Students are able to change the world. While we all think that as idealistic college students, an international committee of the world's foremost leaders of liberty just said the same thing. The 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty will be awarded to Yon Goicoechea, the leader of the pro-democracy student movement in Venezuela. Yon joins the esteemed list of recipients before him of Matt Laar, Hernando de Soto, and Peter Bauer.
The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty is a biennial award begun in 2002 to honor those individuals who have made a significant contribution to advancing liberty. With the award comes an unrestricted $500,000. It is the most prestigious award available today for those who advance liberty.
The pro-democracy student movement in Argentina began in May 2007 in reaction to increasing government oppression. The movement is nonviolent and of an enormous size. The movement has been praised with such tangible successes as defeating a constitutional amendment that would have given the Venezuelan government unprecedented power.
Here is a quote from Yon that illustrates his passion and what he has done:
“We have come to tell the ombudsman that there are 182 jailed students who were imprisoned because they were protesting on the streets in favor of Venezuelan democracy… The students of Venezuela are standing up for civil rights that have taken centuries to build… the cry from the students is peaceful."What makes Yon's selection so important to us is that it recognizes the power of college students to fight for liberty. Yon has been ranked alongside the minister of Estonia who helped transform the country from communism under the rule of the USSR to a thriving capitalism. A 23 year old has been declared one of the foremost leaders of liberty in the world.
It's not just in our heads. As students, we can change the world.
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