Dershowo Musograd
 National Flag | |
| Motto: 'We No Longer Want You Pushing Us' Official National Anthem: 'Musograd Jedna Patrija' Inofficial Anthem: 'All We Are' by Doro | |
| Type of entity: | Micronation |
| Location: | Western and central parts of the Musanian Lands; physical residence in Berlin and near Stuttgart, Germany |
| Leadership: | Adm. Sergej Dimitrijevich Xander, High Commander of the Dershowo |
| Organisational structure: | Parliamentary Republic |
| Language: | Musogradian and English |
| Purported currency: | Common Wallaroo |
The Dershowo Musograd (Dershowo = State) is a quite old micronation and a founding member of the Federated Micronations of the Musanian Lands (FM). Musograd declared independence from Germany on the day of Germany's reunion, 1990-10-03 (October 3, 1990). It has got an advanced industry, both hardware and software. The first software company in Musograd was founded in 1986, Posta tal Musograd issued their first stamps in 1985, and the national home page, www.musograd.org, was launched in 2005. Musograd has started late to develop relations with other micronations. Today, foreign relations are generally managed by its sister nation in the Federated Micronations, the Republic of Capricornia.
The major ethnic group of Musograd is of Western Slavic descent (the westernmost slavic settlement group in Europe) and speaks the Musogradian or Musoka language. Cyrillic letters are currently used together with Latin ones. In the Free Port of Kosnice, English is the main language, and in some parts of eastern Musograd settled by Balanda, German is used.
Government
The Dershowo Musograd is a parliamentarian republic, headed by the High Commander of the Dershowo (a presidential role being regularly renamed). It consists of the 5 oblasts (counties) of Musograd (the capital), Mohuc, Sv. Jelena, Goralnigrad and Phulda and the Free Port of Kosnice. Each year, an election for the single-chamber parliament, the Kuomnata, takes place, usually on October 3, the Independence Day of Musograd. The Kuomnata then elects the High Commander and his cabinet. Sometimes, like in summer 2021, this cycle is being interrupted by a military coup or revolution, but the traditions are stronger, and a new democratic government will be elected after some time.
History
The history of Musograd may be split into 3 major periods - the historic monarchy before 1984, the period from 1984 to 2006, during which the state, through all its changes, strived for rule of all of the Musanian Lands, and the period starting in 2007, in which the Musogradian elite started to accept that the diverse peoples of the Musanian Lands would and could not be ruled centrally. A detailed timeline of the history can be found on the website of the Federated Micronations
As a monarchy under the Royal House of Musograd and the Imperial House of Azkania until 1984, Musograd was a semi-dependent backwater of Germany. After two short and instable years as a bourgeois Republic, the strong communist movement of the Partije Kommuniste tal Musograd took power in 1986, with plans to rapidly develop the country. But in parallel with the fall of Eastern European communist governments, a civil war ended the communist period three years later, in September 1989.
With the hope to return to the historic roots of the Musogradian Kingdom, the monarchy was reinstated and a descendand of the House of Musograd became King as Karul XII. But this did not stop the nation to continue its path to independence. On 1990-10-03, the King took the opportunity to unilaterally declare independence from Germany by first playing the "unified" hymns of Germany (both the GDR and FRG hymns can be played in parallel; the united version was composed by Tilo Medek, honoured National Artist, using the probably only recording of the composition "Zur Lage der Nation" known to exist) and then the National Hymn of Musograd. Under his successor, Gijorgi I, a level of democracy was introduced. During that time, both Nationalist movements (Blue Brigades) as well as the Australija Settlement movement developed. The Settlement movement advocated a settlement of or full migration to Australija, which led to several expeditions, the first in 1993. But in the Motherland, politics developed to the worse, Nationalists rose and a civil war started in 1994, between politically aligned Divisions of the Army.
To resolve the deadlocked conflict, a new form of government was found in 1994-11-02, the Parramatta National Government. The png was supported directly by the Army divisions and their representatives, with the condition of unanimous decisions. An Army General, Lazar Tchernikoff, was elected King - the Parramatta Monarchy came into being under the misleading name of "Respublika tal Musograd". But the system became instable two years later, mostly due to broken promises to the Settlement movement adherents and was changed into the "Musogradij Respublike" on 1996-04-08, with the expulsion of right wing forces. The so called "Red Parramatta" first was successful both economically as well as on the Settlement front, concluding a settlement treaty in 1998 with the Australian government. The state modernised itself, reintroducing Latin script instead of the Cyrillic one used during the png period. But when development stalled again by end of 1999, a young nationalist leader, Gen. Fjodor Michailovich Dershowo, rose to the top of a military organisation, the Marine Territorial Base Forces (MTBF) and startet a coup in the first days of the new century.
After a bloody civil war, the Red Parramatta government capitulated on 2000-02-01 (Flagstaff Hill Day). Gen. Dershowo was declared Lord Commander of Musograd. During this period, the state name of Musograd was used without a descriptive title any more, and Cyrillic was reintroduced as standard script. In the following months, Lord Dershowo took the state into a dangerous new direction with a risky alliance policy. A new security force (Republican Operational Services) and elite academic institution (Institute of Avionics and Defense) were founded, but the new alliance policy spectacularly failed in summer 2000. The death of Lord Dershowo on 2000-07-27 is still shrouded in mystery.
The new structures remained, though, and under Gen. Sheshek, the state was named "Dershowo Musograd", using the historic word for "State" which was also the family name of Lord Dershowo. In 2001, under Gen. Radiq, another alliance policy was started successfully. But slowly, the state came under more pressure by different factions and separatists. The settlement policy was ended in 2003 due to the end of the 5 year settlement contract. Both former settlers and radical libertarian anarchists revolted. The state structure was changed into a Federation, ending the period of the Dershowo, but this did not help much. The northern province where the former settlers had been resettled revolted again, and declared indepence on 2006-08-01 as Republic of Capricornia. At the same time the eastern tribal areas of the Balanda declared indepence as Balanda Respublike. Several wars between the former provinces shook the region until spring 2008. The two southern muslim provinces of the Federation, Murwillumbah and Naquarnia, became republics within the Federation, as well as the core provinces of Musograd and Mohuc.
After the war in February 2008, all sides started to strive for peace. A joint expedition to Australija, without any settlement plans, was crowned by a visit to Hutt River Principality. But economically, peace came too late for Musograd, and shortly before the worldwide economic breakdown, a raging inflation and bank crisis in Musograd was ended by a currency union with Capricornia in August 2008 and the takeover of the Libertarian Republic of Kosnice and its freewheeling banks by the federal government in October.
The new power structures were finally formalized on 2009-10-03 with the foundation of the Federated Micronations of the Musanian Lands, with all surviving Republics (i.e. the reborn Dershowo Musograd, the Republic of Capricornia, Balanda Respublike, Scientific Republic of Murwillumbah and the Republic of Naquarnia) as fully sovereign members. The Federation administers three territories, the Balangrad Capital Territory, the Territorio Sovrano di Mondeo and the Collateral Hellenic Territories. The latter two Territories are not fully integrated and controlled by the Federation.
In 2010, the only major event was the visit of a delegation of the Federated Micronations, containing Musogradian diplomats, at the United Nations in New York City. To isolate the Musogradian and F.M. economies from the ongoing Euro crisis, the Common Wallaroo was decoupled from the Euro on 2011-08-15, and bound to gold at a rate of 1250 CW to one ounce of gold.
After the death of Gen. Naghbal Tosh in January 2012, his deputy, Gen. Mikhail Houloubek assumed the office of Secretary of the Dershowo, as ruled by the constitution. The 2013-04-28 elections strengthened nationalist parties which led to a change in the constitution. An independent, Gen. Martin Swoboda was elected to the new office of President of the Dershowo. After some mergers, the nationalist "Patriotic Movement of Free Musograd (PMMA)" commanded the absolute majority in the Kuomnata, leading to an ever more authoritarian regime.
In 2015, a leftist revolution ended this government and introduced the "Protectorate Government", with democratic institutions protected from populist politicians and parties through strict rules controlled by the leader of the state called "Lord Protector". At first, the Sajusna Demokratska party built as the vehicle of this ruling system was unchallenged, but in 2018, the traditional ecologic party CDN-E won the Kuomnata elections and assumed power in a coalition with SD, which was widened after the 2019 elections, encompassing the settler / emigration Jihosna Sajus (Southern Union) party. The coalition government launched a major military-strategic project in 2020. That project, though, failed spectacularly in June 2021, leading to a protracted breakdown of the state. A new military led government titled "Musograd Azad" ("Free Musograd") under Adm. S.D. Xander is currently trying to stabilize the state.
Culture
Both Music and Arts have played a major role in Musogradian history. Although there are no major Musogradian classical composers, the foreign composers Dimitri Shostakovich, Bohuslav Martinu and Tilo Medek have been designated "National Artists", together with the rock singer Doro Pesch. Several Musogradian painters have been honoured with their paintings being displayed on Musogradian stamps. In January 2014, an internet radio channel has been set up using an infrastructure provider in Kosnice,laut.fm. The channel is called twentysound and promotes the classical composers listed above and related composers.
Sports
Sports have traditionally played a lesser role in Musograd. Badminton is the most prevalent sport in the Republic.
Religion
Due to the Communist past, religion plays a minor role in the Republic. A majority, 55%, claim to adhere to no religion, 15% are Carlistic Christians, 8% Mithraic, 7% Muslim and 6% Jewish. Traditional Balanda religion and other Christian faiths play a small role, too. The adherents of the Mithraic creed often can be found in the Army and in traditional Noble families, and are usually quite secretive about their religion. Muslim and Jewish families often stem from the former Jamahiriya Murwillumbah (now Scientific Republic of Murwillumbah); there is a long tradition of intermarriage between these two groups.
Postal Service
Posta tal Musograd is the oldest still existing Musogradian company. The first official Musogradian stamps have been issued in 1985 using matrix printer technology. Some probably earlier issues have been discovered, but not clearly identified. A more or less continuous flow of issues through the years documents the difficult history of the state. Today, Posta tal Musograd provides postal services to most of the Republics within the Federated Micronations, except the Republic of Capricornia. All PtM issues in Common Wallaroo currency are valid within the Dershowo Musograd, even those issued under the name of other Republics. Posta tal Musograd has finally been able to complete its documentation of Musogradian stamps back to 1985, which can be found on the Philately pages of PtM.
A spinoff of Posta tal Musograd is the company Yourstamps, which prints the Musogradian stamps as well stamps for several other Micronations, local postal services and even sovereign States. The company was legally founded in 2002 and is located in Balangrad City.