Living Freedom Summer School: LAST WEEK TO APPLY!
If you're aged 18-30, and you want to understand the past, present and future of freedom, there is no better place to be. Join us in London in July!
With the announcement of the General Election on 4 July, the UK will formally become part of what has been dubbed ‘the year of democracy’. In 2024, more voters than ever in history - around half the world’s population or 4.2 billion citizens across approximately 65 countries - will go to the polls.
Whatever the outcomes, billions of people actively having a say on shaping the future is a matter to celebrate – not least of all because it is an opportunity to discuss and debate how we make questions related to freedom central to our political future.
Organised by Ideas Matter, Living Freedom Summer School is the place where many of these important questions will be brought to life.
Taking place from 11-13 July, we encourage applications from all young people aged between 18 and 30 who are interested in grappling with how to renew the case for freedom in the twenty-first century.
In his report, Protecting our Democracy from Coercion, published last week, Lord Walney asserts that ‘the right to express dissent is a fundamental tenet of our liberal democracy and must be protected’. Unfortunately, Walney goes on to recommend numerous constraints on freedom as a means to tackle rising political ‘extremism’. In our opening session at the summer school, Inaya Folarin Iman and Joanna Williams will explore the age of extremism - where many worry about intimidation, incitement and disruption posed by the ‘far right’, Islamophobia or eco-activists. They will assess how we can best defend our freedoms at a time when extremism is used as a means to justify curtailing those freedoms.
In Europe and the US, many worry that extreme populist parties will gain ground. Some say we could all benefit from detoxifying debate by reinvigorating political centrism, developing clear ideals rooted in common ground, moderation and pragmatism. But would such an approach work? At the summer school, we’ll debate this issue with Yair Zivan, editor of the soon to be published book, The Centre Must Hold.
The Living Freedom Summer School is an event that refuses to shy away from controversy and instead creates an environment that welcomes different opinions and challenges to orthodoxies. Through lectures, workshops and debates, we aim to tease out the complexities and challenges to freedom in the world today. One controversial issue is the value we attach to Western traditions and ongoing cultural rows over defending civilisational values. As conflicts intensify and political divisions harden, a lecture by Professor Frank Furedi - author of a forthcoming book. The War Against the Past - will explore the claim that there is a ‘right side of history’, asking how we should understand the relationship between the past and the present.
These are just a few tasters of what will be a packed three days. We’ll also run a series of discussions exploring free speech and academic freedom in universities. Should anti-Semitism on campus be tolerated or banned? Does academic freedom include the right to decolonise the curriculum? Should we accept that academics should be allowed to become political activists?
Elsewhere we’ll look at whether there are legitimate limits to protest, ask if there should be any boundaries when it comes to religious freedom in a secular society, and examine the rise of cultural boycotts that demand conforming to prescribed political views. How should Gen Z win its freedom? As a generation accused of embracing safetyism over freedom, what are the ideas and arguments needed to revive a taste for taking risks?
Living Freedom is more than just an intellectual experience, important though that is. It also offers the chance to network with interesting and ambitious young people who care about ideas and believe in their power to shape the world we live in. When the talks and debates are done for the day, the discussions continue over dinner and at the pub. You will meet plenty of resistance and disagreement - and that’s the point.
If you are aged 18-30, get your application in by Monday 3 June. And if you don’t fit the age bracket, please pass this on to anyone you know who is!
Felice Basboll is a History student at Trinity College Dublin and project assistant at Living Freedom. Follow her on X/Twitter: @fbasboll