Meta-Sealand
July 13th, 2005
Some of you may know about The Principality of Sealand, a mini-nation whose territory consists of an anti-aircraft platform off the coast of England. Ruled by a “Prince Roy”, their main (read:only) business is running offshore servers, and at one time the exiled government of Tibet was one of their clients.
Interestingly, a Dutch design research project called “Meta-Haven” is re-thinking Sealand’s national identity. As part of the project, they organized a conference called “State of Emergency”, where Slavoj Zizek was one of the speakers.
Link to “State of Emergency” page.
A good summary of the project can be found here.
Popularity: 3% [?]
July 14th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
Has anyone read “Cryptonomicon” by Neal Stephenson? He talks brings up this very idea. I wonder if he was inspired by Sealand or vice-versa?
July 15th, 2005 at 10:54 am
So turns out Cryptonomicon was published in 1999, while Sealand first formed in 1967.
But it’s also true that there were plenty of other people claiming lands as indepedent soverign nations before Sealand, particularly in the 1960s and 70s.
Although, admittedly, Sealand seems to be the only one still around. Perhaps they are unique in that they seceded not in anarchy but by finding holes in the rules and, thus, effectively demonstrating how rules can weaken a country.
July 15th, 2005 at 10:59 am
p.s. Sealand makes their own coins! way cool!
also brings up the question: what exactly makes a country a country?
Recognition by other countries or by the world’s media outlets? Currency or an active economy? Are our national boundaries set only by where our’s ideas start to differ from our neighbors?
January 14th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Well, I think this is a country by de-facto status, also they claim legitimacy because another country (germany?) once sent a representative to negotiate with them. Google it to read more.
June 9th, 2006 at 10:21 am
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