Entry into Micronationalism

[Sigrdrífa the Priestess 0]

Your Excellency,

 

May a High Priestess ask when you did become involved in micronationalism?

[Gert Geens 0]

I created Flanders November 29, 1997.

[Sigrdrífa the Priestess 0]

Your Excellency,

 

May a High Priestess ask whether during your days in micronationalism you have ever joined other micronations or you have been a citizen of Flanders alone?

[Gert Geens 0]

I've been a citizen of a German nation for a very short time a long time ago (something that started with a B, but I forgot), and I've been a citizen of Batavia for a few months (or was it a full year?) more recently. In both cases it was during a period when activity in Flanders was reaching low points, not sufficient to absorb my energy. Finally, shortly after the establishment of the second Republic (October '04) I've toyed with the idea of becoming citizen in the Dinarchy, but in the end it never came to be.

 

The few excursions have taught me that becoming a citizen in another nation is not as easy as it seems. There's a lot of history you have to absorb in order to fully grasp whatever is going on, which is quiet difficult if you haven't lived it.

[Sigrdrífa the Priestess 0]

Your Excellency,

 

May a High Priestess ask what you regard as the best day of your time in micronationalism?

[Gert Geens 0]

I'm especially a fan of negotiating, so any time I got to participate in negotiations on coalition agreements or on an international subject, was a good time for me. Of those, the best memories are kept from the negotiations on the very short-lived Confederation of the Low Lands (comprising Flanders, Mayo and Charlotta), as I managed to first of all have our government of the time accept me as a negotiator even though I was in the opposition then, secondly collaborated on the establishment of an institution that to my conviction was beneficial to our nation and thirdly, helped to get it accepted in Flanders despite concerns of the whole confederation being disadvantageous to Flanders.

 

Unfortunately this confederation never really got of the ground, because even now Flanders gained in population from Mayo, I'm sure we could have salvaged more from Mayo, that was over it's best time anyway. And I would have loved to see if my strategy to become the first president of the Confederation would have worked

 

Next, in general I liked the period of 2004-2005 when there were several Dutch micronations, for it made it possible to have positive relations with them, rather than the current almost continuous antagonism between Flanders and Batavia, later on Jingdao. Mind you, this last part doesn't mean that Flanders recognizes the coup of Jonas in Batavia, nor the annexation of Batavia by Jingdao.