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[Declaration of independence] Republic of the United LowLands
We hereby declare the independence of the Republic of the United Lowlands from the yoke of the United Netherlands.
Read the text, if you agree to it, sign it.
Lowlanders are oppressed within the United Netherlands by former Dutch and former Belgians who refuse to adjust to Lowlandish principles. Lowlanders unite to fight against the evil forces who try to destroy the unity of this state in any way they could, either by fighting for resistance side, holding on to Dutch and Belgian names and principles and holding on to old rules formed under the former states.
This is the time for reforming the union. No longer will we acknowledge the state of the United Netherlands which is a state full of hate against eachother on the basis of reallife differences in culture and language. The Republic of the United Lowlands will replace the old union.
It will be a state in which everyone is equal. Reallife differences and sympathies are set aside for the greater good, which is the Republic of the United Lowlands. Rewriting the constitution is amongst the first things to do. A new constitution will better represent the new situation.
The Republic of the United Lowlands requests the immediate renaming of all companies, parties and divisions wearing the name referring to the former states within the United Lowlands. The state also requests the acceptance of English as the only language used on the forums and in the media.
Dutch and French translations will be accepted but it is time to move on from the past and look into the future. Dutch and French are both recognised as official minority languages in the United Lowlands, something which should have been done from the beginning of the union. All citizens are equal and all citizens should be able to understand eachother, so the use of English is preferred.
The United Lowlands also requests the immediate placement of a Q5 hospital in Brussels to help develop the Southern Lowlands. For nearly three months the Southern Lowlands have been part of this union and so far the regions received no infrastructure. The possible loss of the region is negligible because of the help we can receive from our allies.
Ingame mechanics cannot be changed unfortunately. Therefore we will still have to use the flag of the Lowlandish region of the Netherlands as main flag, but in articles we will use the Lowlandish flag. The NLG which is an abbreviation of Nederlandse Gulden, will be changed to the New Lowlandish Guilder. All is a start to remove all images and names linked to the former states.
Our new flag was shown at the top of the article.
Our motto will be Unity & Equality.
There is no more Belgium, Netherlands or United Netherlands, there is only the Republic of the United Lowlands.
We therefore request the recognition of this independent state.
Official first signatories:
dionysus (no party)
Cocoamok (LSD)
Deviltje (I&W)
Trinc (GLD)
More can follow if they sign this declaration. This is not about which party you are in, but it's about what you want for this country. What we want is change and we want it fast. It has gone on long enough and improvements have to be made to improve things for all citizens of this Republic.
ps. Measures have to be taken to ensure the unity in this country, because it is all going the wrong way. From here on I, dionysus, don't recognize the state of the United Netherlands anymore.
pps. Yes, it is provocation, but provocation is apparantly the only thing that gets things to work. We need a change for the better right now, starting with the improvement of constitution and of the infrastructure in the Sourthern Lowlands.
ppps. This article is as much addressed to the former Dutch as to the former Belgians.
pppps. You can say what you want, but at least a discussion has started now and hopefully it will bring the requested changes.
ppppps. People who came up with Lowlands in the past may take some credit if they want.
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Voted!!
Yeah, voted
Nice idea. But can we still discuss about the new flag? There might be nicer designs out there
voted
i Agree also with John de Lange
I was a pionnier
AGAIN: there were (almost) no french-speaking members when both nations merged. That's why french wasn't an official language at the beginning.
bicky, you are an inspirator and we will improve this country for you and for all citizens. It is time for a grand change and a betterment of the situation.
Monsieur Jonas, there were a few. And still after many Walloons joined, many people still didn't want to recognise French as official language? Why not?
English is the official language now and French and Dutch will be accepted as minority languages (maybe even German). For the global understanding, English should be used.
LSD joins this revolution!
<a href="http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/congresselections-why-perry-rhodan-left-congress-lsd-joins-revolution--841184/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/cong[..]1/20</a>
So, former Luxemburg is part of the nation, as I see on the flag
Ren Vanecx.. indeed it is.. the admins need to recognise it as part of our Republic as well.
voted
Ehhh,
Right. I agree for the most part, but why change the name again? Why not just first change all the things which should have been done many months ago.... And then look at the name.
Next to that. I still do not agree with the q5 hospital. It's too vulnerable there.... We have seen that.... Besides. A Q5 Hospital is no infrastructure but a hospital... And only needed in fights which we normally do not have. In my opinion it should be placed in a safer location like the regions East or South.
east and south both have an hospital.. Southern regions have been part of this country for a few months now and nothing has been done for those regions
Furthermore.. vulnerable? The region was easily defended.. and with the help of allies can always be defended. In the meantime we would grant our fellow citizens some confidence, some trust and some respect.
More citizens would also move to that region, thus increasing the cost of a RW and making a bigger wall.
Agree with the Q5 hospital idea but not the changing of the name of our state. The United Netherlands it should remain.
Would this be officially sanctioned by the admins of eRepublik? as this could prove confusing to new players/citizens.
I think we can be mature enough to recognise diversity in our society by not having the political establishment of UNL impose this idea upon us mere mortals. The eBelgian nation deserves to survive with a federation that includes eNetherlands and possibly eLuxembourg (should the admins open that up).
So sorry to say, for the moment, not every member of LSD agrees with this move
The change of the name is meant to also mean a change in mentality.
a) Read the first lines, where it says that it declares independence from the yoke of the United Netherlands and everything how it is going now. The whole thing first started as form of joke, but ended up in seriousness because things need to change (and thus not being a joke anymore)
b) The term Netherlands in United Netherlands leads to confusion, especially in other countries.. Lowlands is more neutral, however.. it stays the same in French, which is also not good (that's why we should keep an English name only )
>> Would this be officially sanctioned by the admins of eRepublik? as this could prove confusing to new players/citizens
No it wouldn't. Admins will normally not change names of countries, etc. It's just the name that should be commonly used by government, citizens, etc.
>> I think we can be mature enough to recognise diversity in our society by not having the political establishment of UNL impose this idea upon us mere mortals
Mature enough? Have you seen all the bickering going on lately about the smallest things? There has to be a mentality change and that was one of the intentions of this article.
This has nothing to do with being the establishment, but with the wish of some concerned citizens to see appropriate changes.. finally.
>> The eBelgian nation deserves to survive with a federation that includes eNetherlands and possibly eLuxembourg (should the admins open that up).
The whole discussion from the start was about small things like Dutch in the name of companies or army divisions and Belgian in the name of parties, etc. By getting rid of those reallife differences, we can actually remove a lot of useless bickering.
voted and willing to sign, it's time to make a fresh start with clear guidelines and less crap bout the past
I dont see why this change should be any better then the previous? Didnt we call out for equality then as well? Guess its easier to focus on new things...
In my opinion it isnt names that change a country, but strong leadership. Not by one person, but a group of people... a group that invests time in it, and will not be seen as a failure if they havent reached it in a few days. Mayor changes take a lot of time.
Signed and voted!
good
When I came back in the Netherlands after beeing some time
in other countries and found out about the merge of Belgium
and the Netherlands, I had many doubds about this melting together, i thought that was only possible in a dreamland...
Now we are a few months further in time I see each day more
improvements, it is really working...
So...
Voted and count me in...
To few "dutch" colour in this flag, to much "belgium" colour.
Also I refuse to give up my dutch cultural identity.
Yes I support the union, but lets keep it a UNION.
Two seperated individual states, who work together.
We are not one nation, not one culture, not one people.
This proposal is to me as a person offensive to both dutch and belgium culture.
Signed and voted!
I&W WILL join the revolution.
Good. It was about time. I support these ideas.
And yes Luxemburg deserves to become an ecountry and Luxembourgish an official language of the new country.
Hey i vote for this Living next to the dutch border in RL, having lived in the old eNetherlands from the start i have no problem at all with this. I was wondering why there are no hospitals in the old Belgian regions. It kind of gives the message that they are not allowed to fight for their nation unless they move up north.
I am even willing to donate my gold help build a hospital in the Brussels region.
I do not believe that a name change and change of flag will be enough to stop any bickering dionysus. There will always be disagreements, partly fuelled by 'real-world' tensions over language and culture.
The Dutch nation is clearly the strongest is this union so lets not fool ourselves into thinking we are creating a union of equal partners - the consistent strong showing for BP in Congress acts as a counterweight to Dutch hegemony.
I agree with McFartalot, we dont want to get into some daft name changing permanent revolution game. An obvious yes to the Q5 hospital, a realistic no to the name change. If we cant be mature enough to work with the facts, then changing the name wont help - we need to become more mature.
Fully agree!!!
but:
The state also requests the acceptance of English as the only language used on the forums and in the media.
Dutch and French translations will be accepted but it is time to move on from the past and look into the future. Dutch and French are both recognised as official minority languages in the United Lowlands, something which should have been done from the beginning of the union.
The state should indeed use English as language. But you can NEVER oblige people to speak English in the media or even put in an English translation. If you do that, it is a direct assault on all the equal and free principals you wish to build your new republic on!
History has shown that one cannot enforce a sense of unity on different peoples who have different histories with a simple changing of the name of the country and/or a new flag. A sense of unity among the different peoples takes time and must grow. Instead of focussing on the name of the country or the flag, this government (and those that will follow) must do everything in their power to start investing in the economy, infrastructure and healthcare of those underdeveloped regions, be they of Belgian or Dutch origin.
Stop wasting time with this kind of symbolic acts
I really agree with Flando, you are so right...
But... (there's always a but)
I am Dutch and I don't speak French very well
and some Frenchlanguaged ones don't do Dutch...
Isn't it most logical then to try to communicate
in a language we both understand, in this case
English, in stead of still publishing in a by many
not understandeble French or Dutch?
@ Lyasus, yes this is mostly a symbolic act. But just as history has shown that you cannot force unity, it has also shown that you should never underestimate the power of symbolic acts.
For example, the Boston Tea Party was pure symbolical, just a few guys who were fed up with English oppression and who decided to throw their cargo in the sea. But it fueled American revolution and it lead to the declaration of independance and the foundation of the first modern democracy.
So don't underestimate the possible power of our declaration of independance. It might become our very own Boston Tea Party, the wakening call for a nation to become truly united.
Agreed Demoniak, but my message was a reactions on theirs where they request that we ONLY use English.
Voted.
brilliant idea
Voted
How will this be made official? A referedum?
call the army LowLand-Lions please:)
Hi,
I am quite fresh in this game thus pardon me if i misunderstand certain things.
But I dont get this name thing. United Netherlands seems to me that the Netherlands is dominant in this union. Also United Lowlands as the Netherlands are the lowlands (and not Belgium or Luxemborg).
Furthermore in RL these countries are called the BeNeLux which gives them more equality in the Union.
I think therefore that renaming the union should be looked in that direction.
The rest sounds good but if i look at the UNL in the game it seem to me that it is not doing bad. In comparison of other countries the UNL is quite strong. But I could be wrong as I am stil learning to play this game.
The term Netherlands AND the term Lowlands are both names for the region which includes Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and a part of northern France.
Lowlands (Low Countries): "Nonetheless, in modern English usage, the term is occasionally to be found, and it then means the Kingdom of Belgium and (European mainland part of) the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Sometimes the French Netherlands are also included in this definition."
"Netherlands may also mean: The geographical region of the Low Countries, roughly covering the modern countries of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg"
<a href="http://www.lowlandlions.com/storage/files/20081612205754150.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.lowlandlions.com/storage/file[..].jpg</a>
rename it to LowLandLions
<a href="http://www.lowlandlions.com/storage/files/20081612205754150.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.lowlandlions.com/storage/file[..].jpg</a>
hernoem het naar LowLandLions
voted
agreed, nice articel
I still don't agree with the name. The reason why in RL the Lowlands was never officialy used is because it has a history of warfare and tension.
from wiki:
The term is not particularly current in modern contexts because the region does not very exactly correspond to the sovereign states of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, for which an alternative term, Benelux was employed after the Second World War, but only to describe them as a trading union.
the Low Countries referred to a wide area of northern Europe roughly stretching from Dunkirk at its southwestern point to the area of Schleswig-Holstein at its northeastern point, from the estuary of the Scheldt in the south to Frisia in the north
A collection of several regions rather than one homogeneous region, all the low countries still share a great number of similarities
Understanding the history of the forming of belgium, netherlands and luxemburgh, the term lowlands has always been avoided. Should we use it, the change is that tension will rise with our neighbours, france and germany, as they could see it as a possible way for us to expand our influence into their regions.
(ps. this would be great though, but dangerous to play )
"But you can NEVER oblige people to speak English in the media or even put in an English translation. If you do that, it is a direct assault on all the equal and free principals you wish to build your new republic on!"
I agree Flando, start a political party and i will join it right now!
And if we really must have this (undemocratic) name change, then can we have "The Republic of the United Lowlands", not "The Republic of the United LowLands", because with the second capital "L", it looks like a funky rebranding, not a country.
/signed on behalf of the Dutch Reunification Movement.
The Republic of the United Lowlands is a prime example for all countries attempting a peaceful union with a neighbour. I would dare to say the Lowlands have one of the most organised and highly evolved political structures out there.
My attempts to reform and restructure the German political system is largely based on the model of the Republic of the United Lowlands, so I am looking forward to see the improvements being made in the next couple of weeks.
Het overboord gooien van Nederlands (en Frans) maakt mij dat ik dit nooit zal ondersteunen!
I dont like this at all.. We once voted with everyone for the name and stuff. Now, some others appereantly have the rights to chance this..
people not recognizing the " united netherlands".. again this shows that the high lvl players have too much influence, and the rest of the people just follow
I think its time for me to move
This MUST be put to a referendum.
I fear however that those who have been playing this game since year zero will impose their will upon us regardless of a referenda result that defeats the notion that a simple name change will solve the political, lingustic and cultural bickering.
I vote NO. As others agree with me perhaps we should organise ourselves to change policy/thinking within our established party system OR go it alone with a new political party/movement.
Hugo i second you.
Changes are good but no like this.
And i dont get this bickering thing.
Politics are allways about 2 sides have different ideas.
With new laws this wont change.
Debates are there to stop this bickering and take the most democratic way. And isn't this the fun of playing different political parties ?
When things stay as you want, people have right. When it change, people are "followers"? Come on!
And nothing will be done outside the democratic system!
then you agree with a referendum
Mhm...
I didn't read this article, yet, but I'm here from eItaly, and decided to write about your eCountry in my eCountry.
This is my article
<a href="http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/from-united-netherlands-842706/1/20," target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/from[..]1/20,</a> and I hope you can appreciate it.
If we dont have a referendum then the house is built on bad foundations, and of course it will later fall down. I also vote NO.
I am glad that the two former countries are now united. It will make the country stronger both in military and economically.