Honestly…

No sooner do we fix the chaos and instability resulting from one attack on Communism, we find yet another, third to be precise, attack on Communism.I mean, honestly guys; do we ever learn from past experiences?

The ICA-Sandun conflict of recent times caused much distrust between the left and right factions of the MicroWiki Community. No sooner had the situation cooled off, we find the circa. 1000 word document by Charles I of Eleytheria vehemently attacking Communism, and starting tensions between left and right anew. This took even longer to fix, and resulted in major upheavals at the OAM, with even its Secretary-General resigning in a flurry of resignations and withdrawals, resulting in no winners. And now, no sooner than tensions have died down between Sandus and conservatives at the OAM & ICA and the controversial Foreign Commissar of Erusia, Robert Lethler, and his party are removed from power in the Erusian elections, we find the newly arrived Kingdom of Starland, pledging to “combat communism/socialism and its spread”.

Do we ever learn? Are we never satisfied with the damage done already to numerous micronations, micronationalists, friendships and organisations? Does this Kingdom have any idea of the implications of this pledge? I believe that the unfortunate answer, for some, to these questions is a resounding ‘NO’.

Now on to the statement and pledge itself, something which is becoming an increasingly, but unfortunate, occurrence for many of us.

The Kingdom of Starland publicly denounces Communism and Socialism, and is very vocal and strong in its position. It is a Constitutional Monarchy and an internet-based micronation, but it does make some claims and has in effect some policies that are quite detrimental to its seriousness, but we’ll leave them for now.

Firstly, we find: “The Royal Government believes these governments are also a threat to democracy and must be dealt with”. Now this statement is typical of statements made by Starland against Communism. What it completely ignores is the fact that many Communist micronations are, in fact, some of the most democratic in the community. A1, for instance, has the purest form of democracy, which the Ancient Greeks used; this being ‘one man, one vote’ in an assembly. We have the People’s Congress, which deals with constitutional changes, referenda, etc, and has the power to remove a government by a Vote of No Confidence. And despite Starland’s hearty and vocal congratulations to the party in Erusia, which voted out the Unity Party (formerly two left-wing Communist parties), Starland fails to take note that the government was voted out. If Erusia had been a totalitarian dictatorship, as Starland seems to believe, no such thing would have occurred, and free elections would not exist. The same applies to A1.

Secondly, we find: “We must contain this virus from spreading [sic] and rid it from nations already living with it.” Nowhere that I can find, does Starland explain its position on Communism, other than it is undemocratic, which I have just shown, is not the case, at least in many micronations.

Starland has also recently founded YAMO, interestingly titled: “The Micronational and International Committee for Peace and Democracy”, which Starland:  “…plans to use the organization to combat communism and its spread”. I shall say no more; enough has been said on YAMOs.

The right and left wing are more than capable of co-existing in micronationalism. However, there is a very small minority who, for some reason that is beyond me, keep stirring up trouble and wanting to bring up the same old and tired “Left vs. Right” paradigm that has been put to rest so many times over in our community. We’ve already had two major ideological splits in recent times, and I wish not to see a third, especially from a micronation that apparently does not know the magnitude of their statements and threats, and refuses to learn from the mistakes of the past.

I sincerely hope that Starland can withdraw its statements and step down from the pedestal of hatred and vitriol, to avoid yet another conflict that could do even more damage than the last two combined.

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