GERMANY / LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Participiant´s Report on ‘Liberalism Today-Freedom First’- Seminar
When I say that I am a happier and richer person after the seminar held at FNF´s Leadership Academy in Gummersbach, Germany, it is not a phrase. It is no exaggeration. It is just the truth.
I believe that not only me, but all the other participants in the seminar, feel very similar. It is because the seminar gave us a unique blend of knowledge and emotions, of experience and young energy, of respect, admiration and friendship.
At the beginning of the preparatory online phase we could already see that it would be a very active and interactive experience. However, as the time was going by and our tasks were completed, it was clear that we were slowly becoming an online community. We got to know each other through various forms of group work: the regional presentation of liberalism we prepared in the groups according to the part of the world we live in and fora on various topics, the most interesting being ‘Blasphemy versus Liberalism’ which showed controversy opinions, good arguments and vivid virtual discussions. The knowledge we gained preparing the tasks and reading the texts by liberal thinkers was checked in an unusual quiz and in a test, while we had a chance to show our overall awareness of liberal politics in an essay on the topic ‘The Most Liberal Reform my Country Needs’.
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The second part came with the offline, non-virtual phase of the seminar in Germany. From the very first moment, on the first evening when our moderators helped us introduce ourselves in an unusual way, dividing us into groups according to our marital status or to our favourite drinks, it was clear that the following days would be spent in a pleasant, working and friendly atmosphere. From the very first moments it was also clear that the seminar was so meticulously and perfectly planned that you did not have to think about anything but what you came for; I cannot remember entering a room and not finding a bottle of water and glasses waiting for the working group, not to mention the methods of work and working conditions. The methods were so good that many of us wished to copy-paste the seminar one day if we had a chance to organize something similar. What was covered can be seen in detail in the program. What cannot be seen in the program is how much energy and knowledge was actually being exchanged during the sessions, debates, working groups, discussions and presentations. Also, during the online phase we could see how much knowledge our moderators had. However, having Stefan Melnick and Wulf Pabst as moderators contributed immensely to the seminar and our overall impression. Knowing such intellectuals is an honour; working with them is a bless. Working in two languages was not an
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