LIBERAL ieee Direction des Relations Internationales 60" anniversary of Liberal International 16 - 17 November 2007, Hamburg, Germany L. I. 179" Executive Meeting & Liberal Thinker’s Conference on the Future of Freedom STATEMENT OF THE DELEGATION OF THE PDS (DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SENEGAL) PRESENTED BY DR MAMADOU LAMINE BA DEPUTY GENERAL ADMINISTRATOR OF THE PDS IN CHARGE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRSI CONGRATULATIONS AND PRESENTATION OF SENEGALESE DELEGATION It’s a great pleasure to have the opportunity to say some words on behave of my party the PDS and our general secretary Maitre Abdoulaye Wade vice president of Liberal International and President of the Republic of Senegal Great thanks to the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for having taken the initiative to organise the conference of liberal thinkers as side event to the 179" executive committee. Many of our friends in this meeting room know that my party is, since 1980, used to participate to all the meetings of Liberal International This 179° session of the executive committee is particularly important because of the following reasons 1, Because of the organisation of a very important side event called Liberal ‘Thinkers conference in cooperation with the Friedrich Neumann Foundation 2, Because the historical significance of the place where these events are going to be organised: Germany the cradle of Liberal ideas since the 16" century until the lights century called “Aufklarungzeit”. Let me at this point mention the godfather of the organising foundation is one of the most known precursor of modem liberal ideas in Germany 3. The third reason why this event is very important is the fact that it happens in the time the world is facing one of the most difficult economical challenges due to the high level of oil price : and we, liberals, are urged to find the solutions because we are now after the breakdown of the east block and the communism, the hope to restore freedom and democracy everywhere around the world we are the hope to show the way and to give the ideological means to achieve sustainable development for all the mankind : so that the subject Future of Freedom is nowadays extremely important ‘That's why my party has decided to send a high level delegation composed by prominent intellectuals, historians and politicians; so let me introduce by the way ProfIba Der Thiam, Prof Hamidou Dia, Dr Alioune Sow, Mr Mamadou Seye and myself Dr Mamadou Lamine BA. Let me please shortly on behave of my whole delegation express the congratulations and the salutations of President WADE President of the Republic of Senegal, Vice-President of L I We are here to express the sincere congratulations and salutations of Maitre Wade, one of your friends since more than a quarter of century. He would like to join you during these two days of thinking about the future of the Humanity for the present and the next century. He is certainly a great politician but he is particularly well-known and recognised as Professor of Economy, ‘Law and as Liberal thinker for Africa. He founded the first liberal opposition party in Africa at 1974 and had to challenge 25 years opposition’s fighting for democracy. He reaches the Power in becoming elected with more than 58 % of the Senegalese voters during the presidential elections of 2000. Speaking about democracy in Africa President Wade made several proposals to support African countries to access to more freedom human rights, peace and justice. Let me quote a passage of his speech during the ALDEPAC summit in April 2007 in Dakar: (...S1 Pon veut faciliter Valternance dans certains pays africains, il faudrait donner des garanties internationales aux Chefs d’Etat qui quittent le pouvoir, sauf en cas de crimes de sang. IL faut qu'ils soient convaincus qu’ils pourront étre libres de tout mouvement dans leur pays ou & Vétranger. Sinon, si on ne leur donne aucune alternative, ils se défendront bec et ongles jusqu’au bout. Or, VAfrique n’a pas le temps, nous avons dgjt beaucoup de retard, nous avons beaucoup de choses a faire et Le moment aujourd'hui c'est justement darriver & des alternatives qui permetient a des gens compétents, au fait des choses de ce monde, du fonctionnement économique et financier du monde, darriver organiser Ia synergic des différentes forces dans leur pays en Afrique pour arriver 4 ce changement. ) ‘After 7 years implementation of a liberal developing program of his country based on liberal values and principles, The Senegalese President managed to be triumph ally re-elected for a second term of 5 years last February 2007. This prominent thinker and politician is member of your family who received all the prizes in the fields of 3human rights, democracy and liberty. Because of government urgencies he would not be able to be with you today; he demands us to express his sincere apologizes for this. We also thank and congratulate all the L I bureau members and particularly the Fridrich Naumann Foundation which provided to many of our young cadres and other members of the main board of the party a very rich and useful training on liberalism human rights and democracy promoting during the 80" and 90" years ‘Through the support of Friedrich Naumann Fondation many of us have got a clear perception of our liberal values and principles this helped to organize our party to have a clear and realistic programme until we reach power peacefully and in a democratic way. Thank Friedrich Naumann means in the same way thank to the FDP (the German liberal party) Il THE HISTORY OF THE FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM During the past centuries The champion of the fighting for freedom has always been the liberal thinkers. From the time of Thomas D'aquin who evocated the suzerainty of the people until the time of Friedrich Naumann at the beginning of the twenty century Liberal thinkers have brought the greatest ideas , and the light to show to mankind the way to more freedom democracy, secularism, right state and economical development . ‘The evolution of liberal ideas show that since the time of Aristotle and other stoic philosophers, the human being and its freedom are the main concer of all these thinkers . let’s remember the Magna Carta and its 63 articles that the barons have obtained from the king Johan Landless at the 13" century. Let’s remember that this Magna Carta has guaranteed the right to individual freedom of trade and private propriety travelling freedom for persons and goods, The Magna Carta is the fundament of Great Britain And all these ideas have been magnificated and implemented during the revolution of 1642 in England. During the 17" century the contribution of many other Thinkers and philosophers like Emmanuel Kant, Schiller, Lessing (for Germany) Alexis de Tocqueville, JeanBaptiste Say, Montesquieu (for France), Adam Smith, John Lock ete. (for England) was deciding for the construction of free society Free from the church and free from the Kings it has brought to the French revolution and the American revolution . ‘The liberal movement has strongly opposite to political and clerical absolutism Let us remembered at this point the theory of natural law and separated power and the eminent John Lock. He was the precursor of the affirmation of the freedom and the separation of church and state. The Human Rights Declaration issued from the French revolution stipulated in article 4: «La liberté consiste & pouvoir faire tout ce qui ne nuit @ autrui ; ainsi Vexercice des droits naturels de chaque homme n’a de bornes que celles qui assurent aux autres membres de la société la jouissance de ces mémes droits ». For example Immanuel KANT, who must ‘be well-known in this wonderful country, in his book: “Zur ewigen Frieden” explains: « la liberté est autorisation pour chacun de n’obéir @ aucune autre loi extérieure que celles auxquelles j’ai pu donner mon assentiment ». Let me share with you for the sake of this great vent another key idea of Immanual Kant about the philosophy of freedom 794 he wrote in the same book ‘Toward eternal peace : “ No one can compel me to be happy in accordance with his conception of the welfare of others, for each may seek his happiness in whatever way he sees fit, so long as he does not infringe upon the freedom of others to pursue a similar end which can be reconciled with the freedom of every one else within a workable general law, ie, he must accord to others the same right as he enjoys himself.” In France Thinkers like Montaigne see below in refusing the necessity or importance of State he writes: « Les princes me donnent prow s'ils ne tn’atent rien, et me font assez de bien quand ils ne me font point de mal ; c’est tout ce que j’en demande ». ‘At the same time Johan Stuart Mill think that « La seule liberté digne de ce nom est celle de travailler @ notre propre bien de la maniére qui est propre pour autant que nous ne cherchions pas Gen priver les autres ou @ leur faire obstacle dans leurs efforts pour l’obtenir ».Finally nobody can make the history of the ideological defender of the Freedom during the past centuries without quoting Frederic Bastiat , the true advocate of the individual freedom and the responsibility: « N’attendre de I’Etat que deux choses : liberté, sécurité. Et bien voir que l'on ne saurait, au risque de les perdre toutes les deux, en demander une troisi¢me ». This advocacy of freedom by many liberal Thinkers is justified through their ambition to create happiness, fulfilment and economical development for individual and society. That’s also the main idea of Alexis de Tocqueville when he said in «On democracy in America »: « Donnez aux peuples démocratiques des lumiéres et de la liberté, et laissez les faire. Ils arriveront sans peine, & retirer de ce monde tous les biens qu’il faut offrir ; ils perfectionneront, chacun, des arts utiles et rendront tous les jours la vie commode, plus aisée, plus douce ; leur état social les pousse naturellement de ce cété. Je ne redoute pas qu ils s’arrétent ». Many other Thinkers, politic and economic Decisions makers continued to advocate for the pre-eminence of the individu and its freedom during the 19" and the 20" century: from Bastiat Frederic to John Maynard Keynes until our contemporary Pascal Salin who wrote in his works on liberalism that : « le véritable libéralisme respecte la personnalité unique de chacun, sa dignité, sa liberté dans le choix de ses objectifs et il récuse par conséquent toute vision globale mécaniciste, quantitativiste de Ia vie des hommes en société ». As you see ladies and gentlemen dear liberal friends, we don’t need to recreate the world; we just must implement the great and generous ideas that our liberal Thinkers of the past centuries have already inspired 1. History of the relationship between PDS and liberal international ‘As 1980 the PDS become member of Liberal International it was a great event because our organisation was still considered as a Eurocentric it means an International only for European parties Some people even spoke about ‘Anglo-Saxon International So the first step to the opening and the expansion of our organisation its values and principles to all the parts of the world was the admission of the PDS the first African liberal party. It was here during the congress of Hamburg: hazard? Only Maitre Wadecan answer this question. Anyway from this date he engaged his party to fight for the expansion the promotion of democracy and human rights in Senegal and in Africa, ‘The values and the principles we are defending are certainly born in Europe (England, Germany France etc.), but their champion, their high representative in Africa is without any doubt Maitre Abdoulaye Wade. So, we must thank Liberal International and all the member parties for giving us the opportunities to participate to the debates to lear and to bring back home what permitted us to convince our people and to reach Power. 2. The political program of PDS after 25 years fighting to reach power peacefully and democratically Convinced by the Liberal values and principles, our party has managed to increase the freedom of citizens in all spheres of life and to restrict the role of the state to the essentials We supported all the Senegalese citizens particularly youth and women to organise themselves and to shoulder many responsibilities in all the spheres of decision in the country (municipalities parliament association government etc.). Because we believe that free men or women must be able to take responsibilities and initiatives. Our government is aware that it may assure the protection of Individual freedom and the protection of citizens against violence from within and abroad, as well as the safeguarding of the constitution Our democracy has petmitted free choice between political parties and has also guarantied freedom to all citizens We know that liberal policy must aspire to a state that is bound by rules and that respects freedom. The state has the duty to guarantee legal safety for everybody. In a fiberal government, the rule of law respects group interests. That is why it provides them with freedom in responsibility, but not with political power. In Senegal, because of our liberal policy the state is not the main actor of the economy. It is not competing with private enterprise. Our liberal policy has given back the Senegalese citizens’ freedom to take decisions in all areas of politics, for now and in the future. Therefore, it rejects solving today’sproblems at the expensive of tomorrow’s generations, at the expense ‘of sound public finances, and particularly at the expense of the environment: that's why we are facing some social problems now due to inflation after 3 years strong investments on infrastructures for the future. 3, Liberal policies and international cooperation Our liberal policy aspires an open world culture and a free world market. For liberals, the common features of mankind are more important than the division into categories of locals and foreigners. The liberal vision is a world society, in which there is free exchange, cooperation, and competition among different people states, regional groups, and cultures that’s why we maintain our classical ties to European countries by we ourselves to china, Asia and Arab countries Liberal policies strive for cooperation in development through free international trade and through helping to establish free and responsible civic societies in developing countries. That’s the sense of our fight for the cotton. and our Wade formula Liberal policies work towards the world-wide liberalisation of all markets-information, technology, goods and services as well as currency and capital markets. That's why Senegalese liberals are working strongly on uniting all Aftican liberal parties to face together the challenger of this 21* century for our continent : lack of democracy, analphabetic, break of basic human rights, hunger and disease We must win this fight because as liberals we are the hope of our continent in a time where the other ideologies are dead ‘The African states must accomplish their social missions and insure all citizens’ equality of luck, social justice and peace President Wade has always invited, since March 1990 (first meeting of African liberal parties), all African liberals to gather in political parties and associations and to keep on working for the advent of democracy peace economical and social development everywhere in the continent So, our liberal goals in African policy are the African unity as well as Kwame Nkrumah the contemporary father of Panafricanism 40 years ago has dreamed. In theseperspectives our liberal government in Senegal aims to organize in year 2009 the an festival of black culture, arts and civilisation We Senegalese liberals believe strongly in the force of human beings in the individus that’s why our liberal policies aim the triumph of human and civil rights and dignity in Africa and everywhere around the world. 4. Presentation of facts issued from the implementation of the social liberal policy of the government of Maitre WADE During the first decade of independence liberalism was presented in Africa as a capitalism ideology which has promoted slavery and colonialism. So many African states acceded to independence under the flag of socialism and communism supported by the Soviet Union and some other East bloc countries (DDR, Poland, Romania, ‘Tehechoslovaquia, etc.) The social liberal policy of our government began since 2000 with a very strong support of the education. At this point let me, please, quote Mr Otto Graf Lambsdorff, im his contribution “Liberty: the best remedy against poverty “: Poverty keeps people from realising their inherent human potential. Without access to education, poor people are severely restricted in developing their talents, their capacity, their productivity”... “There can be no doubt that education is a crucial element in the fight against poverty. It can equip people with marketable skills that enable them to, find better jobs than their parents and hence to climb up the social ladder. Education for all helps to reduce the discrimination faced by women.” “Education also enables people to acquire information, including on things political, stimulating debate and ultimately strengthening democracy and liberty” In Senegal, 40% of the National budget has been invested into the national education. The government is building schools, high schools, universities in all the regions of the country. More than 15000 classrooms, 500 new colleges, 4 new universities have been built within 7 years of liberal government. All students (around65000) have got scholarship and we achieved the parity between boys and girls in our school system etc. To promote equality of chances the government has built more than 350 “ease des tout-petits” (class square for little children) in all the villages of Senegal. Tt is our way to bring together liberalism and social politic for the valorisation of every human being at the first step of life. In the field of health never was so much done for so many citizens, with 10% of the national budget. The government has built 1030 health points, 64 hospitals so that now the rate of Aids infected is reduced until 0.5 %. We have also got very great success in the fight against malaria. Implementing this policy in the field of health means for us Senegalese liberals a strong, believe and a faithful implementation of the idea of Ludwig von Mises: “The prosperity that liberalism had created reduced considerably infant mortality, which had been the pitiless scourge of earlier ages, and as a result of the improvement in living conditions, lengthened the average span of life. Nor did this prosperity flow only to a select class or privileged persons” We are convinced that health care is a strong option of every liberal policy because ‘as meant Otto Graf Lambsdorff :” the poor face much higher health risks, and the absence of quality health care facilities causes untold misery, suffering and premature death-again, at a brutally high cost to the individuals as well as society as ‘a whole. Again it is widely agreed that the state has a duty to ensure basic health services for all” Out of all these social performances, we implemented very strong policy of infrastructures: Senegal became a huge building site “may be the biggest in West ‘Aftica). Hundreds of kilometres of roads, highways, drink water adduction system and canal system for sanitation are being built: that is the Senegalese way of liberalism. So we have many reasons to be proud to be liberals. 5. What need Africa! what are the duties of Liberal thinkers to face the challenge of 21" centuryLiberal Thinkers must continue to promote liberal ideas and values in Africa. It ‘s the best way to support Democracy in our states to restore peace in many countries like Ivory coast , Congo, Darfur etc. Particularly the question of Darfur must be tackled with energy because we'll be guilty in observing the degradation of the situation in this country where millions of human beings are dying every day. Anyway Aftica is the continent of the Future. Until 2025 more than one milliard of people will be living on this continent. If we don’t find solutions it will remain the continent of hungry, poor and sick children and women. Anybody will succeed in stopping illegal immigration which will have very negative consequences in the development and the stability of Europe and the rest of the world. THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM To end this statement, let us remember this very actual warning of the honourable Friedrich Naumann in year 1906 he said: “The idea of liberalism has to be recreated. In the course of time, it has lost so much of its clarity and attraction that it first has to rise like a new dawn before the people” We must always keep on fighting in this 21% century to preserve the fundamental achievements of liberalism because it’s the unique guaranty of the freedom. The future of Freedom depends on our commitment and courage to pursue the legacy of liberal Thinkers of the past centuries, particularly those of the “century of lights” (Montesquieu, Immanuel Kant, Locke, Stuart Mills, Tocqueville, etc,). ‘We must behave so because as said Friedrich August von Hayek :"A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow, can have no respect for the dignity of the individual, and cannot really know freedom.” Liberalism means Liberty and Liberty means Responsibility what Humanism and tolerance mean, That’s why liberal Thinkers must show the way to liberal politicians and decision makers. They must give them the ideological weapons and the right solutions to face the future, surround and dominate the challenges of peace economic uland social development. We must restore peace and dialogue everywhere around the world in Africa in the Middle Bast and Far East; for that, we must promote and expand Liberty and Democracy worldwide. All our institutions and instruments of political cooperation (Foundations, Parties, Associations and Medias Groups) are urged to work together hand in hand to protect the dignity of all human beings. It’s the first duty and responsibility of every liberal militant. It is true that Freedom is not save everywhere in the world; it is true that because of the threat of economical recession due to the drastic uprising of oil price, the freedom is threatened. That’s why the question of future of Freedom is pertinent indeed for. We know that Freedom has a history (honourable or horrible) the Mankind in fighting for Freedom has got some victories and some defeats. The question for us is to know if we are ready to continue our commitment in the fight for Democracy and Freedom which have to be permanently improved and protected. We must, we have the duty to commit fully ourselves for this noble cause. The globalisation seems, today, to be breathless because of the new oil crisis; and states have always more and more identity and protection reflexes or refuge. Africa is knocking at the door of Burope through the illegal immigration. We must find solutions for all this otherwise the future of Freedom can never be guaranteed Dear liberal friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s take care together of. Africa the continent of the future. Long life to liberalism Long life to liberal International Liberal foundations and all liberal Parties! Liberal for ever! ‘Thank you very much for your attention.