SFL Around the World: August 2017
Here’s what SFL-ers around the world accomplished this August:
Charter Teams
The Asia Pacific Conference was a great success and was written about on the Freedom Today Network blog.
Here’s an excerpt: “High up on the 17th floor of a classy office tower in the middle of Jakarta’s business district, overlooking the city’s skyline, more than 200 students and high-school kids are patiently waiting for the opening speech. There’s a sense of nervous curiosity in the air; some came with friends, some on their own, but no one really knows what to expect from this. 
The combination of a trendy topic – future and technology – with international flair – speakers from Slovenia, Italy, Germany, the US and multiple Southeast Asian countries were featured – probably drew their attention to it. Did they have an idea what classical liberalism means? Most likely not. But this should be great news to anyone afraid of sectarian tendencies within the libertarian movement.”
Hundreds of students were introduced to these ideas for the first time ever, and the conference had an air of fun and community that makes SFL events so special. Conference Director and Charter Teams leader Nicole Annabella (right) did an amazing job organizing SFL’s first-ever conference in the Asia Pacific region and we’re looking forward to everything else the region will accomplish in the coming months. Read more here!
Africa
Students For Liberty Africa has just launched the 2017 Regional Conference season with events in Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania! This year’s theme is “creating wealth through free markets.” Attendance is free of charge and some of the best advocates of liberty from across the continent will be speaking on several topics. Interested students can learn more and apply here.
ASFL in Rwanda and Burundi continues to organize competition events that bring together students to compete for various prizes while learning about how to become leaders of the ideas of freedom in their societies and how they can be actively involved in eradicating the barriers to prosperity and opportunity around them. Last month brought the program to the University of Kigali in Rwanda and the Burundi National University.
Finally, on the 5th of August, ASFL in South Africa partnered with the Rational Standard – a South African based libertarian website to host the Southern Africa Freedom Convention (SAFreeCon) at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Cape Town. The conference had about 30 participants in attendance and featured some great speakers. Video sessions, generously sponsored by Afriforum and ETM (Russell Lamberti) can be found on this Youtube playlist. Read more here!
North America
Since freshmen are just now arriving on their respective college campuses for the first time, our student leaders are busy planning and executing fantastic recruitment drives! The Students For Liberty Chapter at The Ohio State University, for example, passed out free “pot” brownies along with their stickers, buttons, Pocket Constitutions, posters, and other swag! On their table at the student org fair they filled a cooking pot with normal brownies and offered passersby the treats. We even had a school mascot get in on the fun!
In the wake of the tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia just a few short weeks ago, libertarian campus group Students For Individual Liberty celebrated their 30th anniversary at the University of Virginia by hosting Dr. Tom Palmer on their campus. The event, cosponsored by Students For Liberty, focused on the history of the libertarian student movement in advancing individual liberty for all people. See more from SFL on the violence in Charlottesville here.
Dr. Palmer currently is the Executive Vice President of International programs for the Atlas Network, and has spent many years spreading the ideas of classical liberalism. We at Students for Liberty are honored to have him speaking at an upcoming Regional Conference, the North Central Regional Conference on October 7th. This Conference is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. If you weren’t able to catch Dr. Palmer in Charlottesville, the North Central Regional Conference is another great opportunity to hear him speak! Read more here!
Europe
ESFL Startup Camp took place on August 17th – 21st, 2017 and brought together most forward thinking students and speakers from 6 different countries who learned, debated, and innovated around such topics as libertarian values, individual freedoms, free market, blockchain, cryptoworld, transhumanism, and cybersecurity.
Top 100 Retreat: A unique event was held for the second consecutive year in Gummersbach: the European Students for Liberty Top 100 retreat. For four days, in a little town in western Germany, freedom fighters from more than 20 countries across Europe came together to discuss the future of the movement. Read more about the retreat here.
ESFL also recently announced the 2018 LibertyCon date! After two phenomenal years in Prague, our seventh continent-wide conference is now moving to a new location! #LibertyCon18, the major European gathering of open-minded students, will be held in Belgrade, Serbia on April 13-15, 2018. 
#ExpressYourself
Finally, August 15 is the day Lithuanians traditionally celebrate a bountiful harvest. The national holiday is known as “Žolinė” – literally, “Grass Day.” A group of Vilnius street artists decided it would be the perfect day to use their talents to advocate for cannabis legalization, and SFL was happy to be involved.
Read more here!
Brazil
August was a very intense month in Brazil! Coordinator Retreats took
place in all five regions of the country and 125 leaders out of more than 340 who applied were trained.
The program was built focusing on self-discovery leadership skills and behavior; fundraising and events best practices; SFL’s vision for the next 5 years; personal brand and a design thinking session. Moreover, the sense of community built throughout the weekends made all retreats get 100% of positive feedback from the attendees when it came to the program and experience themselves. See more here!
South Asia
South Asia held it’s Local Coordinator Retreat on the 19th and 20th August 2017, in New Delhi, India. The Retreat saw newly recruited Local Coordinators fly in from different cities within India, as well as from cities in Bangladesh, making this South Asia’s first International Retreat.
South Asia is currently growing at an exponential rate, with its current batch of Local Coordinators being the largest one in its history, since the inception of the chapter in 2012. After this Retreat, a Retreat for Pakistani LCs and the remaining International LCs from countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan is being planned in the coming months. Read more here!
