The true defenders of liberty
Fraser Nelson 10:30amIn Uganda there is a law against annoying the president, and last night I met an incredible person who has been jailed 12 times for breaking that law. Andrew Mwenda, founder of The Independent newspaper, was giving the keynote address at The Bastiat Prize and asking why the West was so timid in defending free markets and the open society which people like him put their lives on the line to support. A crash isn’t a crisis of capitalism, he said, it’s a characteristic of capitalism – when banks err they are punished. Why do so few in the West make this point?
I asked him later if he worries that next time he’s arrested it will be worse than just a night behind bars. I’ll never forget his response: “Yes, maybe. But I would rather have died yesterday for liberty than live for a thousand years appeasing tyranny.” It was very humbling, and a reminder that that right to tear into those in power - which we avail ourselves of here in Coffee House - is a precious one. All the likes of myself risk if we upset the wrong people is losing contacts, or not being invited to parties anymore. For journalists in many other countries, they are literally and knowingly risking their lives.
The Bastiat dinner was a great event, albeit tinged with an air of apprehension – that these are, of course, dark times for the advocates of the open society. As history teaches us, the enemies of the open society make power grabs after financial shocks. As Mwenda was asking, why accept the premise that the free market failed? The main problem was the abject failure of government to control the money supply and regulate banks (who operated within parameters and to incentives set by ministers).
And I came third, since you asked, which I’m pleased about given the calibre of the six finalists. Swaminathan Aiyar, from the Times of India, got the silver and Barton Hinkle, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the gold. A great dinner, which went on to the small hours. I was fielding questions from Americans unable to comprehend why the Shadow Chancellor was so stupid as to climb abroad the yacht of a Russian oligarch – didn’t he know how bad that would look? Didn’t he think? I didn’t know what to say.
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Tom Burroughes
October 23rd, 2008 10:53am Report this commentThe Bastiat Prize is a great thing. This year's recipient is particularly deserving. It is saddening that there is often a better appreciation of free markets and liberty in countries of Eastern Europe etc, than in the supposed places where liberalism originally took root. But on a more optimistic scale, such men and women who do take a stand make me believe that the cause of freedom may yet take root in new lands. It jolly well better had.
Nicholas
October 23rd, 2008 11:08am Report this commentThe American view of the yacht incident is no doubt coloured by a general animosity towards Russians but it does reveal a remarkable capacity to overlook the activities of one Mandelson, a senior EU commissioner, now member of the House of Lords and the cabinet. If one is going to indulge in a bit of grooming, better look for the tick before the flea.
I watched with growing incredulity the film created by the BBC at the licence fee payer's expense and shown on Newsnight, focussing on the yacht incident and seeking to question the integrity of the Conservatives message to voters. It was effectively a party political broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party, whose record on liberty and the defence of freedom of speech is less than adequate. What amazed me was the shrill and naive attempts to invoke class war in this film.
Somehow the adolescent activities of David Cameron and his mates are pertinent. If that is so, then in the interests of even-handed coverage perhaps the BBC could put together another film examining the adolescent activities of members of the Labour cabinet, including the PM, revealing the political extremism and other dubious activities they indulged in when young (cue McNulty).
Getting back to the article on defending liberty an examination of the nature of liberty and the many pressures that threaten it (including the journalistic peer pressure to maintain contacts) is long overdue here. In fact the press is a shadow of what once stood as a bastion for freedom against government in this country. And it allows itself to be drawn into the Labour party game of focussing scrutiny on the opposition rather than holding the government to account.
The proposition that the conservative ability to govern, in terms of experience and trust, in the light of the actual harm done by Labour, particularly to our freedom, should be the main focus of media scrutiny is at best preposterous and at worse a threat to liberty itself.
Maybe because we have enjoyed it for so long our liberty is taken for granted and less precious to us than is it to Mr Mwenda. Maybe that is why the most pernicious government in history has managed to steal so much of it from us with very little reaction from our press and the craven capitulation of our parliament (with one or two honorable exceptions).
A law against annoying the Prime Minister here? Give it time.
Chuck Unsworth
October 23rd, 2008 11:38am Report this commentFraser:
"when banks err they are punished"
Oh, really?
Not from where I'm sitting.
wonderfulforhisage
October 23rd, 2008 12:45pm Report this commentFreedom is a bit like health or youth. When you have it, it's as invisible as water to a fish, when you haven't.........
Novus
October 23rd, 2008 1:03pm Report this commentGood news on the Bastiat Prize, Fraser, but I'm finding it extremely difficult to read any of the entries. Any thoughts on where I might be able to do this?
Prodicus
October 23rd, 2008 1:03pm Report this commentCongratulations!
hadrian
October 23rd, 2008 2:38pm Report this commentWell, third is pretty damned good, Fraser!
The remarks about freedom of speech are ultra pertinent to us all in the U.K. A combination of purblind 'political correctness' and specious 'multiculturalism' threaten our British liberties, as does a far more sinister and long term attrition from Islamic religious fanaticism and self righteousness.
Hysteria
October 23rd, 2008 3:17pm Report this commentI thought this high level timeline was interesting
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage'
(from I believe Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor late 18th C.)
amit varma
October 23rd, 2008 4:11pm Report this commentCongratulations, Fraser! Keep on rocking for a free world.
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