ILI Information

Independent Long Island (ILI) is a new country project, and considers itself a junior or developing Fourth World nation — a Fourth World nation is a large country or nation without a state, while a Fifth World nation is a small country or nation without a state.

While the project's emphasis is in creating a viable and independent new country, and seceding from the United States, the proposal for Independent Long Island statehood — "51st state" scenario — will also be seriously considered if it finds sufficient support with the local residents. However, regardless of what the project actually achieves in the long or short term, a degree of independence is still required even in the 51st state scenario, since that would still require double secession: from both New York City and New York State.

The Independent Long Island project was officially started on August 20, 2007 with the writing of a formal press release, and has so far attracted significant media attention:

Independent Long Island … whatever that means, by Henry E. Powderly II, LI Biz Blog, 6 September 2007
What Has the Hamptons, 4 Airports and a Hankering for Independence?, by Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, 22 September 2007
Staking a claim for the .ILI TLD, by David Goldstein, DomainPulse.com, 22 September 2007
Trying Again and Again to Secede, by Clyde Haberman, New York Times, 30 April 2008
Should Long Island Become A State?, by Linda Tagliaferro, About.com, 6 May 2009
Разъединенные Штаты Америки (The DisUnited States of America), by Андрей Яшлавский (Andrey Yashlavsky), Московский Комсомолец (Moskovsky Komsomolets), 6 May 2009

The Independent Long Island project was started for essentially four reasons:

When Long Islanders wish to distinguish themselves virtually from other areas and people of the United States, they are forced to use the Principality of Liechtenstein's .LI Top-Level Domain (TLD). While this may be sensible esthetically and superficially, the .LI TLD provides no real technical advantages in search engines, since the Principality of Liechtenstein and Long Island are different entities, on different continents, of completely different natures, and they don't even share the same official language.
Colloquial usage of the term "Long Island" or "the Island" refers only to the suburban Nassau and Suffolk counties, while the more urban Brooklyn and Queens are not always thought of as being part of Long Island since they are politically part of New York City, although geographically they are still part of the island.
The Native American name for Long Island is Paumanok, meaning "Land of Tribute". This was due to the fact that more warlike tribes in the areas surrounding the island forced the relatively peaceful Long Islanders to give tributes and payment in order to avoid attacks. Despite the name change since the days of Columbus, however, the character of the island has still not changed, since it is still surrounded by more belligerent tribes, who still demand tribute.
A geographically and politically united Long Island needed a new name to reflect its territorial integrity more closely, a new name which also meant that it was no longer the island that pays tribute, and a name which translated into a unique and independent TLD, better representing Long Islanders.

The new name that was given to the island is Independent Long Island (ILI), a name which clearly means that it no longer pays tribute, and the TLD which today represents this entity is the .ILI TLD, managed by the Cesidian Root.

Independent Long Island (ILI) today also has its own flag, and hopes to develop its own independent culture. The Hon. Most Rev. Dr. Cesidio Tallini, President and Founder of the Cesidian Root, an intercontinental Internet, is acting as Governor of ILI, and will guide it either towards complete secession from the United States, or 51st statehood. Independent Long Island also has High Commissioners to Canada and India, and an Ambassador to Italy.

ILI has all the trappings of a new country. Geographic Long Island is the most populated island in the contiguous United States. It is also the 17th most populous island in the world, ahead of Ireland, Sicily and Jamaica. With a combined population of over 7.5 million, the new nation would have more people than 39 states.

Long Islanders have always exhibited a strong independent streak, and the island would also benefit more as an independent country since it is a natural inhabited island, and thus would have all the rights associated with natural, inhabited, and independent islands under international law, that is, the right to a territorial sea, to an exclusive economic zone, and to a continental shelf.

With a territorial sea, ILI would exercise sovereignty over its territorial sea of up to 22.2 km (12 naut mi) in breadth, but foreign vessels would still be allowed "innocent passage" through those waters for purposes of peaceful navigation.

With an exclusive economic zone, ILI would have sovereign rights in a 370-km (200-naut mi) exclusive economic zone with respect to natural resources, and certain economic activities, and would also have some jurisdiction over marine science research and environmental protection. Highly migratory species of fish and marine mammals would be accorded special protection under international law, while currently the situation is that ILI is dependent on the corrupt federal government in Washington, which often does not view protection of the natural environment with the needed attention because, after all, they don't live here. All other states would still have freedom of navigation and overflight in the zone, as well as freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines. Land-locked and other geographically disadvantaged states, would still have the opportunity to participate in exploiting part of the zone's fisheries when the coastal state could not harvest them all, so ILI could also provide certain land-locked US states and Canadian provinces with some maritime opportunities. In fact, ILI could bridge the gap between the rights of US states, and fully sovereign states, by providing US states, and even Canadian provinces, with some of the privileges and rights they currently do not enjoy.

With a continental shelf, ILI would have sovereign rights over the continental shelf — the national area of the seabed — for the purpose of exploring and exploiting it; the shelf would extend at least 370 km (200 naut mi) from shore, and 648 km (350 naut mi) or more under specified circumstances. ILI would still be able to share with the international community part of the revenue that it would derive from exploiting oil and other resources from any part of their shelf beyond 370 km (200 naut mi).

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