minded around the world, a thought process to help rebuild our old country or at least have a target and understand objectively what’s wrong with it. Already, Liberland has contributed meaningfully to what’s going on. For that I think the world is already happy that you’re here.
The Birth of a New Nation
Bob Zadek
How many citizens do you have right now?
Vit Jedlicka 38:53
We have more than 1,000 citizens, but 700,000 applications. It is not that easy to become a citizen. You don’t go on the website and just sign up. You actually have to do something for Liberland. On the other hand, we do have a couple of thousand more e-residents, which is much easier to achieve. That’s an easy step, where you get a Liberland ID and are able to open up a Liberland company. You can become an active part of the Liberland ecosystem by becoming an e-resident first. This is something that we have copy pasted from Estonia, which has started the first e-residency program as a country.
Bob Zadek 39:37
You mentioned Estonia. That is a country that I greatly admire. For the weather, I look with envy at Estonia. They are also a blockchain type organized country with great efficiencies of using those systems. They are profoundly free market, low taxation, and a role model for you in many ways. You have worked your way into my heart and my mind by mentioning Estonia on my show. I thank you for that. You have picked two wonderful role models: the United States and Estonia. Frankly, you can’t go wrong now because you’re following in the footsteps of some pretty interesting countries when it comes to liberty. You have a backlog in applications. It sounds like you need more bureaucrats because you have a backlog, and backlogs clog up the government. Is your problem bureaucratic or just demand beyond your wildest dreams?
Vit Jedlicka 41:10
Not really. I’m happy about our bureaucratic stuff here. Peter, I’m actually at his desk now by coincidence. He’s doing a great job in organizing the team of our representatives into interviewing and making sure we get the best people on board. Yes, we are selective. We are a serious nation-building and country building project. We really want to have the best people on board. They ahve to go through a process in which we get to know them before they become citizens. I’m happy about it. We actually have five or 10 new citizens a week. It’s great progress for Liberland. It’s healthy growth. One other thing is that I also believe once we launch this blockchain governance, we will have another round of enormous interest into Liberland that we will have to manage because, like many other crypto related or blockchain related projects, I’m expecting a lot of new people to apply for citizenship, and then the price of merit could skyrocket, possibly. I hope it will. It will be another round of interest, and we were originally getting ready for it. We will be able to accept maybe 20 or 30 new people every single week on board with Liberland and give them a place in our blockchain governance.
Bob Zadek 42:38
Are there countries around the world that you are free to mention, which have been more than typically supportive, that have been very supportive of your efforts, and have become not military but at least political allies and are helping you reach your goal? Can you identify any countries that you want to give a special mention to, which have been supportive of your efforts?
Vit Jedlicka 43:12
The ambassador of Austria, two days after Liberland was incepted congratulated me for the effort. Austria, a country close to Liberland, showed a very eager interest in Liberland through he ambassador. One of the interesting countries is also a role model for us — Liechtenstein, the wealthiest place on the planet. Prince Hans Adam said that he’s delighted and is looking forward to sitting in the UN together because we are in a similar place in the alphabet. Liechtenstein. Liberland. I would say that was very promising as well. We do now have three recognitions by some UN members or partial recognitions by some UN members. We are able to get stronger diplomatic support. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you which countries these are because we want to make it a surprise when we get a little bit more of them, basically disclose it as a package. We are building an alliance of countries that support Liberland. They want to see it flourish. They’re ready to support it diplomatically and also on the UN ground.
Bob Zadek 44:33
When you interact with other countries typically, because I’m sure you have a lot of contact with other countries or UN members, at what level do you interact with them in their state departments or whatever the equivalent is?
Vit Jedlicka 44:53
Not too long ago, for example, I was at lunch with the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I’m trying to keep myself on this type of level. For lower level contacts, I’m always having our members of government, Foreign Minister, and the Secretary of State actively traveling around the world and meeting their counterparts in order to get the recognition going in. For example, our Secretary of State is on a very important mission next week in Africa, so fingers crossed for us. Our diplomatic mission is getting serious in that part of the world as well.
A Role Model for the World
Bob Zadek 45:38
Have any other countries looked at your constitution and asked you to help them move in the direction where you are already at? Have people expressed an interest in the theory of government that you’re expressing? Those countries have other role models — the West and the large free market, relatively free market democracies. Have you been asked to assist them in reorganizing their system of government to approach a free market system. In short, have you become a new shining city on the hill for other countries that are less far along from our point of view or freedom?
Vit Jedlicka 46:35
We’re always asked about our ways of governance and our brochures to explain it well. We’re planning to run our business. I think we’re a little bit far ahead from other regular countries. Whatever we’re making, we’re making it open source. Anybody will be able to take that code, take that blockchain, take that constitution, take all these ideas associated with it, then copy paste it and potentially also start another country or try to implement some of these things into their own constitution. The best way to change something is to lead by good example. When we manage to get Liberland fully operational, that will be the best way to inflict some positive change in other countries.
Bob Zadek 47:27
You have 600,000 citizens around the world. I’m focusing on around the world. Is there any systematic way that 600 citizens of Liberland around the world can find each other? Do they meet? After all, they have lots in common even though they live all over the world. What is the unifying force that brings the 600,000 people together, so they can at least know each other and they can talk about issues they have in common?
Vit Jedlicka 48:08
Luckily, people are other representatives. If you go to liberland.org, you are able to easily find who is representing Liberland in each country. We actually have a couple consulates in the United States. I think we have 12 now. There are people that are responsible for pieces of the country. They’re also responsible for putting together meetups. We also have our e-residency app, which allows you to see where the Liberlanders are around you. The third way is Liberland has a forum where citizens and residents can openly discuss. That is forum.liberland.org. Whoever becomes a resident can actively open up the debate over there.
Bob Zadek 48:53
There are lots and lots of meetings around the world, where countries are invited to participate — large meetings, small meetings and the like. Have you gotten to the point yet when you are also invited to send the representative to these meetings?
Vit Jedlicka 49:32
Yes, there are multiple of these events. Not too long ago I was in Mexico speaking right at the same panel or at the same place like the president of Georgia, Zourabichvili. I went to these high level events where Prime Ministers are meeting. I’m actually a frequent attendant to these. Right now I’m heading to Dubai for this high level meeting. It’s called dubaisummit.org. It’s organized by Ritossa Family Office. I can tell you, many ministers, ambassadors, and potentially also heads of states are coming there to present.
Bob Zadek 50:21
My goal was to help our audience and all those who subscribe to my podcast understand you are truly functioning in many ways, as a country. You have worked very hard and very effectively to get from a theory, which existed only in your brain, to a country that carries on many, many, many of the functions of every other country, and you are moving in exactly the right direction in all those areas. It is fascinating and is with great encouragement, that I hope you continue that path because it’s quite dramatic. Now tell our friends how they can become citizens or at least get on the list to become citizens and how they can follow your work and the growth of Liberland.
Vit Jedlicka 51:28
It really just takes a minute or two to sign up for the e-residency. You just go to liberland.org. You fill out a short questionnaire, and we get to know how you can best fit into what we are doing as well. If you become an e-resident, you actually go and you get an interview with one of our staff. Also, please visit us on our anniversary or on our Floating Man Festival, two great events that are taking place in Liberland.
Bob Zadek 52:03
Thank you so much, Vit. Lots of luck for your continued growth and success. You’ve done a magnificent job so far, and every reason to think is going to continue. Thank you so much. This is Bob Zadek ending an hour with Vit Jedlicka, who is the president and founder of Liberland. Thank you so much. Thanks a lot, Vit and all my friends out there for spending a little time with us this Sunday morning.
LINKS:
- Liberland (@Liberland_org) / Twitter
- Liberland.org
- Francisco Marroquín University: How to Build a Country from Scratch in the Twenty-first Century
RELATED SHOWS:
- Floating Island Project: French Polynesia with Joe Quirk, Feb. 12, 2017
- Joe Quirk on Seasteading 3.0, Aug. 21, 2015
- Seasteading with Patri Friedman, Sept. 13, 2009 (11 years ago!)
- Mark Lutter on Proprietary Cities, Aug. 21, 2016
- Michael Strong on Creating a World in Which All Humanity Flourishes, Sept. 17, 2017
- Vít Jedlička on Founding Liberland, Aug. 9, 2015
- The End of Nation-States? With Mark Lutter, June 29, 2018
