The student liberty movement is larger than ever and still growing!

Most students see summer as a time of rest, all lazy afternoons and a respite from homework. But as Anne Butcher pointed out in a recent post, the student activist knows it’s a great time to plan, train, and otherwise prepare for the year to come. This summer is no different, and at Students For Liberty, our dedicated leaders have been working with great energy to give the liberty movement a year like never before. From Brazil to Georgia, our teams are stronger than they’ve ever been. And they’re reaching more young people than we ever thought possible – last year SFL succeeded in bringing together over 10,000 pro-liberty students at conferences around the world. And we’re poised to keep growing. If there is one truth about social change, it’s that the power to succeed in changing the world comes from the ability to bring many different people together for a unified thrust.

But the size of our network isn’t everything and we’re also working to connect the dots between major allies for liberty. Without a forum in which to bring different voices together, our ability to grow and to reach new communities with our shared vision of a freer world would be much more difficult. By engaging the thought leaders of our times on behalf of young libertarians, Students For Liberty is ensuring that these discussions happen and the burning flame of liberty is visible to the political mainstream and graspable for those unfamiliar with the philosophy of liberty.

SFL’s student leaders are ready for a great round of Regional Conferences!

Last year we brought you Edward Snowden. And while you may not have agreed with everything he said, you recognized that he was a true ally in the fight for a free society and welcomed him with open arms. This is how we win. When we remember that not everyone has studied Rothbard or Mises or Hayek and we accept that within a large and effective movement – especially one rooted in the liberal tradition – disagreement is not only likely but required. And respect in the face of such disagreement is a necessary piece of the package.

This year, we’ll continue to bring student libertarians together with thought leaders in the realm of politics and social change. We just announced that our first confirmed speaker for ISFLC 2016 will be His Serene Highness, Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein. I can’t overstate how exciting it is to have a sitting head of state so interested in the ideas of liberty and the power of human freedom. And keep in mind – he’s only the first speaker we’ve announced – the full retinue of classically liberal thinkers and leaders who will be featured at ISFLC16 is meant to reaffirm the central tenet of liberalism: liberty is for everyone, and there are many different ways to reach for freedom.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome. It’s not something that I’m used to in a number of different political settings, and I think Students for Liberty’s different.  When we think about libertarianism and we think about the political status quo in the United States and around the world, there’s a lot of tribalism, there’s a lot of “us vs. them”, there’s a lot of “red team” and blue team” and that’s not really healthy….We have to think about not what divides us but what holds us together, and the basis of libertarianism is the basis of thinking about personal choice, about individual worth, about the right to decide how we want to live, who we want to be, and how we want to voluntarily interact with one another. – Edward Snowden

There is one piece of the student liberty movement, however, that holds it all together and, without which, we would be nothing. And that’s the main reason we at SFL are so excited for the coming year. Our student leaders are ready to rock. We’re wrapping up with two Campus Coordinator retreats in the North America region – one in Denver, CO and another in Washington, DC this coming weekend. In a whirlwind weekend of activism training, idea sharing, and planning, our new leaders have laid the groundwork for a stellar year. Every year we’re more impressed by the imaginative ideas, depth of knowledge, and initiative of our student leaders. And in every region across the world, our teams are training and identifying effective student activists. This year we’ve reached more brilliant young luminaries than ever before – in Brazil alone, we’re about to train over 600 Local Coordinators for the coming year. Each of these students will go out into their local community and reach countless others, building the case for liberty into an unstoppable force that is already beginning to change the world.

Edward Snowden at ISFLC 2015.

We’re putting liberty back into the global conversation of what the future holds. And we’re hosting more events than ever before. We’ve already announced 17 Regional Conferences for North America (with many more coming soon!) and 19 Regional Conferences for Europe. Some of our conferences will be different this year, engaging with particular topics or centering around a certain approach to liberty. Our student leaders proposed all of these unique approaches and we’re excited to engage with them on this experiment in growing the worldwide liberty movement. We’ve also got a number of special projects such as the Women For Liberty Leadership Summit, which is happening very soon, and the Christians for Liberty Conference later in the summer. We remain committed to the entrepreneurial spirit that has made the student liberty movement as strong as it is. And we’re excited to see what these unique projects will achieve. One of the beautiful things about the philosophy of liberty is that it has something to offer everyone – and that’s the idea between our new projects.

Student leaders at the Denver Campus Coordinator Retreat.

SFL has gone through many changes in the past few years, and like any massive social movement made up of many different kinds of people, we’ve had our bumps in the road. But the fact remains, and will be only become more true in the coming year and those that follow: “Students For Liberty, which is a huge grassroots student organization on campuses, are creating a new generation of people.” (Matt Welch)

The past few years have been in many ways like every summer – full of behind-the-scenes building, careful planning, and the difficult search for soul that accompanies the birth of every major social movement. But as they say in Game of Thrones, winter is coming. Both the new school year, and a new era. And while we may not be facing white walkers, I hope all friends of liberty would agree that our mission is no less imperative. Students For Liberty is ready for the winter. And heck, we’re even excited for it. This is just a taste of what we’ve got planned, and we’re looking forward to sharing with you the amazing things our student leaders will achieve. You’d think after so many years of constant growth and consistent positive change, the thrill would wane. But as the student movement for liberty grows and grows, it only gets more exciting to look at the year ahead. Get ready for the year that like no other. We certainly are.