Living Freedom 2024 - applications for summer school now open

From campus protests and anti-Semitism to artistic freedom, decolonisation to deepfakes, apply now to discuss the key issues for liberty.

As the chaos and confusion continues amid the spread of student occupations to universities across America, the situation serves to highlight the significant challenges to freedom - both intellectual and practical – faced by western societies. This is especially the case for the generation of young people coming of age in a world that has seemingly surrendered the values of freedom and free speech.

Clearly, the challenges to freedom in the twenty-first century are enormous. And so today we republish the open call by Ideas Matter for applications to Living Freedom Summer School 2024. See below to apply.

So what can you do to help?

We would be grateful if everyone reading this Substack share it with all their students, friends, colleagues and contacts who may be up for taking on the important challenge of renewing freedom for our times.  

Beyond that, we’d urge you to consider making a donation to support the Living Freedom Scholars programme. This will ensure that we can select attendees on merit, irrespective of their financial circumstances. For full details, hit the button below:

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As recent events make clear, there has never been a more important time to come together and collectively work out how to argue for valuable freedoms and free speech that are evermore under attack. 

Take the suffocating of political views. With a pro-Palestinian conference in Berlin shut down by the authorities and then, at the other end of the political spectrum, the National Conservatism conference in Brussels saved only at the last minute by a late-night court case, we face significant challenges to ensure freedom of expression for all – not merely the opinions we happen to agree with. And this can present us with moral dilemmas.

Nowhere is this more evident than on campuses across America. On the one hand, students must have the right to protest. Wherever one stands on the current situation in the Middle East, there is a long tradition of protesting foreign wars - and lawful protest and the right to freedom of speech should be jealously guarded. At the same time, some views expressed are abhorrently anti-Semitic and sometimes this becomes harassment. Organisations such as Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) have valiantly tried to untangle free speech that we should defend from unacceptable intimidation. But increasingly, the response from the authorities has been to resort to an aggressive police clampdown on protests and, more broadly, free expression.

So what are the arguments we need to defend freedom? And how do we make sense of what is going on at a time when contemporary political language seems unable to make sense of the predicaments we face?

Meanwhile, across the globe there is the threat of new state-led attempts to expand control over what can be said online and on social media - with Brazil and Australia in particular pioneering new forms of censorship. In the UK meanwhile, from smoking and vaping to when and where smartphones can be used, increasingly it seems that individuals and families are not to be trusted to make private choices. 

DETAILS OF LIVING FREEDOM SUMMER SCHOOL, LONDON, 11-13 JULY 

Living Freedom exists to renew freedom through education and debate. Taking place in central London on 11 – 13 July, the school will be attended by around 80 young people aged 18 to 30 who will get to grips with the best that has been said and written over the centuries as well as engage with the most important contemporary issues and challenges.

• Expert talks: on the history and philosophy of freedom

• Panels and debates: on contemporary controversies and hot topics 

• Workshops: on complex moral and ethical issues

• Seminars: on key thinkers and classic texts 

WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND THE SUMMER SCHOOL 

Participants will gain the educational and social experience of a lifetime. They will hear from key thinkers and experts, be challenged to grow intellectually, and will think through and gain an understanding of the many and multifaceted issues related to freedom. 

Attendees will spend three days with participants of diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of interests, who come from around the UK as well as Europe and beyond. In addition to the programmed discussions, they have opportunities to network and socialise with speakers and fellow participants.

• Intellectual development: grow your understanding of freedom and free-speech issues

• Meet, network and socialise with speakers, guests and peers including annual Living Freedom dinner

• Post-event legacy: ongoing quarterly online educational events for all alumni

SESSIONS INCLUDE 

War on the past: is there a ‘right side of history’? • Death of privacy: is the internet and social media to blame? • Have we given up on sexual freedom? • How can Gen Z win its freedom? • Defending civilisational values • Maestro or evil genius? Artistic freedom today • Religious freedom: where do we draw the line? • Hate marches to school exclusion zones: what are the limits to protest? • Deepfakes to smartphones: arguing for freedom in a digital age • Tolerate or ban? Anti-Semitism on campus • Artistic freedom in an age of boycotts • Misinformation, impartiality and the media • Should academics be activists? • Toleration and gay liberation • Pubs: defending the free house • Beyond the Harm Principle

Every generation faces the challenge of understanding freedom for its own times and of renewing this core value of modern liberal societies. The summer school is an opportunity for you to start addressing this challenge. As a Living Freedom scholar, you will play a vital part in encouraging renewal of the values of freedom and free speech.