About Phutopia

Phutopia was founded in 1995 by Phutyle International as an "independent nation state", under the administration of the Phutopian High Command. From the beginning, Phutopia shunned the traditional notion of national territory, instead taking the position that a nation is defined by its people rather than its geography. Therefore the Phutopian High Command invited people to become citizens of Phutopia, with full autonomous power and responsibility. Phutopia has no government - each citizen is considered a self governing region within Phutopia. The function of the Phutopian High Command is to administer the day to day runnings of Phutopia, such as citizenship application and public relations.

Phutopia exists in two forms, Phutopia (General) and Phutopia (Specific). Phutopia (General) is compromised of the autonomous citizens of Phutopia, and is subject to its own Constitution. Phutopia (Specific) is a specific, but not necessarily static, area directly governed by the Phutopian High Command. Its sole purpose is to provide a safe and independent place from where the Phutopian High Command can carry out its duties, as defined in the Constitution of Phutopia (Specific).

Phutopia has since evolved to challenge the very concept of national identity. The aim of Phutopia is to promote personal identity over national identity, thus removing not only a huge barrier to humanity's development, but also one of the major sources of division and friction in the world today. Phutopia rejects all national clichés, stereotypes, destinies and traditions. That is not to say that the Phutopian High Command does not value culture and ethnicity, but rather that we believe that people would be ultimately better off regarding themselves and others as individuals rather than as a segment of some generalised whole.

This all begs the question: Why is a group which calls for individualism to replace group identity inviting people to become Citizens of Phutopia? Firstly, Phutopia is a symbol, a flag of convenience. There is no doctrine or formality. The purpose of the dual constitutions is to safeguard against Phutopia being used for unscrupulous ends, as opposed to being a defining national statement, in the way other constitutions are. Secondly, its a bit of fun. The ideas behind Phutopia (and indeed all of Phutyle International's activities) are very serious and important, but we believe that they can be expressed in an interesting and playful way. We know very well that most people who have registered as citizens do so because its free, there is no commitment and its mildly entertaining for about five minutes. Having said that, it might just make some people think about what lies behind what we're doing. Finally, the word Phutopia derives from 'phutyle utopia' which itself derives from 'futile utopia'. There will never be a perfect society because there is no such thing as perfection. The nature of the universe and everything in it is to constantly change, to evolve. Perfection would require an end to change, a point where things become static. There simply is no end to change. Flux is the only constant. This is why we need ideas like Phutopia. If there is only change, we may as well try to make it a change for the better.

Phutopian High Command

July 1998

 

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