The Right Reasons

Just what are the right reasons to build a new nation-state?  What motivates adults to want to uproot their lives and start over?  We believe that history tells us about this and have studyed its lessons.

What lessons does history teach? History shows that governments that are abusive of their citizens or that do not provide the necessities of life or the opportunities to secure those necessities fail. 

Just look back over the last few hundred years:

• 1775-1783: American Revolution - established independence from Great Britain and created the republic of the United States of America
• 1789: French Revolution - one of the most influential socio-political revolutions in history
• 1791-1804: Haitian Revolution - a successful slave rebellion that established Haiti as a free republic
• 1810: West Florida Rebellion - rebellion against Spain by the short-lived West Florida republic
• 1810-1821: Mexican War of Independence - revolution against Spanish colonialism
• 1835-1836: Texas Revolution - established independence from Mexico and created the Republic of Texas
• 1868: Grito de Lares - proclaimation of independence from Spain and the independence of Puerto Rico
• 1916-1947: Gandhi's struggle against the British for Indian Independence
• 1921-1924: Revolution in Outer Mongolia re-establishes their independence
• 1923: The founding of the Republic of Turkey by overthrow of the Ottoman Empire
• 1938-1948: Zionist Revolution - Jewish guerrilla warfare in Palestine leading to the establishment of the State of Israel
• 1945: August Revolution - Ho Chi Minh declared independence from France and created the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
• 1949: Chinese Revolution - chairman Mao overthrows the ruling Nationalist Party and establishes the People's Republic of China
• 1962-1974: African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) wages war of independence in Portuguese Guinea. In 1973, the independent Republic of Guinea-Bissau is proclaimed
• 1962: Revolution in northern Yemen establishes the Yemen Arab Republic
• 1964: Zanzibar Revolution - overthrows the 157-year-old Arab monarchy and declares the People's Republic of Zanzibar
• 1964-1979: Rhodesian Bush War - guerrilla war leading to universal suffrage, the end of white-rule in Zimbabwe Rhodesia, and the creation of the Republic of Zimbabwe
• 1964-1975: Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) conducts guerrilla war against Portuguese colonialism. Independence granted 25 June 1975
• 1967: Anguillans resentful of Kittitian domination expelled Kittitian police and declared independence from Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. British forces retook the island in 1969 and made Anguilla a separate dependency in 1980
• 1971: Bangladesh Liberation War - established the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh
• 1973: Mohammad Daud overthrows the monarchy and establishes a republic in Afghanistan
• 1979: Iranian Revolution - overthrows the Shah, creating the Islamic Republic of Iran
• 1983: Overthrow of the Conseil de Salut du peuple (CSP) in Upper Volta, renamed Burkina Faso in 1984
• 1988-1991: Pan-Armenian National Movement - frees Armenia from Soviet rule
• 1989: Velvet Revolution - overthrows the communist regime in Czechoslovakia
• 1989: Romanian Revolution - overthrows the communist state in Romania
• 1990-1995: Log Revolution - triggers the Croatian War of Independence
• 1992-1995: Bosnian War of Independence

What did these incidents all have in common?  Popular demand for local self-rule.  The desire to not have a faceless bureaucracy dictating every aspect of the life of the individual.  The desire for human rights.  The desire to live free from oppression.

Just as in each of these revolutions, we seek local self-rule.  We seek a measure of Sovereignty.  We desire to live the way we choose.  We desire to do the work we choose.  We desire to live a life more in harmony with nature than at war with it.

There is a way to live with the earth and a way not to live with the earth... we choose the earth.

We seek to build our own community, culture, economy, and government.  We no longer wish to be affiliated with the failed nation-states of the world and would rather fail while attempting something wonderful than succeed living as the slaves of others.