After Erik Lakomaa's lecture, Christian Michel, a Swiss businessman and philosopher, delivered a brilliant lecture about how we should think about today's politics. He stressed the point that to be free we have to increase our personal power and break free of government oppression by expanding our sphere of personal power. He also suggested five different paths to take towards this freedom. The paths are:

1. First: Stop being afraid. Fear gathers the herd behind its keepers.

2. Next we must delve deeper into our convictions. Our revolution exists not on the barricades but inside of us. We must therefore make people aware of their own powers.

3. There are two goals: proving (that) freedom means more than the freedom to make money, and demonstrating that the most disadvantaged have nothing to lose in a society without a state.

4. Lets organize resistance everywhere - at home, the office, the university, the farm.

5. Direct action. It aims right at the belly of the beast and dries up the source of its power. A tax revolt is the only effective way for the oppressed to rebel against political power. Let's remove any guilt from the rich and fr
   om the heads of companies who are still reluctant to move their revenues offshore.

     After lunch John-Henri Holmberg, one of the true veterans of the Swedish libertarian movement, held a personal speech titled "Bah, Humbug: Notes on Scientific Arguments for Freedom." The speech centered on the difficulties of promoting the supremacy of freedom by purely scientific means, since fundamentally it is a question of values.

     Then it was time for Henrik Alexanderson, former chairman of the conservative youth organization in Gothenburg, today working on Information, PR and the underground media, to talk about, "Strategies for the fight for liberty". In his speech he talked about the trouble that libertarians sometimes have communicating their ideas to people and the importance of presenting the ideas of freedom in a professional and well-thought-out manner so as to reach even more people.

     After Henrik's speech it was time for the day's last speaker: Jacques de Guenin. He is Mayor of St. Loubouer, in Southern France, a former executive of PSA Peugeot-Citroen and the organizer/host of the 2001 International Society for Individual Liberty conference (Bastiat's Odyssey). He delivered a fascinating speech on the French classical-liberal Frédéric Bastiat entitled "Bastiat: an overview for his bicentenary". In his speech he talked about the life of Bastiat, his work and the legacy he left behind.

Dr. Sven Rydenfelt, one of the heros of the Swedish libertarian movement, still active at 90 years of age, speaks on the myths spread by statists about power and markets.

     The next day's speeches began with "Myths about power and markets" by Dr. Sven Rydenfeldt, who apart from being Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Lund, might be considered the "grand old man" of Swedish libertarianism. He started out as a consistent advocate of free-market ideas well before WWII and was for many years regarded as a dangerous extremist by the socialist establishment. At the age of 90 he has finally achieved the respected position he so rightly deserves. In his speech he dealt with many common fallacies about free markets – for example the notion that markets supposedly create monopolies and that they are "undemocratic".

     After Sven Rydenfeldt's speech, Ingemar Nordin, Professor at the University of Linköping and a prolific libertarian author, gave a lecture entitled "Science as Ideology – on the problems of founding the pledge for freedom on empirical science".  In his speech he discussed the driving force behind our decisions and convictions, and discussed whether they were founded on reason or passion. His main point was that both reason and passion can be powerful driving forces.

Hubert Jongen, chairman of Libertarian International and a founding father of the European libertarian movement, gave a report on European activism.

     And last, but not least, Hubert Jongen, the chairman of Libertarian International and a veteran of European libertarianism, held a final talk about what is happening in the near future and how one can help.

     All in all, Libertarian International's spring conference was a success. It had great speakers, interesting attendees to mingle with, and an intellectually-stimulating atmosphere. Simply put, it was wonderful!

EDITOR'S NOTE: To answer questions we often receive about the relationship between the LI and ISIL. The Libertarian International is a sister organization of ISIL, focusing its energies in Europe. There are high levels of cooperation. e.g. the LI is co-sponsor with ISIL of the "2001 – Bastiat's Odyssey" in Dax, France this year (Jacques de Guenin is the host/organizer). The LI organizes meetings of European libertarians twice a year with past events having been held in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London and now Lund. ISIL provides coverage of these events in the Freedom Network News so that our members worldwide may be kept abreast of the many libertarian activities in Europe.