Libertau Debate in Tel Aviv

Students for Liberty Tel-Aviv University society, Libertau, was a part of a political-economic debate – ‘A Conflict of Visions: Social-Democracy Vs. Capitalism’ – organized by an online magazine ‘Zavit Aheret’ (‘Other Point of View’), in partnership with other organizations: Ayn Rand Institute, Students For Workers and TauEcon Forum.

The moderator of the debate was Tomer Avital, an activist, and journalist working on political transparency in Israel. The debaters were Rami Hod, the CEO of the ideological center at the Kazelson Foundation and the Social-Economic College which advocates government intervention and taxation for social services, and Yaron Brook, the current chairman of the board at the Ayn Rand Institute, a writer and an activist that supports the objectivist vision.

The event took place at the Tel-Aviv University of Israel, on May 24th, and was a big success – the number of participants was larger than the amount of the seats in the hall. Most of the participants were liberal activists, and the variety was great – people came from all over the country, old and young, religious and non-religious, libertarians, objectivists, classic liberals etc.

During the debate, Hod and Brook were asked to answer some questions about their visions on the theoretical level and the practical level, and afterward, the audience asked few more questions as well.
Many issues were discussed – what are the most important rights? How do we deal with poverty? Is there a justification for taxation? Can a perfect free market exist? Does a person need a state to provide social services for her or him to be free? The answers were well thought of and respectful as would be expected from a proper intellectual discussion.