Interview with King Astrid of Zealandia

Their Majesty King Astrid, known outside of Zealandia as Anna Lindstrom and formerly known as Haakon, is King of Zealandia and Governing Commissioner of the Austenasian Crown Dependency of New South Scotland. King Astrid changed her name from Haakon after announcing earlier this year that she was female, and is the first openly transgender monarch known to have ruled in the modern era. The Austenasian Times has conducted an interview with the King: Austenasian Times: After adopting the name Haakon a few years ago, you have recently asked to be known instead by the name of Anna. Could you tell us about your reasons behind that decision? Yes, I changed my name to reflect my gender identification pretty much after coming out. I feel it reflects my gender more better. You’ve previously identified as “genderqueer” – now, however, you identify as female, correct? Yes, it was a process of working through what was inside my head. What laws does Zealandia have regarding transgenderism? Zealandia has a whole suite of laws for recognition of a person’s gender identity and the right to change gender and name, and to protect from discrimination, including the basic protections given in the constitution and the Gender Recognition Act 2014, which also allows a person to change their documents free of charge. You’re the first openly transgender monarch in modern history, and your change of identity seems to have been accepted by several of those in the MicroWiki community. What do you think this says? It says that the MicroWiki community is far more progressive and accepting of people than the communities outside of micronationalism. Of course there are exceptions such as Trace Fleeman, but fascists and their opinions have never mattered much to me. Have you had much opposition to your change of identity? Yes, both from within my family and from the wider Australian community.  Members of my family have had a hard time understanding my identity, and pronouns are always a problem for them; as for the wider community, I have when dressed in feminine clothing I have been threatened with violence and had transphobic slurs hurled my way. Do you have any plans to undergo surgery to change your appearance? Unfortunately Medicare doesn’t cover any form of GRS [gender-reassignment surgery], so despite wanting to fix my appearance there is no way that I could afford it at the moment or for a long time. However it is important to note that surgery doesn’t make the woman or man. Finally, as well as King of Zealandia you also serve as Governing Commissioner of New South Scotland. You recently made Swedish an official language of the Crown Dependency – is there anything else planned for New South Scotland in the near future? With winter coming in the southern hemisphere, things are starting to get fairly quiet but no doubt I’ll come up with some exciting plans for both the Commonwealth of Zealandia and New South Scotland. Thank you for your time, your Majesty.

Five years of independence celebrated

The fifth anniversary of the Austenasian Declaration of Independence is being celebrated across the Empire with a three-day-long public holiday. The actual anniversary of Austenasia’s founding was Friday 20th, but Independence Day is celebrated today (21st) on the third Saturday of September. His Imperial Majesty the Emperor announced last weekend that a public holiday would be held over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 22nd in celebration of this milestone. Emperor Jonathan I returned home to Wrythe from Roehampton University yesterday on the 20th, having spent the afternoon at Thanasia with Countess Eritoshi of Memphis on the way back. The Emperor appointed her to the ceremonial rank of Augusta by an Imperial Edict, granting her the style of Imperial Highness and making her second only to himself in the order of precedence in the Empire. This morning, Independence Day was marked in New South Scotland with a parade by its Constabulary, an organisation founded by Governing Commissioner Haakon Lindström to enforce law in the Crown Dependency. The celebration was concluded with Mr. Lindström having drinks with the members of the Constabulary. Celebrations continued as Jonathan I this evening accompanied Crown Princess Caroline, Emperor Father Terry and Emperor Mother Margaret to a quiz night at Carshalton Methodist Church with a fish and chips supper, joined by Lord Marshal William and the population of Zephyria and by Lord Michael, Dame Rosalind and Lady Catherine of the Boxall family (the family of the Emperor Mother). Tomorrow, the final day of the independence anniversary holiday, looks set to be a more relaxed day, with no major celebrations planned.

Austenasia gains a Crown Dependency

The Empire of Austenasia has annexed New South Scotland as a crown dependency, expanding for the first time since 2011. Sovereignty over the former colony of New Wessex was given to Emperor Jonathan I by Declan I on 20 January, a matter of minutes after the former ascended to the Throne, but New South Scotland has only this morning been formally made a crown depencency after the Emperor issued an Imperial Decree setting out its system of government. New South Scotland was created in November last year as a colony for New Wessex by Haakon Lindstrom, who has remained the territory’s leader as Governing Commissioner. Instead of ruling in the place of the King of New Wessex, he now rules in the place of the Emperor. The new territory has been made highly autonomous. Austenasian legislation only applies to the crown dependency by the discretion of the Governing Commissioner, or if the legislation itself explicitly states that it does. New South Scotland will not be taxed, does not have representation in Parliament, and will probably have to be responsible for its own defence. Nevertheless, it is a part of the Empire, with the Austenasian government representing it internationally. New South Scotland is an enclave of the Australian city of Sydney, becoming the first overseas Austenasian territory. It is also by far the largest, spanning over 30,000 square feet. The territory was part of a university campus before being annexed by New Wessex. This marks the first territorial expansion of the Empire since Tincomarus Department (in Commius Flats) was re-annexed in March 2011. New South Scotland has no permanent population, but the Governing Commissioner may recruit New South Scottish citizens – while not Austenasian subjects, they will be regarded as holding allegiance to the Emperor.

Crown Prince appointed Acting Chair of the GUM

HIH Crown Prince Jonathan has become Acting Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational in the midst of a controversy which has brought turmoil to the organisation. Controversy over the expulsion of Sandus and Juclandia from the GUM at the turn of the New Year has continued unabated with frequent arguments having taken place until a few days ago over Facebook between Will Sörgel, leader of Sandus, and GUM Vice-Chair Bradley, Duke of Dullahan, who supported their expulsion. Logs released by Haakon Lindstrom of Zealandia point to the expulsion of Sandus and Juclandia having been a calculated decision by Chairman Yaroslav Mar and the Vice-Chair made for political reasons. Some of the published logs show the GUM Security Council at first proposing to offer mediation to the frequent arguments, but Mar interrupting the discussion to propose Sandus be expelled. Lindstrom claims that he was pressured into “removing Sandus and Juclandia as a sort of return for the votes in favour of my election as Secretary of the Security Council” by Mar and the Duke of Dullahan, who he states “did wrong and have to be held accountable”. It has been pointed out that Lindstrom also held grudges against the two expelled nations, but he has since apologised for what he called “disgraceful conduct” and resigned as Secretary of the Security Council. This controversy has not stayed within the GUM. There has been a widespread loss of support for the organisation, with Renasia, Amager and Uberstadt withdrawing. Friday evening saw demands for early elections, and at 14:02 GMT earlier today Chairman Mar resigned, stating that he had “zero rights to remain” in office “after essentially betraying the Quorum of Delegates”. In his resignation statement, Mar stated that he wished Crown Prince Jonathan, who was serving as Supreme Judge, to “pick up the baton” – the Duke of Dullahan automatically became Acting Chair upon Mar’s resignation, but resigned himself 46 minutes later. Crown Prince Jonathan has thus become Acting Chair of the GUM. Quorum will be held tomorrow, in which a replacement Vice-Chair and Supreme Judge will be selected to support the Crown Prince during the rest of the term. Elections are due to be held in March, but it is possible that they may be called forward. Crown Prince Jonathan has served two terms as Chair in the past, both widely regarded as highly succesful – the first saw a revision of the outdated original constitution and a large increase in membership and activity, and the second saw the only in-person Quorum meeting of the organisation’s history and a special 24 Hour Quorum which raised over £80 for various charities. The Crown Prince has stated that, “with the support and dedication” of member states, he will “attempt to oversee the restoration of respect and integrity to” the GUM.

GUM in turmoil as member states expelled

The State of Sandus and Kingdom of Juclandia were yesterday expelled from the GUM after a motion to do so was made by Haakon of Zealandia. Sandus and Juclandia have for several weeks now made known their active opposition to King Quentin and Prime Minister Bradley of the Kingdom of Wyvern frequently bringing up controversial topics in Skype chatrooms such as the GUM Lounge and Micropolitan Lounge. Said topics frequently involve race, with the two Wyvernian leaders having been accused of xenophobia and – in some cases – racism. Wyvern’s leadership has gained a reputation for talking about little other than race or religion, with Joseph Puglisi of Tiana saying that they “relate every single conversation to Islam”. It was due to statements such as these that Sandus, Juclandia and some other states opposed the nomination of Bradley of Dullahan to the position of Vice-Chair of the GUM by newly elected Chair Yaroslav Mar. After the nomination passed two weeks ago, Sandus and Juclandia changed their full membership to observership in protest. During yesterday’s Quorum the Secretary of the Securty Council, Haakon of Zealandia – who was suspended from the GUM in February for unprofessional behaviour and is known for a long-standing feud with Sandus – shocked the Quorum by proposing the expulsion of Sandus and Juclandia for “agressive [sic] and unaccatable [sic] behaviour”. Expulsion from the GUM is an extremely grave sanction, with the only other time it having been utilised this year being in May with the expulsion of the UDR from the community for confessed criminal actions by its founder. Despite protests that Haakon was assuming a role incompatible with the Security Council’s function of promoting peace in the community, “not exarcabat[ing]” conflicts, a motion to expel Sandus passed by a single vote, with the Chair passing the motion before all online delegates had a chance to cast their vote. Haakon then initially asked the Chair to move on, but after accusations of hypocrisy and of acting in the interests of Zealandia rather than the GUM, was pressured into also proposing the expulsion of Juclandia, again passed by a single vote. Later in the Quorum, Austenasia made a formal complaint in regards to the actions by Haakon, reminding him that the purpose of the Security Council is “not to arbitrarily decide who is in the wrong, and it is certainly not to propose expulsions of those who take part in diplomatic conflicts”, and criticising him for not “first trying to solve the issue at hand through negotiation or mediation, as [the Security Council] is obliged to do.” Renasia and Amager both expressed their support and backing for the complaint, and the Nemkhav Federation resigned from the Security Council in protest. In an interview with the A1 News Service, Chairman Mar stated that the “official reason” for the expulsion of Sandus and Juclandia “was for making racist comments and offending the leadership of the GUM”, despite this not having been mentioned at the time of the expulsion. This statement has come under heavy criticism – the only “racist comment” referred to by the Chair is a joke taken out of context by King Ciprian of Juclandia during a discussion about the Moon, with no comments at all claimed to have been made by Sandus. King Adam of Uberstadt stated that “Sandus is the last micronation I would suspect of being racist”. The second justification, “Offending the leadership of the GUM”, has also come under criticism, with Sebastian Linden of Francisville referring to the new Chair as “authoritarian” and an A1NS interviewer noting that it has “implications for freedom of speech”. Haakon has been directed to author a statement fully justifying why he considered it appropriate to motion for the expulsion of two member states instead of taking up the constitutional function of the Security Council to attempt to mediate the dispute.

The sun never sets on the lands of the Emperor

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Phillip II, King of Spain. Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom. Now, Declan I of Austenasia and New Wessex has become the latest monarch to rule lands so extensive that at any time of the day, at any time of the year, at least part of them are in sunlight. The realms of Declan I have been steadily growing since 2010. At present, he is Emperor of Austenasia, King of New Wessex, and Amaşemé (literally “embodiement of Amager”, a mostly ceremonial but technically monarchical position) of Amager. Austenasia is situated in Great Britain, and Amager in North America. Until September, New Wessex like Austenasia was situated only on the island of Great Britain. However, in September it annexed a colony in North America, and on Monday 19th November it acquired a second colony, in Australasia. This second colony has been named New South Scotland, and it is the annexation of this territory which has prevented the lands of the Emperor from ever totally being in darkness. Haakon Lindstrom, president of Zealandia, claimed the territory on Monday morning and ceded it to New Wessex. Lindstrom has been appointed Governor of New South Scotland, which has an area of 31,390 square feet.

“Apocalypse” caused by vodka

System operator of microwiki.org.uk Pierre d’Égtavie admitted earlier today that the reason for MicroWiki being offline yesterday was due to him having “a shot or two of vodka”. MicroWiki, the web-based wiki and forums which are a major focal point for Austenasia’s foreign relations, has hosted a diverse and vibrant community of politicians and diplomats since it was founded in 2005, with Prime Minister HIH Crown Prince Jonathan joining in late 2008. When he attempted to access the site yesterday afternoon, he was met with a countdown ticking away to 15 days, with ominous background music and a heading of “Goodbye”. Contact with other MicroWiki users via Skype revealed that the community was in a panic over what this could mean for the site, with Ultamian leader David Salapa declaring the apparent imminent closure of the site an “apocalypse”. A few hours later, the countdown was replaced with a message from M. d’Égtavie apologising for the inconvenience and announcing that normal site access would resume in several hours. The website is now back to normal, but not before worry and uncertainty spread amongst the community – several users advised others to join them in saving back-ups of articles using Google’s cache system, and administrator Alexander Reinhardt offered to buy the site should d’Égtavie wish to resign as system operator. Earlier today, d’Égtavie informed members of the Micropolitan Lounge chatroom on Skype that he’d “decided that everyone hated [him] and that [he] should close the site” after consuming some vodka – after putting up the countdown, he went to have a bath before returning to find the MicroWiki community in panic on Skype. Sober again, he reassured users that the website would not be closed, and stated that his actions were precisely the reason that he usually doesn’t drink. M. d’Égtavie has since informed users that there are several safeguards against a deletion of the site, including several regularly updated back-ups. Zealandian leader Haakon Lindstrom and Siroccan leader Daniel Anderson have both said they are “disappointed” with d’Égtavie’s actions. However, the Prime Minister has come out in defence of the system operator. Commenting on another news article on the situation, he urged people not to “forget all the hard work M. d’Egtavie has put into the wiki over the past two years – he is an incredibly competent admin, and nobody should forget that because of a single mistake”.