‘Liberty in Africa’ Online Course Explores Principles of Economic Freedom

Africa is an enormous and diverse continent encompassing dozens of independent countries with wide-ranging political systems, circumstances, and resources. Still, people share a struggle for liberty throughout Africa that shares many commonalities. Students for Liberty (SFL) and African Students for Liberty (ASFL) have partnered through SFL Academy to develop a thorough multimedia educational course titled “Liberty in Africa,” which delves into the history of socialism and colonialism in Africa, and applies the principles of a free society to the array of circumstances that people face throughout Africa.

“This series will examine the challenge and ideas that we’ll need to lift Africa and its people to the 21st century and beyond,” says Dr. George Ayittey, an economist from Ghana and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington, D.C., in the introductory video for the new course. “Ideas like good governance, rule of law, property rights, truly free trade, free enterprise, that will empower entrepreneurs and ensure freedom for all, and will improve millions of lives. We have brought together a fantastic gallery of experts in economics, in politics, in history and African culture. And I believe that this series will present a convincing argument for a new way of life — and also, what has been missing in Africa for far too long. This is ‘Liberty in Africa.’”

In addition to lessons from the renowned Ayittey, the course features instruction from Kofi Bentil, vice president of Imani Center for Policy and Education in Ghana; Kenyan entrepreneur and film producer June Arunga; Temba Nolutshungu, director of the Free Market Foundation in South Africa; Olumayowa Okediran, SFL African programs manager and graduate of Atlas Leadership Academy (ALA); and Japheth Omojuwa, editor of AfricanLiberty.org. Other organizations that participated in developing the course include the South African Institute of Race Relations, Uhuru Initiative for Policy & Education in Tanzania, and Atlas Network, which funded the project through its grant programs.

“Our continent is diverse and beautiful, with tremendous wealth and natural resources,” Ayittey explains. “But the mineral wealth of Africa is not being utilized to lift its people out of poverty, because its people suffer under government controls which never make good on its promises of wealth and security. That is what makes a lot of Africans like me very angry. Throughout this series, we will explore the history and results of these policies. The lasting legacy of colonialism, the current state of corruption, and over-criminalization that pervades many African countries, terrorizing and impoverishing its people across the continent.”

The “Liberty in Africa” course is self-paced, and participation is open to all who register through the SFL Academy website. This new program joins the existing open-enrollment SFL Academy courses “Liberty 101” and “Econ 101.”