The Language of Liberty Institute

History of the Liberty English Camps From 1997-2001, the camps were held at Giruliai, Lithuania, on the Baltic coast. From 2002-2006, the camps were held at Trakai, Lithuania, a resort town and lake near Vilnius (see photo, upper right). In 2007, we held the Lithuania camp in the town of Daugai, and we opened a new camp in north central Slovakia. The number of students has ranged from 20 (in 1998) to 64 (in 2006), the average being 40. The number of staff (teachers and organizers) and other visitors is typically 12. Two conversations in the early '90s motivated Stephen to form the first camp. In the first, a Polish lawyer told him he wanted to read Adam Smith in the original -- that despite the archaic language, it was easier to understand because the argumentation was so logically laid out. Stephen conceived of a course designed to teach students how to read, understand and discuss documents important to the history of liberty in the English-speaking world, in the original language. In the second, a young Bulgarian remarked on recent seminars she attended where many participants arrived with inadequate English preparation, listened and nodded politely, but understood little. She proposed a week of intensive preparation preceding a seminar so they might participate more fully. Most years, the camp has been scheduled to precede the annual world conference of the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL). While LLI and ISIL are separate, independent organizations with different missions, the mutual hope is that by coordinating our programs, many of the teachers and students from the English camp will be better prepared to take full advantage of attending the conference that follows shortly afterward. In the near future, we would like to plan additional similar joint ventures with other free-market think tanks and NGOs in developing countries. If you would like to sponsor or organize such a joint venture, please contact us.

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