Montréal,  6 nov. - 19 nov. 1999
Numéro 49
 
  (page 9) 
 
 
page précédente 
           Vos commentaires  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    LE QUÉBÉCOIS LIBRE  sollicite des textes d'opinion qui défendent ou contestent le point de vue libertarien sur n'importe quel sujet d'actualité. Les textes doivent avoir entre 700 et 1200 mots. Prière d'inclure votre titre ou profession et le village ou la ville où vous habitez. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
QUESTION / RÉPONSE
  
EDUCATING OUR YOUTH
 
 
          I've been reading and enjoying your newsletter ever since the first edition, and have had the pleasure of meeting and exchanging ideas with both Pierre and Ralph, and others as well. The last time I met with them, was in Bromont in Fall of 1997. Since then, I have been without a car, so I have not been able to join you all in your most noble pursuits.  
  
          What seems increasingly important to me, is to ask why libertarians, and other rights advocates, are not engaging our youth more than they have done so thus far? Is the educating of our youth not a key and a hopeful opportunity to transform the deeply entrenched beliefs and biases which our world possesses? It seems to me – yes.  
  
          My own kids, who will be turning 9 and 10 next month, already know about matters like taxation for instance, and know that when they will work, that they will HAVE to pay some whether they like it or not. That is, without a say in the matter. But then again, they have me as their father, who is a strong advocate against such methods of enslavement. And it is not as though I sit them down and tell them every so often how I feel about taxation – rather not. They have observed (through buying toys, candies and such) that taxation is there, and one cannot get away from it at all.  
  
          Besides reading your material, I regularly and always eagerly read many others on the WWW. These include WorldNetDaily, Laissez-Faire and a number of others. None of these, nor your's, attend to the educating of our youth ontowards the inherent harms, evils, and enslavement which our Western socio-political systems espouse, in any manner whatsoever. Youth is as entitled (and in many parts of the western world they are) to freedom of speech, belief, and lifestyle choices. Yet, in the context of much of which you and other organisations promote or write about – they seem not to be factored in your various articles, think-tanks and educational efforts.  
 
 
          Am I the only to have considered this matter, or have others too? And if others have, what is preventing them from engaging our youth – the future workers and leaders of tomorrow? Our youth today is it seems, already quite disenfranchised with that reality which we have created for them, or legated to them, and they are indeed, as mad as Hell, and rightfully so. If we are greatly disturbed by a societal reality that encourages the state, and authorizes the state to meddle in our affairs and dictate our lives – then you can be sure that they are even more greatly disturbed.  
  
          Just my thoughts on the matter. I feel very strongly about this, and about our youth – the workers and leaders of tomorrow. Should you wish to consider this feedback in your editorial planning efforts – God bless. If I can help you at all, I would be more than pleased to try.  
  
          Please keep up your excellent and honourable good work – all of you. 
  
          Sincerely, 
Hans
Ottawa, Ontario
 
  
  
« What I hope is that there are among our readers
people who are slowly being convinced that things
need to change in Quebec and who will
eventually decide to get more involved. »
 
 
 
Martin Masse answers: 
  
 
Dear Hans,  

    Thanks a lot for your thoughtful letter. I agree with you that there is not much attention being paid to the youth in the publications and activities of the libertarian movement. The Institute for Humane Studies in the USA has been doing a great job offering scholarships and seminars to college and university students – including Canadian – who want to deepen their understanding of libertarianism. For younger kids, I don't know that anything is being done, although in this case I would consider parental involvement the most crucial factor.                    
  
    In our case, it is rather easy to explain why. People who believe in individual freedom and free-market economics are few and far between in Quebec. Although some courageous individuals like our collaborators Pierre Lemieux and Jean-Luc Migué held the fort during the last decades, it is only now that we can say some sort of organized movement is really emerging, thanks in part to the internet. But it will take a lot more people, organisation, writing, publishing, and fund-raising, before we can devote resources to more specialized goals like focusing on the youth.  
  
    For now, our aim (the QL group at any rate) is first of all to provide an alternative viewpoint on current affairs, so that interested readers can see that libertarian ideas exist, make sense, and maybe reflect what they had always thought. Bringing together hundreds of isolated individuals and providing a forum where these ideas can be debated is already a huge breakthrough. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Quebec who share at least some of our ideas, but they never hear them defended anywhere and don't really know how to identify them precisely. We need to reach as many as possible. 
  
    Beyond that, a more long-term goal is to influence the general « climate of ideas » in our society. If people in political circles, in academia and the media see that we exist, that what we say and write is shared by a significant percentage of the population, and that it offers a reasonable alternative to the nationalist and left-wing gobbledygook that we hear all the time, they will have no choice but pay attention to it. Already, le QL and activities by the Montreal Economic Institute have been reported on in the mainstream press. This is a crucial stage. If we can break through the wall of ignorance and disdain that exists today and help make libertarian ideas acceptable among intellectuals and opinion-makers, then they will potentially reach even more people.  
  
    All of this will not happen, or will be of little consequence, if there are not more freedom fighters around to spread the message. Such an important shift in ideology, politics and economics cannot happen with only a little band of dedicated people doing all the work. What I hope is that there are among our readers people who are slowly being convinced that things need to change in Quebec and who will eventually decide to get more involved: people who will start writing to us; students who will change the focus of their studies and will become the libertarian thinkers of tomorrow; parents like you who will want to transmit different values to their children; entrepreneurs who will reject the state's involvement in their business; other people who will want to set up associations or get involved in one way or another.  
  
    Only then will we be able to divide the work among ourselves and be able to compete on various issues with the statist politicians, the lobby groups, the union mafias, the socialist intellectuals and other parasites. I can only hope that this will happen soon and that more efforts will then be focused on educating and helping young people to fight the Leviathan and create a better world for themselves. 
  
    Yours,  

M. M. 

 
 
 
sommaire
 PRÉSENT NUMÉRO
page suivante