Refugee Nation Launches $3 Billion Crowdfunding Campaign To Buy An Island To House All Refugees

These Guys Want To Crowdfund $3 Billion For A New Country For Refugees
|

In what could possibly be the most audacious crowdfunding attempt ever, a campaign to help solve the refugee crisis is trying to raise $3 billion through crowdfunding to build or buy an island.

The Refugee Nation project, backed by millionaire Jason Buzi, wants to create a brand new country "which any refugee, from anywhere in the world, can call home".

It has suggested taking over an existing country without many people, or building a new island in the sea.

To fund its plans, Refugee Nation has set up campaigns on crowdfunding sites IndieGoGo and Go Fund Me to try to reach their monumental goal.

So far, $276 has been pledged across both sites over the last 24 hours.

Open Image Modal

The campaign aims to create a new island to house refugees

Jason Buzi, a millionaire Israeli businessman living in San Francisco, believes that a new island could be the solution to house all of the world's millions of refugees.

He said: "Refugee Nation could be established tomorrow if the political will were there.

"We've launched this multi-platform campaign to attract the attention of people in positions of great influence, governments around the world, philanthropists, celebrities and ordinary citizens of goodwill.

“The current approaches to the refugee problem have been inept, ineffective and have gone on for too long, without true resolution.

“It is time for a change."

Buzi, who says his idea "isn’t unattainable or crazy", counts himself among America's richest 1% and hopes to get funding from billionaires and governments to create the new country for up to 60 million people to live in.

He was also the anonymous millionaire behind the 'HiddenCash' project which hid cash in envelopes around the world with online clues for people to find it.

As well as purchasing an island, the project also says it wants to “launch an open source platform for the world to collaborate on solutions to the crisis” and “host an annual conference with a multidisciplinary approach to innovation in solving the crisis”.

The project aims to bring an end to the crisis by 2020.

Desperate Migrants Try To Get Through Channel Tunnel
(01 of12)
Open Image Modal
Two migrants cling to the roof of a freight truck as it leaves the Eurotunnel terminal in the earlier hours of July 31, 2015 in Folkestone, England. (credit:Peter Macdiarmid via Getty Images)
(02 of12)
Open Image Modal
Hundreds of migrants are continuing to attempt to enter the Channel Tunnel in Calais, France and onto trains heading to the United Kingdom. (credit:Peter Macdiarmid via Getty Images)
(03 of12)
Open Image Modal
Men run down a road leading to the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(04 of12)
Open Image Modal
Migrants walk down a slope beside a road leading to the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(05 of12)
Open Image Modal
A woman runs away from Gendarmerie near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(06 of12)
Open Image Modal
Gendarmerie attempt to stop migrant near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(07 of12)
Open Image Modal
A man runs away from Gendarmerie near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(08 of12)
Open Image Modal
Migrants from Eritrea sit beside a lake near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(09 of12)
Open Image Modal
People help a man climb a fence near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais, France. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(10 of12)
Open Image Modal
Men watch passing freight vehicles near the Eurotunnel terminal in Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
(11 of12)
Open Image Modal
Gendarmes driving vans escort migrants out of the vicinity of the Eurotunnel terminal in the early hours of July 31 in Coquelles, near Calais. (credit:PHILIPPE HUGUEN via Getty Images)
(12 of12)
Open Image Modal
A member of the Gendarmerie chases a man near the Eurotunnel terminal in Calais. (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)