The Pirate Bay’s recent attempts to purchase the Principality of Sealand for some 2 billion USD may have failed in part to both financial and legal considerations but, the dream of a “FreeNation” did not..
The Pirate Bay’s Sealand affair made some people realize the limitations of a country concerned solely with intellectual property laws, and so started a group that focuses on “the actual creation of a new country with a new governing philosophy of freedom where people could actually live.”
Some of the supporters of The Pirate Bays early efforts “…preferred a more practical and realistic idea of a free nation and branched from the community, becoming known as the FreeNation Foundation,” becoming sort of the Protestants of our time.
“The FNF was born out of a Pirate Bay effort to found a country on the micronation of Sealand,” says their site. “The community has grown, we have encompassed new ideals, and we are no longer affiliated with them.”
The FreeNation project is concerned with for far more than simply avoiding intellectual property laws, and has instead focused on “… the actual creation of a new country with a new governing philosophy of freedom where people could actually live.”
From their site:
The FNF, or the Free Nation Foundation, is an organization that aims to found a new society based on the ideals of freedom, equality and sustainable growth.
We believe our current societies are fundamentally flawed and based on wealth accumulation, and wish to create a model nation based on what we believe are the most important ideals.
They noted how Sealand, though sovereign, was too small and aesthetically displeasing to support legitimate thoughts of a sustainable community. The Pirate Bay, backed by their supporters in the online community, started seeking out other options, saying if they did not receive enough to buy Sealand, that they would “try to buy another small island somewhere and claim it as our own country”.
Again there was no concern for a society’s viability, and the The FreeNation Foundation was soon started to take up the issue for itself in a realistic and methodical manner.
They further:
The community grew and attracted many talented people, who set about planning and implementing the project. Soon after the coining of the name FreeNation Foundation a firm base was built to give it weight. The initial aims and goals of the foundation were put into place and work began on finding legal help as well as creating an environment for supporters from all over the world to help with the project.
Today many of the initial goals have been achieved, mainly a structure for the foundation to operate on and the openness for anyone to participate. Work is continuing at full speed to advance the foundation and reach our targets, one after the other.
The the most likely candidate under current consideration is Ile de Caille, an island 3 miles off the northern coast of Grenada. It’s advertised as a 400 acre “..large private island…covered in lush green vegetation…(that)enjoys a tropical climate…(and)is composed of 2 volcanic knolls, separated by a flat plain.
With the avowed mission statement “To establish an ecologically sustainable society that provides the freedom to advance humanity through science, reason and cooperation,” nothing helps to create a utopia more than to be located on a deserted tropical island. Like they say, it’s all about “location, location, location” right?
What impresses me most about the FreeNation project is that it actually seems realistic. Their forums are now a haven for ironing out the tough questions like Law & Order, Politics and Society, Infrastructure & Environment, Economy & Trade, and of course Funding & Public Relations.
The only drawback I see, the island’s 6.5 million USD price tag aside, is that that darn island reminds me too much of the TV show “Lost.” Will the society digress into camps of “us” and the “Others?” File-sharers and non-file-sharers?
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I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
