In the previous issue, I told you that the clearing of the future libertarian village plot from overgrown brush had begun. As of today, all the brush has been cut down, leaving only a moderate number of useful trees.
Now all the resulting debris in the form of branches that are poorly suited for firewood must be burned; fortunately, the rains have started, so the probability of starting a fire in the process has sharply decreased.
So far, only a small test pile has been burned, but there is an idea to organize a festival on the plot to combine business with pleasure—lighting bonfires accompanied by drinks, music, and other cultural programming. An agreement has already been reached regarding this with the local Russian-speaking art community from Budva.
In order to organize any events on the plot, it is useful to finally make the road to it passable. A construction company founded by the participants of the Montelibero project has acquired a tractor and is working on the road: building retaining walls, filling unnecessary slopes with crushed stone, removing unnecessary mounds, and preparing to concrete the road surface in key places.
Once the road becomes passable, it will be possible to bring in equipment for the festival, drill a water well, and install poles for electricity—in short, ancaps desperately need a road.
As for me, overjoyed that Bitcoin has once again started to be worth a more or less decent amount of money, I have finally bought out the land tokens that had long been reserved for me. After the debris is cleared from the plot, a land surveyor can be called in to perform the demarcation, during which I will officially obtain ownership of my two hundred square meters of land and can begin building there.
On October 16, the conference Liberty in our lifetime will take place in Switzerland. This gathering is organized by Titus Gebel’s Free Private Cities Foundation; representatives of several Honduran charter cities, a speaker from the System Design Institute, the ubiquitous Liberland info-gypsy Vit Edliczka, and several other speakers representing projects unknown to me will speak at the conference. Igal Hofman will go and speak on our behalf. We all hope for his extraordinary communication skills in the matter of establishing connections with colleagues in the sacred cause of building pockets of libertarianism in the world.
The Montelibero Foundation has decided to accept Bitcoins on its balance sheet in addition to Euros, so there is currently a sale of foundation tokens for BTC—the final tokens at a price of 1 Euro each. When the share of Bitcoins on the foundation’s balance sheet grows to 30%, the sale at this price will end, and in the event of new emissions, the token price will be set at 2 Euros. Bitcoins are stored in a multisig wallet held by the majority shareholders of the project, so we continue our shared policy of slightly cumbersome but secure distributed decision-making. We are also studying the possibility of moving all our tokenomics from the Stellar blockchain to the Bitcoin sidechain Liquid—in this case, settlements in BTC would be integrated more natively into the project’s economy. Additionally, the launch of a proprietary Lightning node within Montelibero is not ruled out. This would allow us to exchange Bitcoins among ourselves quickly and with tiny fees, by opening channels not to each other, but to a common hub, as this is cheaper.
As usual, I invite everyone to start participating in the project: join the main chat, ask any questions that interest you, get involved in online activity, buy tokens, come to Montenegro to see all this action from a close distance, and if you like the country—move here for good.
A certain Yuri appeared in the Montelibero project, who became interested in understanding what kind of people were joining it, what their motivations were, and so on. And so he began recording interviews with everyone he could reach. Well, to make sure such good work didn’t go to waste, they gave him management rights to the project’s YouTube channel, and now all the interviews are there, in a separate playlist.
It turned out that almost everyone during the interviews stated that they had read about the project via Ancap-chan. So Yuri came to me and also asked for an interview. In short, now in addition to a bunch of videos, there is one text-based one with me. And since I don’t like the look of a Google Doc, I think I’ll move this interview to my own website.
Interview with Ancap-chan about Monte Libero
September 2021, Yuri Vilnid
Tell us about yourself
What did you devote most of your time to last week?
My main work is running a personal Telegram channel. As usual, I devoted most of my time to it last week. I translated a fairly long chapter from the book “Libertarianism” by Eric Mack, wrote a couple of chapters for my own book about ancap, for which I haven’t come up with a title yet—basically, I was doing the usual routine. But on Saturday, I went to Albania to “de-virtualize” with one of my subscribers, and I’m still living here for now. In general, I love discovering new places and new people.
What is the last book you read that significantly influenced you?
In recent years, I’ve mostly been reading non-fiction, and the one that influenced me most strongly was “The Machinery of Freedom” by David Friedman, which I translated for my channel. From fiction, I could probably name “We the Living” by Ayn Rand; it’s the first or one of the first books she wrote, partially autobiographical, about the early years of Soviet Russia, which she escaped, becoming a so-called “non-returnee.” I left Russia partly under the influence of this book.
What is the last thing you did for the community?
I told my subscriber, with whom I am now in Albania, in detail about Montelibero, and next week we will go show him the plot. Most likely, he will invest in the land, and then, who knows, he might move here.
What was the last thing you did for your soul? (creativity, hobbies, self-education)
I love swimming very much. The trip to Albania also became an opportunity for me to extend summer a bit. I continue to swim about a kilometer every day. And putting physical adventures aside, I recently finished reading James C. Scott’s book “The Art of Not Being Governed”, and now I treat anarcho-primitivists with much greater respect. I’ll probably write something in the channel about this once the thoughts in my head are fully formed.
Relocation
When did you first think about changing your place of residence (approximately—month, year)?
2014.
What events made you think about this?
There was such a militaristic hysteria in Russia that I suddenly wanted to run away from it as far as possible. For example, it was at this time that I first had a fundamental disagreement with my parents, and now in our mutual communication, we filter the discourse, trying not to touch upon painful topics.
What attracted you to the idea of moving? What held you back?
What attracted me to the idea of moving was that I could stop saying that I am from Russia. Being Russian became shameful—at that time, there was a complete feeling that no matter which Russian you poked, they would turn out to be an imperialist. For the same reason, the idea of living in neighboring Serbia, for example, seems very doubtful to me.
What held me back was the lack of understanding as to who would need me there.
What happened next—what milestones can you note? (month, year)
During the period 2014-2018, I closed myself off a bit, going into internal emigration. I made a living through copywriting and tried not to even look at the political field.
The first milestone—at the end of August 2018, I was offered to run the “Ancap-chan” channel. I partially adapted its style to my own. But I changed much more myself, because I had to read quite a lot about libertarianism, and that changes people.
The second milestone—in December 2019, I was offered to move to Montenegro and write articles on agorism here. I agreed literally five minutes after a brief reflection, which greatly surprised the inviter, who expected doubts and agonizing deliberations.
What problems did you want to solve by moving?
I wanted to start moving from the theory of libertarianism to practice. Practice is the building of a libertarian community offline, similar to what the Free Staters in New Hampshire did. For this, it is quite acceptable, especially in the initial stages, for each member of the community to earn money in the external market, because what is being tested first and foremost is the possibility of long-term coexistence, contrary to claims that anarcho-capitalists (ancaps) are blatant individualists who are fundamentally incapable of creating and maintaining communities.
If you were only thinking about moving now, what would you do differently?
I was invited in winter, but I only arrived in the country at the end of May because I was putting my affairs in order, selling things, renewing my passport, and so on. Moreover, the country was closed due to Covid. Now I would try to succeed much faster, so that by winter I would definitely be here.
What obstacles did you have to overcome?
I had to get vaccinated (although, as it turned out, I could have done without it). I had to sell my bicycle, which I very much regret, as they are incredibly expensive here. I had to explain things to my parents, but that was actually the easiest part.
Compare the expectations of the move and the reality
I had heard about “polako” (the local habit of doing everything in a relaxed manner), but I didn’t expect that this phenomenon would be so depressing. The most egregious example is the behavior of our road contractor, who by contract committed to finish all work by the beginning of July, but in the end performed them not in full and with a great delay.
How did you solve the problem of the lack of qualified work on the spot?
First, my channel is not tied to a specific place, as long as there is internet. Second, in 2018, starting the channel, I got acquainted with bitcoins. I was handed the channel and the key to a wallet for donations, where a little bit of bitcoin already lay, after which I had a short briefing on how to work with it, and then I was shown Saifedean Ammous’s book “The Bitcoin Standard”.
At that time, I managed to buy bitcoins almost at the bottom, and the modest donations collected in crypto back then now look like royal gifts. So now I can afford to spend more time than I earn for a while.
Where are you living while you build?
I rent a cheap studio on the outskirts of the city of Bar; I maintain quite friendly relations with the landlord.
What does your cost structure look like and how much does life cost?
Fixed monthly expenses look like this: 120 euros for rent, 25 euros for electricity, 10 for internet, 150 euros for groceries, 150 euros for trips and establishments. Besides this, there are one-time expenses, which will decrease as I settle into the country.
Legalization
Do you have a residence permit (VNZH)?
The Montelibero foundation helped me get it by hiring me into the staff of the company that bought the land. I pay for this partially by working on the project, and partially, apparently, I will reimburse it with money.
Banks
Can a person with a residence permit open a bank account and transfer money to themselves from another country?
An account was opened for me as an employee of the company; a white salary drops into it, a quarter of the minimum rate. Theoretically, I could transfer money to this account, but banks here manage to take commissions even for receiving, let alone sending, so I would prefer to do without that and accept in bitcoins.
How accurate is the statement: “On the other hand, there are jurisdictions so tenderly loved by Russians, such as Montenegro and Thailand, which have not joined the auto-exchange at all yet.” Vedomosti (meaning they do not participate in the automatic exchange with the RF).
I haven’t looked into it. The banking sphere in Montenegro is more dead than alive for me. In Russia, I almost forgot how to hold banknotes in my hands; here I am getting used to it again.
Are there examples of RF citizens using foreign bank accounts without notifying the tax office?
Of course, I do not intend to notify the RF authorities of anything; this country is completely illegitimate to me.
Business Incubator
What obstacles do you see on the path to cooperation among free people of good will?
The small size of the community. In a world with a high level of specialization, a person needs a fairly large market to find customers for their services and suppliers for all their needs. Let alone the libertarians of Montenegro—even the entire Russian-speaking diaspora in Montenegro is not yet self-sufficient, so one has to look far beyond just their own.
What is needed to stimulate the provision of person-to-person services? (fitness trainer, massage therapist, vocal teacher, etc.).
Increasing the number of people in the community and the informational connectivity within it.
What businesses could be in demand?
The most unexpected ones. I, for example, cannot wait for the local master to fix my scooter—and he’s almost the only one in all of Bar. There are plenty of car services here, but moto services are kind of stale. On the other hand, for example, the beauty industry is quite developed, and those wishing to enter this market will face competition.
The Monte Libero Project
Can you recall your last conversation with an acquaintance to whom you told about the project?
Since I share an apartment with my last acquaintance, the conversation is not a single instance, but rather we simply refer to this topic from time to time. I’ll show photos of the plot, or complain about the road contractor, or tell how in early June I found myself waving a chainsaw, or mention project partners as they come up in conversation. He sees that I am passionate about this topic and already really wants to see for himself what this Montelibero is all about.
What questions did your acquaintance ask you?
The cost of the land. How much I bought it for (I mention this below in the text). Why so little. What kind of house I intend to build. Whose services I will use. In short, quite detailed and practical questions.
What fears or obstacles did they voice?
Strange, but it seems none. Only interest.
Which conversation with MTL-people has been memorable lately? Who did you speak with and what exactly was memorable?
Igal Hofman met some creative guys from Budva, and we took them to show our land to see about organizing a music festival there. And they looked at the sawn-off branches and twigs and declared, like, to hell with the old concept, we need to do a bonfire festival here. Now we are working through this new idea.
Which of the project participants would you recommend inviting for the next interviews?
Heinrich Polyanyin, if he can be talked into it. He’s the one who invited me to Montenegro.
What do you personally want from the project?
Tactical goal—a friendly libertarian community, united not only by a common ideology, but also by neighborhood. Medium-term goal—creating a platform for accepting political emigrant-libertarians, as they seem to be heading to Georgia more and more. Long-term—influence on the local political climate towards increasing freedom.
What actions confirm this?
I actively communicate with people interested in the project; I devote an unexpectedly large amount of effort (for me) to constant offline communication among project participants who have moved to the country. I think it’s very important to maintain a sense of community among those who moved. We are a gang. Of international scale. We are sawing a massive project. This is much more inspiring rhetoric than “we are refugees from an authoritarian regime trying to survive somehow.”
I continue to run the channel about libertarianism, including writing a book which, I hope, will become a convenient entry point for getting acquainted with our ideology.
What help do you need for this? How can you be supported, and what would you spend additional money on that came after the publication of this material?
A bit of money wouldn’t hurt))) The less you think about your daily bread, the more attention you can devote to working on Montelibero.
I recently spent 34 thousand rubles on a Serbian language course, which put my September budget in the negative, so additional money would allow me to at least break even in my fourth month in the country.
Purchase of Land and House Construction
What values do you see in the project of building your own house?
I think it will be an interesting transition to a new stage of development for me: my land, my rules, the ability to arrange everything, if not entirely to my taste, then at least conveniently enough for myself. Having a base in the form of my own house, I can practice various strange and previously unavailable hobbies: gardening, rakia brewing, fig drying, and who knows what else might come to mind. Maybe I’ll even open a Y-club 🙂 (the term Y-club from Alex Rozov’s Meganesia book cycle means a club for amateur prostitution in a free-access mode).
What problems do you expect it to solve?
The only fundamental problem solved by a house is the removal of dependence on the owner of a rented dwelling. This must be paid for with a large one-time expenditure for building the house, as well as a sharp increase in the level of responsibility.
What alternative ways of solving these problems did you consider?
The alternative to building your own house is buying a finished one. However, I’m not just building a house. I’m building a house in a libertarian village. I care not only about the walls, but also about the neighbors behind the walls. Not only the roof over my head, but the roof of a libertarian jurisdiction.
Can you elaborate on the “roof”?
If rules are determined by the state, then indeed, rules of coexistence are followed without any libertarianism. I absolutely hated it in Germany when the landlady of the apartment we visited whispered to us to go up the stairs as quietly as possible, otherwise the neighbors would report us to the municipality.
But for me, it is much more organic to understand that if a person becomes very arrogant and ignores the interests of others, it’s not some vague official who comes to them, but a delegation of polite neighbors, and they start figuring out how to settle the problem as painlessly as possible.
Why invest money and a ton of time in a house, if you can invest that money in crypto and rent? After all, bitcoin’s growth potential is incomparably higher than a house’s. (although the probability of an ideal outcome is lower)
I did invest in crypto for a while. Now it has paid off, and I can give my life a new quality (although not without the help of my parents as well; I’m a libertarian to my dad)))
How, while remaining inside a state, can you guarantee the absence of external influence from its side? Roughly speaking, if Montenegro wants to take this territory, it will take it.
Montenegro was chosen in part because land property rights are protected here. Protected not by the state, but by folk tradition. These are “selyuki”—for them, land is sacred.
No, of course, I’ve heard horror stories about fraud during land registration, when ownership rights turned out to be insufficiently clearly defined, but it was always pointed out that if the law cannot find fault, if there is registered land and a registered building on it, then the land is not threatened, and this norm is strictly observed by everyone.
Can you show the estimate for the land and the house?
The land estimate is roughly as follows:
€70k went to the purchase of a hectare of land (for the whole village),
€25k—for the road,
€5k—for clearing, plus other smaller expenses.
€70k went to the purchase of a hectare of land (for the whole village),
€25k—for the road,
€5k—for clearing, plus other smaller expenses.
Until the moment this hectare is divided into separate plots that can be bought out, the price will increase further. For the house, I’m budgeting no more than €400 per square meter, which is modest but realistic. I’ll build one floor first, live in it, and the second—somehow in the future.
Payment upfront, in installments, or with interest?
I agreed on installments for the land; for the house, expenses will be broken down into many stages.
What did you do regarding the plot or house last week?
I earned money)))
What taxes and when will you have to pay for the house?
Taxes are paid once upon purchase, once upon receiving the urbanization plan (so-called communalities), and a relatively small amount is also expected annually. I’m not familiar with the detailed figures yet. It’s known that communalities are the largest tax, 70 euros per square meter of living space, but it can be paid in installments for almost 30 years, which is what I will do.
About a month has passed since the last news release, so it’s time to briefly share a summary of the progress made.
The fact that we bought a hectare in Montenegro has finally been officially entered into the required registries. To be honest, I didn’t have the brains to personally verify this on the Montenegrin cadastral website; I have to take the word of those who understand its functionality and be content with scans of the documents. As part of the reward for my participation in the project, I reserved the right to buy back two hundred square meters at cost, but for now, anyone wishing to do so can still buy a piece for themselves—the shareholders are already threatening to start selling new land tokens with a markup soon, but they haven’t made a final decision yet.
The development of the land is going briskly in some ways and barely at all in others. The local contractor is taking forever to finish the requested volume of work for the rough laying of the road route. On the other hand, it’s still illegal to build a road until September 15, so it’s hard to make any complaints. However, our landing party is already actively engaged in the complete clearing of the plot from all kinds of unnecessary woody debris and has completed about a quarter of the work. For further road filling and concreting, the installation of electricity and water, digging the sewage system, and actually the construction itself, we have started creating a separate construction company and searching for specialized equipment to purchase, so as not to depend on unreliable local contractors in this regard.
As of today, 11 project participants have relocated to Montenegro. To avoid losing count, a counter was even added at the very bottom of the project’s main website page. We should also start assigning sequential numbers to the settlers, like in the Free State Project, so they can brag. I, for example, would have number 3. So, if someone creates a cool design for a project participant’s booklet (or image), that would be sweet, especially when handing a child a document with number 6.
At one point, we failed to meet with Titus Gebel, the author of the book on charter cities and creator of the foundation promoting them—his “Titus-related” business took him past Montenegro at the time. But now, next week, another interesting meeting is lined up—with Vera Kichanova, a distinguished activist of the Russian libertarian movement, who emigrated long ago and is now, among other things, professionally involved in the topic of charter cities. We hope Britain doesn’t put Montenegro in the red zone at the last moment, the meeting doesn’t fall through, and it proves quite educational for all participants.
One of the serious downsides of Montenegro for freelancers is turning out to be a very unfriendly banking sector. To encounter Montenegrin banks as rarely as possible, we began creating a network of horizontal connections allowing for exchanges like “I need cash euros in Bar, and the counterparty from Budva needs rubles via bank transfer to Sber.” For this, a specialized Telegram chat is mainly used for now; however, our project recently launched a private ad aggregator in the form of a website. I haven’t looked into the functionality in detail yet, but I already see what feature the site is missing: new ads should automatically be broadcast to the chat, because in Telegram a person receives notifications, whereas the website must be monitored manually, which is inconvenient. This is, of course, a makeshift solution for a transition period to build liquidity; it can be disabled later, especially when the need for the chat disappears entirely, except for very complex multi-step transactions.
The Montenegrin hectare, as much as fit in the frame: on the left are untouched thickets, in the center is the cleared area, and in the foreground, the cleared area is cut into firewood and debris.
In the previous issue, I frightened you with photos of thickets—saying that we were buying the plot for a libertarian condominium, and that not only was there no road, you couldn’t even get through on foot. Much has changed since then.
At first, it was complete improvisation: learning on the fly how to use a chainsaw and a trimmer, we cleared a pedestrian path to our plots, as well as passages along their boundaries. After that, a hired surveyor marked the cadastral plan points on the terrain and handed us an elaborat—an official, legally binding scheme of the plots, as well as the municipal land reserved for the road.
Next, a contractor was hired for the first stage of road construction. It is planned that a four-meter-wide strip 900m long will be leveled using an excavator—thus, the road passing through our plots will connect the lower highway from Bar to Ulcinj with the upper highway from Bar to Škodar. However, the width of the municipal land strip is not sufficient everywhere to lay a four-meter road. In one place, an agreement was reached with the plot owner, and the road has already been laid there. In another, negotiations are still ongoing. If we are not successful, there will be a small section of road two and a half meters wide, which is generally not fatal.
This is what the future road looks like after the initial clearing of thickets and leveling of the route
The neighbors, realizing that laying a road past their territories means an increase in price, are happy and are even starting to help. Near the lower end of the road, they are paying for improvements, including concreting the road section and a parking area. Another neighbor offered crushed stone for filling via self-pickup—we will most likely take him up on this offer. In short, this autumn, it is quite likely that construction can already be launched on the plots themselves.
And this means that it is the perfect time to buy a piece of land in the future condominium. For now, most of the territory belongs to the Montelibero fund, and the fund is ready to reduce its share in the land by selling land tokens to those wishing to settle in the future village. After the final clearing of the plot, it will be divided into shares, which can then be officially registered as private property; however, the sooner you enter MTLCITY tokens, the cheaper the square meter will eventually be for you—which is logical, as early investors want a premium for the risk. Instructions on the project’s tokenomics and on how to become a co-owner are available on its website.
By the way, about the fund. Recently, a personnel section appeared on the project website. It lists those co-investors of the project who are already ready to state this openly. Several investors remain anonymous for now.
So, some bought MTLCITY land tokens immediately, while others invested in the fund, which bought up the remainder of these tokens to close the land purchase deal on time. Now the fund is selling the land tokens held on its balance sheet. What will it do with the proceeds? Naturally, invest them in other businesses. So far, a relatively small amount has been invested in a trading project owned by one of the fund’s founders. As a result, the fund has begun paying weekly dividends to all MTL token holders, generated from the profits of this investment. Trading investments are high-risk, so the fund is unlikely to significantly increase its contribution, and as money from land sales comes in, it will start investing in a land development company. However, if you have other interesting proposals, please contact the main project chat, and you will then be redirected to the specialized one for business ideas.
Also, in the time since the project started, quite a few libertarians have visited Montenegro on tourist trips, wanting to look closer at the country and our project, and they continue to arrive from time to time—but haphazardly and with their own cultural programs: some for the beach, some for the mountains, some for parties. We very much hope that they all liked the country and will soon move here permanently. And for those who liked the country but are not ready to move for some important reasons, we plan to create a regular festival so that we no longer gather haphazardly. Ideas and offers of help for the festival should also be written in the main chat, and then we will move to a closed thematic one.
I arrived in Montenegro on May 21st to work on the Montelibero project. During this time, I have personally accomplished a little for the project: I settled in relative proximity to the plot of land being acquired as part of the project, participated in clearing the territory so that the surveyor could mark the cadastral boundaries of the plot and the future road leading to it, and submitted documents to be appointed as the director of the LLC Montelibero, which is currently in the process of registration. Until the company is registered, the possibilities for further offline activity regarding the land are limited.
Surveyor at work
Many are concerned about the cost of living in Montenegro. Here is a summary for the first month.
A total of 834 euros was spent — this is only for myself, excluding expenses within the framework of Montelibero. However, this amount includes some items that will be significantly lower in the future.
Housing cost 282 euros; it will be much less moving forward. First, the first 7 days were in a hostel at 6 euros per night. Second, when I rented long-term housing for 120 euros a month, I had to leave one month’s payment as a deposit, with a potential return not for a long time.
113 euros were spent on furnishings. For instance, I brought almost my entire desktop computer from Russia, except for the monitor and the case because they are heavy, and I forgot to take the router. I had to buy used hardware locally. Or, for example, the apartment turned out to have no electric kettle or clothes drying rack. In the future, I expect one major expense in this category, and after that, it will almost vanish.
A very unpleasant expense is the 30-euro tourist tax, which is 1 euro per day of stay in the country. The tax must be paid until a residence permit is obtained, which in turn is tied to the registration timelines of the company where I am the director. So this expense will decrease next month and eventually disappear completely. However, company maintenance costs will begin; but in my case, fortunately, these will be paid for by the project — a kind of social package for an employee with a monthly salary of 80 euros.
The wildest expense item from the perspective of former residents of Russia is the cash-out commissions, which cost 29 euros. Local ATMs charge 2% + 5 euros. In supermarkets, of course, you can pay by card, but between people — only cash; there is no “I’ll transfer to Sber via phone number” here. This is a serious reason to start earning cash here or making useful acquaintances for more profitable cash-outs than via an ATM.
170 euros were spent on shops, and another 54 on establishments. These expenses can be optimized, but I would assume that food and small household needs will continue to cost around two hundred.
In short, if you rent a very modest apartment in a cheap city (Bar is perhaps the cheapest city on the coast), then once life more or less settles down, you can expect to fit within 350-400 euros per month — if living alone. A family will have lower per capita rental costs and will likely fit within a price tag of 300 euros per person.
However, for expenses to stay within this modest price tag, a couple of other conditions must be met. First, forget about smoking; cigarettes are very expensive here, more than 2 euros per pack. I didn’t even start, which is easier for me. Second, you can choose not to apply for a residence permit and instead do a visa run. More on that below.
If a tourist does not pay the tourist tax, the state theoretically threatens to fine them. In practice, only those who apply for a residence permit without having paid their taxes are fined. Therefore, instead of applying for a residence permit, you can simply cross the border with Albania once a month. My landlord actually makes a side income from this: he crowds 4 people into his car, charges 10 euros from each, and drives them to Shkodër, a lovely Albanian town on the shore of Lake Skadar. In Albania, almost all fruits and vegetables are about twice as cheap, as are many items in supermarkets. So many people go there just to stock up, and at the same time, they get a border crossing stamp, which gives them the right to extend their legal stay in Montenegro. So, if you aren’t planning far ahead and aren’t chasing Montenegrin citizenship in ten years, then a visa run is the cheapest way of legalization. No PCR tests are required; I haven’t even seen people wearing masks in Albania at all.
Just a funny Albanian brand
In conclusion, a scattering of general impressions about the country.
The language is related enough to Russian that after a month, you can understand most of what is being said to you, especially if they speak slowly. Ordinary communication happens in a mixture of Montenegrin and Russian, but in difficult cases where this is not enough, switching to English is sufficient and solves the problem.
Locals are quite friendly, although not as breathtakingly hospitable as, say, Georgians. They love to chat: communication with locals almost always boils down to them talking, you occasionally giving one-word answers to their questions, and them being happy that they were understood and that you even replied on topic. They talk little about politics, and this usually concerns the question of whether they should join the European Union, rather than whether some Russians or Belarusians have a dispute with their government. Libertarian values are quite organic for them, though they are not articulated.
Business culture in Montenegro is a legendary topic. You get the feeling that by the time you manage to pull off a more or less complex deal, you will have already gotten to know the counterparty’s entire family and perhaps even become related to them. The price of the deal ultimately turns out to be noticeably higher than expected, but in the process, some unexpected benefits arise that have a completely indirect relation to the original subject of discussion. In short, you have to immerse yourself in it, and it’s harmful to spend too many nerves on it.
There is work here, in principle, both skilled and unskilled. Until your knowledge of the local language is proficient, you can look for work through Russian-speaking groups on Facebook; they are populous and informative. When a person begins to chat fluently, their opportunities expand significantly. Also, nothing prevents working remotely, but you already understand that. The internet is expensive, but the quality is decent enough.
The food is tasty, but the cuisine is not very diverse: meat, cheese, bread, vegetables, fruits. The culture of smoking meat is top-notch. There is fish, but it’s not highly prized by the locals. They eat a lot of pastries, but here I don’t particularly align with the locals.
The climate surprised me at first: at the end of May, evenings were openly cool. Now it much more resembles my idea of the subtropics: hot during the day, pleasant at night. Humidity is not very high and isn’t irritating. I haven’t even turned on the air conditioner yet, but I think it will be needed after some time. The sea is still quite cool, so the beaches are already quite crowded, while the waves are still spacious. They say the locals migrate to the mountains, where it’s cooler, during the height of the heat. I haven’t been there yet, but I plan to.
In general, in terms of tourist attractions, Montenegro is still passing me by. I visited the Old Town of Budva — and that’s pretty much it. Although literally right next to me is some breathtakingly ancient olive tree, 2400 years old, which all the locals speak of with literal breathlessness, and three kilometers away are the ruins of Old Bar — but somehow I just haven’t found the time. Instead, today I plan to visit the tourist center to extend my registration after the visa run, and tomorrow I’ll go to the capital, where I spotted a used scooter (that same expected major expense for furnishings). Perhaps when I have wheels, I’ll be able to ride around the country and explore it in more detail, but that will likely be the topic of the next report.
Old Town Budva — the only tourist attraction I’ve explored in detail
Patry Friedman tweeted about our project, and may he truly be worthy of his great ancestors, which is no easy feat. People from all sorts of places, such as Iceland or Catalonia, have started joining the project chats.
Documents have been submitted for the registration of the company that will own the land being purchased as part of the project. So, I will soon be officially appointed as director, and it will be possible to apply for a boravak (the melodic local term for a residence permit).
The attempt to bring the surveyor mentioned in the previous issue to the site was only partially successful: the plot and even the access paths are so densely overgrown with bushes that we managed to break through to only one of the three areas.
Dead end, you can’t get any further to the plot — or, locally, velika šuma
One can make their way to part of the territory via the seasonal stream bed
Roughly a third of all the land is relatively cleared; there was an olive grove here
So, equipment for dealing with the underbrush was purchased, and starting tomorrow, Alexey from Tomsk and I will begin destroying it.
Asking the local expert where the trigger is on this barrel
When photos of all these “man toys” appeared in the project chats, the Tom Sawyer effect immediately occurred: people began to envy us and express a desire to immediately leave their stuffy offices and come to our sunny tourist paradise to paint a fence. Most likely, you won’t make it in time for the clearing stage, but then the road construction will begin, followed by building — processes that are no less fascinating. So, if you haven’t yet acquired a piece of Montenegro to build your own libertarian nest on — check out montelibero.org, or better yet, go straight to the main project chat — and join us.
In Issue 1, I mentioned the start of a project for the joint purchase of a plot of land in the south of Montenegro. Fundraising was initiated for this, and to confirm the share of participation in the project, 80,000 MTL tokens were issued on the Stellar blockchain, which were then offered for purchase to anyone interested. As far as I can tell from the token page on the Stellar website, today the token already has 67 holders (you can find the current figure at the moment you are reading the article by looking at the funded trustlines line).
However, buying land is not the only possible direction for investment in Montelibero. Therefore, the project initiators decided to complicate the tokenomics a bit. Now you can invest directly in the MTLCITY land token, or you can stay in MTL tokens, with the exchange rate of both tokens being exactly 1 euro. The logic is as follows. The number of MTLCITY tokens is exactly equal to the sum in euros that makes up the costs of acquiring and registering the land, constructing the mandatory infrastructure, and other expenditures on public goods approved by current holders. At the same time, each token grants the right of ownership to a piece of land equal to the total land area divided by the total token issuance. If a new expenditure needs to be funded, an additional issuance of land tokens takes place, and current holders have the right of first refusal to buy the additional issuance proportionally to their existing share—thus, the area of land assigned to them will not decrease. But if this right is not exercised, the tokens will be bought by someone else, and the previous holder’s share will decrease. So far, MTLCITY has 6 holders; many prefer to own land indirectly, through the MTL fund, rather than planning the allocation of a physical plot for their direct use.
As for the MTL tokens, they can be used not only for land investments but also for other business projects, for example, the purchase of a crypto ATM or something else equally inspiring and ancap-friendly.
I tried to explain this as clearly as possible; if I didn’t succeed, I apologize, you will have to ask for clarification in the project chat.
Now I will move from the intangible to offline news. A third family has moved to Montenegro as part of the Montelibero project, as a result of which the diaspora now consists of six people. Budva is currently serving as a transit base for all settlers, and later, both I and the newly arrived family from Tomsk moved to the city of Bar, which is cheaper and closer to the land being purchased.
Next week, the payment of a deposit and the reservation of the land plot are expected. Then, within a month, we will have to register a company, which will then take ownership of the land. In this company, I will perform the functions of director, meaning I will directly manage the process of land development—of course, according to the instructions of the company’s shareholders. For now, I am looking for a geodesist (they are archaically called geometers here) to transfer the plot boundaries from the cadastral plan to the terrain, after which we can begin clearing the plot of underbrush and building a road to it.
I would say that so far, despite being much less well-known, our project is developing faster than Liberland and Liberstad (the latter is particularly disappointing, as it is very close to us in concept, but so far looks more like a scam). I hope we will continue to meet expectations, despite Montenegro’s reputation as an extremely slow-paced country.
I have arrived safely in Montenegro. Although “safely” is not entirely the correct word, because many mistakes were made and a lot of money was lost in the process. In general, traveling has become much more difficult compared to 2019, when I last traveled outside of Russia.
The most unpleasant discovery was that you can no longer trust aggregators when buying plane tickets. They will readily sell you a ticket for a flight that you fundamentally cannot use, which the seller already knows at the time of the transaction, and it will be impossible to refund this ticket. Thus, I failed to fly to Belgrade via Istanbul relatively cheaply, and had to urgently buy literally the penultimate remaining direct ticket to Belgrade, in business class, for an insane amount of money. Then, in Belgrade itself, I was not allowed into the city because I didn’t have a PCR test, and I had to spend the night in the transit zone. And when it came time to check in for the flight to Tivat, it turned out that no one would transfer my luggage from one flight to another for me. In the end, I was assigned a manager who literally led me by the hand through passport control (the lack of a test miraculously stopped being an obstacle), then I collected my luggage at the lost & found desk, then at check-in it turned out that the system could not see my ticket, we went to the airline desk where the system finally spotted me, they printed a paper copy of the ticket, and with that, the quest to board the plane was finally completed… What I liked about the Serbs was that everyone took the fuck-up with humor; any formalities were immediately set aside as soon as a real problem appeared, so the journey through the airport was filled with cheerful laughter and jokes in broken English.
In Tivat, I ignored the services of taxi drivers (that was actually difficult), walked to the bus station, bought a ticket to Budva, used public Wi-Fi to tell the person meeting me when to expect me, and after that, there were no more problems.
Heinrich, until the day before yesterday the representative of the only family that had moved to Montenegro as part of the Montelibero project, turned out to be just an ordinary libertarian, exactly as they should be according to libertarian propaganda: businesslike, energetic, polite, paying great attention to building his reputation—and without any obsessive fetishes, which are not uncommon among political and social activists. In short, he and I will undoubtedly get along. I gave him cash for the project fund—although, only someone else’s, since my fuck-ups on the way are unlikely to let me invest a significant amount in the near future, and I’d rather save the remaining money for a deposit for a future landlord to get more attractive terms.
Yesterday, Heinrich and I went from Budva to Bar. If Budva is a purely tourist town, located in a rather narrow coastal strip between the sea and the cliffs, and actively climbing those very cliffs—then Bar is much more spacious, there is plenty of empty space right within the city limits, and it looks somewhat more self-sufficient. At the same time, it doesn’t look poor or neglected, although a certain residual “Soviet-ness” is felt in it. In general, I will try to find housing specifically there; at the same time, it will be significantly closer to the location of our future libertarian locale.
Unexpectedly, they decided to make me the project director—this is mainly due to a staff shortage and the cleanliness of my documents, rather than any outstanding business qualities. But, of course, I will try not to let them down. Naturally, the fund cannot yet afford any competitive salary, so this looks more like a public service. As I understand it, as of today, the fund has already collected about 25 thousand euros out of the 70 thousand required to buy land, and this pace clearly allows for the completion of what was started, most likely without any single participant holding a controlling stake. The day after tomorrow, we welcome another family of settlers.
As for the channel, I hope to maintain the usual pace of publications in the future, about one per day. By the way, a huge thank you to those who, hearing about my troubles with the tickets, sent several unusually large donations. This already covers about a fifth of the losses—and I didn’t even ask anyone directly, because it felt awkward to ask people to pay for the results of my own stupidity.
The view from the hostel window of the old town of Budva. In Bar, of course, the view will be significantly more ordinary.
I continue to write the introductory part of the book about ancap bit by bit, describing the main principles of libertarianism. I think that later I will reformat the text a bit, but for now, it’s becoming quite a large chapter in one piece.
Usually, when I answer a question, I do it in a detailed manner, with examples, metaphors, and other rhetorical gems. In the book, I try not to ramble, and now I’m wondering if I should, and whether it’s becoming too dry. I would like to know your opinion.
On May 20, I fly to Montenegro. This may affect the regularity of posts for about three days, or it may not. I usually don’t schedule publications, so such things are not very predictable.
Since living in Montenegro will be more expensive for me than in Russia, I will have to pay more attention to making money. If you want me to be less distracted from working on the channel, send donations. It will be especially helpful to chip in for the book — the more financial enthusiasm it generates, the faster I will write and the sooner I will finish. The same applies to current translation projects.
Since I will need to register a company to obtain a residence permit in Montenegro, I will try to take advantage of this and organize the acceptance of donations directly in Telegram — Durov created this possibility quite a long time ago, but I didn’t use it because connecting a Telegram store requires a legal entity — and that’s exactly what I will now have.
Also, in the comments of the donations page, I was asked to set up a Monero wallet. I downloaded the wallet from the official website, synchronized the blockchain, and now I’ve even started mining, although that is just for fun, of course. So, here is the Monero address for donations:
Most likely, I will use the flights to read the Strugatsky brothers’ “Snail on the Slope,” which was ordered for a review long ago — what else is there to do on a plane besides reading books? It’s getting a bit embarrassing; payment for the review was received back in April, which is quite untidy.
Possibly, I will post some fresh travel impressions if they don’t clash too much with the general theme of the channel. If they do — I’ll post them on Boosty.
I subscribed to the channel Russian Frontier. Today, the author posted a review of the Montellibero project, in which he notes our ideological closeness in everything except for the assessments of the investment climate in Russia. He suggests that today, the creation of contractual jurisdictions in Russia is not officially regulated in any way, which means one can and should enter this market—until the state shows a keen interest in them, after which they should be repurposed into something else, even swingers’ clubs.
Indeed, there is still a niche in Russia today (and perhaps it will remain for a long time) for the relatively free pursuit of agriculture and trades—in regions where there is a relative surplus of land. In other words, it is impossible to expand in the conditional Krasnodar Territory, but in Altai, like Justus Walker, or even in the not-so-distant Moscow region, like Mikhail Shlyapnikov or Herman Sterligov—why not? Thus, an enthusiast can indeed create a strong farm with quite original customs, and it is unlikely that this farm would even be seized, since the basis of its prosperity is labor and entrepreneurial talent, not capital.
Of course, such benevolent ignorance from the state will continue only until a specific entrepreneur gets into politics or at least makes loud media statements that clash with the general background. And if such entrepreneurs start getting in the way not as an exception, but literally every second person, then a standard solution will be quickly devised for them that will either abolish them or distract them significantly.
How well are such solutions replicated? It seems not very well. Most likely, associations of free farmers will be weeded out more eagerly than loners, and the positive scale effect of any given association in this particular industry is small. A milk producer in Belgorod will in no way help a honey producer in Bashkiria; each deals with a unique environment of varying degrees of aggressiveness.
How well do such solutions scale? This is likely dangerous. As soon as a farm advances significantly from the exploitation of labor to the exploitation of capital, it becomes a tempting morsel for a takeover.
So, I would view the Russian frontier as a good training ground for those who have sufficient competencies to build a sole proprietorship. At the same time, cultural originality can provide such a farm with media visibility—which can attract investors, product buyers, and even serve as some kind of vaccination against raids that are not too motivated. So, donning the guise of a contractual jurisdiction for such a farm is also an excellent idea; it’s worth considering.
But once some experience and capital have been accumulated, it makes sense, instead of expanding the current project, to invest in a farm in countries with more reliable protection of private property. Fortunately, globalization allows one to avoid making a hard choice between the Russian and Montenegrin frontiers. In the best case, this will simply be diversification, and in the worst—also a platform for evacuation.
And I still hope that the experience accumulated on the Russian frontier will simply create a desire to be applied to something greater, and then welcome to Montellibero.
