On April 13th 2015, Vít Jedlička had a flag, a pole, three friends and big plans for a patch of Eastern Europe that had slipped through the cracks of international diplomacy.
He planted his bright yellow flag in the ground, called the 7sq km around it “Liberland” and has spent the last year trying to turn it into the planet’s newest functional state.
One year later the self-proclaimed president says there are 400,000 potential citizens for a new Libertarian state, rudimentary diplomatic relations and, crucially, a national beer.
There is plenty he does not have – chiefly the ability to actually get to his country without being arrested by Croatian police.
Liberland is also yet to be recognized by any government. The contested ground sits on the eastern bank of the River Danube, the watercourse separating Croatia and Serbia.
Due to a quirk of cartography, neither nation claims the land. This oddity is what Jedlička and his friends sought to exploit in April 2015 to create “the world’s newest country”.
Serbia seemed not to mind. But Croatian police soon moved in and have been blocking Liberland supporters from entering, saying the land is part of Serbia and not up for grabs.
It seems an interminable stalemate – but in an interview with HeatStreet to mark his project’s first anniversary, Jedlička claims cause to be optimistic.
There are, he says, 4,500 would-be citizens laying groundwork for his state.
Donations in excess of $100,000 have allowed him to tour the world and lobby politicians he wants to back him, some of whom he claims are now on-side.
A new government in Croatia – to date his belligerent neighbor – also gives the exiled, 32-year-old president hope that he will one day return to the spot where he declared his own state.
“My friends and family were making fun of me before I went,” Jedlička admits when discussing his utopia. “They do not do it any longer.”
Before his unorthodox bid to found a new nation, Jedlička was part of a Libertarian party in the Czech Republic. But he soon decided that there was no hope of reforming national politics from the inside – so is trying to start over.
“Everybody asks why create a new state? I say why not”.
“We need more free states, we are running out of them. Even places like Liechtenstein and Hong Kong are under big pressure from governments.”
His idea is to strip away every function of modern government except providing physical security, justice and rudimentary diplomacy. Everything else is left to its citizens.
He says: “We are looking for a minimum amount of international regulations and taxation that would make our country recognizable.
“The freedom not to be taxed is important. You wouldn’t have to pay for the state if you don’t support it, and you don’t have to end up in jail if you don’t pay.
“And people should be free to do whatever they want so long as they don’t harm others.”
The idea is hardly new – but given even a tenuous basis for becoming reality, it caught fire online.
Within days of the flagpole stunt, buoyed by viral news reports, some 400,000 would-be citizens used an online form to express interest in citizenship.
Americans (10,000) and Britons (4,000) were keen.
But the lion’s share of would-be Liberlanders live in repressed countries. Egypt leads the rankings, followed by Turkey – a reminder that many parts of the world do indeed run low on freedom.
To qualify for citizenship, applicants need only have no criminal past and extreme political associations.
Thereafter, it is a case of building up “merit” points by providing some kind of service to the embryonic government – be it coding, design, advice or cash.
According to Jedlička, 4,500 people have begun this process – despite the prospect of actually going to Liberland remaining a relatively distant dream.
What makes a state a state is an interesting philosophical question – but in practice they exist because other countries say so.
By this measure, Liberland remains a figment of a few fertile imaginations.
The nation’s best shows of support so far have come from Libertarian fringe parties and – Jedlička claims – Austria’s ambassador to the Czech Republic and Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein.
In the U.S., a former embassy worker allied with Jedlička has sought support from Libertarian-leaning congressmen like Rand Paul and made the Liberland case at CPAC and FreedomFest.
He will need significantly more than that – most importantly the Croatian government who continue to guard the area.
Hope could exist in the form of a newly-elected government, which formed in January after a fractious election and expelled the previous left-leaning government.
“After the proclamation, the government called us an internet joke”, Jedlička recalls. “Which is kind of contradictory when their police are still there.
“But the new Croatian government is much more friendly to liberty ideas.
“We know we’d have to wait for a new political setup. It’s a more right-wing government –we’ve got much more diplomatic and personal connections in those circles.
“There is nothing I can disclose. But, I can tell, you the situation is dramatically different.”
It is not Jedlička’s only mysterious nod towards support he “cannot disclose” – supposedly including respected government figures in the US, UK and across Europe.
There’s no way to know whether this is bloviating from a man hawking his improbable dream – or whether he has actually captured hearts in the corridors of power.
Naught but time will tell whether Liberland – sketched out as a futuristic Venice in flashy architectural drawings – will ever be more than a patch of swamp.
The first anniversary was marked by a conference not far from Liberland where the “government in exile” met with supporters.
They are a long way from a viable state. But they are also a long way from four guys with a flagpole.
For Jedlička, the case for Liberland remains as strong as ever, and he says he is working 12 hours a day, seven days a week to get there.
“Globally, the trend is going in the wrong direction, almost always.
“In the 20th century taxes have risen from 10 per cent of GDP for almost 40 per cent, 50 per cent in some countries. People are working for the state half their lives.”
“We need to start new places where we can exercise our freedom.”
