Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Thursday Thinker: Sir Antony Fisher


Each Thursday the AUSFL Blog will post a new short summary of an important figure in liberty, focusing on ones applicable to students at AU. For the final installment of the year: Sir Antony Fisher



Bio
Sir Antony Fisher was a true jack of all trades. In his youth he became an RAF fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain, learning first-hand what terrible governments can unleash on the world.  After the war, seeing the pro-socialist path Britain had chosen he became acquainted with F.A. Hayek, and that started him on a path that would lead to his later work. He became an entrepreneur, and then used his accrued wealth to found the Institute for Economic Affairs, one of Britain’s most important think tanks. He helped advise a number of think tanks, and to aid this created the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. And to top it all off he got knighted.

So why should you care?
Simply put, if Palmer is the modern face of the international liberty movement, Fisher was its forefather. Without Antony Fisher the international liberty think tank movement would be years behind, if not non-existent. I’d argue that no single person has done more to advance liberty than him, and many people’s lives would either be much worse or not exist had he not devoted so much time and money to the cause. Here’s hoping that one of you is the next Antony Fisher.

If you read only one thing…
Check out the IEA paper "Waging the War of Ideas" by John Blundell, or check out his profile on the Atlas website (http://atlasnetwork.org/blog/2010/01/founders-story/) for the full story. While you’re there, look at how far it’s come by checking out the directory (http://atlasnetwork.org/global-network-directory/) of think tanks across the world.

Extra Credit
Because I didn’t have a chance to do a profile on him, take a look at the work of Manuel Ayau, whom Fisher would have had great pride for. This article describes him well.

Next week:
Summer, where you’ll hopefully be applying to one of the many conferences and activities posted on the Students For Liberty website!

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