Through the raw talents and energies of a new generation of leaders and activists, it will take more than tyrants, tanks and threats to darken the ever stirring fires of free people. Together we demand liberty and transparency.
The wall in Europe is dangerous group-think and support for state intervention. Starting in my teens, I devoted my life to defending freedom against socialist leaning group think that permeates among the second-hand dealers in ideas. Fighting against the strengthening statist consensus in Italy, in Europe, and throughout the world, will require all the energies of a new generation of classical liberals.
Official corruption is the wall in Croatia. The wall controls the media, threatens the opposition, and murders dissidents. The wall has destroyed the rule of law and dismantled the free society. The architects of the wall must be exposed for Croatian's to live free of fear and to rebuild our society.
In 2003, the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy became Croatia's first independent, free market think tank. We launched The Adriatic Business Council that brings entrepreneurs together to focus on reforms based on the rule of law. Despite the mysterious deaths of other opposition voices and direct threats to Adriatic, we continue to write and speak about the regimes penchant for money laundering, secret public-private contracts, embezzlement, and other kleptocratic tendencies.
The wall in Zimbabwe is a bully; the wall threatens to silence me. But my voice and voices of fellow African freedom champions will carry beyond the wall, through the wall, and eventually, someday, tear down the wall.
As a Zimbabwean, I struggle daily with restricted freedom of speech and am ever aware of the price of my words. The price could be my freedom, and even my life. I rely heavily on the freedom of speech elsewhere; on blogs and sites hosted outside the country, like Atlass AfricanLiberty.org.
In my country, there is an infectious sense of national defeatism and resignation due to widespread government bullying and human rights violations. This results in a crippled civil society, giving the dictator free reign to oppress dissent. I hope to open up new horizons for Zimbabweans by organizing programs in rural districts and in various dialects that encourage discourse on free-markets, democracy, and good governance.
Ideas have consequences. In Argentina we still battle a mental wall that was first raised in the 1940s by Peronist populism. Our wall is the prevailing mindset that the state is capable of solving our problems. We can tear down this wall by engaging students and opening minds.
In an effort to fight this destructive reliance on government, Fundación Bases challenges young adults to break free from rote learning and become the innovative freedom champions of tomorrow. We can return Argentina to its classical liberal past and achieve the economic and cultural prosperity it once had.
In Nepal, the wall we face is communism. The Maoists reign over parliament and almost 18 other communist parties enjoy much popularity. We can change the climate of ideas by exposing Nepalis to the virtue of individual freedom.
The majority of academics, politicians, and civil society leaders favor heavy regulation and state control of individuals. The Samriddhi Foundation is the only institution promoting liberty and market-based economic development in Nepal. Through a three-tier approach of research and publication, education and training, and public outreach and advocacy, Samriddhi strives to tear down the culture of collectivism.
The old and rigid walls that stifle personal freedom in my country and many others are supported by defunct and discredited theories. It is high time to clean out the attic, and strengthen and connect the theoretical foundations of the free society.
At the Rothbard Institute, we harness the power of theory by integrating two academic disciplines that defend the free, just and prosperous society: natural law theory and Austrian Economics. With our research and education programs, we help lay the foundations of a new era of freedom.
Following the Velvet Revolution and collapse of communism in 1989, individual liberty re-emerged from the rubble of the Iron Curtain. Slovakians enjoyed a higher standard of living due to market reforms. However, walls still remain. Stealthily and steadily, welfare statism and paternalistic forces are gaining ground and threatening to cripple our progress.
My colleagues and I established the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) in 2006 to alert the public of the crippling costs of government intervention via credible research. We provide policy solutions that rest on the pillars of prosperity: private property, peaceful coexistence and personal freedom.
