I’m the President of the Liberland Settlement Association. We're the first settlers of Europe's newest nation, Liberland. AMA!

Do you guys have decent Internet bandwidth?

Yes - that was established BEFORE toilets :-)

Would Liberland recognize Taiwan, if Taiwan offered diplomatic recognition to Liberland?

Taiwan as in the Republic of China? This is a political question I do not have a mandate to answer on my own, right here and now.

You guys have your own currency?

No - we firmly believe in monetary freedom and competing currencies.

Currently, the most popular currencies are cash Dinar, Kuna & Euro, along with Bitcoin. Some silver coins in circulation too.

What, if anything, will be illegal in Liberland?

This is really the question. Presumably some laws will need to be in place to protect against things like rape and murder that severely impinge on the freedom of another individual.

Of course rape and murder and theft etc will be completely unacceptable!

I hope my answer above is sufficient?

Well - naturally aggression against others and their property!

Furthermore (and here we have a touchy subject) we have chosen to adapt a "minimum international treaties package approach" in order to get recognition, and this package includes select Geneva/UN & EFTA treaties, which do include some anti-libertarian commitments.

Thus one cannot readily expect to see a completely anarcho-capitalist society built completely on voluntarist principles. But we will get as close as possible to this, while still obtaining international recognition for our new nation.

A great many things which is regulated or outright illegal in most of the world, will be perfectly legal in Liberland - and the red tape will be almost absent.

Do you have dank weed?

A liberty minded camp on the Danube, full of youth from all over the world... What do you think? :-)

What is the current state of development of liberland? ie, is it all forest aside from your base camp and that gravel road in the picture you posted?

I'm very interested in liberland, and would consider moving there in the future if there are jobs to be had.

I am right now in Prague, at the Liberland embassy - following a press conference at the Hilton earlier today. Tomorrow I travel to Liberland/The Base Camp.

Liberland, both the mainland and the Island (Liberty Island) is almost completely undeveloped. There are no permanent structures at all (aside from a ruined house from the 80'ties), and no economic or human activities at all, aside from a bit of foresting & hunting.

Most of Liberland mainland is covered by thick forest - and there is a huge polulation of animals, esp. deers and wild pigs. Liberty Island, there the LSA originally settled, is untouched by human hands (outside of our activities).

The Croatians are currently preventing Liberlanders to access Liberland, and even forcefully remove those who are found in Liberland, in direct violation of Int. law. Thus, we have also been forced out of our original settlement.

The present LSA base camp is thus located opposite Liberland on the Serbian side of the Danube. The base camp is complete with community tents, generators, WIFI, field sanitation, homebuilt showers, deep dug fridges etc. Very comparable to a small festival camp.

With direct access to the water front and with a pontoon boat bridge (as well as boats) we use the Base Camp to callenge the Croatians and to send activists into Liberland itself to maintain our claim, and enlist int. support for our cause, while our lawyers work on the legal side of things.

So - Liberland itself is uninhabited, but right next to it, Liberlanders (the LSA) maintain a base camp, much like what you would expect at a remote small festival site.

Does this answer your question?

your base camp and that gravel road in the picture you posted?

Also - you will find tons of pictures from Base Camp here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/811990405553880/?fref=ts

How is it in direct violation of international law?

Croatia has no jurisdiction inside of Liberland. Liberland is provable not a part of Croatia - even by their own admission. Croatia has no right to prevent access to Liberland from international waters in the Danube - nor does it have the right to abduct our citizens from either Liberland or international waters.

Yes, excellent!

Shame about Croatia - how is Serbia reacting?

And I understand it that the base camp is within Serbia, not liberland itself?

Can you speak any more about expectations going forward in the next weeks/months (ie, goals, reactions from countries, etc).

Serbian authorities are very positive about the project.

They initially publicly stated that they did not consider the land on which Liberland was founded, Serbian territory (although they also said they considered Liberland a joke).

Later they started offering Liberland VIPs first class flights - and recently, the Serbian border police has started mixing with our camp site - in their spare time, just because it is a great place to be.

In all I would say that Serbian authorities by now are almost outright Liberland supporters.

Can you speak any more about expectations going forward in the next weeks/months (ie, goals, reactions from countries, etc).

We expect that we will soon see the first smaller (exotic) countries starting to recognize Liberland. ALready several libertarian platform parties from many different countries has pushed for national recognition of Liberland. And we are only getting stronger every day.

Hi Niklas!

What are the steps needed to achieve Liberland's recognition as a sovereign nation by other major nations, the UN, etc?

To be recognized as a sovereign nation, you need:

• An unowned piece of land
• A polulation
• A permanent settlement
• The capability to engage in international relations
• Accept a minimum of treaties between the countries on the "nice boys club" such as the Geneva conventions etc.

Or:

• Nuclear weapons

Hmm, one of those lists seems much shorter than the other!

So I said at our last meeting, but lost the vote :-)

Thanks for doing this AMA! Just wondering what I would need to do in the future if I wanted to move to Liberland from the US and how long from now you expect that to be a feasible possibility?

I think what you're doing over there is amazing and I cannot wait to see how things unfold.

You are welcome!

Well - I have to make it quite clear to everyone. Currently our access to Liberland is challenged by the Croatian authorities, even though legally, the case is very clear - we (Liberland) hold sole claim to the area, Liberland covers.

Once a negotiated settlement with the Croatians have been relaized, all you need to do to move to Liberland is to apply for Visa or citizenship - like any other country. But the process will be far less bureaucratic, expensive and fast.

If you want to move to the base camp NOW - for a longer or shorter period, and help with the work on settlement & recognition/activism, we welcome you. Then all you need to do is to get yourself to Beograd, and contact our LSA camp staff: http://liberlandsa.org/wp-content/uploads/LSA_InfoSheet_Draft_0.2.pdf

I think what you're doing over there is amazing and I cannot wait to see how things unfold.

We rate that there is a very good chance the Liberland project will suceed! This is not a donation scam, nor is it a lost cause. If we fail, it will be entirely our own fault.

I think that Liberland is a fantastic idea whose time has come. I have a concern though about security - if Liberland has no army, how could it defend itself against foreign intrusions? In a perfect world weapons would not even exist. Yet, it's completely realistic that some armed group, whether pirates or agents of another government, decide to invade and steal, damage, etc. Do you have any future plans for a security force of some sort?

We will (at least initially) not be able to defend ourselves against aggression from foreign (neighbouring) nations. At least not militarily.

We do however have provisions in place for a internal security force to deal with violent criminals - hostile private takeovers and similar (or "pirates" as you call it). It is a capable private security force, more than capable of dealing with such threats.

Our defense against agression from sovereign states will however initially rely on alliances, international support - and economic means.

You can ask: how does Monaco, Liechtenstein or Luxembourg manage to defend themselves against their much bigger neighbours? The answer is: by the means I just listed.

Without putting a dampener on things, I think you'll be hard pressed to ever have as much economic leverage as Monaco...

Though if you do secure the F1, let us know.

We see no reason why we should not surpass Monaco in due time.

What sort of accountability mechanisms, if any, would these privatised public goods providers have?

Additionally, would these services be free or paid for by citizens? Where would the money come from if the former, and how would free riding be addressed if the latter?

The Liberland state will have no revenue from income and sales taxes. But possibly there will be land taxes (disputed). Other income is donations and services (passports etc).

There might also be a small citizen fee. And the citizens retain the power to cast off any levy of funds, through peoples initiatives.

Study the constitution on Github.

and how would free riding be addressed if the latter?

Probably expulsion.

How do I go about obtaining Liberland citizenship?

To get citizenship from the Liberland Government, you either apply - but the queue is currently closing on 1/2 million.

More efficient is to join the base camp - and work on settling and obtaining recognition for Liberland. Then you will be given citizenship.

Currently - where is just 102 citizens.

Hey!

Is there anything a regular person like me could do to help the development of Liberland?

Join us! : http://liberlandsa.org/wp-content/uploads/LSA_InfoSheet_Draft_0.2.pdf

Or invest in the LSC: https://www.facebook.com/LiberlandSettlementCorporation?fref=ts