About OAM

Introduction

The Organization of Active Micronations was an intermicronational group with several goals, including supporting the growth of and maintaining peace and security among its member nations. It claimed to be the largest micronational organization ever formed, even though many of its members were inactive within the group for most of its history. It was the first multinational organization made up solely of "active" micronations. In July 2010, it expanded beyond peacekeeping and negotiation by introducing essential reforms. However, due to rising levels of inactivity and external criticism, the founder dissolved the organization on December 29th, 2011.

The organization had a goal of providing authentic support to newly formed and developing micronations. It also aimed to maintain its several projects and make meaningful contributions to micronationalism and other objectives outlined in the OAM Charter. The Council, consisting of all member nations of the OAM, was responsible for making decisions regarding the organization.

The OAM played a significant role as the main intermicronational organization in the MicroWiki community for a long time, especially during the period of the Grand Unified Micronational's dormancy from 2010 to 2011. It was most active between September and December 2010, when it became the primary platform for community interactions, and micronational Skype rooms were still in their early stages. However, the OAM faced controversy due to the leading role of Gordon Freeman, its founder and longest-serving leader. It was often associated with his interests and seen as a means for him to exert influence.

History

Establishment

On October 30th, 2009, the OAM was officially established after a decision made by the A1 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the A1 Cabinet. The decision was based on the recommendations outlined in the July 2009 Foreign Affairs White Paper, which aimed to create an intermicronational organization that was both effective and comprehensive.

After receiving harsh criticism from certain micronationalists, particularly Robert Lethler, and A1's decision to leave the GUM, there was a sudden increase in membership. Though there were no officially recognized founding nations, the first three nations to join after the MGPRA1 were the Kingdom of Victoria, the People's Proper Republic of Wellington, and the Kingdom of Barrington.

First two months

In the initial two months of its establishment, the online headquarters of OAM were operated through a below-average forum system, which provided limited support and hindered the scope for expansion. Subsequently, the forum was relocated to its present location and the website was updated, which led to the elimination of inactive member nations for the first time.

During a certain period of time, a number of member nations were suspended and then expelled due to their prolonged inactivity. This was followed by a second round of purging. At the same time, the Micronational Dictionary project was officially launched, which laid the groundwork for future projects.

Initial phase

Following the move to the new forum, the OAM experienced another massive surge of new member nations. This elevated the OAM's status and allowed it to pursue its initial goals and projects.

Members of the OAM negotiated directly on the forums for alliances, diplomatic relations, and debates on both macro and micronational issues. These discussions resulted in the establishment of the Aegis Alliance and other outcomes.

Post-Freeman period

After serving as the Secretary-General of the Organisation for a long time, Gordon Freeman was eventually replaced by Pierre d'Égtavie. Freeman had initially announced that he would not run for the position again, but this turned out to be false after the June 29th Incident. In the same election, the Royal Reformed States of America and the Kingdom of Sterling were elected as the Committee Chairmen for the OAMATC (OAM Activity Testing Committee) and OAMPC (OAM Projects Committee) respectively.

This period saw the newly created OAMPC restarting former projects and the OAMATC purging inactive members immediately after elections, resulting in a slight decline in membership.

June 29th incident

On June 29th, 2010 at 19:00 UTC, Pierre d'Égtavie abruptly resigned as the Secretary-General of the Organisation in protest. He believed that there was a significant divide between the left and right wings of the organization. Concurrently, his country, the Republic of Egtavia, also withdrew from the OAM. Following Egtavia's decision, the Democratic People's Republic of Sandus, the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Nemkhavia, and the Republic of Bokonton also withdrew from the OAM.

Five nations have withdrawn from the OAM, citing "unprofessional," "corrupt," and "aggressive" elements within the organization. Sandus, in particular, blamed the Kingdom of Wyvern and its allies for the issues. Despite the withdrawal, all five nations still support Sir Gordon Freeman and his founding vision for the OAM. However, Sandus remains explicit in its criticism of the organization as a whole.

July reform

In July 2010, Resolution 70 was passed by The Council, which approved Gordon Freeman's suggested reforms. The central focus of these reforms was to replace the existing committee system with a set of agencies that would be responsible for specific tasks both within and outside the OAM.

Proposed OAM-GUM merge

In the past, there were conflicts between the OAM and Grand Unified Micronational organizations. However, then Acting Chairman James von Puchow suggested several merger proposals to prevent the institutions from collapsing due to inactivity. These proposals had been under discussion for some time. Despite the GUM members presenting multiple suggestions for the merger, the Secretariat and The Council of the OAM rejected all of them immediately or after discussion.

During the meeting, some proposals were discussed. One of them was to appoint James von Puchow as the Vice Secretary-General, as he had recently won the GUM election. Another proposal was to create a new agency in the OAM specifically for ex-GUM members. The purpose of this agency would be to help integrate the GUM into the OAM. As a result of this proposal, the Secretary would have one extra vote in The Council.

All proposals put forth by both the Secretariat and The Council were rejected. During this time, von Puchow accused the OAM members of being prejudiced against the GUM, citing their turbulent past. He also mentioned that the OAM members were too big-headed to accept the GUM and unwilling to cooperate with them. After several weeks of negotiation, von Puchow relaunched the GUM with reforms. Discussions regarding an OAM-GUM merge were dropped with no result, leading to a temporary dormancy period within the GUM, which started in September.

In November 2010, elections were held and Tom Turner became the sixth Secretary-General. Gordon Freeman and Pierre d'Égtavie were elected as Vice Secretaries-General, and Alexander Reinhardt became the OAMIAO Secretary. During the campaign, many candidates promised reforms to the organization, and on December 4th, Tom Turner proposed two reforms. However, neither of these reforms were implemented. On December 19th, a third reform regarding the structure of Agencies and Secretaries was put forward and passed in early January.

The departure of Gordon Freeman

After the Linden Affair, Gordon Freeman, the founder and former Vice Secretary-General of the OAM, resigned from the organization. During this time, he had limited contact with the MicroWiki Sector.

After the founder of the OAM left and the MicroWiki Forum was established, many people worried that the organization would lose its power or even fail completely. However, this did not happen. While the number of daily posts and threads decreased significantly during this time, the organization still had relatively high levels of member participation and activity.

In February 2011, Freeman and his micronation - the FRA1 - returned to the Organization following a motion passed by A1's Parliament for A1 to rejoin the organization. Since then, Freeman's claim of leaving the community has been increasingly ridiculed, as it became evident that his departure was only temporary.

A new direction

Tom Turner resigned as Secretary-General in March 2011, resulting in new elections. Gordon Freeman was re-elected Secretary-General, and Aldrich Lucas, Anthony Fowler, and Joe Foxon were chosen as the three Vice Secretaries-General.

Freeman was accused of using the OAM to maintain influence in the community he claimed to have left. During the Linden Affair, he was criticized for denouncing member states' sovereignty and discriminatory comments against neo-Pagans. Widespread dissatisfaction with the leadership of Freeman prompted a Motion of No Confidence against him, proposed by Crown Prince Jonathan of Austenasia at the request of various other nations. The final result was an evenly split vote, resulting in the motion needing to be passed.

After the mass withdrawal of eleven member nations from the Organisation of Active Micronations (OAM), three nations returned to the organization while others founded the short-lived Inter-Micronational Union and the even shorter-lived OUM. This withdrawal was seen by some as discrediting the OAM and brought various criticisms of the organization to the public eye. Despite this, the OAM remained the largest intermicronational organization in the MicroWiki Community and claimed to be the largest organization in micronational history.

During July 2011, OAM University was established, but it did not gain much significance and soon became inactive. At the same time, New Guinea was expelled after it was revealed that the country was built almost entirely on falsehoods. Additionally, an online advertising campaign was launched for the first time, resulting in a significant increase in the number of member nations from June to August 2011.

Dissolution

On December 22nd, 2011, Gordon Freeman proposed Resolution 221. This resolution gave members of the Council three options: to disestablish the organization, keep it as it was, or implement significant reforms. The majority of the Council members voted for disestablishment, and the vote closed on December 29th. As a result, the organization was officially disbanded on this day. However, discussions began regarding the 'reincarnation' of the OAM in a new form. This new entity would be identical to that of the Bastion Union. Different micronations' online forums would be hosted on the same 'super-forum.' This would help with inter-micronational communication. The new entity would have no organizational structure, resemblance, or ties to the Organization of Active Micronations.

On January 3rd, 2012, the Online Associated Micronations (OAMicro) was established as a new entity. It was sometimes confused for a new version of the Organisation of Active Micronations (OAM) as it used the same domain name, 'oamicro.org'.

Workings

The OAM functioned similarly to the United Nations and prided itself on its commitment to democratic processes. The Council, composed of every member nation, had overriding democratic authority.

The Council

The OAM Council operated based on 'one nation, one vote', regardless of 'standing' or other factors, and served as the decision-making and debating body.

Resolutions

The OAM's most important function was to debate and vote on resolutions, much like the United Nations General Assembly.

Proposed resolutions were non-binding and required a majority of affirmative votes from member nations. Any nation could propose a resolution.

The Secretariat

The Secretariat consisted of the Secretary-General and two Vice Secretaries-General and was responsible for administrative tasks within the OAM.

The Secretariat shall comprise a Secretary-General and the organization's required staff. The Council shall appoint the Secretary-General. They shall be the chief administrative officer of the organization. (*)

(*) Charter of the Organisation of Active Micronations; Chapter 3, Article 7, No. 1

The Secretary-General and three Vice Secretaries-General were elected on four-month terms by The Council. The first elections for Secretary-General were held in January 2010.

Criticism

The OAM has faced criticism from various micronations. Some people argue that it is "redundant" and "very similar in aims to other existing organizations." They claim that the OAM is just another Micronational Organization and duplicates the work of other organizations. Others argue that the OAM only exists to attack the GUM due to numerous public verbal attacks by individual member states.

There were significant criticisms levelled against the Organization of Active Micronations (OAM), particularly by leading members of the Grand Unified Micronational (GUM) such as Robert Lethler. However, over time Mr. Lethler's complaints dwindled, while Will Sœrgèl of Sandus took up the mantle of verbal attacks in mid-2010. He claimed that the OAM was being used as a "basis for attacks and insults", was anti-communist, did not respect the sovereignty of its member-states, lacked a unified purpose, and failed to foster cooperation between its members.

Other nations claimed that the OAM was controlled by a few elites like the organization's founder, Gordon Freeman. They argued that despite the OAM's nominal democracy, these select few continued to dominate decision-making.

Response

The founder and Chairman at the time, Gordon Freeman, strongly opposed claims that their organization had similar goals to other micronational organizations. He clarified that their only common aims were to promote intermicronational peace and security, as well as developing friendly relations, which are standard goals. Freeman also emphasized that the organization's main aims were different from other micronational organizations. He argued that the reforms implemented in July 2010 proved this point.

In response to accusations that the OAM was created solely to harm and attack the GUM, Freeman denied these claims, stating that they were unfounded. He further clarified that any public attacks made against the GUM were not reflective of the OAM's official policy or stance, as these were merely the opinions of individual OAM members and were not authorized by the OAM as a whole.

Gordon Freeman opposed the claims made by Sœrgèl by stating that the Organization of Active Micronations (OAM) was established with the intention of respecting the sovereignty of all micronations, whether or not they were members of the organization. Freeman also emphasized that the OAM has never violated the sovereignty of any micronation. However, by early 2011, Freeman became known for his statements that denied the sovereignty claims of all micronations by definition. He also revealed that he believed in A1ism, a far-left ideology, for the majority of his micronational career.

A new hope

On October 31st, 2021, the Kingdom of Unixploria made the decision to revamp the organization and renew its objectives. The logo used by Unixploria serves as a certification of a micronation's legitimacy and level of activity. By issuing this certificate, they aim to motivate other micronations to establish sustainable nations that can endure over time.

The organization's previous political image has been removed, and their goal now is to serve as an inspiring voice in the micronational community. The logo represents a functioning micronation with engaged citizens who embrace their cultural and national identity and live life to the fullest.

We encourage micronations to establish a national identity by creating universities, museums, newspapers, and other necessary aspects for a nation to thrive.