Forum for intellectual debate about the ideas of liberty and a network of international and liberty-dedicated students.
Who we are
Maastricht Students For Liberty (MSFL) provides an independent, non-profit and free from any political affiliation forum to all students and student organisations concerned with liberty. We believe that every individual should be as free as possible in what he or she does, in order to pursue his or her own happiness and well-being on every level. No matter what part of our communal living in society it concerns – religious beliefs, political philosophies or the economy – people are individuals and each individual should be free to make his or her own decisions.
We live in a time when many people seem to have lost their trust in personal freedom. While the emerging Surveillance State, created under the pretext of fighting terrorism, curtails our personal freedoms, the ever growing welfare state threatens to constrain our economic freedoms. Our goal is therefore to make people aware again of the possibility of their own freedom - and to discover and show the alternatives to our current system of a powerful and unquestioned state.
What we do
Our main aim is to confront people with classical liberal beliefs and make them think. During the activities we organise - lectures, debates and other events - we cover economic, social and academic subjects relevant to our society, such as drug legalization, tuition fees, prostitution, intellectual property, Bitcoins, freedom of speech or the role states play in the economy. We offer at least one lecture per academic period, as well as a debate every two weeks.
The most important thing to mention is that our activities are not merely for classical liberals! We believe in a broad and open discussion of ideas and philosophies – we welcome people of all political colours to our events! As long as you are open for a fair discussion, join us – and who knows, maybe we can convince you, maybe you can convince us...
Why you should care
The illusion of the state as the agent of the poor and needy in most cases is obsolete, to say the least. Most governments nowadays care about their citizens only as long as they can 'buy' votes via clientele politics – but their real allegiance is to themselves and their kind.
How is the stunning amount of wiretapping done by the NSA there to really help the people? Or is it rather a mean to secure the power of the ruling class? How is it in the interest of the citizens to attack foreign countries, when the true profiteers are mostly giant corporations and the arms industry? What about certain labour legislations which just serve one particular lobby but harm the general economic situation? How is excessive police violence against peaceful demonstrators justified? Not to forget that all of this is happening with money taken from every single citizen.
Liberalism is often equated with a white upper-class man who does not care about anyone else but himself – yet, this is as false as it can get. The Students for Liberty network alone is an incredibly diverse community, representing people not only from every continent, but also from a huge variety of ethnicities, religions and backgrounds. Liberty is something we all need to defend. It concerns each of us, and right now is the time where it is threatened. In every human being there is the will to be free and to follow ones dreams – why don’t you stand up for your right to do so?
The Students for Liberty network
Students For Liberty is an organization that supports liberty. SFL does not dictate the foundations upon which individuals justify their belief in liberty. Rather, Students For Liberty embraces the diversity of justifications for liberty and encourages debate and discourse on the differing philosophies that underlie liberty. What Students For Liberty endorses are the principles that comprise liberty:
Economic freedom to choose how to provide for one’s life;
Social freedom to choose how to live one’s life; and
Intellectual and academic freedom.