by Max Barry

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The Anarchist Commune of Sassony (aka East Angria)

The Anarchist Commune of East Angria
Anarcistʃe Komune Zasn


Flag


Motto: Vī zynt hēl un dēl frē!
("We are absolutely free!")



Location


Population: 73 267 449
Density: 291.3966426


Capital (and largest city): Rūrstat


Official Language: Low German
(Standard Sasson)



National Languages: West Low German, West
Central German, Low Franconian, and Jutlandic
Languages, langues d'oïl, and several minority languages.


Demonym: Sasson; (East) Angrian

Government: Anarchist Commune


Legislature:
-Upper House: Nootraat (Emergency Council)
-Lower House: Fultiŋ (Full Assembly)


Establishment: 18. of May, 1848
from German Confederation
Independence: 20. of Juli, 1944 from
the Third German Empire (Nazi Germany)


Area: 251.435 km²


Elevation
Highest Point: Brokŋ. 1141.2m above sea level
Lowest Point: Zȳdplatspolder. 7m below sea level


GDP (nominal): No Data
GDP (nominal) per capita: No Data


Human Development Index (NS Version):
93.58


Currency: the spliff; labor vouchers


Time Zone: CET (UTC+1)


Drives on the: Left


Calling code: +31


Internet TLD: .ea

Sassony, widely known as the Anarchist Commune of East Angria [iː st ˈæŋ.riə] Anarcistʃe Komūne Zasn [ˈɑ.nɑ.çɪst.ʃə kɔˈmuː nə ˈzɑ.sn̩], officially the Anarchist Commune of Sassony is an anarchist federation of free territories, which is located in north-western Central Europe. It is not to be confused with LinkEast Anglia on Great Britain, nor with the Free State of LinkSaxony in Eastern Germany. East Angria is bordered by several East German, South German and French territories on the continent. It includes a large portion of coastline and several islands in the North Sea. The territory is situated only a few kilometers away from Great Britain in the west and the Danish Islands in the north.

Sassony has a multi-ethnic, multilingual population of more than 73 million people. While the commune shares some characteristics with sovereign states, its formal organization is fundamentally different. Sassony lacks a central government, capital city, army, law and law enforcement. The society is organized from the bottom up on Linklibertarian and Linkvoluntaryist principles. While large-scale trade with foreign states and companies exists, Sassony's domestic economy is socialist, with many goods and services universally and freely available. All this makes the Anarchist Commune of Sassony one of the most equal, free, and happy countries in the world.

Etymology
Sassony is a name derived from Standard Sasson Zasn, a name for the central and eastern regions of the anarchist commune. This name, in turn, derives from Middle Low German sasse, "someone speaking Saxon, i.e. (Middle) Low German". The reconstructed ancestor of this word is LinkProto-Germanic *sahsô, a derivative of *sahsą, meaning "rock" or "knife".

*sahsô was a word for a Germanic tribe whose members were known for using a certain type of knife or short sword, the Linkseax. Parts of this tribe Linkcolonized Great Britain as part of the LinkAnglo-Saxons in the early Middle Ages, while other parts remained on the continent in the Stem Duchy of Saxony. This name later shifted to a different Linkarea to the original Saxony's southeast and the terms "Saxon" and "Saxony" fell out of use for what was now northwestern Germany.

In the late twentieth century, when more and more free territories united to form an anarchist federation in the area, people searched for a descriptive moniker for the new commune. "Sassony" was chosen because the only aristocratic hierarchies to which the name was bound were long dead and forgotten. "Zasn" and related words began being used as catch-all terms for the new free territories and its inhabitants, though regional names remained in more widespread use.

East Angria has officially renamed to the Anarchist Commune of Sassony, but the pars pro toto name of its original territories has persists in general English language use.

East Angria is a portmanteau of the regional names LinkAngria and LinkEastphalia, which in turn date back to the LinkDuchy of Saxony of the early Middle Ages. Angria possibly means "pasture" or "meadow”, while Eastphalia was a term for "the eastern plains". North Angria and Eastphalia currently make up the central and eastern reaches of the free territory.

The most widespread way to refer to an inhabitant of Sassony is as a "Sasson", but "East Angrian", "Angrian", or regionally specific names are common and acceptable as well.

History
The oldest signs of human settlement of the area date back 380 000 years: LinkThree wooden javelins 1.8 to 2.3 meters long were unearthed. These are the oldest complete hunting weapons ever found anywhere in the world. They were discovered in a coal mine in Ʃainic, Eastphalia, in 1995.

The [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neandertal_(valley)]Neander valley[/url] in Rhineland was the location where the first ever non-modern human fossil was discovered and recognized in 1856; the new species of human was named LinkNeanderthal man. The Neanderthal 1 fossils are now known to be 40,000 years old.

First signs of agriculture date back to 4000 to 5000 B.C. The LinkFunnelbeaker culture inhabited most of the territory starting in 4300 B.C. The LinkCorded Ware culture entered the area around 2900 B.C., bringing with them the LinkProto-Indo-European language and thus the ancestor of most major languages of the area. The bronze age reached Sassony around 2000 B.C..

Western Sassony first became an independent nation state in the form of the LinkDutch Republic following the LinkBatavian Revolution in 1975. The first modern republics in Eastern Sassony were established during the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_revolutions_of_1848–1849]March Revolutions[/url] of 1848. The young democracies were conquered by an emerging LinkPrussian Empire within decades.

During the closing years of LinkWorld War II, a Linkresistance movement against the Nazi regime gained ground in Angria and Eastphalia, officially declaring independence from the Third German Empire on 20th of Juli, 1944. The new state of East Angria then joined the LinkAllies in fighting against the Third German Empire. Other areas that had previously been occupied by the totalitarian regime joined the movement over the following months. The population Linkpurged Nazi officials in cooperation with the Allied occupation forces.

Most of northwestern Germany was occupied by Great Britain and the Netherlands, Eastern Eastphalia was occupied by the USSR, and the southwestern territories were occupied by the USA and France. Tensions grew when the Allies split into the NATO and the Communist Bloc, and the arbitrary partition of territories was increasingly perceived as an injustice. The situation escalated with the torture and murder of prisoners of war in Allied camps, conflicts with refugees from annexed territories in the east, and the Red Army moving to install a fortified border around their occupation zone. The people in Eastphalia practiced passive resistance against the armed forces. Ironically, the freedom fighters that had previously battled the nazis were now waging a small-scale guerilla war on the USSR army with support from the NATO.

The soviet forces were successfully expelled in 1949, followed by the establishment of the Federal Republic of Sassony consisting of North Angria, North Albingia (including, at the time, North Frisia), Westphalia, Rhineland, Hesse, and a now unified Eastphalia. East Frisia was put under Dutch control, Lotharingia under French control, and the NATO occupation forces remained in the other areas. The Federal Republic held its first elections on the 14th of August 1949, and a governing coalition of the Conservative People's Party (KFP) and the Social Democratic Party of Sassony (ZPZ) was formed in LinkBon. The government, supported by the victorious powers, established a social market economy in Sassony, bringing peace and prosperity that the area hadn't known for decades. Sassony joined the NATO in 1955 along with the Austrian Empire in the south. The Democratic Republic of Prussia, meanwhile, signed the Warsaw Pact and a highly militarized border separating the capitalist from the stalinist world was established right in the middle of what had previously been the German empire.

A new generation grew up in peace, freedom, and prosperity previously unknown to the population of the area. The Sasson student movement became the primary extra-parliamentary opposition to the KFP-led government, propagating libertarian socialism, neutrality, pacifism, denazification, personal freedom and social progress. This inspired workers, peasants, anarchists, feminists, and communists to mobilize against the dominant powers. As a result of their protests, the last occupation forces were forced to leave the country, proposed emergency acts could not be passed, and the country left the NATO after a mere 12 years. These protests culminated in the revolution of 1968, which disbanded the parliament and declared the Sasson state to be dissolved.

The following years saw great upheaval within Sassony. The chaotic back-and-forth between communists aligned with the east, conservatives aligned with the west, and the libertarian rebels turned the country effectively into a proxy warzone between both sides of the cold war. Both sides attempted to influence the outcome of the war with covert missions as well as material support. The greatest success of the stalinists was the establishment of the Bremen Soviet Republic, which acted as their base of operations throughout the war. NATO kept pouring money and goods into the Sasson market, hoping to sway the opinion of the general population in their favor. The Austrian Empire succesfully petitioned to have its military re-established in order to pacify Sassony from the Fraŋkfort area northwards - a plan which was never put into action.

The conflict received widespread news coverage in the upcoming mass media, overshadowed only by events like the Linkfirst moon landing and the LinkVietnam War. The three-sides nature of the war spawned comparisons to the LinkSpanish Civil War three decades earlier. Political idealists from all around the world traveled to Sassony to document the struggles, spread their own ideas, or take up arms for either side of the war. The libertarian faction was seen as a potential model society by the recent hippie movement. Neither the NATO nor the Warsaw Pact dared to conduct open military operations upon Sassony for fear of nuclear retaliation by the other side.

The mid-seventies saw withdrawal of NATO military that was already spread thin due to other conflicts around the world and a split between the stalinist leadership and the pro-Sasson autonomy communist base of the Bremen Soviet Republic. The libertarian forces, now celebrated as heroes by the worldwide alternative left, was able to secure a number of key victories in Brēm, Fraŋkfort, Hamborc, and Køle in rapid succession. The Autonomous Territory of Eastphalia and the Socialist Republic of North Angria (the latter a successor state of the Bremen Soviet Republic) were both founded in 1976. Being the first peaceful and stable territories within Sassony, they joined together to form the Community of East Angria in the same year.

A new, transformed Sassony emerged in spring of 1979 when upheaval subsided and turned into cooperation and mutual aid across the country. The people rebuilt the country along the principles of voluntaryism, freedom of association, and horizontal organization. They worked for each other’s needs according to their capabilities and the available resources, and established a society with a level of freedom and equality that was previously unknown. Harnessing the creative energy of more than 65 million residents from all around the world, Sassony advanced in infrastructure, science, technology, the humanities, and social ecology, making it one of the freest, most advanced and prosperous countries in the world.

The nineteen-eighties especially saw great growth and reorganization of Sassony's infrastructure and economy. Tens of thousands of wind turbines sprung up all across the countryside and the North Sea. Buildings and vehicles were plastered with solar panels. Nuclear powerplants ceased operation and were replaced by geothermal power plants. Defunct railways were restored and extended. The conversion of inner-city tramways to heavy metro rail systems was pushed forward. Refugees and migrants from all around the worlds started flocking to Sassony to build a new life there. Work was largely organized in an anarcho-collectivist manner in this phase.

The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War changed the face of the world forever, but its effect on the Anarchist Commune was diminutive in comparison. The armed militia corps patrolling the Eastern Borders for fear of a Soviet assault were dissolved soon after the event. Many partisans turned in or destroyed their weapons over the following years, while others remained vigilant against the imperialist Western World. Unification attempts with the East German states that were now free from the Warsaw Pact proved difficult and were ultimately unsuccessful.

From the mid-nineties on, as most of the great development projects of the past decade neared completion, many Sassons turned to more intellectual pursuits. Science, technology, information industry, arts and entertainment saw a great influx of new brilliant minds. The economy diversified into free communist and market socialist forms. At the same time, obstacles to international trade with the capitalist outside world had been overcome. Legal contracts between foreign corporations and Sasson syndicates, especially in the ports of Roterdam and Hamborc, allowed a large-scale exchange of goods and innovations between Sassony and the world for the first time in decades.

Dysldørp and Fraŋkfort became new hotspots for the advancement of free software, copyleft, digital creative commons, and green and fairly produced computers. Hanōva successfully hosted a World's Fair in the summer of 2000, which further opened the barriers between the Anarchist Commune and the rest of the world. The people of Sassony saw the great enemies of capitalism and stalinism defeated, at least within their home country. This lead to the rise of new social initiatives and political factions such as the Progressives and the Spiritual Movement. The Anarchist Community and the Communist Internationale remained the dominant political forces in the country as they diversified into many different factions and sub-sections.

The Great Recession of 2008 rekindled the interest in libertarian-left alternatives to the established order all around the world. More ideological refugees, frustrated with life in their capitalistic home states, made Sassony their new homes. At the same time, Sassons started contributing to worldwide protest movements and projects such as Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring. Some traveled all over the world to directly aid such protests, while others helped indirectly by fundraising and hosting websites from Sassony. Governments all over the world rallied against the threat of "Anarchist Terrorism" and the United States of America ended up refusing entry for all people from Sassony. Another reason for this was the rumor that whistleblower LinkEdward Snowden was given asylum in the Free Territory.

After losing popularity and becoming more and more estranged from other political movements, internal tensions led to the split of the Communist Internationale in Sassony in the summer of 2017. The faction reformed into the libertarian-communist Free Communist Movement (FKB) - and the Socialist Unity Party of Sassony (ZEP) a tiny Marxist-Leninist fringe party.


Land area claimed by the
Anarchist Commune of Sassony

Geography

Sassony currently occupies an area of 251 435 km² and is thus slightly larger than the United Kingdom. Its territory stretches from the northern tip of Jutland to German-speaking Lorraine in the South, and from Kāles and Døyŋkerke in western Flanders to the small town of Verbm at the river Elv in the east. The territory includes several islands in the North Sea. At 291 people per square kilometer, East Angria is relatively densely settled. Most of the available space is either forest or farmland, followed by settlements and other natural areas such as mountains, forests, or heaths.

The highest point of Sassony is Brokŋ mountain, also known as Bloksbarc. It lies in the middle of the Hōrt mountains in southern Eastphalia and is frequently visited by wiccans, other esoteric cults, and medieval reenactors. While there are a few uplands in Sassony's East and South, most of the land is very flat and low, even moreso at the coasts. Large land reclamation efforts are going on in the Zȳderzē and on the North Sea coast. Much of the thus reclaimed land lies under sea level. The most extreme example is the Zȳdplatspolder at seven meters below sea level.

Sassony's continental borders align roughly with the linguistic borders between the West vs. East Low German dialects, the West Central German vs. East Central and Upper German dialects, and the Dutch vs. French dialects. The major drainage systems are those of the Riŋ, Elv, Verza and Ēms streams which all reach the North Sea in East Angria.

The climate of Sassony is mostly moderate maritime, while some higher up southern and eastern areas have a humid continental climate. The wind usually blows from the west, bringing in moist air from the Atlantic Ocean.

Demographics

Population

East Angria has a permanent resident population of more than 73 million people. Official statistics list a much higher number which is climbing at a fast pace. This is because it is extremely easy to acquire East Angrian citizenship, even for people who have never been there, and who also have other nationalities. Additionally, people can grant pets and wild animals citizen status.

Most of East Angria's population is concentrated in the urban areas of the south and west, along the Riŋ stream, its tributary the Rūr, and the western coast. Population density tends to decline towards the east and north. However, the second-largest city of Hamborc can be found in the country's northeast.

Language


Language map of Sassony

Of the 73 million people that live in Sassony, there are almost 25 million people who speak a Low Franconian dialect as their native language. More than 22 million people speak Low German and more than 17 million people speak High German, mostly West Central German. Around three million people speak Jutlandic Danish and a little less than two million people speak a Frisian language. Five million people are native speakers of other languages such as Slavic, Turkic, Finno-Ugrian, Romance and other Germanic languages, among many others. The most important regional minority languages are the langues d'oïl Chtimi, Walloon, and Lorraine, all spoken near the territory's westernmost and southernmost fringes in Flanders and Lothringia.

See also: Sasson Alphabet

A good 80% of the population fluently speaks Low German as a standardized superregional language of commerce. Instead of a regulated orthography, Sassony uses a Latin-based script including letters for all the phonemes spread across the five most common languages. Most writing depicts spoken language perfectly. Thus, spelling in everyday communication can vary wildly, especially across dialects, whereas the regulated pronunciation of the standard language results in regular spelling for official documents and signs.

Knowledge of English is widespread in East Angria, at almost 70% competent speakers throughout the territory. Most people can speak or at least understand three to five different domestic or foreign languages.

Religion

Following the social revolutions of 1968 to 1979, organized religion is astonishingly unpopular in East Angria. You can find a few followers of most world religions here, especially protestant and catholic Christianity, but the majority of the population is irreligious. Atheism and agnosticism are common. Small cults with only a handful members are constantly popping up and vanishing again across the country. Most Sassons are "not religious, but spiritual", and following their very own path of spiritual development. Most churches across the country are protected as historic monuments, but only about a third of them continue to be used by Christian congregations. The others are mostly being used as general-purpose community centers, museums, or concert venues. Churches and temples of other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Paganism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and Bahá'í Faith were mostly built from the late seventies on, or sometimes repurposed from other buildings.

Ethnicity

Ethnic groups of all skin colors and with roots all over the world can be found in the country.

Largest Cities

Please note: Population numbers are given for cohesive urban areas.

Rank

City

Population

Region

1

Rūrstat

5.1 million

Westfaoln/Riŋland

2

Hamborc

2.4 million

Nōrdalbingien/Nōrdeŋan

3

Brysl

2.0 million

Flānderen

4

Køle

1 841 780

Riŋland

5

Fraŋkfort

1 398 227

Hezn

6

Amsterdam

1,351,587

Holand

7

Dysldørp

1 220 000

Riŋland

8

Roterdam

1 015 215

Holand

9

Brēm

973 000

Nōrdeŋan

10

Hanōva

765 000

Ōstfāln

Hamborc

Amsterdam

Dysldørp

Brēm

Government

East Angria is an anarchist commune with no government or state bureaucracy that could exert control over the population. Instead of a parliament, the country employs a direct democratic system in which the whole population votes on issues affecting the whole country. Most matters, however, can be resolved more directly by a neighborhood, municipal or regional council. The territory relies on delegates instead of representatives or government officials, who can be appointed and deposed directly by the group which they represent, requiring the support and trust of at least 50% of their voters.

See main article: Lands of the Anarchist Commune of Sassony

Divisions of East Angria are a complex subject. At the highest level, the country contains twelve "Lena" [ˈlɛ.nɑ] or lands, sometimes also referred to as communes, communities, or (by foreigners) as provinces. Main cities are included in brackets:

  • Jyland (Å̄rhūs)

  • Riŋland (Køle)

  • Lōtriŋe (Zābrige)

  • Vestfaoln (Dyørpm)

  • Ōstfāln (Hanōva)

  • Nōrdeŋan (Brēm)

  • Nōrdalbiŋjen (Hambōx)

  • Batāvje (Neimēɣen)

  • Holand (Amsterdam)

  • Frīslān (Ɣrōniŋe)

  • Hezn (Fraŋkfort)

  • Flānderen (Brysl)

However, there are several overlapping regions or areas which cooperate and distribute necessary organizational work among themselves and whose borders are determined by cultural, linguistic, topographic, historic and spatial planning factors. For example, the de facto capital city of Rūrstat stretches across both Westfaoln and Riŋland cultural regions, while being part of three different language areas and containing dozens of minority languages. A village located right in the middle between two towns of roughly the same size may enter association with both of them, essentially entering two federations on the same level at the same time. Self-administration, federalization, and separatist movements are supported and encouraged.

While most questions can be resolved locally within the house community, neighborhood, or town, some major problems require cooperation on a regional or countrywide level. In such cases, the relevant groups come together to make a decision and send a delegate relaying the decision to a council of delegates, which makes another decision according to their mandates. This process repeats until agreement is achieved on a regional or countrywide level.

There is neither an income tax nor any other form of coercive national levy, due, or fee in East Angria. State and industry have been replaced by a decentralized system of individually organized work towards individual development and the common good. All value that is produced by the citizens of East Angria goes back to benefit either themselves or their peers in a very direct way. The "Taxation" stat denotes the percentage of value that is brought into public domain for everybody to use, instead of being sold by the workers themselves. Thus, in a way, the stat denotes the balance of anarchist freed market socialism vs. communism or collectivism in East Angria.

Foreign Relations and Military

See also: Weapons in Sassony

Sassony does not have a national military. The country thus does not attack other nations, nor participate in military interventions. The majority of its people have dedicated themselves to pacifism following the peace of 1979. The preferred method of resistance is civil disobedience. Unarmed voluntary aid workers and medical staff from Sassony can be found in crisis areas all around the world.

Guns are not outlawed, but frowned upon by many and used only very reluctantly, resulting in an astonishingly low number of gunshot victims across the board. A large group of Sassons, however, are armed and well-trained for the case of a terrorist or military attack. Some also serve in paramilitary organisations, supporting libertarian socialist revolutions around the globe. The Zapatist movement of Mexico and the forces striving to establish an independent Kurdistan in the Middle East are the main beneficiaries of militant Sasson volunteers.

Sasson diplomats and emissaries are almost universally loathed among foreign officials, because they are required to directly report and enact the will of the East Angrian people and because many refuse to conform to the established rules of formal gatherings. The more authoritarian and warmongering a foreign leader is, the less respect they can expect from East Angrian ambassadors. On the other hand, Sassony has served as a neutral ground for negotiations between otherwise opposed nations such as the US and the USSR during the Cold War. The city of Brysl is especially well-known for being a breeding ground for peace talks and international cooperation.

The people of Sassony support many libertarian-socialist movements around the world by trading with them, supplying them with money, goods, services, and asylum, holding demonstrations of solidarity, raising awareness and discussing their goals and methods. Notable examples for organizations with Sasson support include the left-wing independence movement of Catalonia, the Industrial Workers of the World, the aforementioned Zapatista and Kurdish freedom fighters, and hundreds of smaller anarchist and libertarian communist movements all over the world.

There are rumors that US-American whistleblower Edward Snowden actually received asylum in Sassony.

Flag of the Anarchist Commune of Sassony

The flag which is used to represent the Anarchist Commune of Sassony on an international level, also known as the Sasson Flag (Flag fun Zasn) is bisected diagonally at a 45° angle, with the hoist side in black and the fly side in red. The bisection is straddled by the national emblem, the Wheel of Peace (Frēdnsrā), in white. The flag has an aspect ratio of 2:3.


The Flag of East Angria between 1944 and 1968.

The flag originated in the social anarchist movements that spawned the country's current social order. Adherents of strongly libertarian or far left political movements flew black or red banners, or combinations thereof. Other historic flag designs include Nordic Cross flags, tricolors and triband flags in either the national colors or in black, red, and gold. It is very common for people to fly their own flags on their houses, gardens, vehicles, or during demonstrations. Popular designs include all-black anarchist flags, red socialist flags, rainbow flags, or flags of specific regions, cities, or political movements.

National Colors

The national colors are

  • Black, standing for the struggle against oppression and the absence of hierarchies

  • Red, standing for the compassion for others and the fulfillment of their needs

  • White, standing for freedom and peace.

Wheel of Peace

The Wheel of Peace or Frēdnsrā is a complex symbol with a variety of different interpretations. It is a combination of the Wheel of Chaos, consisting of eight arrows pointing in all directions, and the peace sign at the center. Common interpretations include anti-authoritarianism, ongoing revolution, inclusiveness, pacifism, non-violence, individual spirituality, enlightened egoism, and progress.

National Animal

Corvids are abundant in all of Sassony. Unlike lions, eagles, and dragons, they are very unpopular as symbols of national authority, so one of them was bound to become the national animal. The jackdaw (Standard Sasson: Jø̄ka, Kā, Kau, Kriklkraje, among other names) was chosen because it isn't commonly associated with thievery and death, as magpies, crows, and ravens are. Jackdaws are highly intelligent, social, cooperative, courageous, and inventive animals, so they were deemed an appropriate representation of the East Angrian people.


The Western Jackdaw, Sassony’s
national animal.

The horse, usually depicted in white at full gallop, continues to be a strong contender for the national animal. It used to be popular in the coats of arms of the ruling houses in the area. It is also used as a symbol for the Old Sasson lands of Westphalia, Eastphalia, (North) Angria and Nordalbingia.

Other symbols

  • The Spliff, a widespread standardized cigarette containing marihuana and tobacco and manufactured at an industrial scale, is often used in lieu of currency when measuring income, value, and prices.

  • The Scots Pine (Standard Sasson: Fø̄re) is East Angria's national tree. It characterizes the woodlands of northern and eastern East Angria.

  • The Seax (Standard Sasson: Zas) is the national weapon of East Angria, having been popular in the area several centuries before the young country was formed. It stands for opposition to foreign invaders and other oppressors. The seax symbol is often heavily criticized for its connections to violence, authoritarianism and nationalism, but it is also widely used without alluding to those concepts.

Economy

There is a common misconception that Sassony's economy is centrally planned, as it used to be in the Stalinist dictatorships of the Soviet Union and their allies. In reality, there is no central planning commitee in the country, as there is no central government.

The economy of the Anarchist Commune of Sassony can be categorized into five sectors: communist, collective, syndicalist, mutualist, and hanseatic. There is significant overlap between these sectors.

  • In the Linkcommunist sector, you do voluntary work with no compensation except for the work itself. The product is made available for everybody indiscriminately. The idea is that everyone freely follows their passions, and thus indirectly improves life for everybody else. Communist work may include things like programming software, creating useful websites, creating art, music, or any kind of creative output, voluntary work, cooking for your neighbors, and many other things.

  • The Linkcollective sector makes up the bulk of work that is needed to uphold the standard of living within the Anarchist Commune. All participating able-bodied people between the ages of sixteen and seventy years are expected to contribute ten hours of communal labor per week. Collective labor can include, but is not limited to, the following things:

    • construction and maintenance work

    • farming or fishing, hunting, and foraging

    • operating freight or public transport vehicles

    • stand-by duty for fire brigade, civil guard, medical emergency services, or general assistance

    • machine operation, supervision, or manual labor in industrial facilities producing food and other everyday necessities

    • operation of public utilities such as water or electricity supply

    • teaching and passing on knowledge and skills to others

    • communal problem solving and political commitment (working as a delegate)

    • service work at grocery cooperatives or storehouses

    • running errands for or otherwise assisting the sick, elderly, or disabled

    • social work at daycare, kindergarten, integrational homes or inclusive living

    The specific occupation can be chosen freely. Communities may decide to give out bonus vouchers for especially dangerous, difficult, boring, repetitive, dirty, or necessary activities. The compensation for this work are labor vouchers in digital or paper form which are handed out every week, and a small amount of freely disposable income. Just for ten hours of work, everybody gets free access to housing, clean water, staple foods, electricity, the internet, education, healthcare, emergency assistance, public transit, and information.

  • In the Linksyndicalist sector, work is organized syndicates. They function like companies under capitalism, with the important difference that they are democratically controlled. Once you start working in a syndicate, you also get a say in what your company produces, and how you do it. A syndicate sells its products on the domestic and sometimes international market for foreign exchange, spliffs, and labor vouchers. Some Sassons choose not to participate in collective work, but work full-time for a specialized syndicate instead. Syndicates mostly produce more scarce luxury goods such as vehicles, entertainment electronics, fancy clothes, special equipment, and many others.

  • The [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(economic_theory)]mutualist[/url] sector is currently the smallest and hardest to quantify sector of the Sasson economy. It is made up of private barter and monetary trade, exchanging services, and so on. It is similar to the collective sector, but works on a much smaller scale - usually between two or just a handful of people. Mutualist activities include yard sales, flea markets, online trade of used goods, private lessons, exchanges of favors, prostitution, and Linkmutualist savings schemes.

  • The Hanseatic sector of the Sasson economy includes the coops and syndicates that trade with the rest of the world in a quasi-capitalistic manner. It is named after the LinkHanseatic League which played an important role in the area throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. The Sasson Hansa conducts domestic trade in collective, mutualist and syndicalist fashion, but competes and trades with capitalist players on the global market. Hanseatic syndicates are responsible for selling Sasson products to the rest of the world, and bringing foreign goods into the country on a large scale. Main exports include rail and street vehicles, software, wheat and vegetables, hemp, psychoactive substances and fair and green products. Main imports are used electronics, recyclable material, rare earth minerals, and fruit and vegetables from warmer climate zones.

The balance between the communist and collectivist sectors on one hand, and the syndicalist and Hanseatic sectors on the other hand for the domestic economy of Sassony is denoted by the "Taxation" stat. The current estimates for the mutualist sector is available via the "Black Market" stat.

Culture

Anarchist and libertarian schools of thought influence every aspect of daily life in Sassony. If you are an average Sasson, you probably

  • are cheerful, open, calm and individualistic

  • are a strong adherent to some kind of far-left, libertarian, anarchist or individualist ideology

  • are very outspoken about your opinions, but also respectful towards those of others

  • engage in friendly rivalry with the inhabitants of your neighboring block, village, city, or land

  • frequently consume black tea, coffee, beer, tobacco, marihuana and possibly other drugs

  • have a diet including lots of different rye and wheat breads, locally grown potatoes and other vegetables, fried foods, and imported Levantine cuisine

  • personally know just as many vegans and vegetarians as meat eaters

  • live very close to your workplace or next to a station with a train that gets you there

  • own a bicycle and use it every day, but also use public transport frequently

  • speak your local dialect most of the time and like to make fun of the neighboring dialects

here is no cultural standard of beauty in the Free Territory. There is neither a dominant conglomerate of mass media nor bureau of agitation and propaganda to impose such a standard on the population. Whether one person finds another attractive depends on two factors: personal preference and perceived health.

That being said, most Sassons prefer people who are neither overly skinny nor obese (which isn't really an issue since obesity is so rare in this country), but who have some muscle, and low to medium body fat. Full hair and clear skin is a plus, and so is symmetry of face and body. The population is rather mixed ethnically, so eye, skin, and hair colors from the brightest to the darkest are considered equally attractive. Strictly heterosexual people often find stereotypically masculine or feminine traits in the opposite gender attractive, for example tall and muscular men and shorter and more curvy women, but there are many exceptions to this generalization.

Since the Anarchist Commune is currently undergoing a cultural revolution towards more and more sexual freedom, pan, trans, intersexual and genderqueer orientations are becoming increasingly public and mainstream. This development is almost universally encouraged, the only exceptions being the tiny conservative, fascist, and religious fundamentalist minorities.

In an attempt to limit international trade and the related ethnic and environmental problems, most food in Sassony is sourced locally or at least domestically. Conventional agriculture, greenhouse farming, vertical farming, environmental awareness, and especially the widespread practice of urban gardening make Sassony's food industry largely self-sufficient. With enough time available to cook or at least get good food in everyone's timetable, heavily processed fast food, microwaved, canned, or frozen meals are unnecessary and unpopular. Communal kitchens where everyone can contribute and consume under the direction of professional personnel can be found everywhere.

Sassony has the largest concentration of beer breweries on a countrywide level. Every other village or neighborhood in Sassony has its own brewery. The beer from those small breweries is mostly consumed locally, but available throughout the country in specialized liquor shops. The most popular type is pilsener, but lager, export, helles, weissbier, black beer, ales and various kinds of mixed beer drinks are popular as well. The more popular brands are exported worldwide.

Infrastructure

See also: Transportation

Link
Logo of Sasson Railways, the
country's main railroad service

Sassony has by far the lowest number of cars per capita among the industrialized countries of the world. There are currently around 120 cars per 1000 inhabitants, or 8.7 million cars total in the whole country, vans, busses, and trucks included. Cars are still used for emergencies, transport of heavy or cumbersome loads, shuttling of disabled or sick passengers, and traffic in rural areas where no other modes of transport are available. Research on electrically powered cars is given priority in order to gradually make fossil fuel motors disappear from the country. The most important developers and producers of cars are Zyndikāt Vulfsborc in Eastphalia (previously Volkswagen) and Ōpl Cooperative in southern Hesse.

The street network is still extensive and well-maintained, but major roads and motorways across the country never have more than four lanes. Streets within settlements can often be used for cycling and walking without any problems. A notable feature of Sassony's roads is the complete lack of prohibition and warning signs. This forces drivers to be attentive and cooperative at all times, and significantly reduces accidents.

The environmental awareness and flat terrain of the country make it a beacon of cycling culture for the world. 90% of the population owns at least one bicycle. Rentable bikes are available in every major city and in many towns and villages across the country. There are a few dozen medium-sized bicycle manufacturing plants scattered throughout Batavia, Frisia, Holand, North Angria, and other lands. The total number of bicycles throughout Sassony is more or less the same as the number of people in the country.

Owning a car in Sassony is almost unnecessary because the country has one of the most extensive public transport networks in the world. There are trains running on regional, commuter and interurban railways at all hours, subway or elevated rail networks in all cities of more than 300 000 inhabitants, extensive low floor tram/light rail systems in towns of 20 000 or more inhabitants, and excellent bus and minibus services everywhere else.

Urban rail vehicles are developed in Dysldørp by DYVAG, and assembled in factories throughout the country. Longer distance rail vehicles are manufactured in Ruhr City, Kazl, Kīl, and Oxe. Both cooperatives' lies on reliability and standardization, making it very cheap and easy to operate and maintain even smaller tram and metro networks. Walking, using scooters, and cycling are encouraged by this, which in turn has a positive effect on health.

A magnetic levitation monorail train has recently been built to replace domestic flights and high-speed rail. Rail-bound vehicles and some buses are currently being equipped with autopilots, thus severely reducing the need for train operators. At night and on the weekends, you can now just dial a number or use an app to call an autopiloted vehicle when you need it.

The most important international airports can be found at Fraŋkfort, Amsterdam, Dysldørp, Køle, and Hanōva.

Energy

Use of fossil fuels has been all but phased out in recent years. Offshore wind turbines, tidal power plants, geothermal power plants and solar panels produce more than enough electricity for the entire territory. Nuclear power had briefly been considered in the 70s and 80s, but was shut down by widespread protests.

The first thing almost any foreigner notices upon entering the country are the millions upon millions of solar panels and small wind turbines plastered on the roofs and walls of buildings in every village and city. The energy is used in the same building or neighborhood whenever possible, or spread elsewhere or saved when necessary.

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