Europe:
March 2017 Update
SFL Europe:
MARCH 2017 UPDATE
LibertyCon, March 17-19
This month, European Students For Liberty’s big annual conference has taken place for the sixth time: LiberyCon. For the past 5 years, this major gathering of liberty-minded students and young professionals was titled the ‘European Students For Liberty Conference,’ but that name was changed to LibertyCon this year. Over 750 attendees participated in the conference, which was held at the Charles University in Prague from March 17th to 19th. The theme #LetShare focused on the sharing economy, modern technology and the future. Speakers included Jeffrey Tucker, Matt Kibbe, Henrik Jönsson, Jennifer Grossman, Tom Palmer, and many others. You can find two reports of the conference here and here. This years’ winners of the traditional ESFL Awards, which were handed out at the conference, are Mariia Chaplia (Student of the Year), Uberization of the World (Event of the Year) and Georgian Students For Liberty (Student Group of the Year).
Freedom Bananas, March 11th
Back in the days of the Soviet Union’s planned economy, you’d have to wait in line for hours for fruits and vegetables that Lithuanians never have to worry about nowadays. For some reason bananas, if you could get them, were mostly sold green and you had to wait until they became ripe. On Lithuanian Independence Day, March 11th, Vilnius Students For Liberty took to the streets of Vilnius to remind people that in a free market, you don’t have t wait in line for bananas, by giving away many kilograms of bananas with the word ‘freedom’ scratched on the skin. Check out the video below, or read this report of the event by Vilnius Students For Liberty.
The Middle East in Flames, March 23rd
On Marh 23rd the Austrian Libertarian Movement organized this very exciting lecture, ‘Naher Oster in Flammen’, about the history and current state of the Middle East. The lecture was held by Razim Marz, historian and expert on the topic of the Ottoman Empire. This event was organized in cooperation with the Paneuropa Bewegung Österreich.
kNOw Gazprom, March 2nd
On the 2nd of March, Georgian Students For Liberty organized a panel-discussion titled “kNOw Gazprom” as a part of the Defend Your Wallet campaign. Together with the audience, the speakers (Vato Lezhava, Rector of the Free University of Tbilisi and Agricultural University of Georgia and chief adviser to the prime minister of Georgia in 2009–2012, and Zviad Khorguashvili, economic analyst) discussed the current news on Georgian gas deals and their local economic effects. Georgia’s new contract with Gazprom is currently one of the most important issues in the Georgian political and economic landscape. Read a full report of this event here.
