The Human Factor…

Possibly the biggest obstacle to the creation of New Atlantis is not the construction or the engineering that goes along with it, but is instead the opposition to any such undertaking by other states.

One only need examine the virtual freeze-out internationally of the relatively peaceful Republic of Somaliland in a part of the world known for its anarchy and violence to realize that the creation of new states is frowned upon in the extreme.

There are also the various other anti-man ideals to contend with. The UN who has overstepped its role as an arbitrator between nation states to don the mantle of global caretaker, claiming de-jure if not de-facto control of all oceans not controlled by specific national entities. The various environmental and ecological busybodies who would think nothing of rallying their illogical forces to put the existence of some marginal aquatic slug or coral over and above the right to life of any who choose to join in this venture.

In order to mitigate this opposition (and others) several things are required.

1. New Atlantis must be established outside of the exclusive economic zone of any nation.
2. The initial construction must be done quickly and in secret
3. We must strive to meet all the defined requirements of a sovereign state as soon as possible
4. We must be ready and willing to defend what we build

1. The discovery seamount chain is approximately 722km (390 nautical miles) from the nearest land (Gough Island) and as far as I can tell, quite outside of the claimed EEZ.

2. In order for some realistic claim to sovereignty actual physical inhabited space must exist. The often maligned micro-nation of Sealand demonstrates that “land” per se does not mean tera firma, only that there must be a space for people to claim. A boat will not suffice, an actual structure connected to the earth must be created. Luckily the seamount is within 6 feet of the surface at its highest point. This means that a large rock or some sort of man made structure can be put on the seamount to establish the “land” requirement. From that point the construction of the polder should be undertaken and progress as quickly as possible.

3. A Sovereign State is a state with a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state.

i. This definition poses certain problems for New Atlantis. First of all the requirement for a permanent population means that at least some of the settlers must immediately become citizens and NOT leave the site. I would imagine that creating a small self-sustaining habitat with the necessities for life, shelter, food and water would go a long way to proving and legitimizing any claim to the area.

ii. Defining the territory could be done with bouys and simple mapping of the seamount itself. This is work that would be required for building anyway. It would also include the establishment of our own EEZ and perhaps necessitate the establishment of a maritime patrol of the area we claim. It is important to note that the Discovery Seamount Chain is comprised of several tablemounts which would provide for future expansion.

iii. The requirement for a government is important and in order to make a reasonable claim to having one we would require a constitution, perhaps codified laws and the people to make it up. Now this doesn’t have to be anything more complex than you would see in a small incorporated village but it must exist and it must be in legitimate control of the use of retaliatory force. I would argue that this would call for people to swear some sort of oath of citizenship, formally acknowledging the state.

iv. The ability to enter into relations with other states might prove problematic but I think it could be overcome. The site is located off the coast of Africa and relatively near to some of the poorest nations on earth. If we were able to sign a contract with one of them for trade so we could buy our essential supplies from them then we will have fulfilled that requirement. Money talks and a state like Namibia needs all the foreign money it can get.

v. As for not being dependent on another state that goes back to the necessity for a self-sustained habitat. It also speaks to our next problem… defence.

4. The fate of the Republic of Minerva shows that in order to succeed we must be willing to fight. Now there isn’t a hope in hell that a group of private individuals will be able to militarily defeat a formed nation, but we have to think outside the box.
1. The first thing should be the use of the media. Once discovered we should begin an information campaign to humanize the settlers to make the people outside of New Atlantis care about this project. There are any of a number of ways of doing this but to speak to our core principles of freedom, liberty and self-determination would be best. We’d need a human face, perhaps a family to represent us to the world. This means we would have to have communications and the ability to reach in some way the web to make use of YouTube, Twitter, blogs, Reason TV, ARI(?) etc. This might mean that we would have support on dry land in some country that could upload and post things for us.
2. We would need to be armed and be willing to fight, all of which would have to be uploaded to the net as well so that people could see for themselves (and hopefully protest) the heavy handed response of world governments.
3. We would need some sort of maritime patrol as stated earlier. This could be as simple as a converted civilian ship to start, in much the same fashion as was done by many countries at the outbreak of WW1 & 2
4. A standing militia would be nice with uniforms and common weapons. All of this military stuff also boosts the legitimacy of our claim to nationhood as well.

Ayn Rand said "Civilization is the process of setting man free from men." well that is what this is all about. But I'm not so naive to believe that they are going to let us be free without a fight.

Well that’s all my ideas on this for now. I’ll write more later.