Over a month ago, I published an article about the exciting journey of two Bitcoin entrepreneurs who were attempting to start the first major seasteading community in international waters off the coast of Thailand.
Now, the peaceful couple faces a possible threat not only to their vision but their very lives.
According to a report from Fox News, “Thai authorities raided a floating home on Thursday in the Andaman Sea belonging to Chad Elwartowski and Supranee Thepdet, known as Nadia, who sought to be pioneers in the ‘seasteading’ movement which promotes living in international waters to be free of any nation’s laws.”
Elwartowski published a post to his Facebook page (which has since been taken down) telling his social media network, “Thailand wants us killed.”
“Hunting us down to our death is just plain stupid,” Elwartowski wrote, “and highlights exactly the reason someone would be willing to go out in the middle of the ocean to get away from governments.”
He continued stating, “We never had any ill intentions and I even state plainly several times that I would not want to be a citizen of any seastead nation that would have me.”
The seasteading movement, which seeks to fight for the rights of individuals and communities to live on habitable platforms in the open ocean seems not to have shown the dark reality of the cost of attempting to live free in an unfree world.
This secessionist mindset of self-determination is growing amongst people across the political spectrum, from hardcore libertarians to climate change-fearing progressives who want an attempt to live lives on their terms.
Marc Clair, the host of the Lions of Liberty podcast, wrote a piece a while back regarding the self-determination views regarding secession from an Austrian economics perspective. Clair summarized, “If all associations should be voluntary, then logically any person or group of persons who no longer wishes to be associated with another group should be allowed to peacefully secede from that group. The aggressor is not the seceder, but rather the ruling entity that uses violence to halt the secession.”
As of now, the couple is reported to be safe and unharmed, however, Fox reported that “Thailand’s navy said the couple’s outpost still endangered national sovereignty, charging them with article 119 of the Thai Criminal Code, an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death.”
As of now, the situation has been requested by law enforcement to be reviewed by Thailand’s attorney general since the ocean home was legally in international waters.
This shows that unless people are free of the violent nature of government, peaceful and self-determining individuals aren’t even safe where the government of any nation has no legal authority.
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