Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit - <u>GERMANY / LEADERSHIP ACADEMY</u><br>Participiant´s Report on ‘Liberalism Today-Freedom First’- Seminar

Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit - GERMANY / LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Participiant´s Report on ‘Liberalism Today-Freedom First’- Seminar [printable version]

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’.

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

obstacle at all; Rosa and Pablo did their job perfectly, and we can only be proud of improving our Spanish or English.

We also had a chance to travel during our stay in Germany and enjoy state learning and sightseeing at the same time. After going to Duesseldorf for a visit to the Parliament, the excursion to Dresden was an even more beautiful experience. After visiting Weimar on our way to Dresden, we also had a chance to visit the Buchenwald concentration camp, at least to remind us what we are supposed to fight against. A day at FDP in Dresden was very insightful and useful. And all in all, whether in Duesseldorf of Erfurt, wherever we had an organized visit to an institution or an individual, it was very well designed to improve our political knowledge and give us a chance to use it in practice.

The seminar was also concluded to communicate liberal ideas. Many of us found it to be one of the most important parts and although it has been only a month since we came back from Germany many of us could use the methods we learned there. After two weeks with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, we came back home as more enthusiastic liberals convinced that our ideas and values are worth fighting for because we had just checked them in various ways, even tried to find arguments against them, and they proved to be even greater than we had thought them to be before.

Return to every day life was not easy after the seminar. What makes that reality better is that everything gained during the seminar became part of it. It is now upon us to continue to strive towards even better reality, share the experience we got, communicate the knowledge we gained and love the friends we made.

And, if possible, to meet in Gummersbach again.

Vera Jovanovic from Serbia