A Violation of Sovereignty

We can tolerate opinions. We can tolerate irrelevant and irrational statements. We can even tolerate their very public support for and communication with a terrorist organisation (the A1 National Liberation Front). But Starland has finally crossed the very generous boundaries that my government and I set out. To Starland’s credit, they have kept up a fair chunk of correspondence with A1 fairly rationally and have used mostly diplomatic language, which is more than can be said for some others. However, a number of disturbing falsehoods and misconceptions emerge from this correspondence, in addition to other statements and suchlike published by Starland recently.

Firstly, they strongly deny any allegations of interference in A1′s internal affairs and/or violations of our sovereignty. In case readers do not know what the concept of sovereignty entails, it is a generally accepted definition that sovereignty is the unalienable right for a government to exercise supreme authority, without arbitrary external interference, over a defined geographical area. In micronationalism, as I’ve said before, sovereignty is almost an oxymoron in this context, as, by definition, a micronation cannot have effective sovereignty, because then it is no longer a micronation.

Also for those who are not aware, Starland’s actions towards A1 have included:

• Making an election campaign video advertisement for the National Party of A1
• Constantly announcing their very public and strong support for the terrorist organisation, the ‘A1 National Liberation Front’, who have absolutely nothing to do with foreign affairs whatsoever
• Have constantly accused our government of being “oppressive”, of “inducing terror” and insultingly comparing us to North Korea in diplomatic correspondence

As I mentioned previously, we can tolerate irrational and insulting comments, as we usually simply ignore them, but we simply have to draw a line where a foreign nation becomes deeply involved and begins active participation in our internal elections, and say that enough is enough.

I also wish to address here the irrational stereotype that Starland continues to throw at us, which is that our legitimate government is oppressive, a pure dictatorship and undemocratic. However, we are none of those things.

One only has to take a look at our MicroWiki page to find out that we are far from undemocratic. Our justice & electoral system are fully independent, the very fact that we have free, fair & frequent elections proves by itself that we are strongly democratic, a free and independent media and the People’s Congress, all of which are, in effect, more powerful than the government, and all acts as countermeasures against “oppression”.

As for the rest, how is making a campaign video for a political party in another micronation’s elections not a violation of sovereignty? It’s the equivalent of A1 supporting a (hypothetical) Communist insurgency within Starland, which is obviously a gross and obvious violation of sovereignty. Why is it not the same here?

Lastly, one of the things that is most worrying to me is that other micronations are supporting Starland, in its quest to destroy our legitimate government A1, and prevent the will of the people from taking its due  course. Starland often boasts in correspondence that they have many micronations as “great allies” and “stand behind us [Starland]“. It disturbs me that other micronations cannot see through the folly of Starland’s actions, which, once again, threaten to open the rift again between Left & Right.

In conclusion, I can only say that if these violations of sovereignty continue and if Starland continues to act in this manner, I shall be forced to take further measures to my Cabinet for recommendation. However, as I have indicated to Starland, if they wish to cease these acts, they have only to tell me or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Immigration, and I will immediately withdraw the recommendation. However, I can only wait for so long.

EDIT/UPDATE: I have just become aware of Starland imposing its rule on Aspinburgh, which it maintains is perfectly alright and is no violation of sovereignty. This proves beyond any doubt, that Starland are either grossly misguided attention seekers, brainwashed or politically illiterate (or all three).

Sir. Philip Fish is the Secretary-General & founder of the Organisation of Active Micronations, Chairman of the Most Glorious People’s Republic of A1 and the Chairman of the A1 People’s Party.