27th Libertarian Spring Seminar - 2012 - Grahamstown

Hotel Victoria Mews, Grahamstown, Saturday 17^th November 2012 – Monday 19^th November 2012

Although small in numbers, this was an enjoyable seminar with many excellent and original presentations, and several new faces (The old faces were mainly noticeable by their absence). Sitting in a large U format made it easy for each delegate to see the other, and allowed easy interaction between delegates during question time.

Each talk was recorded, and may be downloaded from the program following (The files are quite large 100-200mb). Powerpoint presentations for some of the talks are also available here (click on the filename to download to your computer). If you load the Powerpoint slides and listen to the audio file, you have a reasonably complete experience of the talk.

Program                                

 Friday evening, 16th November  - Informal gathering in bar

See synopses of talks at end of this page. Not all talks are confirmed at this stage.

Saturday 17th November	Sunday 18th November	Monday 19th November
	9-10 Trevor Watkins A Mission to Civilise Who are we and what should we be doing? audio   slides	9-10 Loraine Weissenberg Libertarians from a distance How we look to sane people audio
10-11 Colin Bower The Myth of Unique Suffering Is the story of unique SA suffering fiction or non-fiction? Audio   slides	10-11 Ron Weissenberg Planning to survive audio	10-11 Roland Kroon What we can do to fix the environment. Winner of Ria Crafford award audio
11-11.30 Tea	11-11.30 Tea	11-11.30 Tea
11.30-12.30 Mario Oriani-Ambrosini A Libertarian Manifesto Audio   slides   response	11.30-12.30 Paul Hjul Be Liberal in what you do; be Libertarian in what you expect from others: Has the "Liberal Agenda" produced a bad and unsustainable South African constitution or is Rand Paul simply wrong? audio   slides	11.30-12.30 4 by 12 minute presentations 15 – 18 John Luscombe Farming 2.0 audio   slides Neil Emerick Internet Privacy audio   slides
	12.30-13.30  Frances Kendall Is rationality possible?  How your unconscious mind shapes & subverts your reason audio    slides	12.30-13.00 Reportbacks
12.30-14.00 Lunch	13.30-16.00 Lunch	13.00-16.00 Lunch
14.00-16.00 Public Meeting Ivo Vegter/Dr B De Klerk What's the fracking problem? audio  slides	16.00-17.00 Ivo Vegter  Extreme Environmentalism An overview of his new book. audio
17.00-18.00 Loane Sharp SA Labour Market – Trends and Issues audio   slides	17.00-18.00 Leon Louw  The gorilla in the room: how your senses dupe your brain.  audio      slides
19.00 Dinner	19.00 Dinner

If you would like to present a paper at this seminar, please email your name, your preferred slot(1-18) and the title of your proposed topic to base37@gmail.com. There are 14 one hour presentation slots, consisting of a 10 minute changeover break, strict maximum of 30 minutes presentation, followed by 20 minutes question time. There are 4 twelve minute presentation slots on Sunday morning, consisting of 1 minute changeover, 6 minutes presentation and 5 minutes question time. Presentations will be grouped into themed sessions.

Delegates are required to make their own transport arrangements to Grahamstown. I will publish a list of delegates as soon as practical in case you want to make joint travel arrangements.

Contact details for the hotel, and a list of available rooms, appears below. Please make all accommodation and payment arrangements directly with the hotel.

Presentation Synopses

The Myth of Unique Suffering - Colin Bower

The grand South African narrative is a story of unique suffering and injustice. The causes of that suffering and injustice are colonialism, slavery and apartheid, and underlying each of these phenomena is the prime human evil, prejudice.

But is the story fiction or non-fiction?

A lot rides on the answer we give to that question: If the story is true, we are right to be dealing with our past suffering and injustice by remembering it and commemorating it, and by redressing it. But if it is fiction, we are doing the wrong thing by seeking redress, by a relentless insistence on atonement, and by an endless outpouring of guilt or anger.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of South Africans take the narrative as a work of non-fiction, and our policies and our debates are shaped accordingly. Not only are we dedicated to redress, we are obsessed by the notion of prejudice as the prime human evil that must be extirpated by means of education, discussion, exhortation, and the subject of unceasing debate.

But what then if the narrative is fiction? What? Do I mean that there are no elements of suffering and injustice in our history? Listen, and I will explain.

A Mission to Civilise - Trevor Watkins

Why are we libertarians? What is our purpose? What do we believe in common? What should we be doing?

Courtesy of "The Newsroom", I believe we should be on a mission to civilise, a grand and noble quest. Expect to get a drink tossed in your face. Or worse.

SA Labour Market – Trends and Issues -  Loane Sharp

No synopsis available yet.

What we can do to fix the environment. - Roland Kroon

Despite the highest level of sophistication that the planet has ever seen, we are unable to halt desertification (defined as biodiversity loss). The reason apparently lies in our decision making model, which once modified, has the capacity to produce the reversal we are attempting to create.