Ashraf Abo Arafe
The Newly Declared State of Liberland is Making Headlines all around the World. Thousands of People Want to Become Citizens.
The Free Republic of Liberland was declared on Monday 13 April. A day later the founders issued a Press Release that a new state has been established in Europe. By the next day the news about foundation of Liberland was read by people in media almost all around the world.
“We have been dissatisfied with our government. It takes money out of people’s pockets and sends it to rich oligarchs through the system of subsidies. Elections cannot change this because the media are now under control of the oligarchs. So we decided we want out. We decided to start a country of our own in Terra Nulius. In No Man’s Land,” explains the President of the new state, Vít Jedlička from Prague, the Czech Republic.
Czech Republic, USA, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monte Negro, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Russia or Turkey. These are some of the countries where media inform about foundation of Liberland. Most of the news reports are based on the original Press Release which was published on the official website of the new state in Czech and English. Media in the Balkans also spend more time on explaining the territorial issues in the area where Liberland was born. Extensive news reports about the establishment of the new country were published in Turkey.
During a single day, Wednesday 15 April, the official Facebook page of Liberland obtained 10 thousand new fans. According to the latest info more than one thousand people have applied for citizenship already and over 6 thousand people registered with the website of the state. Croatian portal Dnevnik.hr even published a story about two local men taking photo in front of the flag that the state founders had hung there on Monday. The President Vít Jedlička said that this huge interest of the media came as a total surprise. In a detailed interview for the Czech journal ParlamentníListy.cz Jedlička discussed the prospective process of building internet access and other infrastructures in Liberland. The Fan page of Liberland even appeared in the Russian social network Vkontakte. Liberland already has its page on Wikipedia in seven languages.
