The following was written by Pretoria-based ASFL Local Coordinator Martin van Staden

This past Monday saw the revival of the South African (classically) liberal youth movement with the Inaugural Ceremony of African Students For Liberty – Pretoria (ASFL-Pretoria), at the University of Pretoria’s Hatfield campus. With the timely disbandment of the National Union of South African Students (Nusas) and the South African Liberal Students’ Association (Salsa) at the end of Apartheid in the 1990s, a great void was created; a void Students For Liberty in South Africa hopes to fill.

Our speaker for the evening was Mr. John Kane-Berman, lifelong classical liberal and former Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), South Africa’s oldest classically liberal think tank. Mr. Kane-Berman gave an informative talk on the history of liberalism in South Africa, including its proud opposition to Apartheid and the unfortunate demise of the liberal youth movement in the country.

Please click here to read the full speech given by Mr. Kane-Berman, as it was posted on PoliticsWeb.

Also in attendance was Dr. Frans Cronje, well known political and economic commentator and the incumbent CEO of the IRR. Mr. Phumlani UMajozi of the Free Market Foundation Youth (FMFYouth) also joined us that evening. ASFL-Pretoria has already established a good working relationship with the FMF and the IRR in South Africa’s struggle for substantive liberty. The FMF enabled the Inaugural Ceremony in part by contributing over R5 000 ($400) worth of free market reading material which was distributed to new members at our tabling in February, as well as the most expensive books at the Ceremony itself, by way of a number drawing. Five new student members each went home with the Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report, worth R500 ($40).

This revival of liberalism on South African campuses is of the utmost importance. Allegedly, in the mid-1990s, liberalism had played its part in dismantling South Africa’s unique system of racial apartness, and had to give way to the special brand of social democracy fused with African nationalism, of the African National Congress (ANC). It seemed as if South Africa did not need the philosophy of liberty anymore with the enactment of the 1996 Constitution. This was a mistake.

The absence of liberalism among the student youth in South Africa allowed university campuses the country over to become indoctrination grounds for the radical left. Indeed, only this past week has South Africa been gripped with another campus uprising at the University of Cape Town. Students there, after having graciously thrown excrement at the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, are now demanding the removal of the statue from their campus. Granted, Rhodes subscribed to an ideology of colonialism and oppression, and deserves little if any respect from a libertarian such as myself, but it is not with the mere fact that they want the statue to be removed with which I have a problem. It is the attitude with which the situation is being approached.

In fact, this is not the only case of the aforementioned demeanor recently seen on South African campuses. It is not uncommon for students at several of our country’s universities, notably including the University of Johannesburg and the Tshwane University of Technology, to use what Mr. Kane-Berman would term “revolutionary violence”, in pursuing their seemingly noble goals. This radical leftism (bearing in mind rightism, which can easily manifest itself in the same way, has been all but destroyed on university campuses) is not merely condoned by the universities themselves at times, but seeing faculty take part in calling for this kind of behavior or themselves displaying such behavior, is not entirely unheard of.

Yes, the return of classical liberalism to South African campuses is overdue. Grounded in the principles of nonaggression, reason and respect for property and liberty, liberals may call for the same outcomes in some cases as the radical social democrats, but will ask “am I violating someone’s inherent, natural rights, in the process?” Or they will simply call for calm and reasonable discussion on a topic, rather than an unstable, uncontrollable riot, which South Africa is unfortunately confronted with regularly, further contributing to the loss of investor confidence and the decline in economic wellbeing.

Without organizations such as the Free Market Foundation, which has been around since the 1970s, and the Institute of Race Relations, which was established in the 1930s, this historic revival would not be possible. For their contributions in terms of resources, speakers and support generally, we thank them. African Students For Liberty, now being established at the University of Pretoria, and soon to be having a branch at the University of Cape Town, is committed to working together with any and all ordinary South Africans, think tanks and organizations in general, to bring a truly free society to this country.