Yesterday, I took myself along to a rather dreary and sullen conference hall in Central London to attend the Liberty Conference previously flagged up by Brian.
I admit that I was unsure about whether or not to bother going but it was curiosity more than anything else which tipped me in the direction of attendance. An event which was touted as a meeting of minds between socialist ‘rights’ campaigners and capitalist ‘liberty’ campaigners was, I thought, bound to set a few sparks flying and that would be a worthwhile way to spend an otherwise idle Saturday afternoon. Fellow libertarians like Tom Burroughes, Chris Tame and Marc Glendenning clearly felt the same.
Sadly, it was a sparkless day. Brian pointed out that Liberty is the re-branded National Council of Civil Liberties which was set up as a Bolshevik front and, I regret to have to say, that the Bolsheviks have left their imprimatur. There was no meeting of minds, no agreements, no breakthroughs, no ideas, no progress and no real debate to speak of. The atmosphere was stultified by stubborn unwillingness to address any issue other than the race and immigration in any depth whatsoever. Mostly though there was an abundance of waffle; waffle, waffle and then some more waffle. Valiant efforts on the part of Tom, Chris and I to raise other issues or inject other memes or even start a meaningful debate fell on stoney ground. We were strangers in a strange land, spectres at the feast and we all felt it.
There was, however, some cursory discussion about the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ and even some agreement that such terms were no longer adequate or even redundant. But ditching outmoded terminology does nothing whatsoever to bridge the yawning gap between those people who think that the world will become a freer, better place with more laissez-faire and those who think that freedom cannot be achieved without state enforced equality and state distributed entitlements. It was the difference between ‘free to’ and ‘free from’ but between those two little words lies a vast ocean. It wasn’t just a difference in approach. We were two sets of people who simply saw the world through a whole different set of lenses.
I came away with the feeling that the whole day was not so much an attempt to reach out to libertarians for new ideas but more an attempt to gather us into the big tent and thereby neutralise us. In a way this is actually quite good news. It means that they not only are aware of us but are frightened of us. Good. If we can’t join ’em, beat ’em, that’s what I say.
And it is in that spirit that I actually decided that it would be a good idea to join them nonethless. It means I can go along to future meetings and make a thorough nuisance of myself by asking lots of discomforting questions. I shall try to plant the seeds from whence some different memes can germinate and whilst I doubt very much that I shall succeed I shall have enough fun in the process to make the relatively modest (and tax deductible) subscription fee worthwhile.
I must remember to arm myself with some cream, strawberries and maple syrup though.
