Ziemowit GowinARI’s mission is to grow awareness and understanding of Objectivism, Ayn Rand’s philosophy. We wouldn’t be able to do that without our intellectuals, whose message is reaching an ever-growing number of minds.
Nikos Sotirakopoulos is one such intellectual. His recent European speaking tour brought the unique intellectual insights of Objectivism to places such as Tbilisi, London, Lisbon, and Berlin. More than five hundred attendees heard talks on topics such as “Why Liberty Works,” “What Can We Learn from the Left?,” and “The Evil of Environmentalism.”
One of Nikos’s key themes is that the creators, the producers, and the innovators — the people we should be thanking for the technology that dramatically improves our lives — are humanity’s greatest heroes. This message is crucial in a culture that takes creators and entrepreneurs for granted, without recognizing their greatness.
I asked Nikos about the significance of in-person events, and their impact.
Can you remember the moment you told yourself “I want to get deeper into Objectivism, and maybe become part of the Objectivist movement”? Odds are, it was when you attended a live event. It could be a conference like OCON, maybe a talk by Yaron Brook. . . . Whichever the occasion, you were inspired by an Objectivist intellectual, and you were surrounded by like-minded people. This is the experience we are trying to create for many young people in Europe with our talks and events. And it works. People new to Ayn Rand tell us the talk they’d just witnessed was different from anything they’ve heard before. People already familiar with Rand’s ideas take the step and approach Yonatan Daon, ARI’s outreach coordinator, to apply for an ARU or conference scholarship. The message is spread, our movement grows, and onward we go to new places, to new audiences, to new minds that will be set alight by our noble and radical ideas.
For more information about our online and live events and conferences, go to our events page.
Itamar Feldman
Ben Bayer
