North American Secessionist Convention
On Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008, Manchester New Hampshire played host to the Third Annual North American Secessionist Convention. This event, organized and sponsored each year by the Middlebury Institute, brings together delegates of secessionist groups from throughout North America to exchange ideas, engage in networking, and promote the idea of secession to attendees and the general public. Attendance is free, and delegates are treated to a closing banquet, courtesy of the Middlebury Institute.
The convention was held at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Manchester. The inaugural event took place in Burlington, VT in 2006, and last year’s event was held in Chattanooga, TN. Kirkpatrick Sale, director of the Middlebury Institute and organizer of the annual event, makes a point of referring to it as a *convention*, not a conference, because its attendees are delegates of various organizations, just as the First and Second Constitutional Conventions of what would become the USA were attended by representatives of various states and territories. The Middlebury Institute focuses on the study of separatism, secession and self-determination.
The convention began promptly at 9:00AM with a presentation by Ku Kuakahi, delegate from the Kingdom of Hawaii. The KoH doesn’t seek to secede from the U.S., as the kingdom never voluntarily joined the U.S. in the first place, but rather was forcibly annexed in 1893. The KoH seeks to regain its independence, to be recognized as an independent nation by the global community of nation-states, and to reinstitute its traditional constitutional monarchy.
Kai Landau of the Hawaiian Embassy also spoke about the political situation in Hawaii. The Hawaiian Embassy pursues a strategy of running a shadow government in parallel with the existing U.S. government. It has its own Prime Minister and courts, and members have contested land ownership, attempting to restore land to its rightful owners from prior to annexation. Members have also challenged driver’s license regulations in court.
The next speaker, Larry Kilgore, ran for the U.S. Senate as a Texas Republican on an openly secessionist platform, garnering 19% of the vote in the party primary. This was a significant improvement over a prior run for governor of Texas, also on a secessionist platform, in which Kilgore claimed 9% of the vote. If elected, Kilgore will request permission from the federal government for Texas to peacefully secede from the Union. If the request is refused, Kilgore intends to rely on the international court of public opinion to further his cause; he opposes any use of violence. More information can be found at http://www.texassecession.com/
Keith Humphrey spoke on behalf of the organization Christian Exodus. Originally founded as a plan to encourage Christians to move to the state of South Carolina in order to build up a large enough number to have political clout, the group has since expanded its reach into Idaho and Panama. Approximately 1500 people have signed up so far, and dozens of families have already relocated. C.E. focuses on independence at the family level, promoting personal secession by “getting off the grid”, home-birthing and not registering newborns with the government, local agriculture, home businesses, and alternative currencies. There is no central organization; families that have relocated operate autonomously.
Next on the agenda was Cesidio Tallini, governor of Independent Long Island. ILI is made up of Queens, Nassau, Suffolk and King Counties in New York, as well as a small island in the Pacific. Brooklyn, NY is its capital. Founded in Aug. 2007, the independent nation currently has 16 registered citizens, to which it issues its own passports.
Tom Moore spoke on behalf of both the Southern National Congress and the League of the South. The LoS is a broadbased organization promoting southern independence and publishes its own newspaper, the Free Magnolia. Members of the LoS emphasize self-sufficiency and local food production.
The Southern National Congress, founded in 2004, serves as a forum for all southern states to express their grievances with the federal government; it’s modelled on the 1st and 2nd Continental Congresses. It promotes the concept of withholding consent. The SNC will be holding its first Congressional meeting Dec. 5 - 7, 2008 in Hendersonville, NC. 120 delegates from all thirteen southern states and Maryland are expected to attend. Moore discussed some successful historical precedents for peaceful secession from imperial control, including India, Ireland and Scotland.
The Alaskan Independence Party was represented by Dexter Clark, its Vice-Chair (Clark’s wife, Lynette, is party Chair). Clark issued a formal apology for unwittingly playing a role in the public furor that ensued when inaccurate stories of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin circulated in the recent Presidential campaign. Apparently, Clark had erroneously stated at a previous convention that Sarah Palin had been a member, and his speech was recorded and posted on YouTube. Political hacks then went so far as to create a false website, claiming to represent the AIP, and prominently featuring Sarah Palin on its homepage. Clark wished to set the record straight that Sarah Palin has never been a member of the AIP, although she has addressed the organization and her husband, Todd, was a member for seven years. Convention attendees were shown a recording of a CNN “expose” on the AIP, in which a reporter visited the Clarks at their home in Fairbanks and a political analyst commented on the party’s official platform and public statements. He proclaimed it “radical”, but “legitimate”.
The AIP is a state-level political party that runs candidates for office and promotes the idea of Alaskan independence with a minimal government. In the recent election, some AIP candidates received more than 4% of the vote, thus deciding the outcome of battles between the two major parties.
Thomas Naylor spoke on behalf of several secessionist organizations from the state of Vermont. Naylor has been involved with the Vermont secession movement for five years, and described it as a loose alliance of four separate organizations: the Second Vermont Republic, the Vermont Commons, Free Vermont and the Green Mountain Brigade. While one of the best organized secessionist movements in North America, 2VR has suffered from public attacks, some anonymous, falsely linking it to white supremacist organizations. Naylor refutes any such claims. The Vermont legislature reportedly contains several closet secessionists, but none who are willing to go public yet. 2VR held its second statewide convention earlier this month, in the Vermont State House of all places.
Dennis Steele spoke briefly on behalf of the Green Mountain Brigade. This self-described hardcore Ron Paul supporter is now encouraging Vermont residents to run for office on a secessionist platform. He also encouraged other convention delegates to come together and combine their efforts on behalf of one secessionist movement (namely, Vermont’s), in order to increase its chance of success. Just one success would serve as a catalyst for the rest of the nation.
For the first time, the Parti Quebecois sent a representative to the North American Secessionist Convention. Marcel Sauvais spoke at length about the history of the party, a political movement which developed in conjunction with a cultural rejection of Catholicism. Although the province of Quebec, with a population of 7.5 million and a land area equivalent to Scandinavia, was dominated by the Catholic Church throughout much of its history, the Parti Quebecois is a strictly secular movement. The party held its first referendum for independence in 1980, which failed in part due to the difficulty at that time of spreading countercultural and anti-federal government ideas. A second attempt in 1995 failed very narrowly; Sauvais believes there was vote fraud and that the legitimate result was that a majority of Quebecois voted to secede from Canada.
Robert Pritchard represented the Republic of Texas. Pritchard seeks to regain independence for the original Republic of Texas, whose territory included parts of what is now Oklahoma. The RoT promotes the use of cantons, as exist in Switzerland today, as well as a “virtual country” approach. There is no reason why government should have a territorial monopoly; residents should be free to choose among multiple governments. The RoT currently claims “a couple handful” of citizens.
Carolyn Chute spoke informally on behalf of the Second Maine Militia (not to be confused with the Maine Militia, a different organization), a loosely organized non-partisan group of pro-gun, anti-big business citizens. Chute, the author of several books, believes that politics grows out of culture. Maine has a unique culture that provides networking opportunities between different interest groups. There’s a very strong food sovereignty movement in the state.
The Free State Project was on the agenda (according to Mr. Sale, three participants had RSVP’ed to represent the organization), but none of those three were in attendance. As the FSP is a New Hampshire movement, there were several other participants in attendance (full disclosure: this reporter is also an FSP participant); Mr. Sale asked if any of them would like to say a few words on behalf of the organization. A man identifying himself only as “William” quickly accepted the offer. William talked about how the FSP is an effort to get 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty and property. According to the organization’s website, it currently has almost 9000 participants signed up, with over 600 already in New Hampshire. William discussed the diversity of strategies used by FSP participants, some working within the electoral system while others pursuing alternate avenues such as civil disobedience. In the recent election, several FSP participants were elected to the New Hampshire state house.
The last delegate of the day was Sebastian Ronin, speaking on behalf of the Novacadia Alliance, which is comprised of the Canadian Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) as well as the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. (Newfoundland is excluded.) Ronin is the former Executive Director of the BC Green Party and now resides in Nova Scotia. He believes that global industrial civilization is rapidly headed towards collapse due to Peak Oil, and that freedom-minded people should prepare themselves for massive cultural changes. The territory of Novacadia currently has a population of 5 million; its three largest cities are Halifax, Manchester and St. John. The Novacadia Independence Party is a brand-new political party that allows citizens of both Canada and the U.S. to join.
The second half of the one-day convention featured a workshop led by Dexter Clark, which presented specific tactics to use to promote the idea of secession. A last-minute addition to the agenda was a presentation by Robert Steele, a self-described “moderate Republican” with strong opinions but no apparent association with any secessionist organizations.
The convention wrapped up with a discussion of a joint resolution to be signed and issued by the delegates of the organizations in attendance. The end result, The Manchester Declaration can be viewed on the Middlebury Institute’s website.
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And if he does manage to get the NH nomination, I will publicly eat my hat. In fact, I will bring an enormous cake, in the shape of a hat, from Frederick’s Pastries, to an MVP meeting, and we can ALL eat my hat. 