GEAB 196

REPORT

To gain a better understanding of the ideology and visions of the future held by the great apostles of this libertarianism that reigns in the White House, we went to the tenth anniversary celebrations of Liberland, a self-proclaimed libertarian micro-nation seeking to establish itself on the very doorstep of the European Union[1].

“There’s something going on right now, especially with Donald Trump and Elon Musk literally going to build Liberland in the United States.” Vit Jedlicka doesn’t beat about the bush. In his words of welcome to those who have come to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the nation he created, the President of this City-State leaves no doubt that the new Trump administration is moving in the direction of his ideology. Donald Trump is seeking to mark a historic break with the launch of Freedom Cities[2]. To date, none of these libertarian city-states has managed to make a lasting impact. But with the support of the US government, which is targeting Greenland among other countries[3], that could change and have a knock-on effect.

In this buoyant context, Jedlicka is enthusiastic about the prospects for the evolution of governance: “I think it is becoming a moral obligation to prove to machines that we, as humans, are capable of organising ourselves reasonably before ceding control to them. I see this as another kind of mission for Liberland. To prove that humans are capable of more than building crazy, totalitarian societies that have a high rate of inefficiency.”