It’s new to us - and it’s a delicious story of democratic innovation, one of our richest categories on the Daily Alternative. Have you heard of the independent artistic republic of Užupis, in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius?

Culture Trip laid out the story in 2021:

In 1995, a group of Lithuanian artists and intellectuals erected a statue of Frank Zappa in the nation’s capital Vilnius. Two years later on April Fool’s Day, the city’s bohemian quarter declared itself an independent Republic, replete with a 12-man army.

Shortly afterward, four national flags were designed (one for each season), and a constitution was drawn up, which included the articles, ‘People have the right to be happy’ and ‘People have the right to be unhappy.’ Fifteen years later, the state has yet to be invaded and remains a glorious vindication of the absurd.

The story of Užupis is a bizarre, yet strangely encouraging tale of what can happen when a bunch of eccentrics are left to their own devices.

When Lithuania broke free of the Soviet Union, Lenin’s statues were torn down, and a lot of plinths were left empty. At a time when the country was trying to rediscover its national identity and escape the shadow of communism, local photographer and civil servant Saulius Paukstys spotted an opportunity.

‘We were desperate to find a symbol that would mark the end of communism, but at the same time express that it wasn’t always doom and gloom,’ Paukstys told The Guardian.

He chose Zappa’s work to accomplish this and began to collect signatures and, despite Zappa’s total irrelevance to Lithuania, people got behind the idea and gave a huge show of support to the bemused authorities. It may have been the absurdity of the proposition that struck a chord with the artistic community.

More here.

Wikipedia fills out more details - firstly, on their extensive network of world ambassadors:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has appointed more than 500 ambassadors worldwide.The ambassadors have the task to build bridges between people. Some ambassadors represent the republic and its constitution in a certain state or geographic region while others share the republic's spirit in various realms of life like the ambassador among humming birds, the ambassador of knowledge for humanity or the ambassador for whistling in the streets.

The Embassy of the Republic of Užupis to Munich builds bridges between arts and AI technology to make artificial intelligence more accessible to society, more ethical and more innovative. Well-known ambassadors include the experimental filmmaker Jonas Mekas, the art critic Konstyantyn Doroshenko, the knowledge designer and Open Innovation facilitator Eveline Wandl-Vogt, and the experienced designer Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun.

Every year the ambassadors meet for their world conference in Užupis on the day before national day celebrations on April 1. Representatives of the Republic of Užupis have met with the President and Foreign Minister of Liberland to discuss mutual recognition

Wikipedia also writes on their extraordinary constitution:

Copies of the 38 articles of the Republic's constitution and 3 mottos - "Don't Fight", "Don't Win", "Don't Surrender" - in 23 languages, can be found affixed to a wall in Paupio street in the area. Sanskrit and Hindi versions of the constitution were added on 25 May 2017.

Some of these articles would be unremarkable in a constitution; for instance, Article 5 simply reads "Man has the right to individuality.". Others are more idiosyncratic; a typical example can be found in Article 1 ("People have the right to live by the River Vilnelė, while the River Vilnelė has the right to flow past people."), 12 ("A dog has the right to be a dog.") and 37 ("People have the right to have no rights."), which can be seen as unusual compared to fundamental rights set out by the EU.[22]

There are a number of paired articles, such as Articles 16 ("People have the right to be happy.") and 17 ("People have the right to be unhappy.") which declare people's right to either do or not do something, according to their desire.[23]

Minister of Foreign Affairs Thomas Chepaitis, Ambassador H. E. Max Haarich, AI-Expert Alex Waldmann and humanoid Roboy formulated an additional article for the Munich Embassy: "Any artificial intelligence has the right to believe in a good will of humanity."

This makes the Užupian constitution the world's first constitution to mention artificial intelligence. In September 2018 the constitution was blessed by Pope Francis during his visit to Vilnius.

The Užupis Constitution

Everyone has the right to live by the River Vilnelė, and the River Vilnelė has the right to flow by everyone.
Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof.
Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation.
Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
Everyone has the right to be unique.
Everyone has the right to love.
Everyone has the right not to be loved, but not necessarily.
Everyone has the right to be undistinguished and unknown.
Everyone has the right to idle.
Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat.
Everyone has the right to look after the dog until one of them dies.
A dog has the right to be a dog.
A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of need.
Sometimes everyone has the right to be unaware of their duties.
Everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not an obligation.
Everyone has the right to be happy.
Everyone has the right to be unhappy.
Everyone has the right to be silent.
Everyone has the right to have faith.
No one has the right to violence.
Everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance. [In Lithuanian this reads Everyone has the right to realize his negligibility and magnificence.]
No one has the right to have a design on eternity.
Everyone has the right to understand.
Everyone has the right to understand nothing.
Everyone has the right to be of any nationality.
Everyone has the right to celebrate or not celebrate their birthday.
Everyone shall remember their name.
Everyone may share what they possess.
No one can share what they do not possess.
Everyone has the right to have brothers, sisters and parents.
Everyone may be independent.
Everyone is responsible for their freedom.
Everyone has the right to cry.
Everyone has the right to be misunderstood.
No one has the right to make another person guilty.
Everyone has the right to be individual.
Everyone has the right to have no rights.
Everyone has the right to not to be afraid.
Do not defeat.
Do not fight back.
Do not surrender.

Here’s the main page of the Republic. We also recommend reading this thoughtful 2019 article on Užupis from Playboy magazine by Daisy Alioto.

"Don't Fight", "Don't Win", "Don't Surrender". The mottos of the independent Republic of Užupis, made by artists in Lithuania's capital Vilnius