 |
 International Libertarian Movement Updates
by Vince Miller
 Professor B. Batchuluun of Ulanbataar, Mongolia proudly displays newly-published issues of David Bergland's
Libertarianism In One Lesson and David Boaz's Libertarian Primer – at the ISIL Prague conference.
MONGOLIAN LIBERTARIANS
ON THE MARCH
We have been increasingly impressed with recent developments in Mongolia. At the ISIL conference in Prague, Czech Republic, Professor
B. Batchuluun of the Mongolian Libertarian Society in Ulaanbaatar presented me with newly-published Mongolian editions
of David Bergland's Libertarianism in One Lesson and David Boaz's
Libertarian Primer. The Mongolian Libertarian Society has a website which reports on numerous translations and their impressive educational work in Mongolia.
ISIL members may recall reports of our earlier meetings with Mongolia's Prime Minister Elbegdorj Tsakhia
(E.B.). Often described as "Mongolia's Thomas Jefferson" he was responsible for massive freedom reforms in his country and for overthrowing the communists –
without a shot being fired (see articles in Spring 2004 Freedom Network News).
on the ISIL website).
ISIL Exec. VP Jim Elwood and I had the pleasure of having lunch with E.B. during a recent trip to San Francisco (for the Atlas Economic
Foundation's 25th Anniversary celebration where he was a speaker). He discussed his platform for when he runs again for PM in 2008 (promoting fluency in English,
technical education and widespread internet access). He is reported to be the front-runner in these elections. We suggested that technical education be left to
business firms as is often done to good effect in the US – rather than creating a state educational bureaucracy.
ROMANIAN "LIBERTARIAN WEEK"
A SUCCESS
ISIL Romanian Rep Valentina Nicolae reports that a "Libertarian Week" was held in
Bucharest during the week of October 14th-21st. It was organized by the Association Liberalism.ro and the Center for Institutional Analysis and Development. It was also
sponsored by the Romanian Cultural Institute, under the direction of Horia Roman Patapievici, (who Valentina describes as
"a brilliant, famous and controversial Romanian intellectual").
The most important events of the week included:
- Projections of episodes from Free to Choose by Milton Friedman
- An Internet Forum
- Roundtable on "Privatizing Education"
- A conference at the Faculty of Philosophy on "Political Order and the Order of Liberty"
- A conference on "Property Rights and Daily Behavior"
- Roundtable: "The Intellectuals and their Attraction to the Ideas of Socialism"
Valentina reports that "the events enjoyed big audiences, which included many young people and students, who exhibited a great interest
for libertarian ideas."
Valentina reports that Horia Roman Patapievici has gained national notoriety for his books which have shocked nationalist readers by
criticizing many aspects of contemporary Romanian society. Patapievici has made numerous appearances in the media, including TV talk shows where he has openly expressed
his sympathy for libertarian ideas. In an article published in the daily newspaper Evenimentul zilei, he said : "From all the cures I know for intellectual laziness,
Libertarianism is the most effective therapy that exists".
In the same article, he voiced positive opinions about the book Defending the Undefendable by Prof. Walter Block
. The book had been translated and published by Valentina in Romania some ten years ago.
In another sign of progress, Dragos Aligica, director of the Center for Institutional
Analysis and Development, wrote in the magazine Revista 22, Libertarianism is probably the most elaborate, most coherent ideological corpus of our time."
Congratulations, Valentina! It's great to see such positive results from your many years of hard work!
PS: The European Resource Bank, a regional meeting of free-market thinktank leaders, is slated for Bucharest in late September, 2007.
A NEW LIBERTARIAN THINKTANK
IN SLOVENIA
Matej Steinbacher of Slovenia reports the following good news:
"I'm proud to inform you that just recently Slovenia launched its first libertarian think-tank, the Free Society Institute. As the sole
Slovenian think-tank of that kind, the Free Society Institute has a noble mission of spreading classical-libertarian ideas of individual and economic freedom as being
foundations of moving Slovenia towards a freedom-friendly and prosperous country. Work of the Free Society Institute is inspired by such distinguished authors as
Frederic Bastiat, Adam Smith, Friedrich August von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, and others, whose contributions gave the principles of the free society
firm philosophical premises. The work of the Institute is based on developing professional expertise in order to critically respond to economic-policy measures and
present them to the general public – but above all to economic policy-makers through the prism of libertarian ideas.
Any additional information regarding activities of the Free Society Institute may be found on our internet address:
www.fsi-institute.si. We firmly believe that the latter will become a Slovenian portal of libertarian and
conservative values, and the Institute a bulwark of the free-market principles of individual freedom, the rule of law, minimal taxes, free entrepreneurship, and
individual initiative. Let the words of the American founder Benjamin Franklin that "any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will
deserve neither and lose both" be a lodestar of our everyday's work.
NEW LIBERTARIAN PARTY
FORMED IN ITALY
Francesco Antoni of Italy reports on the founding of an Italian Libertarian Party.
"I'm part of Riformatori Liberali, the recently-formed libertarian party in Italy. We already have one elected member in the
parliament, On. Benedetto della Vedova – and we maintain a website which links to the Cato Institute, Heritage
Foundation, Adam Smith Insitute, and many others. www.riformatoriliberali.org.
Francesco explained that in Italy the liberal and libertarian organizations have always been very weak and that the major parties (one
left, one right) are both very conservative. He said the party representing liberal values was the Radical Party, but recently a split occurred in the party with one
faction siding with the left/communist government and the Riformatori Liberali supporting the center-right. The founders are Benedetto Della Vedova
(now in the parliament) and Marco Taradash (a former member of parliament).
"Our group is very, very small," he concluded, "but we are trying to set up an organization".
A NEW LIBERTARIAN THINKTANK
FORMED IN GHANA
Kofi Akosah (l) seems pleased with a new lap-top computer provided by ISIL – and delivered personally by ISIL Director Louis James (r) on a recent trip to Accra, Ghana
We've seen many rather heartening libertarian developments in black Africa in recent years (see Africa panel in this issue). A name to
watch is young Kofi Akosah of Ghana.
We became aware of Kofi when ISIL Director Ken Schoolland visited and lectured in Accra late last year. Kofi, who had been working at
Franklin Cudjoe's
Center for Humane Education (IMANI), managed to round up 300 students from the local area to hear Ken. Ken
described him as: "A very bright, positive and dedicated young man who is sure to energize the youth of Ghana into actively pursuing creative, market-based reforms."
Kofi recently formed the Africa Youth Peace Call – an organization he is running on a shoestring budget of $100 per month.
He was to be a speaker at the Prague conference, but unfortunately his visa was refused. Fortunately he was able to get a refund for
his air ticket – so rather than having him return the funds to ISIL we encouraged him to use the funds for local endeavors. He followed up immediately by opening
a small office in Accra.
When his old computer died, he couldn't afford to fix or replace it, so we provided him with a new laptop computer – which was
delivered to him personally by ISIL Director Louis James while on a business trip to Ghana. Louis, upon his return to the States, arranged for a few donors to provide
Kofi with equipment for his new office: a color inkjet printer and a digital camera (the latter to produce photos for his website).
Kofi remarked to Louis that the Ghanaian people's sad experiences in past years have left them ready to accept the philosophy of
liberty.
NEW LIBERTARIAN YOUTH
ORGANIZATION IN TURKEY
We were contacted recently by Okan Arslan of the Liberal Youth Association in
Ankara, Turkey about establishing some kind of dialogue with ISIL and libertarians in other countries.
Okan said the organization, which was formed in 2001, promotes private property and free markets – as well as respect for human
rights – regardless of faith, nationality, mother tongue or race. Their website is a rich resource for libertarian materials.
|
|
