Kingdom of Agoga

Kingdom of Agoga
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto Truth, Justice, and Virtue ܐ̈ܡ̤ܬ، ܨ̈ܕ̤݁ܩ̤ܬ، ܘ̤ܡܘܿܣܪ̈ܝ̈ܐ '
Official language(s)	Agogan and English
Recognised minority languages	Arabic, French, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Kacchi, Spanish
Demonym	ܐܵܓܘܿܓܐܲܝ, Agogan
Government	Constitutional monarchy
- Monarch	Andrew I
- Viceroy/Prime Minister	Yehuda Netzer
- Minister of Communications	Andrawes Rafidi
Formation	11 May 2022
Reigning House	House of Collard
Currency	Agogan Katal
Status	Inactive

Agoga (pronunciation: ˌɑːgˈoʊgɑː), officially the Kingdom of Agoga, was a micronation that officially declared sovereignty on 11 May 2022, but it existed as an idea for some time before the official founding. The government draws an important distinction between declaring independence and declaring sovereignty. Agoga declared sovereignty in the respect that it is a distinct geopolitical entity claiming the right of self-determination, but it recognises that all of humanity is co-dependent on each other. However, Agoga also declared independence in the respect that it also claims the right of independence of thought. Since Agoga has no legal claim to any territory it is a government in exile, but it is active as a “kingdom of ideas and ideals” that seeks to make the world a better place for everyone. Citizenship in the Kingdom of Agoga was open to anyone who felt a sense of unity with the goals and ideals of the kingdom and submitted a request for citizenship.

The Kingdom of Agoga was formally founded by King Andrew and Viceroy Netzer on 11 May 2022, but the ideas and concepts that ultimately evolved into the kingdom began shortly after the COVID-19 virus was declared a pandemic. Unsatisfied with the governmental response to the disease, the pair began to discuss thought experiments for how to properly run a country. The official date of founding of the kingdom was planned to coincide with the wedding anniversary of King Andrew and Queen Haley. As a sweet gesture of love for the Queen Consort, King Andrew thought it would be funny, fun, and romantic to tell his beloved wife that for their wedding anniversary, he made her an actual queen. When Viceroy Netzer told his wife about the formation of the micronation and her being made a countess, she laughed at him and agreed that it would be fine to pursue the project.

As of January 2024, Agoga was formally acquired by the Kingdom of Frisland. Agoga as a distinct entity no longer exists, however it still exists as a chivalric order within the Kingdom of Frisland.

Name

The name Agoga is a transliteration of the Doric Greek word ἀγωγά, which is ultimately derived from the Greek verb ἄγω (transliterated as “ago”), meaning “to lead”. As is the norm in Classical Greek, the word ἄγω is both the infinitive form of the verb (“to lead”) and the first person singular form (“I lead”), and the Agogan government prefers to understand it in the first person singular form in the sense that each Agogan citizen should see him or herself as a leader in the communities in which they live.

An agoga in ancient Sparta was a training academy for young Spartan males. In addition to its other curricular activities, the Spartan agoga taught the Spartan system of values and morality to the students with the expectation that they would live by that system of values and morality as adults.

The Agogan government chose the name to reflect its goals of leadership and passing on a solid system of values and morality to the next generation.

History

Thought Experiments (2020-2022)

Shortly after the COVID-19 virus was declared a pandemic, King Andrew and Viceroy Netzer began to discuss how unsatisfied they were with the governmental response to the pandemic. They began to post memes and other posts to their personal Facebook pages detailing how pointless and baseless many of the policies the United States government implemented in response to the pandemic were. The two also ran a fairly successful page on Facebook called “Exposing the Federal Failure” which was politically right-leaning and libertarian in nature. Facebook permanently banned their personal pages for their political opinions in June of 2020, but the two continued to discuss their thought experiments by text messaging.

Banned from Facebook, the two took note of political turmoil and protests in France over the COVID-19 policies of the French Republic and began a thought experiment on how to fix France’s problems even though they lived in the United States. The pair quickly realised that part of the problem was the fact that the French government was a liberal republic that was too dependent on the socialist system in place. To alleviate the problems of the republic, the pair decided the best form of government for fixing France’s problems was a monarchy led by a benevolent king who consulted with a royal court to make hard decisions on behalf of the French people while still maintaining the maximum amount of personal liberty for the people of France.

Eventually, the pair felt that since France would probably never accept a monarchy again, and since problems in the United States were beginning to spiral more out of control under the leadership of President Joe Biden, the two abandoned their “New Kingdom of France” thought experiment to focus on how a similar monarchy to what they believed France could benefit from could benefit the United States. Their “Kingdom of America” thought project focussed on how a kingdom on the land of the United States of America would have to be both confederated and monarchical in nature. The individual states would have to choose to be a part of the kingdom and would have to be sovereign in their own rights, but they would submit to a monarch with powers that were significantly weaker than the federal government wielded. A confederation is a country with a weaker central government than a federation like the United States or Russia, and each state within the confederation acts independently as a sovereign state that only needs the confederate government for subjects that affect every state in the confederation. This would allow politically right-leaning states to not have to cater to the desires of politically left-leaning states, and vice versa. The monarchy would function as the confederate government and would essentially let each state govern itself and only get involved when there were issues that involved more than one state.

Believing that this was the best option to alleviate the problems in the American republic, the two began to discuss what such a government would look like. There was a lot that could be taken from their “New Kingdom of France” thought experiment and altered or directly applied to the “Kingdom of America” thought experiment. This formed the basis for the Kingdom of Agoga.

The Kingdom of Agoga (2022-2024)

As the two worked on their “Kingdom of America” thought experiment, they came to the conclusion that the United States would probably never change and that what they learned and wanted to do would be best served by establishing a micronation. On 11 May 2022, King Andrew was formally established as King Andrew, the first of his name, King of the Agogans, and his first official act was to name Yehuda Netzer as Prime Minister of the Agogans, Viceroy of the King, and Lord Warden of Agoga. King Andrew chose the title “King of the Agogans” rather than “King of Agoga” because Agoga exists only as a kingdom of ideas and ideals without physical land to claim. When the kingdom is able to peacefully acquire land, King Andrew will also claim the title “Lord Protector of Agoga”. The Agogan government intends to eventually acquire land through peaceful means to establish a territorial claim for the kingdom. After peacefully acquiring land on which to build the kingdom physically, the Agogan government intends to form a sustainable, self-reliant community that lives out its ideas and ideals while reaching out to the world for the purpose of helping make the world a better place.

Community Outreach

Shortly after the formation of Agoga, Viceroy Netzer presented King Andrew with a proposal to create an Agogan defensive force to provide security for Agoga in the form of a home guard. The proposed home guard would primarily be tasked with helping in the recovery and relief process following disasters. During Hurricane Ian in late September 2022, Viceroy Netzer was able to give King Andrew live updates on the progress of the storm after it made landfall in Florida. Viceroy Netzer, who lives in central Florida, requested a "soft launch" of the proposed home guard to aid in the recovery process. King Andrew immediately granted the request, the home guard became known as the Royal Civil Defence Corps (RCDC), Viceroy Netzer was granted a royal commission as a General (NATO rank code OF-9, Agogan rank code O-10) and installed as the first Commandant of the RCDC. The RCDC sent out a small team of volunteers to clear roads of debris and trees knocked down by the hurricane in central Florida as soon as it was safe to do so.

Aid to Uganda

In January 2023, King Andrew and Viceroy Netzer reached out to a small community in eastern Uganda to establish friendly relations with the community. Uganda's government has an international reputation for corruption, and most Ugandans live in extreme poverty. After speaking with one of the community leaders, Viceroy Netzer presented a plan to King Andrew that would render assistance to the community to help provide for some of the community's basic needs. King Andrew approved the Viceroy's plan, and the Agogan government sent a gift of seeds to grow several kinds of crops for the community. This gift would help to provide food for the community and a potential source of income. While the seeds are certainly not enough to alleviate all of the problems the community members face in Uganda, it's a start. The Agogan government has committed itself to continue sending aid to the community, as well as offering advice to the community leaders and strengthening relations between the two. The community is entirely made up of a minority group that has historically been persecuted for political and religious reasons. The name and location of the community have intentionally been omitted here to prevent the Ugandan government from further targeting the community.

Agogan Reforestation Initiative

The Kingdom of Agoga launched the Agogan Reforestation Initiative in late January 2023. The objective of the initiative is to rebuild forests that have been destroyed by the logging industry around the world, to intentionally expand existing forests, and to plant trees in places where there are no forests. In addition to being pretty to look at, trees help to filter carbon and other elements out of the atmosphere and promote biodiversity. Locally native trees and fruit trees are planted by those participating in the initiative so that future generations can enjoy the benefits provided by the trees.

Micronationalist Union

In February 2023, Viceroy Netzer announced a new intermicronational organisation called the Micronationalist Union (or MU) that Agoga hopes to establish. In keeping with Agogan ideals, the MU is an organisation for "purpose-driven" micronations, micronations that have a mission of a set of goals that they hope to accomplish. The purpose of the MU is to foster cooperation in the micronational world through member states helping other member states reach their goals. There are currently six member states, but the MU is always looking for other members. The MU's website has details for how to join and the charter of the organisation, it also contains a list of member states and basic facts about the member states.

The Order of Agoga (2024-Present)

As of January 2024 the Kingdom of Agoga ceased to be an independent entity and was formally acquired by the Kingdom of Frisland. Frisland took Agoga and formed it into a chivalric order that focuses on education and training its members to be better leaders. The Order of Agoga has four rank degrees and one need not be a Frislander to be a member of the order.

Diplomacy

The Kingdom of Agoga is always looking to make contact with other like-minded micronations, and a contact form can be found here for any micronations interested in reaching out to Agoga.

While the Agogan Constitution prohibits formal diplomatic relations with micronations that are less than a year old, King Andrew understands that to refer to micronations that are granted formal recognition, which allows for informal "friendships" with younger micronations.

Ideas and Ideals

The Kingdom of Agoga is a government in exile, meaning a government without physical land to claim. Eventually, the kingdom plans to peacefully acquire land and become a physical micronation, but until that day Agoga will be a kingdom of ideas and ideals.

Part of the mission of being a “kingdom of ideas and ideals” is that the Agogan government will serve as a model government for the world to see and emulate, whether they do that on a local level or a global scale. The Agogan government implements policies based on the libertarian ideals of personal liberty, truth, transparency, self-sufficiency, personal responsibility, self-discipline, integrity, and justice. Additionally, the government believes strongly in the traditional American values of family, faith, equality, honesty, and respect.

As a “kingdom of ideas and ideals”, the Kingdom of Agoga supports a number of charitable causes and plans to pursue legal recognition as a non-profit business from the United States to allow Agoga to function as a charity so they can better serve the world. The Kingdom of Agoga sees itself as a kingdom of service rather than a self-serving government. Agoga intends to pursue partnerships with the indigenous peoples of the world, other micronations, and small internationally recognised macronations to help indigenous people groups and nations threatened by changing weather conditions and natural disasters. Agoga also has an interest in sustainability and marine exploration.

Government

The Head of State and Head of Government is His Majesty King Andrew I, a hereditary monarch who will pass on Agogan values and his leadership roles within the government to his heir, Crown Prince Ezekiel. In order to reign properly King Andrew relies on his court of ministers, called the King’s Table, led by Viceroy Netzer in his capacity as the Prime Minister, to keep him informed of the state of affairs within the kingdom and its ministries. The King’s Table has no executive, legislative, or judicial powers, executive and legislative power resides exclusively with the Crown and is aided by the input of the King’s Table. The King’s Table oversees the functions of the different ministries in Agoga and acts in an advisory capacity, only overruling the Crown if the Crown acts against the Agogan people or constitution. Since the Kingdom of Agoga has no physical territory, the judicial process is left to the governments in whose land the Agogan people reside in exile. However, the Crown may act in a judicial capacity if an Agogan violates Agogan law but not the laws of the governments in which an Agogan resides, which is an unlikely scenario.

Freedom of religious expression is guaranteed by Agogan law, and there is no state religion. Any Agogan can believe and practise any religion he or she chooses, no religion is considered a religion from a legal perspective. Freedom of choice in all matters is legally protected as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others or cause harm or endangerment to others. The right to self-defence is legally protected, and training in martial arts and firearms is encouraged for those who are able to do so. Freedom of the press and freedom of speech and opinion are also legally protected. Agoga has adopted a minimalist approach to legislation, believing that the greatest threat to progress and prosperity is over-legislation by the world’s governments.

Indigenous Relations

The Kingdom of Agoga is aware of how conquest, colonialism, and imperialism have negatively impacted the indigenous populations of the world. The United States government has historically been especially horrible to the Native Americans by attempting to commit genocide, signing treaties they went on to violate, and confining the Native Americans to reservations where most live in poverty. The Agogan government has an especially deep desire to help the Native American nations preserve their cultural heritage for future generations and rise from the poverty that has kept them as second-class citizens on their own land. The Agogan government also knows the plight of indigenous people groups in other parts of the world, without access to basic resources that could help them out of poverty, and many are barely surviving and are under a very real threat of cultural extinction. Believing fundamentally that everyone has something to contribute to the world and that every people group is needed to make the world a better place, Agoga is actively looking to partner with indigenous people groups as allies to help them preserve their cultural identity, share their cultural history and knowledge with the world, and help to bring humanity to a more sustainable and responsible stage of history. Agoga understands that nothing can make up for the atrocities and injustices committed against indigenous peoples by colonialist and imperialist forces, but Agoga believes that we can find a way to put the past behind us as a global community and move forward to a more just future for all people.

Interests

The Kingdom of Agoga has an interest in projects related to clean, sustainable energy solutions, sustainable farming methods, conservation, seasteading, oceanic exploration, and serving military veterans and first responders through charitable funds. Agogan projects are started when there is funding and manpower available for each project, and not all projects are currently underway.

Citizenship

Citizenship in the Kingdom of Agoga is open to anyone aged 18 or older (or the age of majority in the place of the applicant’s residence) who feels a sense of unity with the Agogan mission and ideals and submits a request for citizenship that can be found on the official website. The citizenship process involves a basic education course that covers the basics of how the government works and what is expected of Agogan citizens. There is also a low, nominal application fee, but this application fee has been suspended indefinitely by King Andrew. Children of at least one Agogan parent are automatically granted citizenship in the Kingdom of Agoga.