 |
 ISIL World Conference – Dax, France, 2001
Frédéric Bastiat Honored
by Libertarians
– On His 200th Anniversary –
by James R. Elwood
Sarah Lawrence (England) and Johan Lindsrom (Sweden) risk life and limb to climb to Bastiat street sign in Bayonne for a photo-op.
This year's World Libertarian Conference in Dax, France, sponsored by ISIL and Libertarian International – and hosted by Le Cercle Frédéric Bastiat, proved to be a major highlight of an ongoing celebration of "The Year of Frédéric Bastiat" – the 200th anniversary of the birth of this great French classical-liberal who had contributed so much to the literatue of liberty.
A splendid job of conference organizing was performed by host Jacques de Guenin and his team at Le Cercle Frédéric Bastiat. And intensive marketing efforts both by ISIL and Libertarian International (under the chairmanship of Hubert Jongen) resulted in a sell-out months before the event.
Mary Lou Gutscher was again a master of ceremonies par excellence. (Many thanks, Mary Lou!).
And the Hotel Caliceo staff turned in a stellar performance, preparing and serving incredible gourmet-quality meals to 200 people at each lunch and dinner.
The conference commenced on Sunday evening, July 1st with a few surprises – some planned and others unexpected. The opening reception was held offsite at the nearby town of Mugron, with a stop along the way at Sengresse, a large and rustic country home and farm once owned by Bastiat.
The purpose of the trip to Mugron was to dedicate a new marble plaque on an existing statue of Bastiat which stands in the town square. The prior inscriptions (dating back to the 19th century) had mentioned some of Bastiat's books, but installation of the new plaques (arranged by Jacques de Guenin) finally gave credit for his most well-known work The Law.
The dedication speech for the new marble plaque on the Bastiat statue in Mugron was delivered, ironically, by a Socialist, M. Emmanuelli (r) president of the Conseil General des Landes – the regional assembly (with his aide). Jacques de Guenin is on left.
Ironically, the dedication speech was given by a Socialist, M. Emmanuelli, president of the "Conseil General des Landes" -- the regional assembly. The speech was delivered in French, but Jacques informed us it that was pretty good – although definitely
giving a different picture of Bastiat's role than we would expect.
The real surprise of the evening, however, was that we actually had a demonstration against our event! It was conducted by about 30-40 members of the local branch of ATTAC. This group is socialist and is part of a coalition opposing free trade, corporations and globalization. ATTAC members have been active in major protests like the violent ones in Genoa recently.
ATTAC anti-free trade leader (a local professor of history) rallies his troops for a demonstration against libertarians at Bastiat statue in Mugron, France.
Happily at our event they were peaceful, and mainly chanted slogans: "The World is Not for Sale!" (We chanted back "Liberté!, Liberté!") One of the demonstrators, obviously not a big proponent of free speech, managed to get into a church tower in the square and ring the bells during Jacques's comments in an attempt to drown him out. Their literature and signs carried the % sign, which stands for their support for the "Tobin Tax," a proposal by economist James Tobin for a tax on international currency trading designed to finance things like the UN and major wealth-redistribution programs.
Libertarians move in to debate with protesters. Jacques de Guenin on the left. Also note movement archivist Jim Turney (center) videotaping proceedings.
Our reception was held on a large outdoor terrace about a block away. Some of the demonstrators came down, and protested that they were paying for it. (The event was hosted by the town government.) So we invited them to share in the plentiful wine and hors d'oeuvres. There was a good deal of spirited but good-natured debate. Some of the ATTAC people seemed to soften up – perhaps realizing that we are not any great defenders of the WTO or the actions of many major corporations.
We all considered the demonstrations to be a sign of progress. Jacques de Guenin and Le Cercle Bastiat have been quite energetic in promoting Bastiat's ideas and legacy throughout his native region, and they are being noticed by the (unfortunately still-dominant) socialists.
***** The Conference Begins *****
WHY BASTIAT IS MY HERO
After welcoming remarks by Jacques de Guenin, ISIL president Vince Miller, and Libertarian International chairman Hubert Jongen, the speaker program began in earnest (illegally, as it turned out). By French law it is forbidden to speak English at a conference in France. Nonetheless Bob McTeer, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (Texas) kicked off the first day . . . in English.
McTeer and the Dallas Fed have been very active in promoting free-market economics in their region of the United States. Much of this work has been done by Bob Formaini, who also attended this conference.
McTeer spoke as an admirer, not a scholar of Bastiat. He had seen snippets of Bastiat's famous "Petition of the Candlemakers" in economics textbooks, and then had read a putdown of Bastiat by economist Joseph Schumpeter who commented that Bastiat had been "a brilliant economic journalist, but no economic theorist". He disagreed, as did the other speakers at Dax.
He mentioned that Henry Hazlitt had praised Bastiat as being "the most powerful advocate of free trade" among 19th-century continental Europeans, and that Hazlitt in his prolific writings had fleshed out Bastiat's works. Bastiat was a master pamphleteer and was skilled in the use of satire to make his points. Wit, wisdom, personal observations, and common-sense reminders were the key to Bastiat's success, and are important points for all free-market advocates today. In fighting against false notions, it's good to remember an old Texas saying: "No matter who says what, if it don't make sense, don't believe it."
McTeer discussed the California energy mess, and also commented on the utter stupidity of restrictions that prevent US and Mexican trucks from crossing the US/Mexican border (having to unload their trucks onto short-haul carriers and then reload on the other side).
He closed by saying that we need both "words and music" to effectively persuade people, and that Bastiat had both. He also reminded us that we have to keep "retaking old ground" in the fight for ideas. There followed an excellent Q&A session on such diverse topics as gold, currencies, dollarization, monetary policy, and more.
SOPHISMS DIE HARD
Prof. Bertrand Lemennicier (ISIL Rep – France and Pres. of IHS Europe) tells of the historical importance of Bastiat's works.
Bertrand Lemennicier spoke next. He is a professor of economics at the University of Paris and president of the Institute for Humane Studies/Europe. His speech addressed the persistence of erroneous economic ideas: the kind of ideas Bastiat spent so much of his efforts exposing. Prof. Lemennicier remarked that politicians are "empty brains" – which are filled with whatever ideas will gain them immediate votes. Also, he observed, Marxist ideology has been passed on through generations of socialist professors – perpetuating sophisms.
Sophisms (such as the broken-window fallacy) are often used as rationalizations for such collectivist concepts as "national competition" or "fair play" to advocate policies like protectionism.
Lemennicier also spoke on the success of Richard Cobden's Anti-Corn Law League, which succeeded in bringing free trade to England in 1846. It was a citizen's movement of economists and journalists (including James Wilson, who, as part of the publicity campaign, founded the "Economist" magazine). They worked through local committees and through the distribution of pamphlets. And the cause was also helped along by a depression – that and the increased levels of suffering brought about by artificially-inflated grain prices.
A sister organization which included Bastiat among its number, arose in France – and international meetings of the key activists were organized -- a forerunner of today's international libertarian movement.
Attila Csanyi (Hungary/USA), Agwu Amogo (Nigeria), and ISIL Director Ken Schoolland (USA) discuss strategies during break.
BASTIAT AND PROUDHON
Alain Laurent is a former professor of philosophy and sociology at the University of Paris and is now director of the "Iconoclastes" series for the book publisher "Belles-Lettres". There he has published French editions of Spencer, Spooner, Turgot, Rand and others.
Laurent summarized the old debate that Bastiat and Proudhon had on the morality and usefulness of interest on loans. He also showed that Proudhon became a quasi-libertarian anarchist toward the end of his life.
BASTIAT, VON MISES AND EPISTEMOLOGY
After a splendid lunch, we reconvened to hear Gerard Bramoulle, an economics professor at the University of Aix-Marseille who is also deputy mayor of Aix-en-Provence. He mentioned that he recalled seeing Bastiat mentioned in French economics textbooks up until the 1950's – but that he was gone by the '90s.
Bramoulle asserted that Bastiat was a forerunner of the Austrian school of economics. In Economic Harmonies, he wrote that: "simplicity is the touchstone of truth". He had both to tear down errors and build up truths. Bastiat was not a positivist, but he used the same method of using general truths to explain particular outcomes (i.e. theory should have a predictive value).
Bastiat, however, opposed empiricism and its narrow focus on measurable results through his famous "What is seen and what is not seen" tract. He also opposed scientism ("economics is about man, not physics"), and like other classical liberals, dealt with the broad subject of political economy (including law and ethics).
Ironically, considering Schumpeter's comments, Bastiat in his day was criticized for being a theorist – for using general principles to explain specifics!
During Q&A, Dr. Detmar Doering of Germany's Friedrich Naumann Foundation announced that they had just published the first German-language collection of Bastiat works since 1881 – including some first-time translations.
RESISTING THE GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT
Next up was Don Boudreaux, president of the venerable Foundation for Economic Education [Boudreaux has since moved on to become the chair of the economics department at George Mason University in Virginia, and has been replaced at FEE by noted economist and investment advisor Mark Skousen &nash; Ed.].
During the introduction, it was announced that FEE had just published a booklet containing Bastiat's "Profession of Faith to the Electors of St. Sevier" – a statement of principles for his 1846 campaign for election to the French National Assembly (this election campaign was unsuccessful, but he was elected in 1848). This first-ever translation into English was performed by Diana Dupuy.
Boudreaux stated that "ideas are powerful, for both good and evil". He explained, in response to an audience question why FEE had changed the name of its flagship journal from "The Freeman" to "Ideas On Liberty," [actually they merely swapped the title and sub-title – Ed]. The reason was that many people were thinking that the journal had something to do with the militia movement – particularly one fairly nutty group in Montana called the "Freemen" that had a highly-publicized standoff with the Feds in 1996.
Moving on, Boudreaux said that the position of public-choice economists that government policy was driven by plunder on behalf of special interests was largely correct, but he added that ideas can and do restrain the State. He noted that the government itself cloaks its actions in "public-interest" arguments. For example, the US government doesn't say that sugar quotas are being imposed to enrich domestic sugar growers, it says that these measures "help the balance of trade" or "save American jobs".
Culture can determine the bounds within which the State can act. He noted that French people routinely smoke within public buildings despite bans, and that in his native New Orleans there are drive-up daiquiri stands that are surely illegal, but have nevertheless remained in business for decades.
He stated that Libertarians can win victories at the margin by moving the mass of people even a little way towards freedom. He mentioned as an example Jose Piñera, who led the Chilean social security privatization. He illustrated his point by balancing a fork on his finger – showing how just a little weight on the end could tip it.
Boudreaux agrees that it is vital to reach young people, and he says that the biggest challenge is to debunk the religious nature of environmentalism. Straight facts are important, but not persuasive. He gave us an example of a talk he uses in which he gives a graphic picture of what life was really like in the mud huts of the Middle Ages, with all the filth and disease, and pollution (hard-ly the happy carefree life of idyllic simplicity painted by socialists).
During Q&A, the question of doing "reality TV" about the mud hut was brought up. Apparently there had recently been an excellent show on life in a 1910 American home.
THE STATE
The final speaker of the first day was Anthony de Jasay, author of The State, a book which the late Dr. Murray Rothbard described to Jacques de Guenin a few years back as "the best libertarian book of the last 10 years". Jasay, a native of Hungary and a British citizen, now resides in France.
His opinion is that the growth of the State has caused society to become dysfunctional. Informal conventions such as respect for property and civility are in decline, while the burden of laws and regulations has increased tremendously. The State is not an entity. "It has no mind," he stressed. To understand, one must look at the motives and actions of the individuals who people the State apparatus (he noted the same goes for companies).
Constitutions offer only temporary restraint. Jasay made the colorful analogy of constitutional government being like a woman who puts on a chastity belt and then hangs the key on her bedpost!
The State seeks discretionary power. It dispenses favors and gains popular support, but as the burden grows, resistance mounts, which is met by further repression. The end result of this cycle is usually totalitarianism.
He said people are like drug addicts when they seek favors from the State, which is the "dope peddler." People can kick the habit, but as with drugs, it is difficult.
During Q&A, discussions about libertarian participation in politics led him to say that "government reforms alleviate some pain, but they don't change the condition". But happily he acknowledged that libertarians could make life less comfortable for statists.
– THE SECOND DAY –
ENTERPRISE IN A FREE SOCIETY
Pascal Salin, a prominent professor of finance at the University of Paris, former president of the Mont Pelerin Society, and author of a major recent book Liberalisme, led off the shortened speaker schedule of the second day.
Salin spoke on the theory of the firm, noting that Bastiat had touched on the subject in his essay "On Wages". Bastiat had observed that socialists described wages as serfdom and exploitation, when in fact they are really contracts for mutual benefit, with the capitalist risking his capital and providing a form of insurance for both workers and any other partners. However socialist beliefs still persist -- even in the face of overwhelming evidence of their failure in the real world.
Salin suggested that we should refer to firms as teams of producers and organizers who work together to produce goods or services for the market. He observed that the free market allows for people with differing goals to work together in firms – "the most perfect form of association".
MARKET HARMONIES AND THE MEDICAL TRADE
Alphonse Crespo, a Swiss physician who recently gave up his orthopedic surgery practice because of growing interference from the socialized medical system, gave an excellent talk on the importance of free-market medicine.
Economics is the key to liberty, and liberty is essential for proper medical practice. Bastiat observed that economic harmony involved exchange, the satisfaction of both parties, and a net benefit to society. Proper medicine involves:
- A contract incorporating mutual trust,
- Applied science for diagnosis,
- Tools to effect a cure, and
- Ethics to ensure that the goal was to help the patient and benefit society as well.
"The Hippocratic Oath" Crespo remarked, moved medicine "from the temple to the market".
The doctor/patient contract, Crespo observed, must determine the science and ethics, otherwise medicine can be used by the State for coercive purposes – like forced sterilizations. If ethics are strong and science and contract are weak, such as in Dr. Prager's free clinic in Calcutta, despite the noblest intent, the quality of individual care will be low. Socialized medicine, he stated, has fairly strong science, but contract and ethics are very weak.
Bastiat made almost no references to medicine, because it was a free-market at his time, and it was quite affordable for ordinary people. The Industrial Revolution helped promote an enormous advance in medicine in the 19th century. Crespo enumerated a long list of fundamental innovations in medicine from that period (when it operated within free markets incorporating strong science and ethics).
During Q&A, euthanasia was discussed. Alphonse thought it was OK if there was a firm contract in advance, but otherwise the doctor's duty was to treat the patient to the best of his ability. He warned that families of the patient sometimes pushed for euthanasia to end their own suffering, not just that of the patient.
Dagny Sharon mentioned that Barbados has a very free market in medicine.
CONTRACTUAL RECYCLING OF CONSUMER PACKAGING
At this point in the program we stepped away from theory and took a look at a real-world example of a private action accomplishing a public good. Serge Mihaud, former Nestle executive and now head of Eco-em-ballages, explained how his company privately handles much of the recycling in France.
There had been a surge in the volume of packaging waste in the 1980's as sales of food and consumer products shifted to supermarkets. Landfills were running out of room, and at the same time there were environmental regulations which restricted the traditional use of incinerators. The EU also began mandating more recycling.
Normally in France, the national government would pass a law and impose a national tax, which would then be dispensed to the town governments, with the program to be run within the bureaucracy. Instead, numerous manufacturers gathered together to cooperate in developing a private recycling program (under license from the French government).
Eco-emballages collects a tiny 2-centime fee from packagers for each package. The company carries out a publicity campaign to get French citizens to separate certain recycling items. The town waste-disposal workers still handle the pickup, but the recycling materials are delivered to Eco-emballages, which processes them. Some of the materials are sold back to manufacturers. Eco-emballages conducts research into increasing efficiency in the system, and in finding more commercial uses for the materials.
Compared to a straight government program, the benefits have been lower cost and more innovation. Jacques de Guenin, who is mayor of Saint-Loubouer, said the program had worked very well for his town. Mihaud mentioned that a major challenge is to keep socialist French bureaucrats from seizing control of the operation and its revenues.
A VISIT TO BASQUE COUNTRY
In Bayonne, we dedicated this new marble plaque (in French) which translates to: "Frédéric Bastiat – universally appreciated economist and humanist was born in this house on June 30, 1801."
The rest of the day consisted of a tour (giving people a break and another chance to socialize). We first traveled to the picturesque seaport town of Bayonne where a ceremony was held to unveil a new marble plaque on the house where Bastiat was born. (arranged by Jacques and Le Cercle Frédéric Bastiat) This was just around the corner from the Rue Frédéric Bastiat.
Judy Nagy (Ecuador), Virgis Daukas (ISIL Rep-Lithuania) and son counter ATTAC group's chanting with shouts of "Liberté! Liberté!"
And once again, we were ATTACed! Around 15 of them were lined up across the street from the Bastiat house, carrying the same sort of signs and shouting the same slogans as the demonstrators at Mugron. Once again, we shouted back "Liberté! Liberté!" Fortunately, once again it was peaceful, and it added some extra excitement to the event. The protesters seemed a bit friendlier this time. One demonstrator shook hands with ISIL Pres. Vince Miller. Another had a long discussion with Attila Csanyi (when he discovered that Attila had been a freedom fighter in the Hungarian uprising in Budapest, 1956) and two of the group promised to read ISIL brochures presented to them by LI's chairman Hubert Jongen. The ice, if not broken, was cracked a little.
We then traveled a short distance down the coast to the famous resort of Biarritz, home to many opulent hotels and mansions. Although it was a cool and cloudy day, we enjoyed a brief walk on the beach, and climbed paths up the nearby cliffs to the scenic view of the resort and the Atlantic Ocean.
For the evening, we bussed to the village of Arcangues, in France's portion of the Basque region. There was a demonstration of pelota, a form of team handball which is the Basque "national" sport. We enjoyed a hearty dinner with local dishes – plus liberal amounts of sangria and regional wines. A most enjoyable outing!
– THE DAY THREE –
THE LIBERTARIAN CONTROVERSY ON IMMIGRATION
ISIL director Ken Schoolland, professor of economics at Hawaii Pacific University, and a former economist with the U.S. International Trade Commission and special advisor to the White House, gave what many considered the outstanding talk of the conference.
Ken, who is also the author of "The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible," the acclaimed libertarian fable which has been published in 23 languages, opened with a clever parody of Bastiat's famous "Petition of the Candlemakers", substituting a call for the abolition of new babies to stop future competition with the current labor force!
Bastiat's original "Petition" had employed a powerful use of satire to expose the abuse of the law-making power of government in benefiting special interests (at the forced expense of everyone else). Bastiat also wrote in favor of allowing refugees to come to France and work. He disliked national boundaries.
People often fear immigrants because of their being of a different race, language or culture – yet Americans are welcomed in many different places around the world because of their wealth. And Julian Simon proved from numerous studies that immigrants to America are harder-working, earn more and pay more taxes than the average native. And they create new jobs, while drawing less in government services.
If migration is driven only by welfare benefits, Schoolland asked, then why are high-welfare US states having out-migration, and low-welfare states the largest inflow? Another point Ken made was that the US government's program of "Tyrant Welfare" (arms sales and gifts) and "Corporate Welfare" (trade protectionism) worsen conditions abroad and generates extra pressure for people to emigrate in search of a better life.
Ken said that one must judge government actions by whether an individual has a right to do the same thing. Imposing "by invitation only" standards for immigration amounts to state interference with peaceful activities of people. Restrictive labor laws violate the rights of employers to hire the best people.
Ken closed by stating that the US immigration laws are collectivist and racist, and that libertarians should oppose them on moral grounds -- just as the Abolitionists opposed slavery.
This presentation is a classic. Buy the tape! Jacques de Guenin stated he wanted to have it translated into French for his website. [Immigration is an even more contentious issue in Europe than in America – Ed.]
THE FUTURE OF CURRENCIES
Phillippe Nataf, professor of finance at the University of Paris and a noted expert on free banking, revealed how fluctuations between fiat currencies damage international trade (such as the 18% differential between the dollar and Euro in just the first 1½ years). By contrast, under the 19th-century gold standard, the French franc varied by only 1% the entire century, and the British pound varied by only one-tenth of one percent!
World War One destroyed the gold standard and the stability of currencies, and brought about rampant inflation. A partial gold standard was restored, but central-bank currency reserves were allowed to be the base for credit expansion. Overexpansion and malinvestment led to a financial crash and the Great Depression – and another abandonment of the gold standard. Another partial gold exchange standard was concocted at Bretton Woods in 1944. It worked well until the U.S. fiscal deficit from Vietnam undermined faith in the dollar, and President Nixon reacted in 1971 by ending the dollar/gold link. Inflation then shot up. Today, monetary inflation is low, but floating currencies still damage trade.
Going back in history, starting in Venice, early deposit banks stored merchant funds and set up a network to exchange claims. Actual gold or silver coin was only transferred when major imbalances occurred. Credit institutions existed, but they were partnerships that pooled their funds to make loans to merchants. Neither arrangement created new money. Free banking in Scotland and New England continued to keep money stable, with competition and the daily clearing and redemption of bank notes constraining any monetary inflation.
Banks then began to issue loans against merchant bills of exchange, creating new money. Today, central bank management of monetary and credit fluctuations leads to the business cycles of inflation and depression.
Today, interest in a gold standard is growing. Returning to a gold standard could be done – many central banks still hold more gold than they have in outstanding notes at current gold market prices. Nataf said he was encouraged by the recent central bank sales of gold, because it sends gold back into the private sector. He thinks future currency instability will help lead to a private gold standard – like e-gold.
IN DEFENSE OF MULTINATIONALS
George Sherman is a former controller for major divisions of Exxon, whose job included enforcement of a strict corporate code of ethics. (He was also Jacques de Guenin's former boss). George opened by saying what a pleasure it had been for him to come to this meeting of libertarians and to hear so many new ideas and life experiences.
Sherman pointed out that multinational corporations have been the main vehicle in the tremendous growth of world trade since World War II. They have extended capital, workers, management, and markets all around the world. Governments compete for investment by the multi-nationals because they bring capital, resource development, production technology and worker and management training otherwise not available in many of these countries. The governments in return get tax revenues and international stature. Workers get better jobs, and have more money to spend &nash; and as a bonus, Multi-national investment often drives improvements in local infrastructure and services.
Sherman explained that the nationalizations that plagued multinationals in the past have disappeared. Corporations today face pressures mainly from labor unions, special-interest groups, NGOs and the media. Corruption has been constrained both by laws in the West, and by the tightening of internal controls following bad publicity. He added that the principles of good human conduct are universal, so business ethics are widely understood – and can be applied around the world.
THE TAXPAYER REVOLT
Benoitte Taffin, former Mayor of the 2nd (financial) District of Paris, leads tax revolt in France.
After lunch, Benoitte Taffin, until recently mayor of the 2me Arondissement of Paris, gave a lively speech on the French Taxpayers Union. Modeled after the National Taxpayers Union in the US, they publicize the lateness of "Tax Freedom Day" in France (July 9th) and compare it with other major countries.
Founded in 1990 by Alain Dumait, another libertarian mayor of the same Paris district (and at the time ISIL Rep for France) the group grew to 50,000 members in three years, and today numbers 150,000. They send out 3 million pieces of direct mail per year, in which they publicize government boondoggles and call for specific actions – as well as raising funds. Their 10-point charter calls for freezes in taxes and spending, anti-corruption measures, and simplification of paperwork. They were pleasantly surprised that 10 members of the National Assembly had recently signed the charter.
PROGRESS IN THE UK
Madsen Pirie, president of Britain's prestigious Adam Smith Institute, offers insight into political developments in the UK.
Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute in London, gave an excellent and humorous overview of British politics. He reported that he has been working hard to influence the Blair government on free-market ideas (with some ministers being receptive and others not).
Pirie sees Bastiat and his "What is seen and what is not seen" as the precursor of public-choice economics. He compared it with Britain, which under Tony Blair "has left the real world and entered the world of spin." In the recent election, Blair and the Labour Party crowed that they had kept their original promise not to raise the income tax. True, but they had imposed 45 new taxes, mainly hidden ones on business. Sneaky! "Tax Freedom Day" in the UK is 13 days later than when Blair was first elected four years ago.
Government spending is also up sharply – but here the spin overstates the amount of "investment" that has actually occurred in health and education. Spin has created shorter waiting lists for hospital treatments by switching patients from one waiting list to another (the old shell game). And smaller class sizes for the youngest students were achieved by transferring teachers from the older grades and increasing those class sizes!
Pirie thinks that Tony Blair actually knows that throwing money at Britain's social programs won't work, and that they need major restructuring. In fact Blair and his ministers have started making noises in that direction, but they face formidable opposition from their own trade-union constituency. On the subject of school reform, Pirie has been promoting vouchers while Blair so far talks of public/private "partnerships".
But, according to Pirie, overall, Labour hasn't been too bad on economics. They did give the Bank of England independence on monetary policy, and for a Labour government they have been fiscally restrained. One should really look at the "Third Way" not as some conscious combination of socialism and capitalism, but more like seeing Britain positioned somewhere between a relatively free-market America and a social-democratic continental Europe.
While losses in economic freedom under Blair have been minor, there has been a serious attack on civil liberties. The right to trial by jury is being eliminated. The right to remain silent is being replaced by "silence as a presumption of guilt." The presumption of innocence until proven guilty is being replaced by a "demand for proof of innocence." Protections against "double-jeopardy" are being eliminated by giving prosecutors the right to appeal verdicts of innocence and to launch fresh trials.
At the encouragement of the US government, civil-asset forfeiture laws that allow seizures of property (based merely upon accusation of their possible use in a "crime") have been passed. Some laws allowing prosecutors to file retroactive charges for newly-banned activities have passed. There are far more pre-trial detentions, and arrests involving prior restraint are up. And, private firearms ownership in Britain is now almost totally forbidden – with one result being that handgun murders are up 41% (since British citizens were disarmed). [These laws are turning England's legal system back to the dark days before Magna Carta! – Ed.]
Despite this bleak picture, two bright spots have emerged:
- There is less social conformity (as in more acceptance of gay rights and alternative lifestyles), and
- It appears very likely that Labour will legalize soft drugs like marijuana and cocaine.
There was a long and excellent Q&A session. Pirie explained that the Adam Smith Institute focuses on policy proposals for government and publicizes said proposals through media commentaries. One current project is an alternative "Human Rights Bill" which counters the Labour government's proposal which enumerates so-called "positive" rights (right to health care, etc.) The Human Rights Bill proposals are in response to European Union mandates. The Adam Smith Institute proposal is a bill of negative rights (much like the US Bill of Rights) except that for PR purposes it be structured to show how they will achieve positive social goals.
Pirie reported that the Adam Smith Institute has previously avoided official positions on drugs, but in November it is holding its first pro-legalization conference. Pirie has made sure to have major establishment figures on the program, including a bishop, a chief constable, and an Oxford biochemist to give the event a mainstream appeal.
He also guessed that Scotland will become independent, and that Wales will not. He said he is Scottish, but he added that Scottish independence would help England by ridding Parliament of about 50 Labour MPs. It would also end major subsidies from England to Scotland.
He also said that Britain will not likely join in the Euro currency. Current polls show 83% in opposition to the idea. Tony Blair (who is pro-Euro) is sticking to his promise that a referendum should decide the issue, and he will not call one if he thinks it will result in an embarrassing defeat for him!
Also regarding the European Union, Pirie favors eastward expansion, one reason being that he thinks having a larger number of diverse countries as members will make it far more difficult for Brussels Eurocrats to impose a unitary, centralized EU state.
THE LIMITS OF DEMOCRACY
Christian Michel, a Swiss businessman and a director of Libertarian International, always gives provocative and original intellectual presentations, and he did so again this time with his theme of "liberty against democracy".
Michel noted that mass democracy arose during the period of mechanization of industry – a time when the focus of science changed to measuring external characteristics of nature and corresponding experimental results. Votes were standardized, interchangeable units, regardless of the different stakes for some voters (i.e. parents have more at stake in a school measure than other voters). Of course, minority votes count for nothing, with minorities being subject to the tyranny of majorities and ultimately being forced into compliance by the coercive machinery of the State.
Democracy in fact merely replaced the old royal power by allowing the voters to choose among members of the ruling class. The inherent conflict in democratic politics is made evident by the widespread use of military terms (as in "campaigning" for election). Michel also theorized that nationalism and socialism are inherent in the collective nature of electoral politics.
He pointed out that voting is not inherently bad. Private organizations may use voting to choose leaders and policies. The important difference, however, is that each member agrees to the rules of the organization – and has the right and ability to leave if opposed to the result – unlike government!
The best things in life – love, family, health – have nothing to do with politics. Politicians focus on wealth, and the fundamental conflict in politics is over grabbing wealth for redistribution. Liberal individualism and majoritarian democracy are thus always opposed.
SWITZERLAND: MYTHS AND REALITIES
Panel on Switzerland: Myths and Realities: Left to right: Stefan Metzeler (Switzerland), Leon Louw and Frances Kendall (South Africa) and Christian Michel (Switzerland/UK).
This was a panel discussion on Switzerland and its relevance as a real-world model for libertarians. Christian Michel participated, and was joined by Stefan Metzeler, a Swiss computer consultant, and by Frances Kendall and Leon Louw of South Africa. Kendall and Louw have long promoted Swiss-style decentralism, largely through their best-selling books South Africa: The Solution and Let the People Govern. These books and endorsements from across South Africa's political spectrum had helped lead to their being formally nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Key points made by each panelists included:
Frances Kendall: In an ideal world there would be no government, but lots of democracy. The Swiss system started in small tribes with pure democracy, and resorted to representative government only as they got larger. The government of the modern Swiss Federation [1848-Ed.] started out larger than that of the US at that time, but the functions of the Swiss government stayed about the same, while the US government grew enormously. The difference was the restraint exerted by direct democracy.
Stefan Metzeler: Showing people concrete examples of successes is important. Swiss voters recently rejected government-paid maternity leave with a 67% "No" vote, despite a massive campaign in favor of it by politicians and the media. Three new energy taxes were shot down in one year. But the government kept coming back with reworked proposals, such as the Value-Added Tax (VAT) which was defeated 4 times in referenda but which narrowly passed on the 5th try.
Leon Louw: Louw also talked about the importance of real-world examples for marketing liberty. He ran off a list of good points about Switzerland:
- It's among the top 5 countries in the world in per-capita income, economic freedom, and satisfaction with life.
- It has the lowest taxes and fewest number of government bureaucrats per capita in Europe, and
- It's the most neutral country in the world. Extensive checks and balances, including direct democracy (citizen veto power) had much to do with this.
Louw noted that mass democracy results in the largest number of dissatisfied people. He ultimately supports the pure free market ("one man, one canton"), but in the meantime, decision-making within small-scale communities is next best.
Christian Michel: Michel gave up most of his time because he had just made his points about democracy in his preceding talk. He did note that democracy had sprung up in isolated places like Switzerland, England and America. He thought that Switzerland had been united by poverty and the menace of outside invaders. He thought that if Switzerland ever joined the EU, its language regions would likely break up and be absorbed into the surrounding countries.
THE BIG CELEBRATION
Alain Madelin, former Finance Minister of France and candidate for the presidency, delivers the banquet speech. Seated (center) Jacques de Guenin and his wife Odette.
The highlight and culmination of the conference, as always, was the gala banquet. It's always an emotional time because you know that you will soon be saying "au revoir" to your old and new-found friends. But it was also a celebration of a great conference – and a time to recognize the people whose hard work made this Bastiat celebration such a success – and of course it was a big party to cap off a week of fun!
This year we had a very prestigious banquet speaker: Alain Madelin. A leading libertarian in France, Madelin was formerly the National Finance Minister, and now is running for President of France. He delivered his speech in French, so I will assume from the very enthusiastic applause given him by the French-speakers in attendance that it was very good.
Jacques de Guenin assured us that Alain had read all seven volumes of Bastiat's works. De Guenin summarized Alain's speech, saying that he covered the historic importance of Bastiat's work – how ignoring his teachings had led to the horrors of the 20th century, how the collapse of Communism had vindicated Bastiat, and how his legacy is an active part of the resurgence of liberty around the world – having even been published in China!
Valentina Nicolae (Romania) (r) received the Bruce Evoy Memorial award for her outstanding contributions to the cause of liberty in her native country. Mary Lou Gutscher (Canada)(l) executor of the award made the presentation.
Mary Lou Gutscher then made the presentation of the Bruce Evoy Memorial Award. Evoy, who passed away in 1998, was a former director of ISIL, founder of the Libertarian Party of Canada in 1973, and was a rep for the Nathaniel Branden Institute in the '60's. A Shakespearean actor, Bruce was famous around the libertarian movement for his marvelous renditions of Patrick Henry's famous "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!" speech.
Evoy set up this award for those libertarians who had succeeded in advancing liberty in spite of difficult circumstances. Bruce insisted that the first Evoy Award, given at the 1997 ISIL Rome conference, be given to Vince Miller and myself for our years of devotion to the movement and service to ISIL. Bruce also designa-ted the next two winners before he passed away. Tomislav Krsmanovic, ISIL's gallant Serbian Rep, was awarded the second Evoy Award at a 1999 Libertarian International meeting in Copenhagen.
This year's winner was Valentina Nicolae, ISIL's outstanding Rep for Romania. She is a board member of the new Horia Rusu Foundation in Romania. She had worked as a parliamentary researcher with Rusu and the Liberal Party for several years and currently works as an executive in the Bucharest office of the Discovery cable TV network, and is raising an 11-year old daughter.
Valentina has been especially active as a prolific translator of libertarian books – and for successfully arranging their publication. She has produced Romanian editions of Ken Schoolland's "The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible" (first ed.), Mary Ruwart's "Healing Our World," Ayn Rand's "Anthem," Walter Block's "Defending the Undefendable," and Christian Michel's "Le Liberté" from the original French. Valentina has also completed translations of Frances Kendall's "Super Parents, Super Children," and the second edition of "The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible," and is "gradually" engaged in the enormous task of translating Ayn Rand's epic novel Atlas Shrugged. ISIL and our members gave financial assistance to several of these book projects.
On accepting the trophy, Valentina gave thanks for special help given over the years by Jim Turney, Vince Miller, Hubert and Rita Jongen, Mary Lou Gutscher, Jim and Ute Bailey, and "Bruce – wherever you are".
Congratulations Valentina!
Jacques de Guenin had taken great pains to downplay his magnificent work in organizing this conference, but we weren't going to let him get away with that! ISIL president Vince Miller presented Jacques with a beautiful plaque with this inscription:
Dax, France 2001
On the occasion of the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Bastiat
JACQUES DE GUENIN
In appreciation of your dedication and devotion in promoting the principles of liberty as
espoused by the famous 19th century classical liberal/libertarian Frédéric Bastiat – and
for your tireless efforts in making the 2001 World Libertarian Conference such a great
success, the Board of the International Society for Individual Liberty is pleased to extend
this token of our gratitude and esteem.
Vincent H. Miller, President
James R. Elwood, Executive Vice President Jacques said that organizing the conference has been a great pleasure. He thanked those who had helped on the conference team: his wife Odette, Mary Lou Gutscher, Gerard and Diana Dupuy, Francois-Rene Rideau, Régis Blin, Jacques Cohen, and general attendees who pitched in during the conference: Louise Zizka, Pat and Rudy Tietze, Tina Helm and Walter Smith, and Jim Lathrop.
Vince Miller then gave a hearty thanks to Richard Venable, who had done a splendid job of coordinating the scholarship program and handling the volumes of correspondence with the 50 sponsored attendees, and dozens of other applicants. Vince also gave credit to Ken Schoolland and myself as members of ISIL's Board of Directors, and to the conference co-sponsors Libertarian International and their board of Hubert Jongen, Christian Michel, and Palle Steen Jensen.
This being the 20th ISIL World Libertarian Conference, Vince gave recognition to those in the audience who were at the first event in Zurich, Switzerland in 1982. They were Hubert and Rita Jongen, Michael van Notten, Leon Louw and Frances Kendall, and Jim Turney.
We couldn't let the evening end without thanking Jacques (in a humorous jibe) for so thoughtfully arranging those exhilarating ATTAC demonstrations! There more cheers of "Liberté!, Liberté!"
There was plenty of music and dancing for the rest of the evening. Also, this day being the Fourth of July, some of the Americans had bought some fireworks and held a display behind the hotel.
In other years, the evening banquet has closed the conference, and hotel checkout and the start of the post-conference tour occurred early in the morning. This year, departure was in the afternoon, and so there were a few more speaker sessions in the morning.
– There's Got To Be a Morning After –
LIFE IN SOMALIAN STATELESS TRIBES
Michael van Notten (Somalia) explains how Somalia has fared very well with no government for the last 10 years.
Michael van Notten, originally a Dutch lawyer, and international consultant on economic free zones and constitutions, has lived in Somalia for 10 years and has a delightful Somali wife, Flory, who attended this and some other recent ISIL conferences. Michael is president of Awdal Roads Company, which is undertaking to upgrade the seaport of Zeila and build a paved road to connect it to the Somali and Ethiopian interiors.
Somalians overthrew a Marxist dictatorship in 1991 and replaced it with . . . nothing! The UN has held 13 conferences trying to re-establish a national government – and there was the US invasion in 1993 – but no provisional government (gang) is recognized by anyone outside of Mogadishu – nor by numerous rivals inside the city. The rest of the country reverted to traditional tribal law. Michael recently wrote a constitution for the Awdal region that the tribes ratified – but that was mainly to help explain to foreigners how tribal law works!
The justice system is based on Somali families providing insurance for each member. Each member also recruits a respected elder in the family to act as a judge if there should be a dispute inside the family or with another family. If someone commits a crime, family members provide restitution to the victim, with the closest relatives paying the most and distant relatives the least (based on a formula in the customary law). Families generally handle the punishment, usually by assigning a guardian and applying intense peer pressure. In extreme cases like murder, a person can be expelled from the tribe. Since word gets around, other tribes won't take him in, so it is virtually a death sentence.
Politics is limited, and consensual in nature. There are no police. If a judge wants someone to be hunted down for a crime, he picks several men on a temporary basis. "Public works" like schools are funded by voluntary contributions of funds and/or labor. There are no taxes.
Michael thinks the main weaknesses in traditional Somali law that need to be addressed (if modern development is to occur) are the lack of family insurance for bad debts or bankruptcies and the lack of individual land ownership.
Foreigners who wish to do business need to form a tribe with their own laws. Woman have more rights than in most other Islamic countries, but if a woman gets raped, the traditional law requires the rapist to marry her (?!)
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN SOMALIA
Jim Davidson, an entrepreneur and director of the Awdal Roads Company, completed this extended session with an overview of their business plan. Philosophically, he was excited about the project because it represented a chance to "starve the State" by transferring wealth into investments in areas with little or no government.
Awdal straddles northern Somalia and the Ethiopian frontier, an area badly underserved by existing transportation. There is a mountain range about 40 km inland which has a moderate climate. The road would make most of its money from a toll booth at the top of the mountain pass. Further profits might be made directly by operating service stations along the route, or by having other owners invest in shares of the company to help pay for maintenance. The seaport upgrade would start with a floating pier, and livestock shipping could be started quickly, earning fees for holding pens, transfers, etc. Seven operating companies are now planned. A fishing enterprise is starting this fall and the pier is due early in 2002.
JUSTICE IN A STATELESS SOCIETY
Jan Narveson, is a professor of philosophy at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and is the author of The Libertarian Idea (re-published in 2000).
Prof. Narveson began by describing the Greek philosopher Plato's three theories
of government:
- Rulers use raw power to benefit themselves,
- Strong government should benefit the people, with rule by philosopher-kings (Plato's choice), or
- Liberalism – rule by the people.
One reason the State is able to maintain its power may be explained by the "prisoners dilemma". The State can isolate potential dissenters and crush them, so most people cooperate – at the price of freedom, taxes, etc. – ostensibly to stay out of worse trouble.
Thomas Hobbes thought that the fundamental state of nature was conflict, so he postulated that a strong state was needed for control, to protect the powerful few from being killed by the weak but numerous. The problem is that the state is coercive, and "big" often means inefficient. For example, a small, personal device like a burglar alarm will deter a burglar far more than a large but distant police force. Essentially, the State operates as a protection racket, except that it vastly exaggerates its ability to protect.
Libertarianism involves individuals taking personal responsibility for self-defense, either on their own or through the purchase of protective services. Liberty is based on the theory of negative rights – personal self-restraint, while statists support "positive rights" that require an obligation by some to provide for the needs of others.
Narveson explained that it is important to examine and settle questions in theory, because they help explain why things happen in the practical realm.
TAKING STOCK OF THE LIMÓN REAL PROJECT
Rigoberto Stewart, ISIL Rep for Costa Rica, gave an update on his "Limón Real" project to create an autonomous region (governed by libertarian principles) in Costa Rica's Caribbean province of Limón. He showed a new video and distributed colorful new brochures about the project and the region, which included a prospectus for economic development.
John Kingman, an American living in Costa Rica, is assisting in forming a task force to advance the autonomy project. He spoke briefly about the formation of a development corporation (Autonomia Limónese S.A.) that seeks shareholder investment to help complete the winning of autonomy and to undertake infrastructure improvements and other investments in the area.
Watch for updates in future issues of the "Freedom Network News."
ADVENTURES ON A MOUNTAINTOP
Dr. Rigoberto Stewart (Costa Rica) and Kozeta Cuadari (Albania) have a chance to chat while being stranded on the top of Pic du Midi during snowstorm.
We begin the post-conference tour by heading for the spectacular Pyrenées Mountains. Winding up the twisting roads through the clouds, (while maneuvering around bicyclists training for La Tour De France) we arrived at the resort village of La Mongie where we stayed the night. There was some rain, and we were warned that if it continued, we might have to cancel our morning excursion to the mountaintop.
It turned out to be clear early in the morning, so we took the cable cars to the top of Pic du Midi, site of a major astronomical observatory. At about 9,000 feet, the view of the surrounding mountains and valleys was stunning! But it didn't last long! Suddenly a snowstorm appeared, seemingly out of nowhere – accompanied by numerous close lightning strikes! A few of our people who were outside at the mountaintop at the time were slightly hit by secondary impulses (one man stated that it felt as though a big bird had collided with his head). Happily no one was hurt but the management hustledeveryone inside, out of harm's way.
But the cable cars can't run when it is wet because of static electricity (now we knew the reason for the warning the night before). So we were stuck there for four extra hours until it cleared up, although at one point it appeared as though we could be stranded up there for days. The staff assured us that they had 500 mattresses and a three days supply of food in case things stayed bad! A paper airplane began soaring around with the message written on its side, "Help! We are peace-loving people being held prisoner by socialists." A little comic relief.
Happily the weather cleared.
Having escaped from the mountain-top, we headed for Lourdes. Along the way, we stopped at a very scenic gorge spanned by a 19th century Napoleonic stone bridge. We noticed a couple of people hand-climbing the side of the sheer cliff!
Since the 19th century, Lourdes has been a major destination for religious pilgrimages, centered around prayers for healing. There are amazingly long processions near the cathedral with medieval flags and ritual prayers being delivered in numerous languages. After dark, many of the people then marched through the streets in a candlelight procession. Some apparently near death were carried on stretchers. A touching spectacle, regardless of one's religious inclinations. This little town is the second-most visited place in France after Paris!
JEFFERSON IN BORDEAUX
We left Lourdes and stopped by Pau, the site of a castle that once belonged to a local prince who later became King Henry IV of France. He was apparently more libertarian than the average monarch!
After lunch we visited and climbed among the ruins of Villandraut Castle. Some aristocrats fleeing the terror during the French Revolution had successfully hidden in secret lofts in the towers.
Dr. Detmar Doering of Germany's Friedrich Naumann Foundation is pleased to see his German translation of Bastiat's works on display at Mollat bookstore in Bordeaux.
We then headed up the road to Bordeaux. On our way to a special lecture about the time Thomas Jefferson visited Bordeaux, we stopped by the Mollat bookstore – the largest in Europe – and were delighted to see an entire window display dedicated to Frédéric Bastiat! Dr. Detmar Doering who accompanied us on the post-tour was delighted to see his German translation of Bastiat included.
We then enjoyed a lecture by Régis Blin, author of a book on Thomas Jefferson's travels in France. His travels amounted to a wine tour taken while a broken ankle (broken
in a fall while jumping from a window to impress a young lady) healed. The old building and the room fit the occasion. The burgundy wallpaper, ivory trim and crystal chandelier looked much as they may have in Jefferson's day.
We then walked to the nearby Bordeaux City Hall where we were greeted with a Champagne reception by the vice-mayor and some other Liberal Party politicians and activists. This was another setting out of Jefferson's time, as the building appeared to have been a palace for either royalty or a high-ranking aristocrat, and still had period furniture, art, etc.
The next day, we split into two groups, each visiting a wine castle in the world famous "Margaux" area. And for the finale, we were treated to yet another gourmet luncheon banquet at a nearby country hotel called the Relais de Margaux.
COME SEE FOR YOURSELF!
ISIL conferences have played a vital role in facilitating the growth of libertarian networks, organizations and projects in numerous countries around the world. There is no substitute for meeting people face-to-face to really make friends and build working relationships. Marriages have even resulted! There's also lots of intellectual stimulation. And you can enjoy a fun vacation, often in exotic settings! Many attendees have praised these ISIL conferences as "the experience of a lifetime" or "a great adventure."
So we hope that you can arrange to make it to next year's ISIL World Conference which is confirmed for the scenic Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in mid-July. There will be a post-conference tour in the area around Guadalajara which will include a visit to see the famous Orozco murals. It will be exotic, yet quite affordable! Hope to see you there!
|
|
