Anthelia

(This article was teased back out of the ozone. It appears to have been written in 2005 or 2006.)

File:Anthelia arms.jpg

Arms of Anthelia

The Republic of Anthelia (pronounced:ant-HEEL-ee-yuh), known in short as Anthelia, is a democratic micronation founded in July 2004. Anthelia is an Anglophone Sector micronation and a member of the Micronational Cartography Society and the Novasolum Treaty.

History

Foundation

Anthelia was founded on 27 July 2004 by John Darcy, an Australian micronationalist with past involvement in the hobby but no other known micronational citizenships. The Republic - it has always been called a "republic" - was established with democratic and pluralistic objectives but with low membership and activity there were two consequences: Firstly, Darcy held de facto autonomous power as "Administrator" and secondly, inactivity saw the fledgling micronation virtually shut down from September 2004 to April 2005. +

Revival

The Republic was woken up on 11 April 2005 by a message of inspiration and intent posted by prominent citizen Koen Nevens. Nevens' energy pushed Anthelia to the attention of other Anglophone micronationsthrough the Micronations.net forums, and this in turn attracted several possible citizens as well as interested foreign observers. Anthelia's profile was also significantly raised at this time through a dispute over its Micronational Cartography Society map presence. This dispute was resolved amicably in duecourse. +

Constitution

The revival sparked by the Nevens Communique of 11 April was indeed - energetic and rapid. By the end of April a draft Constitution was readyfor referendum and the groundwork had been laid for immediate Executive Council elections. Duly, the Constitution was enacted and came into force on 4 May 2005, and John Darcy and Koen Nevens were elected unopposed as the inaugural Executive Council, taking office on 13 May.

The Constitution of the Republic provides for an elected Executive Council to run the nation in everyday matters. The Executive Council can appoint Ministers to assist in this, and Ministers can propose new or amended laws for the control and benefit of national affairs. Through direct democracy, all citizens of the Republic have the right to debate proposed laws and all citizens participate in the vote to approve a law. (The policy of the present government is to establish an elected legislative body at a future time when the population can sustain it). The Constitution also provides detailed protection of individual and general rights, and a number of superior provisions regarding citizenship and other matters to which all normal laws must conform.

Justice is to be administered through courts presided over by judges who will be appointed as the need arises. The President of the Republic is a largely symbolic position, as the President is one of the Executive Councillors and has very few and limited exclusive powers and duties of his own. John Darcy is the inaugural and current President.

Features of the Community

A micronation with less than a year of serious activity cannot be said to have developed a strong individual culture; however, a number of stylistic aspects promoted by the incumbent government give an indication of "national identity".

Firstly, Anthelia is strongly grounded in the letter and substance of its laws. Darcy and Nevens have consistently sought to write laws, executive orders and a Constitution which are thorough, explicit and strong. The possible criticism of this is that Anthelia is legalistic and complicated by micronational standards, but the government's choice + is based on both instinct and training. Nevens is a practising lawyer in his macronational life, and Darcy brings to his hobby a lifelong interest in politics and the law. A micronation headed by these two could not in good conscience be governed loosely by clumsily-written laws.

Secondly, Anthelia seeks to keep its community simulation firmly anchored in "reality". Anthelia's fictional world is set in the same time period as the real world and has no technology or capability which is beyond the first decade of the 21st century. This is notwithstanding Anthelia's choice to be involved in, for example, the MCS fictional world map, which in substance is merely a tool for interaction with other micronations

Thirdly, the combination of lawful order and realistic simulation underpins Anthelia's economic simulation. Economics and money appears,from all reports, to be the weak underbelly of micronations the reasons for this are many and not least of them is the microscopic size of the market which makes economic modeling irrelevant. (Imagine trying to impose the rules of fluid dynamics on a few dozen water molecules floating in a vacuum). Nevertheless, the Republic has enacted laws and established an institutional framework to base its currency, and the monetary sector of its economy, on real-world principles. This is an ongoing source of disagreement between Anthelia and at least one other micronation (Gotzborg) and that situation is still developing at the time of writing.

Finally, it is the combination of a realism-grounded simulation and a monetary economy which is driving, or will drive, the future development of the community. The policy of the government is to encourage and develop new and diverse aspects for the simulation which will assist the community to look and behave like a real-world community. This is, needless to say, a long-term strategy. +

Intermicronational Relations

Anthelia began as a micronation in isolation, although the wider micronational community was known to the founder. The months since therevival have seen Anthelia interact more widely with other English-language micronations (the "Anglophone Sector"). The Micronational Cartography Society more than any other person or body has provided the main impetus for this interaction. By virtue of its place on the MCS map, Anthelia has chosen primarily to seek + discourse and interaction with its neighbours on that mapGotzborg, Natopia, Alexandria, Rio Grande and Lavalon. This is not to say that other micronations have been ignored, but the main focus of diplomacy has been on these few and in particular Gotzborg and Natopia.

It was this regional focus which led to the Novasolum Treaty. A conference was held in May and June of 2005 for micronations which shared the same continent as Anthelia on the MCS map. The aim of this conference at its outset was to seek a mutual treaty for "the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice" there was no intent to create a formal association of micronations and no multilateral policies (such as economic policy) were to be imposed.

During the course of this conference, a related (but separate) project was begun by President Darcy to enhance the geographic details of the micronations involved, and it was from this project that the continent's name "Novasolum" was agreed. In course, the treaty (which was ratified by four of the parties by 8 July 2005) was named the Novasolum Treaty. In August 2005, the Republic was a party to the Treaty of BBC, which is a treaty with the micronation founded on BBC TV in the United Kingdom by King Danny Wallace.

Further Information

The first point of contact for Anthelia is a website, and the forums can be reached from there for a complete picture of the community's day-to-day activities.

An independent media also operates, with The Anthelia Quarterly available by subscription (see information on the forums). Anthelian affairs are also reported in the RIMA Journal and in general discussions on Micronations.net. Citizenship is available to residents of the Republic who fulfill a 10-day residency waiting period, but there are no restrictions on general immigration. Given the importance placed on the now-operating monetary economy, the government has enacted Income Support to provide for those people in Anthelia who do not yet have a job.

Finally

The President is happy to answer direct personal inquiries at president@anthelia.net