El Rey está desnudo

There is still hope for Europe

Yes. The 2nd European Students for Liberty Conference is over. But the event closed by Gilles Verstraeten and the full SFL/ESFL boards singing for liberty will remain in the heads and hearts of the participants for a long time. 

The European Students for Liberty Conference has become by its own merits in the most important of all the students’ events that happen along the year in the old continent. And I am not talking about size (yet), but about its meaning and implications:

• when you are able to make that people crosses Europe by car from Lithuania to Belgium driving more than 20 hours;
• when you are able to attract more than 350 students from all over Europe (and other parts of the world) who travel by their own means sacrificing their time and money;
• when you are able to organize such an event without any subsidy or support of public funds or Administration (considering that in Europe almost nothing is organized without subsidies) and just use private donors;
• when you are able to bring people from every country in Europe (*) to a single event (including Belarus, the last dictatorship in the continent)

and everything in the name of liberty… then you know that you are big. And again, I am not talking about size. Yet. 

One year and a half ago I decided to attend the 1st ESFL Conference, also in Leuven. I had not heard anything about “Students for Liberty” before. It sounded interesting and it was just a couple of hours driving from where I live so I decided to go. That weekend changed my life in such a way that I have been attending as much SFL events as I could. You might think that I am just being nice with my (now) friends at (E)SFL when I say this, but these are not just words: it did it, because it brought me hope again. Hope in the future.

When you meet so many young people whose main driver are the ideas of liberty in the middle of such a hostile environment for liberty as is the current one in Europe, you can only have hope. And precisely that was the essence of this year’s conference: hope. From the Tom Palmer’s speech early on Saturday morning to the closing speech by Steve Davies on Sunday afternoon, hope in the future was present as the main thread of the speeches: with the history of the humanity in perspective the World has evolved, in general terms, in the right direction (religious freedom, abolition of slavery, freedom of speech, women rights, fall of the USSR, gay rights, technological development, quality of life…). We have a better world now, thanks to people who not only thought that liberty was a good idea, but who also acted to defend that idea, sometimes paying with their own lives. And there are no reasons to think that the things will change, that the World will start evolving in the wrong direction now, as long as there are still people willing to fight for liberty: exactly as Students for Liberty is doing.

The conferences were great. I enjoyed almost every second (and I tweeted every second also :P ). It was sometimes made clear that to be a great mind does not always imply to be a great speaker, but when you find people who meet both requirements, like Tom Palmer, James Lark or Steve Davies, then you succumb to their excellence.

But the conferences is not (only) about the speakers, it is about the networking, one of the most enriching experience that you can imagine. For that, the “socials” after the conferences play a crucial role. You are able to talk to a lot of people who shares similar ideas, but with extremely different backgrounds and experiences. You are able to increase your knowledge network. You always learn, and make friends. And sometimes you dance.

As I told to Wolf von Laer on Saturday night, maybe Alexander McCobin was not yet aware of the importance of what he and the people who founded Students for Liberty had achieved. Maybe not even us. But I am sure that the entire world will benefit from it, sooner or later.

Last words to thank all the team from SFL, ESFL and specially to Nick Roskams and the people of LVSV Leuven who hosted us for their great work and for making this possible. Thanks to all of you. The only think that I regret is not being able to talk to more people during the weekend.

If you are reading this and you did not attend the conference, then you should start planning it for next year, if you want to be part of the future :-)

(*) As far as I am aware, only Ireland was not represented this year.

If you want to read what I wrote about the International Students for Liberty Conference celebrated last month in Washington DC, click here.

If the future of mankind exists, it met last weekend in Washington

“Peace, Love, Liberty”. With this slogan in mind, more than 1300 students (and not students) from all around the world met in Washington DC (the probably most corrupt and bureaucratic city in the world) to discuss, learn, network, and enjoy, with the concept of liberty as the engine that moves them (us) all. It was the 6th International Conference of Students for Liberty (my second one), the maximum event of a libertarian student’s organization that if you still don´t know then you should, as world’s future is called to revolve around it. It is incredible what Alexander McCobin and his highly motivated and encouraging team has been able to achieve in just 5 years: 

• Over 863 pro-liberty groups in its global network of Universities students groups.
• The true internationalization of Students For Liberty with on the ground operations in Europe, Brazil, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia featuring events such as the first European, Brazilian, and Venezuelan SFL Conferences.
• 15 US Regional Conferences with 2,072 total attendees and 5 European Regional Conferences with over 570 total attendees.
• 75 Campus Coordinators in North America and 21 Local Coordinators from 15 countries in Europe.
• Record breaking resource distribution including 150 Tabling Kits and 175,000 copies of our new book After the Welfare State.

Everything in the name of liberty. And this is just to start with. As Alexander McCobin said in his opening speech during last weekend’s conferences: “If we can organize a 80-person libertarian event in Venezuela, we can do it anywhere in the world”. And that may be true. Actually, in the also-not-so-free Ecuador who recently re-elected tyrant Rafael Correa, a group of students won the “Students group of the year” prize. “Estudiantes por la Libertad” from Ecuador started as a 4 members group and now joins together more than 300 members. The work in Africa, even more difficult than in Latin America has also already started, with African Students for Liberty.

It was my second International SFL Conference. If last year I discovered “a new world beyond European socialism”, this year I really had the opportunity to make the most of it. The opening keynote by John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, the socials, the breakout sessions carried out by speakers from the most renowned think-tanks, organizations, associations and foundations (Cato Institute, Institute for Human Studies, Foundation for Economic Education, The Atlas Society, the American Enterprise Institute, The Independent Institute, Young Americans for Liberty, etc. including of course Students for Liberty and  Alumni for Liberty), the panels, the John Stossel Show (with Gary Johnson and Justin Amash on the freedom side, and Ann Coulter and John Bolton on the dark side), the Liberty Fair at the exhibition hall (where you could learn about the Seasteading Institute, entrepreneur initiatives like Liberty Business Bureau or to test the fist prototype of Bitcoin ATM in the world among other multiple stands) and of course the networking. The conferences were international and not only because they were called like that, they really were. In less than 48 hours I spoke with people from many different parts of US, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania and  Australia. That was just me but I know that there were people from many other countries.  

However it is not just the variety of people attending the conferences. It is even more encouraging their compromise and effort in support of the cause of liberty. Students who themselves alone were able to set-up a libertarian group in not precisely friendly environments, entrepreneurs fully compromised with the cause of liberty, donors, etc. A full myriad of profiles that would make any “liberty lover” to feel “at home”. And everything, self paid, with not a single dollar of public money involved. Because yes, it is possible.

Unfortunately due to the schedule of my plane on Sunday I could not attend the speech of Magatte Wade, who gave an encouraging speech about the need of action in Africa, and the closing ceremonies.

In summary, the future of the mankind, if it exists, met last weekend in Washington DC. This is not just a compliment or an exaggeration. Considering the current evolution of the world, with increasing intolerance, envy, bigotry, State sponsored crimes, censorship, murders in the name of flags, anti-liberty regulation and other kinds of evil, 1300 young students travelling from all around the world rising the flame of peace, love and liberty is the only future, if such future exists.

P.S. The Conference in Washington was a great event, yes, but from the old continent we are threatening its predominance: from 8th to 10th of March takes place in Leuven (Belgium) the 2nd European Students for Liberty Conference (#ESFLC13). I discovered SFL during the first conference in year 2011 and since then I see the world a better place where to live in. You don´t want to miss it, do you?

Here you can read the opening speech by Alexander McCobin during the ISFLC13.

If you want to read all my tweets during the conferences with detailed information about the breakout sessions and everything that happened that weekend just go here, filter by my twitter user “@elreystadesnudo”, the hashtag “#ISFLC13” and go back in time until 15th of February. I did my best ;)

Other great articles about the conference here, here and here by Zak Slayback, who I had the pleasure to meet in person (finally) during the conferences. 

Wikileaks is dead. We need a new wikileaks

Julian Assange is an asshole. And the Government of Rafael Correa in Ecuador is bullshit. Right. But Wikileaks is (or at least was) a good idea: only if Governments know that whatever they do is going to be made public, they will take care of doing something illegal. Or at least, they will try to. 

However the current Wikileaks is dead. Its death sentence was signed when on Thrusday the Government of Ecuador gave assylum to Julian Assange. And it is death not because US (of course they will go on acting against them). It is death because Wikileaks as it is known now will never publish any dirty information from Ecuador’s Government or any of its allies (Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Argentina…the “crème de la crème” of the democracy and respect for liberties) as long as Assange is protected by Correa’s Government.

Therefore the concept of Wikileaks as the website where all the dirty (and/or illegal) actions performed by any Government in the World is published, is dead. Actually, it was never that as far as I know. Its proper name would have been “US-leaks” as their target for the time being has been only US (and its allies) and that´s why they gained the support of the left worldwide, left who would retire their support if WL starts publishing shit about Cuba or Venezuela (if it is possible to publish something crappier with regards to what we already know).  

That´s why we need a “new Wikileaks”. A really independent information service, independent from any pseudo dictatorship and independent from “annoying and arrogant” people. An information service which publishes information, secret information, classified information from any dirty and/or illegal action from any Government in the World. Not only the US (yes), but also Iran, China, Russia, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Burma, Afghanistan, etc. And probably a service who pays big amounts of money to the people from those Governments who reveals and sends the information, in order to obtain really relevant information. That´s what we need. 

Current Wikileaks now is just a muppet in the hands of south-american pseudodictatorship. Hence Wikileaks is dead. It´s a pity that the only real loser of all this story has been soldier Bradley Manning, whose sacrifice has been used for the benefit of some of the crappiest regimes in the World. 

Btw, Free Manning!