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| Abbreviation | PFS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2006 |
| Type | Social theory |
| Location | |
| Website | www |
The Property and Freedom Society (PFS) is an anarcho-capitalist political organization located in Bodrum, Turkey. Founded in May 2006 by the academic Hans-Hermann Hoppe, PFS presents itself as a more radically right-libertarian alternative to the free-market Mont Pelerin Society.
The PFS holds annual conferences where paleolibertarian and paleoconservative intellectuals deliver speeches and exchange ideas in what Hoppe suggests is a "political correctness–free zone". Leading figures of the European New Right and the American alt-right have attended. The group has garnered controversy for including speakers such as the white supremacists Jared Taylor and Richard Spencer and the eugenicist Richard Lynn.
History and mission
PFS conferences include members of the former John Randolph Club along with "new advocates of stateless libertarianism and racial secession", in the words of the academic Quinn Slobodian. According to the society, it promotes free trade, peace, and the right to "discriminate against anyone in one's personal and business relations".
Hoppe, the founder, is a Rothbardian political theorist and Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Business School. On the fifth anniversary of PFS, Hoppe reflected on its goals: "On the one hand, positively, it was to explain and elucidate the legal, economic, cognitive and cultural requirements and features of a free, state-less natural order. On the other hand, negatively, it was to unmask the State and showcase it for what it really is: an institution run by gangs of murderers, plunderers, and thieves, surrounded by willing executioners, propagandists, sycophants, crooks, liars, clowns, charlatans, dupes and useful idiots – an institution that dirties and taints everything it touches."
In a 2017 speech titled "Libertarianism and the Alt-Right", Hoppe asserted that "highly restrictive, highly selective and discriminating immigration" was "highly compatible with libertarianism and its desideratum of freedom of association and opposition to forced integration".
Leading figures of the European New Right and the American alt-right hosted by the conference have included Paul Gottfried, Thomas DiLorenzo, Peter Brimelow, John Derbyshire, Tomislav Sunić, Spencer, Lynn, and Taylor.
Conferences
Conferences have been held annually since 2005, in Bodrum, Turkey. At the conferences, "prophets of racial and social breakdown share the stage with investment advisors and financial consultants", Slobodian wrote in 2023.
The PFS annual meeting explicitly aims to promote discrimination as logical choice. In addition to the formal proceedings of the conferences, there are integrated activities such as a boat trip into the Aegean Sea, excursions to local fishing villages, and firework displays followed by gala nights.
Allegations of racism
PFS has garnered controversy for including speakers such as the white supremacists Jared Taylor and Richard Spencer and the eugenicist academic Richard Lynn. A May 11, 2007, Las Vegas Review-Journal article about the PFS noted that Lynn has described black people as "more psychopathic than whites". Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described the 2007 conference as a "serious academic racist event". A 2013 Anti-Defamation League report about "increased cooperation" between European and American racists cited Taylor's speech at the 2013 PFS conference titled "A Brief History of US Race Relations".
Describing the PFS, the SPLC said in 2016 that "in Hoppe one can see the connection between the ultra-Libertarians and white nationalists". Intelligencer in 2017 described the annual PFS meeting as "Davos, but for racists".
References
- ^ Wasserman, Janek (2019-09-24). The Marginal Revolutionaries. Yale University Press. p. 281. doi:10.2307/j.ctvnwbxwf. ISBN 978-0-300-24917-0.
- ^ Mower, Lawrence (May 11, 2007). "Researchers tied to hate groups get invitations." Las Vegas Review-Journal
- ^ "Racists in Europe and the United States Increase Cooperation | ADL". www.adl.org. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
- ^ "PayPal Co-Founder Peter Thiel to Address White Nationalist-Friendly "Property and Freedom Society" Conference in September". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
- ^ Read, Simon Van Zuylen-Wood, Noreen Malone, Max (2017-04-30). "Beyond Alt: Understanding the New Far Right". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Ganz, John (2021-10-28). "Perspective | Libertarians have more in common with the alt-right than they want you to think". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
- ^ Slobodian, Quinn (2023). Crack-up capitalism: market radicals and the dream of a world without democracy (first ed.). New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-250-75390-8.
- Hoppe, Hans Hermann. "The Property And Freedom Society – Reflections After Five Years". lewrockwell.com. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
- ^ Hermansson, Patrik; Lawrence, David; Mulhall, Joe; Murdoch, Simon (2020). The International Alt-Right: Fascism for the 21st Century?. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780429627095.
- The Backbencher (14 October 2015). "The Club Med of Libertarian Conferences".