Free Lithuania
| Conventional short name: | |
| Local: | Lietuva (note - Lietuva means Lithuania and that is the official name; when the locals want to make distinction from Lithuania in Europe, they says "Laisva Lietuva" (Free Lithuania) |
| English: | None |
| |
| National motto: THE MOTTO! | |
| Languages: | |
| Official: | Lithuanian (Antarctic Lithuanian) |
| Others: | Lithuanian (Reformed Lithuanian) |
| Cities: | |
| Capital: | None |
| Largest: | Voldemaravas |
| Other: | Smetoniškis |
| Leader: | Mindaugas Raginis (he rules only in theory, he would supposedly come into rule in case the rest of Lithuania would be attached to the Free Lithuania) |
| Area: | AREA |
| Population: | 2700 Lithuanians |
| Independence: | from Lithuania |
| Declared: | Not declared (de facto independent) |
| Recognized: | 1951 |
| Currency: | Litas |
| Organizations: | None |
Free Lithuania is a state in Antarctica, it was formerly known as New Lithuania; estabilished originally as Lithuanian colony during the interwar.
Geography
There are two towns in the state, Voldemaravas and Smetoniškis, named after Augustinas Voldemaras and Antanas Smetona, interwar leaders of Lithuania. Due to harsh conditions, there is no rural population. Both towns were established at about similar time (Smetoniškis was established later).
The temperature in the towns goes up to +5 degrees Celsius in summer and down to -30 degrees Celsius in winter.
Politics
Technically, Free Lithuania is a confederacy with both towns actually being quite independent of each other; but due to similar views of people, and with those having different views leaving the country (or being forced to leave) altogether, actually very few things differ. In 1942 a system of direct democracy modelled after ancient Greece (to some extent) was set up; that was possible due to towns being small and was favoured by locals as most of them had similar views anyways (war refugees during the Second Great War were mostly considered non-citizens (unless they passed certain citizenship requirements) and therefore had limited voting rights). People of Free Lithuania generally believe their system to be the most modern in the world.
Each week and on special occasions the community meetings are held (called the "city council", consisting of all inhabittant citizens); this is declared by the sound of sirens calling everyone to the meeting place, usually at the pagan shrine. Due to it being impossible to leave the town, unless you'd be in the other town or outside the country (which is rare, as Free Lithuania is poor and remote), and the fact that most of Free Lithuania inhabittants are politically motivated, most people usually attend. If the meeting is held at both towns at the same time (so-called "state council"), then a radio transmitting is done from one town to another so people could hear what is talked about in the other town as well. Decitions are done by the majority of votes. Some people are elected during these councils to watch over the day-to-day issues but they have limited powers without agreement of the council and they can be removed from power at any time should the majority of council (in fact, the majority of citizens) demand that. The city council also serves as the court (but major crimes are very rare in Free Lithuania). This policy has been criticised by foreign powers however, as there were instances when some people were supposedly exiled from the country mainly because they didn't get on well with others, rather than because of actually breaching the law. Also the people who are considered to be a burden on the state, such as the mentally disabled people, when born, are usually sentenced for death (as people of Free Lithuania refers to it, "put down") by the council.
Another key ideal of Free Lithuania is "neocapitalism", where everything is a private property (some neocapitalist ideologists suggest that the state should become a private property itself and shares should be issued instead of equal voting rights to every person, but due to the fact that Free Lithuanian society is very egalitarian anyways (actually, almost everybody is relatively poor, mainly because everything costs much in such a far away place, therefore even when having relatively much money it is possible to buy much less things than you could in Europe for that money) this view is unpopular). Generally, as there is no army, no courts, nothing is a state property in Free Lithuania. The order is kept by a neighborhood watch system. Also, each person is required to serve some ammount of time to the state; this is not paid for as the towns have no money themselves, but is a requirement to keep the citizenship (similarly, there is a requirement to have a working weapon). This serving can be done by doing various elected jobs, checking ships so alcohol and drugs would not be brought in - depending on what a person is told to do by the community, which depends on what he wants, what he is capable to do and what he could be entrusted to do.
As there are no jails, there are several possible punishments in Free Lithuania, for example fines, increased time of community service (mainly on worse jobs). If the council, after hearing the defendant, the accusators and seeing evidence (and after hearing comments of other people who wants to comment, as all the city inhabittants are in the council) decides so, the citizenship might be taken away from the person; then he is forced to leave Free Lithuania in 10 days (the maximum time for which tourists are permitted to stay also) or else is exiled (left somewhere inside the continent, where death of cold is imminent). The last form of punishment is the capital punishment that is usually done in the main square of town by a firing squad of those who have to serve the community this way (usually those who are sentenced for doing that). Citizenship is usually revoked for not doing the required duty time or, in rarer cases, never carrying a weapon, as well as for the people who disagree with the political views of the majority (usually the punishment is applied only after a long time of such activity) or, for example, drinks alcohol. Capital punishment is mostly done to the "unfit people", who includes those having mental retardness, also handicapped people sometimes (under the pretext that "They are a drain for the society"), criminals. Corruption (taking money while in community service, for example to allow alcohol to be shipped in while serving in customs) is usually also punished by revoking citizenship or in some rarer cases death penalty.
Most of Free Lithuania population own guns as the attitude towards them is one of the most liberal in the world (in fact, having a working gun is a requirement of citizenship). This is seen as a guarantee of security in streets and elsewhere (people carry guns publically displayed; this supposedly should detract any robbings, muggings, terror acts or such) as well as a guarantee of freedom, as Free Lithuania has no regular army. However, recent event in Smetoniškis, where an apparently insane person started shooting in street, killed one person and injured another three before he was shot himself by bystanders, made some to question these attitudes.
Anyone who speaks Lithuanian can apply for the citizenship of the Free Lithuania (officially called citizenship of Lithuania); in that case he or she has to live in the country for 6 months and then the city council decides whether to grant citizenship or not.
There is no social security system (there are no old age pensions; people either work until they die, or are supported by relatives under old age; however average age in Free Lithuania is relatively low). There are only private schools and clinics; schools are mostly vocational - they prepare students for some particular job, such as fishing or a job in tourist industry, rather than to general knowledge but now general knowledge schools were opened too. Clinics are inadequate for serious diseases however and people who gets them usually does not have enough money to go to seek treatment elsewhere. Euthanasia is legal.
It is assumed that about 60% of people born in Free Lithuania eventually emmigrate elsewhere (some other people, mostly Lithuanian nationalists, moves in however, but the net migration rate is still negative). Some consider even these statistics to be conservative.
Free Lithuania claims that it is a direct descendant of the interwar state of Lithuania, and that the Lithuania-proper is now occupied by Veneda. Free Lithuania claims whole territory of the former Lithuanian state, including the parts of it that are now in Belarus, Skuodia as well as the former Naujojo Vilniaus apskritis which is now primarilly in Chinese East Africa and Maasai. The so-called government of Lithuania exists in Free Lithuania, which actually has almost no power inside Free Lithuania, but would supposedly take power in case whole Lithuania would be liberated. This government is financially supported by some Lithuanians living abroad.
Free Lithuania is widely considered to be a rogue state, especially in the Republic of the Two Crowns.
History
Free Lithuania (by the name of colony of New Lithuania) was established according to the Colonial program of Lithuania in the interwar. It was the third colonial initiative of Lithuania after self-rule areas in Tejas and colonization of Maasai.
After the Famine of 1936 greatly weakened Naujojo Vilniaus apskritis (Maasai) and with the worsening international and domestic situation (First Slavic Uprising), the Smetona's government of Lithuania became increasingly desperate; it was quite clear that in case of war, Maasai wasn't a good place to retreat, a clarity reinforced by the revolt of the Maasai that same year. Kazys Pakštas was murdered in December of 1936 by Belarussian militants, and the planning of a new colony fell to the leadership of Lithuania themselves, who had proven themselves poor leaders since they came to power. It was decided however, that in order for colony to succeed and to establish a new center of Lithuanian culture, an uninhabited place must be taken, so as to avoid any conflict with local inhabitants. Only large uninhabitted and unclaimed areas still left were in Atarctica.
Following brief research the decision was made to build the towns in this colony using the labour of prisoners, many of whom were Snorists arrested during the Slavic uprising. After arriving to Antarctica, many of those people died due to the harsh conditions. Pictures of the colony with its harsh working conditions were taken secretly and later used as further fuel for the SNORist propaganda machine against the Lithuanian government.
Called New Lithuania, and the first settlement - Voldemaravas, after the Lithuania's minister of foreign affairs, the colony was started in 1937. The second city was completed about 6 months later and called Smetoniškis after the president. Smetoniškis was to become the administrative center of the area. After the infrastructure was built, the colonisation started very reluctantly in 1938, despite the money promised by the government to the settlers. In early 1939, only several hundred of people lived in Voldemaravas, and only about 70 in Smetoniškis. The propaganda of the government suggested that there was oil in Antarctica which would soon be found. Claims of research by a Lithuanian geologist to support the idea of Antarctic oil were not well received and the promises of safety in the Antarctic colony did not speed the population of the New Lithuania either.
In the case of this colony, the government was reluctant to forcibly ship its people there aside for construction purposes, and instead wanted to make it an enclave of Lithuanian nationalism, the very ideology that was facing a down-turn in Lithuania itself. Plans to build additional cities in Antarctica, all of which were to be named after Lithuanian leaders, were shelved. The creation of this colony created friction with other nations claiming portions of Antarctica, most noteably the Scandinavian Realm. This ill-feeling was compounded after the Scandinavian Realm gave asylum to a group of Slavic workers who managed to cross Antarctica and rescued by Scandinavians. Their stories of harsh treatment and conditions kindled a strong reaction against New Lithuania.
New Lithuania was used in nationalist propaganda and was common on posters seen in Lithuanian cities in the late 1930's, often captioned "Lithuania - stretching from pole to pole", accompanied by a picture of happy Lithuanian farmers or workers in either continental Lithuania, Lithuanian lands in Africa, the autonomous zones in Tejas, or New Lithuania. This propaganda did not improve the support for the government however, as the majority thought that money sent to New Lithuania was a waste. Supporting the colony became increasingly costly as the years went by. The need for day-to-day materials were quite costly to transport over such long distances.
The propaganda was undermined further as word of the working conditions the Slavs faced came to light. The promised wealth of seal hunting and oil were not realized, as fishing rights were hotly contested by the Scandinavian Realm and the neighboring countries of South America, and there simply wasn't the population to maintain such industries.
After Lithuania was occupied in 1939, many of Lithuanian leaders fled to the New Lithuania. As well, many of the nationalists who would have been persecuted in case they remained home went there too; these people also did accuse the people who fled their homeland for foreign states of being unpatriotic, and assumed that they themselves would come back and rule Lithuania once again after it was liberated. Some Latvians and other eastern European nationalities also fled to New Lithuania. The immigrats were largely people from upper social classes as the cost of living in New Lithuania was high and therefore evacuation for Naujojo Vilniaus apskritis was preffered for the masses.
The population of New Lithuania quickly increased from several hundreds to several thousands, but this did not make trouble as the cities originally were planned for about 2500 residents each. New Lithuania was supported by rich Lithuanians from Tejas and elsewhere, and also started to practice seal hunting despite of protests from other countries. At first, the leaders, who were still considering themselves to be leaders of whole Lithuania, did not want to do any work and this led New Lithuania to have a huge government machine (almost of the same size as the government of interwar Lithuania). This made the dissatisfaction to grow and the government was deposed by people in 1942. The new government was formed and it was styled "temporary government", to work until Lithuania is liberated. It was much smaller and consisted only of a few people. A new constitution, known as the Temporary main law for the rule of New Lithuania, was adopted, which estabilished the concept of direct democracy, for the first time since the the classical antiquity. This was possible as both towns were small and so all inhabittants could meet at a single place to do decitions. Also, this was not very risky for the government, as a strong majority of inhabittants were Lithuanian nationalists anyways. The direct democracy more or less removed the disconent which was felt by the former rulers of Lithuania after they were removed from power.
New Lithuania continued to exist; after Lithuania was recreated as part of RTC however, it refused to join it and seen it as a Venedic occupation. The 1951 law of Lithuania inside RTC that delimited the boundaries of Lithuania and did not mention New Lithuania to be a part of the country is generally seen as a recognition of independence for New Lithuania (which was never declared). In the 70s New Lithuania changed its unofficial name to Free Lithuania (although the official name for the whole area claimed by Free Lithuania, most of which the country does not control, is refered to as just "Lithuania"). Free Lithuania still sees itself as the "real" Lithuania; Lithuania finds Free Lithuania to be too weak and too useless to be worth doing anything about it however. The ammount of inhabittants is decreasing however as youth generally does not want to live in this remote place; many young people chooses to emigrate to Lithuania; however, there is a reverse process too - some nationalist Lithuanians, after loosing hope that Lithuania would leave RTC, emigrate to the Free Lithuania. The population overally gets older over the time however.
In 1999 the controversial film Chronicles of Empire Long Gone was most likely filmed in Free Lithuania.
Economics
Currently in Free Lithuania there are about 2700 inhabitants (1700 in Voldemaravas and 1000 or so in Smetoniškis) and seal hunting are most important sectors of economy. Non-fish food and other things needed for day-to-day life are usually imported from South America and Africa and they are several times more expensive in Free Lithuania.
Since year 1995 Free Lithuania started to issue its postage stamps. Previously one had to pay the postman who would ensure that the letter would reach destination by putting it on the right ships and paying the sailors. The tourists however were frequently inquiring the people of Free Lithuania about local stamps and therefore it was decided that issuing the stamps would be profitable. The stamps of Free Lithuania are now quite popular among the phillatelists of the world and provides the country some revenue.
The numbers of tourists were never very impressive due to high costs of trvaelling there, bad image of the country and other reasons. However 15,000 visitors a year is quite a large number for a country of 2700 people. Tourism was developed as a key industry immedietly after the end of the Second Great War when most of the refugees left the country and the funding from Lithuanian emmigrants decreased sharply. While Free Lithuania never managed to attract as many tourists as the Antarctic Dependency of Scandinavian Realm it certainly has what to offer. Firstly it is a neocapitalist society that is quite unlike all other countries of the world and this draws neocapitalists; secondly, many Lithuanians come to Free Lithuana to visit relatives, the places where they or their parents took refuge during the Second Great War or as tourists. The place is definitely of interest for Lithuanians for historical and cultural reasons; it is the only place where Reformed Lithuanian is used as a vernacular for example and the place where many prominent Lithuanians took refuge during the Second Great War. Besides the "Feeling of Antarctica, neocapitalism and interwar Lithuania" Free Lithuania also has some tourists attractions to offer such as the Antarctic manors, expeditions inland and the "refuges" outside the towns where tourists are able to spend several days or even weeks alone.
Museums of Free Lithuania (Voldemaravas museum and Smetoniškis museum) are also famous for their collections. They include some Lithuanian national treasures that were evacuated during the Second Great War. The library sections of the museums are rich in old Lithuanian books that were evacuated from the national library in Vilnius. Also the Voldemaravas museum has an impressive art collection that includes works by world-famous painters. The sources for that collection also are the Second Great War evacuation. Several rich people who evacuated to New Lithaunia took their most valuable possesions with them which went to the museum after their deaths. In addition to that a couple of Lithuanian art collectors supportive of New Lithuania donated their collections to Voldemaravas museum later. The collections of museums in Free Lithuania causes a stir frequently as Lithuanian authorities believe that all these collections, especially ones evacuated from Vilnius museums and libraries, should be returned to Vilnius. Also, some people criticises Free Lithuania becase supposedly the conditions in its museums are not good for preservation of the exhibits.
Foreign relations
In 1939-1942 the country conducted foreign relations and was recognised by foreign countries (primarilly the Allies) as Lithuania and following the change of government in 1942 the situation continued as the deposed government of Smetona was still considered to be government of Lithuania while direct democracy was called to be a temporary solution for internal affairs. After the establishment of the Republic of the Two Crowns in 1949 it was immidietly recognised by the signatories of Treaty of Visby hence dropping the recognition of the government in Voldemaravas by the countries that still recognised it at the time. Most of the world's countries followed suit in the upcoming years. After Lithuania denounced claims on New Lithuania in 1951 some countries such as Scandinavian Realm (Antarctic Dependancy of which bordered New Lithuania) wanted to establish diplomatic ties with New Lithuania as an independent country but New Lithuania requested to be recognised as the government of whole Lithuania.
Free Lithuania however established a network of envoys in foreign countries. These envoys are mainly local Lithuanians sympathetic of the goals of Free Lithuania but unwilling or unable to move there for various reasons. The envoys work without salaries and usually have other jobs as well. They are considered to be citizens of Lithuania (by Free Lithuania), but their place of residence which is written in passports is not Voldemaravas or Smetoniškis, therefore their possibilities to take part in local affairs of these towns is limited. The envoys are able to issue visas for tourists, they guard the interests of Free Lithuania, support the idea that Free Lithuania is real Lithuania and do some other duties. The envoys however are not officially recognised by the receiving countries as such because they have no diplomatic ties with Free Lithuania, but they are tolerated with several exceptions (such as the envoy to Maasai who was deported).
There are no foreign representatives in Free Lithuania.
There is little official or semi-official relations with the Republic of the Two Crowns or Lithuania (of Vilnius). The level of unofficial relations changed over the time. Initially after the Second Great War New Lithuania was regarded as a part of nationalist past (the country was ruled by anti-nationalist politicians then). In the 1970s when the nationalists came back to power they attempted to reintegrate New Lithuania by suggesting a treaty under which Lithuania would have used its funds to improve living conditions for people of New Lithuania in return for reunification. This was perhaps the most serious such negotiations but it failed. There is a large unofficial representation of Free Lithuania in the RTC however, mainly via Tautos Garbės Brolija and similar organizations.
Sports
Battlegame is considered to be the national sport of Free Lithuania. There are 19 battlegame teams in the league of Free Lithuania (12 in Voldemaravas and 7 in Smetoniškis), meaning that a relatively large part of whole population participates in this sport. Of course, all the teams are amateur as Free Lithuania is too small market for the proffesional teams. Both Voldemaravas and Smetoniškis has battlegame stadiums. For a long time Free Lithuania did not participate in the international battlegame events but it participated in the qualification matches for the European battlegame championships of 1981 and 1987. It took a great deal of negotiations before Free Lithuania, despite of certain protests in the RTC, was permitted to take part in these events. Due to the distance the opposing teams refused to go to play to Free Lithuania and thus the home matches had to be played at a neutral stadium. As the funding of the Free Lithuanian team was very limited it played all its matches in a single month during a single trip to Europe. The reason why Free Lithuania wanted to participate in the European battlegame championship was political one - Free Lithuania considers itself to be the real government of whole Lithuania, and the Lithuanian mainland is in Europe. Free Lithuania failed in the qualification for the 1981 European championship, but it unexpectedly qualified for the 1987 championship. Although Free Lithuania did not win any matches in that championship and only managed to reach a single draw (in a match against Sanjak) the qualification made the International Battlegame Association to believe that the Antarctic region, long neglected, has some potential for battlegame development as well. Therefore the International Battlegame Association decided to start a separate Antarctic championship since the 9th battlegame championship cycle (1994-1998). The winners of the Antarctic championship would not immidietly qualify to the world championship however (as there are very few countries in Antarctica and the teams are not strong) but would have to play additional matches against one of the qualifying South American teams (as the South America is the closest continent to Antarctica). Free Lithuania did not want to participate in the Antarctic championship at first claiming that it is a European country, but IBA understood very well that without Free Lithuania the idea of the Antarctic championship would fail and therefore pressurized Free Lithuania to take part in it by not permitting the country to participate in the qualification for European championship anymore. Free Lithuania won the Antarctic battlegame championship easily both in the 9th cycle and the 10th cycle, but did not manage to defeat the South American team.
Symbolics
Free Lithuania, as claiming to be the true government of Lithuania, uses the offical symbolics (flag, emblem and national anthem) as they were used in Lithuania in the interwar period. The emblem (Vytis) is different from the current Lithuanian emblem by one detail - it shows the Columns of Gediminas rather than the Cross of Jogaila on soldier's shield. This is the version that was adopted in interwar independent Lithuania, as at the time Jogaila was seen as a traitor as he estabilished the union with Veneda, while Gediminas was seen as genuine leader. The flag of Free Lithuania depicts this modified Vytis in a red field (it is similar to the flag of the interwar Lithuania).
The state continues to use the same symbolics (flag, emblem and anthem) as those of interwar Lithuania. In some areas (for example, sports) however Free Lithuania is sometimes unable to use some of these symbolics due to Lithuania being against it. A song "Mano ledinio grožio šalie" (usually translated as "Oh my country of icy beauty" but translation "Oh the country of my icy beauty" is also possible) is sometimes used as a national anthem (officially - regional anthem) then.
| Original Reformed Lithuanian words | English Translation | |
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Mano ledinio grožio šalie!
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Oh my country of frozen beauty!
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This page was created by Abdul-aziz. |
