I had a really interesting discussion this evening with west African students and young professionals over property rights and African traditions and institutions. I gave a talk at the IMANI/Cato (AfricanLiberty.org) seminar on “Property Rights as Norm and as Resource” that covered norms (both sociologically and morally), the history of property, the theory of ownership, theory of institutions, the economics of property/capital, etc., etc., with examples from the Icelandic ITQ system of property in fish, Hernando de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital, and thel ike. I greatly enjoyed the discussion, both with and among the students, but now I’m exhausted. Tomorrow I don’t have any lectures, so I will catch up on other work and then meet African libertarians from several countries for a strategy discussion so I can learn more about what needs to be done to promote liberty and how people on other continents can help. The time for African freedom is at hand. After so much else has failed, freedom is starting to succeed.
(I also got to visit our joint office in Accra.)
Properties in Africa is a discussion that will not go down well with a lot of people. Especially the ‘ruling'(democracy in Africa is a masquerade)elite would not want the libertarian view of free enterprise. Therefore, based on market forces I have little control on my property, but based on ‘government forces(foxes)’ well of course, I am only a custodian. Therefore there is an urgent need for a critical look on the need to preach the basic tenet of not only free enterprise but also libertarianism
Dear Jude,
It was great to meet you in Ghana and I really liked your talk on Ayn Rand at the IMANI/AfricanLiberty.org seminar. I agree that we need to advance the basic ideas of libertarianism in Africa, and of course that includes the core ideas of property. Property can take many forms (I am a pluralist on that), but the basic ideas are common. And they are certainly not popular with kleptocrats, who believe that their own prosperity rests on their ability to loot from others.
Let’s keep in touch!
All best regards,
Tom