- What made you decide to join Students For Liberty?
It was Alfredo Pascual, a former Local Coordinator, who brought me to the European Students For Liberty Conference in Prague in 2017. When I attended the conference, I was overwhelmed by so many people interested in these highly important and interesting questions on social order, economics, politics, and the philosophy of science.
I could not believe that there were more people interested in these “nerdy” questions on truth and liberty. In the end, SFL caught me because of the discussions on epistemology, objectivity, and social order. And, it is this SFL spirit which is hard to describe that motivates to change something for the better. I can always feel it at the conferences.
- What was your biggest accomplishment as a student leader with Students For Liberty?
It’s difficult to choose just one. I guess my biggest accomplishment was the first time we won the ATLAS Grant to organize a series of events at the University of Passau.
We had discussions and speakers talking about blockchain and bitcoin, e-governance, “green” protectionism vs. free trade, and transhumanism.
And my personal highlight: one of the first events I co-organized at the University of Passau with Alfredo Pascual covered drug legalization. The room was packed with people, which shows the wide scale of interest on the topic.
- What are some of the best tools and resources Students For Liberty gave you?
The best tools Students For Liberty gave me were:
- A great network and new friends all across the globe which enriched my knowledge and broadened my universe.
- A great realization: the discussion I had with SFLers opened my eyes to see how brainwashed societies are ideologically and that there are further, different forms of societal organization which would allow everybody to be better off.
- A great lesson: If YOU don’t take action to make a difference, probably nobody will ever do it for you.
- What would you tell someone who’s considering getting involved?
Students For Liberty is probably the best organization for young people to learn about our social order, its philosophical assumptions, and the implications of it all on our everyday life.
There is a universe of ideas that are mainly unknown to the public and not taught at universities on how our co-living could actually look like.
SFL gives you the key to unlock the door to that universe. And, last but not least: SFL knows how to bring people from across the globe together. The atmosphere at the conferences encourages us to take action and to change for the better.
- What made you interested in the ideas of liberty?
It’s the idea that we could live in a happier place if everybody just thought more about the current political and economic state of the country he or she is living in and its relation to others. In Germany, we are living quite well.
However, with some changes, we could even live in a better and freer society in which every individual would act according to his or her purpose. And that means, we’d all be happier.
- What does liberty mean TO YOU?
In German, we only have one word for liberty and freedom: FREIHEIT. If I was going to respond in my native language, liberty means being free from coercion, i.e., that nobody compulses another person to do things that he or she does not want to do, and, at the same time, allowing people to be free to choose.
Of course, there must be rules and laws that enable peaceful coexistence. One person’s FREIHEIT ends where another person’s begins. And, in the end, it’s Kant’s categorical imperative: Do not do what you do not want to be done to you.
If you are interested in advocating the ideas of a free society, you may be interested in joining our Local Coordinator Program. For more information, click on the button below.
