According to reports fifty-five people, mostly regional, attended and had a good time at the mid-November 2008 Third North American Secessionist Convention in Manchester, New Hampshire. Read some excerpts from news and other enclosed. Plus the Manchester Declaration that came out of the convention. Thanks to Middlebury Institute!

Associated Press Story, November 14, 2008

Secessionist convention being held in Manchester

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -

Groups that are interested in seceding from governments are holding a convention in Manchester (New Hampshire) today. The third North American Secessionist Convention is expected to host delegates from most of the three-dozen current secessionist groups in the United States and Canada. New Hampshire former state senator Burt Cohen is scheduled to speak about citizens taking power back from "centers of empire." One highlight will be a presentation of the idea of an independent Atlantic federation of Canadian maritime provinces and northern New England states.

Bread and Puppet livens gathering of pro-secession advocates at Statehouse

By Sally Pollak • Free Press Staff Writer • November 16, 2008

(Excerpt)
MONTPELIER -- A little levity, courtesy of the Bread and Puppet Theater, filled the Statehouse on Nov. 7.
After a morning in which speakers bemoaned the state of the U.S. -- and suggested that seceding from the union is Vermont's best hope -- a troupe of puppeteers and musicians from Glover lightened and enlivened the proceedings with music and theater in the Statehouse chambers.
"We have lame policies. We have a lame president. We have a lame Congress. And we can expect lame results," said speaker Gerald Celente of Rhinebeck, N.Y., founder of the Trends Research Institute. "We envision America breaking up the way the former Soviet Union broke up."
...

Several students from Montpelier High School decided to attend the convention rather than go to school. Andrew Bullard, 17, called himself a "huge supporter" of Vermont independence.
"I'm a Vermonter, I'm not an American," Andrew said. He favors a government apparatus that is local and sustainable -- one he hopes will be accomplished in Vermont and then shared with "everyone who is willing to listen."
"As soon as people are cold and hungry, they will be willing to make the change," Andrew said. "I'm hoping for the economy to crash."
Zeke Smith, 16, of Montpelier, said the United States has become "unmanageable" and can use a major overhaul. Obama has already brought change to the country, Zeke said. But maybe not enough.
..

Naylor calls secession a "radical act of rebellion grounded in anger and fear. We got on the map in Vermont because of the anger. Vermonters really hate George W. Bush."
The separation would mean Vermonters could "disengage from the Wall Street global economy" and cease contributing tax dollars to the federal government's $700 billion bailout and its military operations, Naylor said.
...

At the convention, Naylor called on U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to resign, run for governor of Vermont, and lead the state to independence.
The senator Thursday declined the offer, saying through his spokesman thanks, but no thanks.
"Obviously I do not believe in secession," Sanders said in an e-mail. "I think, however, that in the midst of these enormously difficult problems facing the United States, the state of Vermont can and should be a leader in moving our country in a very different direction from where we have been in recent years.
"My hope is that Vermont will be the first state in the country to provide health care for all of its citizens, the leader in energy efficiency and sustainable energy, the leader in creating good-paying, environmentally sound jobs and in leading our state and country to a more peaceful world."

North American Secessionist Convention

November 22nd 2008 report at The Free State Observer

(Excerpt)
...

Kirkpatrick Sale, director of the Middlebury Institute and organizer of the annual event, makes a point of referring to it as a *convention*, not a conference, because its attendees are delegates of various organizations, just as the First and Second Constitutional Conventions of what would become the USA were attended by representatives of various states and territories. The Middlebury Institute focuses on the study of separatism, secession and self-determination.
Report includes descriptions of talks by a delegate from the Kingdom of Hawaii; Larry Kilgore who ran for the U.S. Senate as a Texas Republican on an openly secessionist platform, garnering 19% of the vote in the party primary; Keith Humphrey spoke on behalf of the organization Christian Exodus; Cesidio Tallini, governor of Independent Long Island; Tom Moore spoke on behalf of both the Southern National Congress and the League of the South; the Alaskan Independence Party was represented by Dexter Clark; Thomas Naylor spoke on behalf of several secessionist organizations from the state of Vermont; Dennis Steele spoke briefly on behalf of the Green Mountain Brigade; for the first time Parti Quebecois sent a representative (the party held its first referendum for independence in 1980, which failed in part due to the difficulty at that time of spreading countercultural and anti-federal government ideas. A second attempt in 1995 failed very narrowly); Robert Pritchard represented the Republic of Texas. Pritchard seeks to regain independence for the original Republic of Texas; Carolyn Chute spoke informally on behalf of the Second Maine Militia (not to be confused with the Maine Militia, a different organization); William talked about the Free State Project; Sebastian Ronin, speaking on behalf of the Novacadia Alliance, which is comprised of the Canadian Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) as well as the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. (Newfoundland is excluded.)

The second half of the one-day convention featured a workshop led by Dexter Clark, which presented specific tactics to use to promote the idea of secession.

The
Manchester Declaration

Adopted at the Third North American Secessionist Convention,
November 15, 2008, Manchester, New Hampshire

We, the delegates to the Third North American Secessionist Convention, meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire, do declare thefollowing:

The recent election in the United States, far from signaling a change in the imperial system or a restructuring of the essential political order, unfortunately perpetuates the two-party system and its old familiar politicians that for decades have promoted the interests of the corporate/financial elite whose willing servants they remain.

The recent financial flailing and machinations in the U.S., including the trillion-dollar bailout of the institutions that created the economic meltdown in the first place, provide ample and blatant evidence of  Wall Street’s control over U.S. politics in the interest of trying to see that the rich get richer and the rest get nowhere.

Together these two processes, along with a long string of abuses and usurpations over the past decades,
unmistakably indicate that the U.S. is bankrupt in every way—financially, economically, politically, socially, academically, militarily, spiritually, and morally.

This fact should demonstrate to the North American public, and the world, that it is the very scale and complexity of the various interlocking political and economic systems that is the fundamental cause of their failure—as well as the reason that no one on the scene has any idea whatsoever of how to fix it.

That being the case, it is necessary, for the restoration of democracy—not to mention sanity, prosperity, sustainability, governance, and peace—that the imperial system be dismantled, and various states, regions, and elements of North America exert their right to secede into independent regimes laying their foundations on such principles and organizing their powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

It is to this end that the secessionist movement will dedicate its energy, time, talents, moneys, and sacred honor, and we invite, indeed implore, the participation of our fellow citizens.

Passed this day, the fifteenth of November, 2008.