Maybe this just makes too much sense to be practical. Maybe it has been proposed before. Maybe the nations of the world would never let it happen. It just seems to me there are so many people in the world who need political asylum with no place to go. People risk their lives every day to flee Africa to go to the EU; flee Afghanistan to go to Australia; and flee Cuba to find asylum in the U.S. Requiring someone to risk their life in a little boat crammed with hundreds of people is not how we should be treating our fellow man. Once they make it they spend months or years in a dentention center and sometimes get sent back anyways.
Why not raise some money to buy a large uninhabited island or piece of land somewhere and create a refugee friendly nation. Anyone who wants to come can do so.
Sure there will be issues with creating a government, keeping order, and making the nation economically viable. But if so many people worldwide need a place to go so they won't be tortured for their race or beliefs, then couldn't there be a way to make it happen?-- Thread7, Jun 23 2006 Sealand http://www.sealandgov.org/ [tcarson, Jun 26 2006] Nansen Lecture from 1938 http://nobelprize.o...nansen-lecture.htmlThe cozy West seems to have forgotten this basic decency... [ConsulFlaminicus, Jun 27 2006] Baked. United States of America.-- david_scothern, Jun 23 2006 I wanted to say that, but we're not exactly an island, and it wasn't uninhabited when the first refugees arrived.-- xandram, Jun 23 2006 Conventry? But I agree with [david_scothern], that is what the USA is ment to be, even if it isn't a perfect match.-- James Newton, Jun 23 2006 one, the U.S. isn't just letting anyone in right now. stupid screwed up concepts regarding checks and balances and separation of church and state.
two, there isn't really anywhere left that is uninhabited that's big enough for the numbers of people you suggest.
three, the last time someone tried to create a safe haven for refugees on land that was inhabited, we got israel. while i don't have anything against israel as a country i don't think we want to do that again.
i suggest a man-made raft that floats out in international waters. it would have to be fairly large, and have some form of propulsion to avoid hurricanes, but it would solve the idea of uninhabited land. if it moved, it could distance itself literally from countries that seem on the verge of annexation, and it would be an awesome feat of engineering.-- tcarson, Jun 23 2006 /man-made raft/ This was one of the many ideas in "Snow Crash" - some demagogue millionaire had a huge boat, whcih served as the nidus for a whole bunch of refugee rafts and boats moored together to form a floating "island".-- bungston, Jun 23 2006 [tcarson] I suppose then they'd all have the one-up on us if the planet pulls a 'Waterworld' on us if they did exist in some sort of large man-made raft.
I somewhat doubt that this would be viable, mainly because people are, well, people in the dominating, intolerant sense of the word and one group would try to gain supremity over the others. Then there would be refugees from the refugee state.-- froglet, Jun 24 2006 Canada.-- RayfordSteele, Jun 24 2006 Take off eh! Hoser.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 24 2006 well then it negates the whole concept of refugia [froglet]. maybe they need a country that specializes in building these rafts so that when a group becomes refugees from refugia, then they can go get another raft.-- tcarson, Jun 25 2006 I think, not an island, but a free area in an economically an climatically friendly environment would do better.
As the development is very related with the communication and exchange with the people of the developed countries, maybe such open areas in the vicinities of developed countries would make some sense.-- Inyuki, Jun 25 2006 I forgot to ask how we are going to transport all these people to the new promised land.-- James Newton, Jun 26 2006 1957 Chevy trucks with 55 gallon drums welded to the sides. My Cuban associates and I have the market cornered.-- methinksnot, Jun 26 2006 you know, this actually reminds me a bit of Sealand, but on a larger scale.-- tcarson, Jun 26 2006 [david_scothern], I disagree. Being a human being is not sufficient a condition to be able to come to live to the United States of America.-- Inyuki, Aug 10 2007 random, halfbakery