18 July 2009

The state-within-a-state...

...that the Mennonites have been building in Paraguay since 1926 is made up of three main colonies: Menno, Fernheim and Neuland. The million hectares that fall under Mennonite control are nothing like the rest of Paraguay.

This inhospitable terrain is home to a vibrant community of 30,000 Mennonites, around 9,000 of them Canadian citizens.

There is no tax, no national service, no political instability, no alcohol. Frivolity is discouraged, abstention ensured, and guns forbidden. The predominant language is Plattdeutsch, an 18th century dialect of low German.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Gotta be some place in Canada where we could set up the same deal. Except it would allow guns, frivolity, backribs, loose women and hockey."
*