Issue 154

 

LI Prize for Freedom 2009 laureate receives standing ovation

 At the Liberal Democrats Annual Conference in Bournemouth on Wednesday, LI President Lord Alderdice presented the Liberal International Prize for Freedom to the 2009 laureate Lord Avebury. When presenting the award, Lord Alderdice said the Prize for Freedom honours individuals who have made outstanding contribution to the promotion of freedom and human rights, and that this year Liberals from around the world voted for Lord Avebury for his inspiring dedication and awareness of human rights issues in countries all around the world. “LI presented the award at a gala dinner in July at the National Liberal Club with an international crowd of Liberals. Now we would like to present the honour again to Lord Avebury in front of his Liberal Democrat colleagues. For each and every Liberal Democrat in the United Kingdom, Lord Avebury should serve as a brilliant inspiration”. Lord Avebury is a Member of the House of Lords for the Liberal Democrats and the first Prize for Freedom laureate from the United Kingdom. 

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LI Deputy President meets with Nicaraguan opposition leader

Hans van Baalen MEP, LI Deputy President met in Brussels with Eduardo Montealegre, leader of the Nicaraguan opposition and of the former LI member ALN until the party was invalidated by the government. Mr Montealegre is viewed by many as the legitimate winner of the 2008 municipal elections in Managua, which was without international observation and rife with electoral fraud. Deputy President van Baalen described Montealegre as “a courageous politician who has defended liberal values his entire life. He is also a clean politician. He is the man to unite the three parties with a liberal tradition in Nicaragua in order to contest Sandinista candidate Daniel Ortega in the upcoming presidential elections.' Commenting on the developments in neighbouring Honduras, Van Baalen expressed willingness for direct involvement: “I intend to visit Honduras and meet with all parties involved in the political crisis. Honduras needs a swift return to constitutional order. It is essential that the upcoming Honduran elections are truly free and fair. LI is more than willing to provide international observers, to ensure that the elections will indeed be exactly that”.

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ALN delegation welcomed at LibDems Conference

The Liberal Democrats (LI full member) welcomed a visiting delegation from the Africa Liberal Network (ALN) to their party conference in Bournemouth. The delegation, led by Dr Lamine Bâ, ALN President and LI Vice-President, met with party leader Nick Clegg and attended a rally entitled The Liberal Democrats: Ready to Win. The ALN delegates learned how the LibDems form policy by attending open discussions, where any party member can debate policy motions, and decisions are made by democratic vote. The participants also attended fringe meetings on issues such as multiparty democracy, development, and climate change. According to Dr. Lamine Ba: 'Being here and gathering new valuable experiences is so important for our countries. We are also here to share our successes in the past year, above all the remarkable unity of the African Liberals'. The visit was funded by the Liberal Democrats' Westminster Foundation for Democracy Programme, which hosts the ALN Secretariat, and was organised in conjunction with a study visit funded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty. The delegation met with LI Secretary-General Emil Kirjas.

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LibDems Conference sets course for the next elections

In the lead up to a general election in 2010, the Liberal Democrats (LI's member party from the UK) held their annual conference in Bournemouth, South England. A raft of issues was discussed including taxation, environmental issues and the British involvement in Afghanistan. With the party in a key position to gain electoral support from those who have previously supported the Labour government, or the opposition Conservatives, the party leader Nick Clegg indicated that the LibDems are in a prime position to govern in the UK: “There is hope for a different future, a different way of doing things in Britain, if we are brave enough to make a fresh start. So let today be the first day of the future of British politics…The beginning of real change in Britain”. In his speech he was resolute: “The Conservatives want to inherit power; I want us to earn it.” Liberal International was represented at the Conference by President Lord Alderdice, Vice President Lamine Ba, Secretary General Emil Kirjas, and secretariat officers James Patava, Jessie Chou and Anna-Stina Sandfors.

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RELIAL hosts seminar on creating prosperity in Latin America

LI cooperating organization Liberal Network of Latin America (RELIAL) together with Fundación Libertad, Atlas 1853 and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty organised seminar “Creating prosperity for reducing poverty” in Buenos Aires. Prominent scholars like Mario Vargas Llosa and Christian Larroulet were present at the seminar. Analysing the roots of poverty the speakers looked into the processes of economic growth. All speakers emphasised the necessity to provide space for the abilities of the citizens, stating that poverty alleviation is about the creation of opportunities for the people. Bettina Solinger, FNF Resident Representative in Argentina pointed out, that massive redistribution by state intervention seems to be for many a direct way to close the gap between rich and poor on first sight. But on second view it becomes clear, that all socialist and comunist experiments have clearly failed since inequality did not seize to exist but - even worse for everybody - continued on a lower level of prosperity. What is needed for this are guaranteed property rights, rule of law and a functioning market.

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Olofsson calls for a ‘New EU vision’ to tackle downturn

Maud Olofsson, Swedens deputy Prime Minister, Enterprise minister and leader of LI full member Centerpartiet, has called for a new vision to tackle the recession. Olofsson, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, stated that policymakers should take a coordinated approach to the economic and environmental challenges.'You have to have a new vision,' she said. 'Of course the financial crisis has to be solved in the financial system, but I think we have to do something more. While I see the climate crisis as the big threat for the future I also see it as a golden opportunity. I think here you have - not the answer - but some of the answers to how you can give hope to people that are unemployed.' She added, 'We're going to need new energy solutions for the globe, also for the poor people. We're going to need a new, efficient way of production. We're going to need new services all over the world that are more environmentally friendly, that are thinking in new ways.'

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New issue of Liberal Matters focuses on the economic crisis

Following the Report of Liberal International Vice President Juli Minoves: “The World Economic Crisis: An essay on its origins, characteristics and possible outcomes from a liberal perspective”; that was presented at the Liberal International Executive Committee in Vancouver in May 2009 (available online in English and French) LI continued its focus on global economic tendencies. Over a dozen prominent liberal politicians, intellectuals, economists, academics and journalists from all continents contributed towards a new and unique publication of LI's magazine Liberal Matters titled “The global economic crisis”. In his foreword, LI President Lord Alderdice highlighted the founding document of Liberal International, the Oxford Manifesto, written in 1947 following two World Wars and the Great Depression: “…the suppression of economic freedom must lead to disappearance of political freedom”. The second edition of 2009 has been published this week and will be distributed to LI partners and contacts. To order your own personal copy please contact the LI Secretariat at all@liberal-international.org.

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Cairo Congress Reminder

The 56th Congress of the Liberal International will be held in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt from Thursday 29 October until Sunday 1 November. The central theme of the pre-eminent liberal event for 2009 will be 'Education for the 21st Century', and will gather hundreds of liberal leaders and thinkers from around the world. The theme rapporteur will be Senator David Coltart, Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in the Government of National Unity of Zimbabwe. The event is hosted by Liberal Internationals Egyptian member the Democratic Front Party. The Liberal International secretariat would like to remind its member parties that the deadline for sending amendments to the resolutions that will be discussed on the Congress is Friday 25 September. Congress documents can now also be found online. For password access to the resolutions please email LI Political Advisor James Patava (james@liberal-international.org). For more information please visit the LI website or contact the LI secretariat at +44 207 839 5905 or at all@liberal-international.org

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