By Marek Tatała, Vice President, Civil Development Forum (Poland)Translation: Sylwia Szymańska It is important to appreciate outstanding liberty organizations and the people who participate in these important activities. One of the ways to show this appreciation is by means of the prizes awarded by, among others, Atlas Network and America’s Future Foundation, prizes that you can read about in the latest episode of the “World of Freedom” series. At this time, we are going to visit some places including India, Greece, Serbia and the African continent, places from which we will begin reviewing the most interesting actions of liberty organizations that we could hear and read about in May. The Center for African Prosperity, founded by The Atlas Network is good news for the people in African countries. It is a good a new initiative that aims to promote economic freedom, property rights, the rule of law and entrepreneurship. The organization was headed by a respected entrepreneur from Senegal, Magatte Wade. This liberty-oriented center’s purpose is launching processes in African countries that will allow for permanent poverty recovery and raising the life standard of living of the continent’s inhabitants. Moving to Europe, in Athens, the annual Europe Liberty Forum conference took place. It was a chance for both deepening knowledge and exchanging experiences, above all in the field of work of the liberty-oriented NGOs. During the Forum, we could hear some inspiring performances and learn about tools that are used by organizations from Europe and other parts of the world. I myself had the pleasure to participate in a discussion about the threats to liberalism in Europe. I described the attacks on the rule of law in Poland carried out by the ruling party and the means which we use to defend ourselves against these attacks. Moreover, the heads of …
Libertarians or libertarians in name only? “Servant of the People” wins Ukrainian elections
By Marcin Chmielowski I am by no means an expert on Ukrainian politics. However, thanks to education and experience, I know something about libertarianism. Surprisingly, these two areas are linked together due to the quiet political revolution that took place in our eastern neighbors. Exit polls are showing that something unprecedented has happened. For the first time in history, parliamentary election in a large, populous country are won by political party which identifies itself as libertarian. And it’s worth a comment. What’s crucial, this victory took place in a country that is placed as 147th in 2019 Index of Economic Freedom prepared by Heritage Foundation. It’s a country, which economy is supposed to be less free on the whole European continent and it’s currently defending itself from Russian armed aggression. Certainly, this election’s result means a huge change in the two dimensions that I wrote above, and so in the Ukraine’s politics itself as well as in the libertarian movement, which may be able to capitalize this success. Due to my knowledge and interests, I will focus on the second aspect, although I will not run away from the brief commentary on Ukrainian matters. In this case, however, my voice is not the expert’s voice but only observer’s one. Important remark for the beginning: the success of the Servant of the People should be seen as a breakdown of the popularity of President Volodymyr Zelensky – politician, who can be seen as reformist but who is definitely not a libertarian. It should be seen as de facto introducing until recently a purely virtual, structureless party to general public. We do not know yet whether the Servant of the People will enter into a coalition with someone but even if it will do it as a stronger side of the system. …
Apply now for Freedom Week!
We’re excited to announce that students can now apply for Freedom Week: an annual, one-week seminar in August on classical liberal and free market thinking, held by the Adam Smith Institute and the Institute of Economic Affairs, in the University of Cambridge. Freedom Week is completely free–with food, accommodation, tuition and materials all covered–and is aimed at students who are interested, but relatively new to, classical liberal ideas. Freedom Week-ers spend the week immersed in talks from some of Britain’s leading liberal thinkers. But Freedom Week isn’t only about hearing from best of classical liberal academia, it’s also about spending time with dozens of like-minded people who share an interest in economics, political science, history and more. Find out more and apply! https://www.freedom-week.org/apply
Far from civilisation, close to liberty!
by Freedom and Entrepreneurship Foundation Not a conference hall, but a modest lunchroom in a distant village in Southern Poland was a venue of the latest meeting of liberty leaders from all around the world. People from all continents joined together during the Liberty English Camp, organized by the Language of Liberty Institute (LLI) and its local partner, the Freedom and Entrepreneurship Foundation (F&EF). It took over 2 hours of mundane commute with several transfers to reach the 1,000-people village of Ponikiew – where the camp took place – from Cracow. The travel might have been especially challenging for those from abroad, since drivers don’t speak English, card payments are not accepted and GSM connection is acting up frequently. Ponikiew, located far from main routes and even further from the nearest supermarket, has probably not seen so many foreigners since five years ago – when one of the previous editions of Liberty Camp was organized there! When Jacek Spendel – the CEO of F&EF and organizer of the camp – is asked what on Earth made him invite people from all around the world to such place, he answers confidently: – We simply wanted to offer people something different than another conference. Formal events like conferences are important indeed, but I, as well as many of my friends, strongly felt that there is also a demand for more casual ventures. And Liberty English Camps, organized internationally since over a decade by LLI and its partners, are satisfying this demand. Despite difficult logistics, over 40 people from places such as Japan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Australia, USA or Luxembourg came to Ponikiew to discuss liberty, listen to lectures, and network – all in the informal setting of barbeques, beach volleyball and charming hills of the Polonia Minor region in Poland. The recruitment efforts …
Be Free with English
Would you like to be free? Learn English. It is a language that connects the world. Despite the fact that Chinese is still spoken by more people in the world, on an international level English is more useful, since it is not concentrated in the same geographic area and thus it is used as the language of business, science and technology and aviation. Latin used to be the Lingua Franca that crossed over borders. However, it was the language of the select few. Modernity made education available to more people and with English, these people can break free from the confines of their national borders and interact with people from all over the world. What if there was a still better option? Not only to help people learn English, but to take it a step further and teach them about liberty? The good news is that there is such a possibility now! The Hungarian Free Market Foundation’s exciting new project, called Be Free with English teaches the language using pro-liberty, libertarian material. In the process of furthering the English skills of the learners, they are also presented with the idea and practical side of liberty. With the help of material such as I, Pencil, a video of a speech by Milton Friedman and Hayek’s ideas on society the basics of the libertarian idea gradually unfold and in the meantime people will be better and more skillful in the English language. This is done with the help of a software called Lingo, which integrates into the browser and pops up on the sites of the materials asking various questions testing both grammatically and contextually the learners. It goes further than this however. When an unknown word is found in the text, upon clicking on it lingo will explain its meaning and …
Malta: Speaking the Language of Liberty
[alert style=”green”] This was reposted from Mart’s blog The Raw Report, you can view the original article here. [/alert] To anyone who has not lived in a cave in recent years it is clear that libertarianism is gathering momentum and becoming more mainstream. Consequently, those of us who care about liberty should expect to get many questions from “outsiders” about what we stand for. Plenty of misconceptions and objections will need to be addressed as well as questions answered. Attending a Liberty Camp organized by the Language of Liberty Institute (LLI) can give you the arrows you’ll need in your quiver to do just that. Attendees at last week’s Liberty English Camp on the Mediterranean island of Malta can attest to its benefits. Co-organizer Jacek Spendel of the Freedom and Entrepreneurship Foundation helped gather nearly fifty people of thirteen different nationalities, representing a larger than usual turnout for a Liberty Camp. They learned a lot from many different speakers about why liberty matters, the origin of rights, the war on drugs, seasteading, the difference between real and crony capitalism (from a Wall Street insider, no less), why Estonia attracts a lot of foreign investment, starting the revolution, the European Union, and how to set up an independent Civil Society Organization (CSO). Another highlight was hearing from four Ukrainian students about what is currently going on in their country and cities, and how that affects the advancement of the ideas of liberty there. In addition we were entertained by movies and documentaries, not to mention social events and a talent show to top it all off! Liberty Camps are generally held in the countryside of developing nations all over the world, so the small island of Malta provided a slightly different experience. Compared to most seminars or conferences, though, the common …
An Unlikely Lesson in Spontaneous Order: Italian Patron Saint Festivals
Patron Saint’s festivals are a centuries old Catholic tradition, in which a city celebrates its protector. For instance, Gubbio’s celebration of Saint Ubaldo traces back to the 12th century, or the Saint Agata festival in Catania dates as far back as the 3rd century. Every village in Italy, no matter how tiny, takes the time to celebrate its patron saint. In my home town, Ginosa in southern Italy, we have a few, but my favourite is the celebration of the Madonna d’Attoli (Attoli is an area of our countryside where there’s a small sanctuary). For centuries, even when it was a village of very poor, illiterate farmers and farm hands, Ginosa celebrated its patron saint with a horse parade, a marching band, and a decorated float carrying the statue of the holy Mary and a choir of girls who had their first communion in that year. What’s amazing is that despite how poor the population of the village these festivals were——and still are——funded by voluntary donations from the population. As a student of economics you are told that this situation would create a public goods problem. In technical terms, such a festival is considered a public good due to the fact that it is non-excludable and non-rivalrous, which are just fancy ways of saying that you cannot forbid people to come to watch the procession. Furthermore, as contribution is voluntary and anonymous, there’s is a strong incentive to for people to be free riders on the contributions of others. Thus, abstract logic dictates that this would result in a collective failure, for if all the individuals in pursuit of their self-interest opted not to contribute, counting on the fact that the others would, in the end no one would contribute. This is one of the core issues of social studies. …
“Why is there no sex in Bosnian government departments?”
Language of Liberty Institute (LLI) returned to Bosnia for our first events of 2014. Bosnia was the location of our last event for 2013 in December, but while we had a Liberty Seminar in the capital Sarajevo then, this time we held seminars in two country towns, Tuzla and Zenica, the location of our two Bosnian partners in spreading liberty, MULTI in Tuzla, run by Admir Čavalić, and the Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise (CAFE) in Zenica, run by Edo Omerčević. Incidentally, a few weeks ago, Tuzla was the location of the first major uprising against the government of Bosnia. Whilst overshadowed by the event in the Ukraine, it was significant for Bosnia as the anger, frustration and dissatisfaction with the government spilled over into the streets of several cities in Bosnia, including the capital. This could be a “wakeup-call” for the government, although it is still too early to judge. The trigger for the Tuzla uprising (which became the trigger for the demonstrations that followed) was the loss of jobs by employees of former state enterprises that had been privatized and given to friends and relatives of the ruling elite. With no experience or competence to run the businesses, the new owners stripped the companies of their assets (for some quick and easy cash) and then let the companies fail and go into bankruptcy, causing the loss of jobs and the anger of the affected employees who have now joined the ever-growing ranks of unemployed in Bosnia. The Tuzla demonstration was followed by protests in other parts of Bosnia, including Zenica and the capital, to display the general anger and dissatisfaction of the population with a government marked by nepotism, cronyism, corruption and incompetence. A joke making the rounds in Bosnia, and even the world, is typical …
Dr. Barbara Kolm to speak at ISIL 2014 World Conference!
Barabara Kolm, Ph.D., is truly an Austrian, Austrian economist. As President of the Hayek Institute in Vienna, she presides over the Austrian Economic Center that carries on the work of Friedrich Hayek. Some attendees from Li Schoolland’s Bratislava Austrian Economic Summit visiting the Hayek Institute last summer, and being led by Barbara Kolm on the Hayek walking tour of Vienna. More than any other Austrian economist, Dr. Kolm is interviewed by the international media about the perspective of Austrian economists on the European debt crisis. “Nothing has been solved,” she explains. “The situation is as worse than it was at the beginning, and we literally burned money trying to bail it out.” Reason Magazine’s Matt Welch interviewed Dr. Kolm to discuss the Eurozone’s financial situation and what it will take to bring Austrian economics back to Austria. She points out that redistributive welfare states do not work and that there is no place in Europe. You can see the interview here. [tabs][tab title=”DR BARBARA KOLM (Austria)”] Topic: “Why free markets work best” Kolm Barbara PhD, President of the Friedrich A. v. Hayek Institute in Vienna, Austria and Founder and Director of the Austrian Economics Center. Being a worldwide networker she uses these abilities to promote free market policies; in addition she is a frequent speaker at international conferences on public policy related issues, especially on deregulation and competition topics, the Future of Europe and Austrian Economics. She is a guest at TV shows and comments daily public policy in media. Barbara Kolm is an Associate Professor of Austrian Economics at the University of Donja Gorica, Montenegro and a member of the Board of Business Consultants of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and a Member of the Mont Pélerin Society. She is President of the European Center for Economic Growth. Since …