Our volunteers organise events, write popular articles or publish academic research, contribute to policy reforms, or are part of movements advocating for change in their countries or beyond.
Amjad Aun, our current team leader for Germany, is one of the few who manages to do all of these and more. Originally from Homs, Syria, Amjad picked up his studies at the University of Ilmenau after his family emigrated to Germany, and started a thriving Students For Liberty chapter in the city, hosting a range of events including last year’s regional conference.
Being a keen student of Hayek and Austrian economics, Amjad has been a contributor to Der Freydenker, SpeakFreely and various other publications, and gave talks at a wide range of conferences, including at our 2023 regional conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, or at LibertyCon Europe 2023 in Lisbon. Besides economic theory, he also acquired experience with policy work during his internship for the Consumer Choice Center, and this year, he went on to begin his PhD in economics, intending to pass on his knowledge on to others.
However, despite all his focus on spreading sound economics and supporting the Students For Liberty team in Germany, Amjad’s key interest has always been in the possibility of helping the ideas of liberty take root in the Middle East, and seeing his home country flourish as a result.
This is why several years ago, Amjad started working with Ideas Beyond Borders, a Students For Liberty’s partner organisation dedicated to fostering the ideas of liberalism in the region. At first, Amjad was mainly an external author and speaker with the organisation, but already the first podcast he recorded reached over half a million listeners.
In July 2024, Amjad officially joined Ideas Beyond Borders in a larger role as an Economic Advisor, and wasted no time since, producing videos, articles and other educational content advocating for the cause of liberty for viewers in the Middle East, and for the importance of their cause internationally as well.
Most recently, together with Faisal Al Mutar and other activists, Amjad visited the German Bundestag where they spoke with policymakers and legislators about the necessary alliances, international aid, and strategy for more freedom in the region.
On December 18, Amjad also gave an interview on the ongoing situation in Syria and possible opportunities for the ideas of liberalism in the current political vacuum in the country, which you can find on our YouTube channel.
Living in populist times, libertarians might feel vindicated in their criticism of those who imagine themselves as guardians of all higher wisdom and moral purpose, elites who must steer society against the worst instincts of the baser people. Some even cave to the populist temptation of glorifying the masses in their simplicity of mind, their rusticness of spirit, their no-nonsense deference to de-intellectualized traditions.
Condescension and romanticism blend into this view of the plebeian man as naturally irreflexive and prone to lose himself in the collectivist flow, a whip for the guilt-ridden intellectual to self-flagellate with. Many libertarians fit this type of the solitary erudite striving to understand through analytical reason what he can’t embrace through sheer sentiment. PsychologistsIyer et al.have concluded that self-professed libertarians are likely to process their intuitions in a cerebral and logical way, rather than case-by-case reactions of a visceral or emotional nature. In the terminology of Simon Baron-Cohen, they’re “systemizers” who treat singular experiences as instances of an underlying structure, of which they try to deduct rules from observation and ratiocination; and then, from the fundamentals they have discovered, derive a coherent worldview which can render a pattern of behavior to be applied to any situation.
Iyer’s conclusions support a distinction that Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi make in The Individualists, their intellectual history of the liberty movement, between two strands of libertarian thinkers, one of which he calls rationalists. “Many strict libertarians saw their entire political philosophy flowing logically from a single axiomatic principle,” Zwolinski notes, adding that “This often gives strict libertarian theories a more systematic character than their classical liberal antecedents. Practical policy questions, for them, could be resolved almost syllogistically.” Libertarians of such persuasion are attracted to absolutist worldviews, in which moral judgment can rest “on the hard rock of principle, not the shifting sand of circumstance”, as well as monistic forms of thought, since consistency is a likelier outcome if the whole system is reduced to either a single principle, or a pre-arranged balance or hierarchy of “first principles”, a set of unquestionable priors, which come before and are presupposed by all other judgement, cascading into neat and inevitable conclusions that need but be applied to concrete cases, such that messy compromises need not be worked-out ad hoc.
This approach is already suspect. Why are we to assume reality functions systematically? or that, if it does, we can comprehend its foundations and adequately reproduce it in our minds? A fatal conceit of their own leads many a rationalist libertarian to the pitfall of desperation. Frustrated at a world that is not working according to prescription, they assume there must be some extra-systemic force at play. Politics, stemming from the unbound passions of unthinking hoi polloi, is an inexplicable intrusion in a social order that should otherwise be harmonious. The mob won’t listen to reason, they need to be tamed yet pampered and soothed like a majestic beast.
There is, however, an alternate way to understand the world which complements the rationalists’ limitations. Counterintuitively, systemizers are bad at generalizing, “this is exactly what you would expect if the person is trying to understand each system as a unique system,” writes Baron-Cohen, for “a good systemizer is a splitter, not a lumper, since lumping things together can lead to missing key differences.” They catalogue all the pieces and sharpen the edges till cutting themselves, but can’t see how they fit together. That’s a job for the other end of Baron-Cohen’s spectrum, the “empathizers.”
Empathizers navigate situations by looking at the horizon rather than the map. They’re sensitive to the shifts in expression and to particular changes, perceiving phenomena not as separate, but in terms of the relations, the shades and blurs in their borders. Therefore, empathizers rely on moment-to-moment responsiveness to cues, involving a “leap of imagination”, overcoming the uncertainty which the unknown represents by trusting one’s own capacity to figure things out as one goes.
It’s erroneous to believe empathy is giving up to a mindless drive. It is a different way to engage with information that is nonetheless better suited to deal with implicit subtleties and disparate details; it’s the same state of being aware and adventurous that forms the basis of entrepreneurial discovery, which Israel Kirzner calls “alertness.”
The greatest insight of economists, generalized by Friedrich Hayek, is that the intermingling of these partial vantage points will produce a better result than any totalizing attempt to understand and organize society. The market is not a confusion of thoughtless impulses but a language for expressing non-articulate yet very real knowledge. It’s not a taxis, a top-down designed order, but a cosmos, an emergent spontaneous order.
A Hayekian turn is needed, in theory and praxis,for our democratic century. We need to be alert to the lexicon of popular sentiment, to identify political entrepreneurs capable of apprehending its nebulous, ever flitting currents. The strand that’s opposed to rationalism, Zwolinski calls the empiricists, who are not concerned with finding all-encompassing first principles, but rather embrace the pluralistic complexity of our world, the fuzziness of things and the provisionality, the limitedness of our reasoning. Principles have their place as useful heuristics, Hayek commended them over expediency, yet when asked why he wasn’t a conservative, he answered that while conservatives hold fast to inherited ideas, his “liberal attitude” was admiration for change. Now we should be radically Hayekian, and see that even principles are subject to change, that we ought to strive to not be libertarians in principle but in attitude; if our principles falter, we are not shaken, for we’re not mere thinkers but lovers of liberty, and we’ll follow wherever that unpredictable lady goes. If our solid rock sinks, we’ll need to learn how to sail in shifting times.
When I was asked to give a keynote speech recently, I considered it a great honor; the product of my hard work, professional development, and the grace of the organizers.
I was asked to propose a vision for how former Cato interns could stay involved with the organization’s mission in the future. But I couldn’t help thinking about the past; how, just a couple of years ago, this day, this honor, and my current position as Legal Associate at Cato would have been unthinkable.
I realized: I would not be here without Students For Liberty.
The Meaning of SFL
At first, it seemed strange to attribute such a big role to SFL. After all, SFL did not teach me how to analyze statutes or the nuances of constitutional law. I learned that in law school.
But SFL did give me the confidence to be something more than I ever thought I could, and at times, the connections to who and what mattered most. To put it another way: SFL helped me make lifelong friends. And what could be more important than that?
Of course, SFL is also where I first engaged in activism and learned about interesting philosophical ideas. That’s important too.
SFL found me, or I found it, during my second year in college. I didn’t have much to offer in terms of leadership in the liberty movement or any real professional skills, nor a policy specialization. The only thing I had done was start a libertarian club where five other people and I met in the basement of our college dining hall.
Moving up: Regional Director
But LibertyCon 2019 was a major step in my development. That weekend, SFL paid for me to fly to Washington, D.C. Almost immediately, my preconceptions of what young people could accomplish were shattered. (Spoiler: They can accomplish a LOT.)
I met students undeterred by threats of jail time; they were that dedicated to spreading ideas about freedom and organizing conferences in some of the most illiberal parts of the world. One student even hosted a conference in Pakistan that was delayed by a terrorist attack. I felt incredibly small and unaccomplished next to these students, but I also felt motivated to be like them.
A few months later, I would get my chance. I was asked to be the regional director for the Northeast, where I was going to college at the time, allowing me to oversee and work with other student leaders around the region. The region was tiny and not terribly active, so I figured I’d try to build it up. And let me tell you: This role changed everything. I learned so much while working with all the different students in my portfolio and pushed myself to the limits.
I helped host region-wide conferences in areas where SFL’s presence had diminished, and, under my leadership, the region grew to become the biggest and best, in terms of membership and activity, within one fiscal year.
Since the process was gradual, I didn’t notice that I too had grown — from some kid trying to feel his way through, to the leader who brought SFL’s Northeast Region to new heights.
Not only that; I had turned into a far more confident, collected, and skilled person.
Then disaster hit.
Covid-19; the country goes into lockdown. Meanwhile, I graduate college without a full-time job. Part of that is my fault for not navigating the job search well, but nevertheless, I was unemployed.
Then I tapped a connection made possible through SFL. I asked my economics professor, also president of the American Institute for Economic Research, if I could join him as an intern. He had heard about some of my work with SFL, so he found a spot for me even though the application window had technically closed
I still work for the AIER to this day, having published more than a hundred op-eds, presented research at conferences across the world … and, of course, I’ve referred numerous, qualified SFLers for internships like the one I had.
House Bastiat
When I enrolled in law school, I thought my time with SFL had come to an end.
SFL programs are mostly for undergraduates, and I had peaked in terms of what I believed I could achieve and what I had time to do. Most of my attention was on law school and my part-time job at AIER. That was enough … or so I thought.
For SFL, I would offer my connections and knowledge if needed, but otherwise, I didn’t see a role for myself. Then the North American Programs Director approached me with a proposition. He wanted me to lead a new professional initiative of SFL: the Bastiat House for Politics, Policy, and Law. It would host programs to identify, cultivate, and connect the next generation of policy wonks with the opportunities they need to succeed.
Being a policy wonk myself, I was all in, and we were off to the races.
A few months later, I was in Utah at the SFL North American Top Leadership retreat, speaking to a camera with the first Bastiat cohort behind me, a new fire in my eyes, explaining how this was the start of something new. Over the following year and a half, House Bastiat experienced ups and downs; some projects worked, some failed, but most importantly, we grew and learned and bonded.
Then, a month later, I learned that a Freedom of Information Act Request I had filed with my then-AIER supervisor, Phil Magness, had been cited by a federal judge alongside numerous others as the basis for halting the Biden Administration’s social media censorship activities. The case would go all the way to the Supreme Court.
To summarize: Five years ago, I was sitting in the audience at LibertyCon, marveling at the 2019 Student of the Year. Just one year ago, I had been contemplating retiring from SFL.
Now, I’m a published author, work with one of America’s oldest think tanks, and I helped kick off “one of the most important free speech cases to reach the [Supreme] Court in years.” I was soon thereafter nominated for 2024 Global Student of the Year. I found myself standing on stage with the founder of Whole Foods, John Mackey, receiving the same award that had struck me with awe half a decade earlier.
LibertyCon and Beyond
House Bastiat — with all the growing pains, and the ups and the downs — is now solidly expanding, focusing on what ideas worked and learning from what didn’t. We have some exciting events planned in D.C. in collaboration with other liberty-based nonprofits.
Recently, we hosted a sold-out reception with America’s Future featuring two all-star guests: Deirdre McCloskey and Veronique de Rugy. We’re also running an international debate competition, whose finale will take place at LibertyCon International in 2025. (Sign up HERE to see it — and tons more — in person!)
So here I am, having finished law school. This time for real (I think; you never know what twists and turns life will take) I am set to retire from SFL.
It’s been a crazy ride, but a fun one. For the near future, I want to focus on ensuring House Bastiat continues to grow. And, as I laid out in my Cato speech, I will continue to support it both as a professional community AND as a classical liberal social one.
Because liberty doesn’t just need professionals; it needs friends, it needs fellowship, and it needs community.
When I joined SFL in 2018, I was still figuring out how to tie a necktie. Now I’m working at the world’s leading classical liberal think tank and at the helm of House Bastiat, supporting the next generation of policy leaders.
That’s what SFL has done for me. Now I turn the tables: What might SFL do for you?
Are you a student interested in getting involved in pro-liberty activism? By applying to join Students For Liberty’s Local Coordinator Program, you can be supported in promoting the ideas of liberty while also developing your skills and meeting many like-minded students from across the world. Click on the button below to find out more and get involved!
This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.
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