Art of the state

Francisco Castillo, Iowan and Trump voter, doesn’t want war. Isfahan resident Saman doesn’t want it either. He’s shocked and angry – war is worse than his worst nightmare. But what can they do if their govts are bent upon it? Times like these make you want to throw off the yoke of state and citizenship. As John Lennon sang, “Imagine there’s no countries.” Either that, or have a billion nations. Some constituted as societies of 15 or 20, others as a community of one. No man an island, as Donne said, but each one a state.

Locke thought that was the way we were, before we formed communities for “comfortable, safe, and peaceable living”. Which is the exact opposite of what Trump’s bombardment of Iran, and Iran’s blockade of Hormuz, have achieved. In fact, the short history of nation-states has more blood on its pages than the rest of Holocene, starting 11,700 years ago. Could we fix it by becoming Rousseau’s “noble savages” again? To find out, we can look at “micronations” like Slowjamastan in California. Its only no-nos are Crocs – the footwear – and reply-all emails.

Estimates of micronations – they have no legal standing – vary, but there are at least 45 across the world. A good many were set up this century, while some date back to the 1800s. And while their idiosyncrasies make us smile, they are hardly the noble ideal we seek. Germany’s Reichsburgers, who have their own currency, flag and ID cards, were accused of attempting to “overthrow the state” a few years ago. But racism is their bigger vice. Redonda, the oldest microstate of all, made an English pub its “embassy”, to shield it diplomatically from Britain’s smoking ban. That’s no better than TACO trades. So, we need a better fix for our nation-states. Thomas More’s Utopians had a good idea: they sacked their princes for tyranny.

END OF ARTICLE