This is an opinion editorial by Joseph Totec, Treasure Brand Ambassador of SatoshiLabs.
At this year’s Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF), a financial freedom content track gave freedom fighters around the world a chance to learn about bitcoin, and bitcoiners to learn the true extent of legal slavery. As Matt Odell recently said, “The most important thing is perspective.” And this incident demonstrated that considering bitcoin from the perspective of the underprivileged is worth every set.
This year’s Oslo Freedom Forum raised a flag for bitcoin’s role in protecting human rights
Even though this year’s OFF was the 14th instance of the annual convention, I first learned about it in April at Bitcoin 2022. I was lucky enough to bump into Alex Gladstein, who intended my copy of “Check Your Financial Privilege.” Signed. I got the signatures, and on top of that I got an invitation to Oslo. When I learned that many of the bitcoiners mentioned in Gladstein’s book were going to attend the event, it was clear to me that I had to attend.
The right way to bookmark Gladstein’s book.
bitcoin is for activists
At the entrance to the conference venue, participants were reminded of the current state of the world: more than four billion people live under authoritarian regimes. Authoritarianism is a major cause of the refugee crisis, keeps Arabs locked in poverty and water insecurity, and crushes all dissent. The figures for the event’s speakers were no less modest: OFF hosted 365 speakers representing 107 countries, 89 of them were exiled from their country, and they spent a total of 252 years behind bars.
4.26 billion people live under authoritarian rule
96% of the world’s refugees come from authoritarian regimes
Speakers of the Oslo Freedom Forum representing a wide range of influential, global humanists
The main themes of the conference were human rights and the struggle against autocracy in all its forms. This year, however, provided activists with a powerful aid: bitcoin and its permissionless payments, its personal empowerment, its ability to help raise funds for any cause, anywhere in the world.
What I found very refreshing in comparison to most bitcoin (or, god forbid, “crypto”) conventions was the down-to-earth nature of the discussion. There was urgency in some bitcoin talks, yes, but it never revolved around price; Rather the urgency addressed the pressing needs of millions to reach a neutral monetary system that could save lives right now. There were no price predictions, no shitcoin talk, no KYC-singing sirens from exchanges. The words that inspired the crowd were “open,” “allowed,” “invincible,” and “borderless.” They were quite prepared to be orange-piled because few participants needed any belief that their money sucked; They knew this from lifelong experience for a fact, and were now being presented with a workable solution.
One session that was representative of this meeting of minds was a panel on “Integrating bitcoin into your NGO” led by Gladstein, including Wolf von Laer (from Students for Liberty) and Meron Estefanos (from the International Commission on Eritrean Refugees). Were. Meron explained how she has been able to more effectively help Eritrean refugees with bitcoin in recent years, while previously, using the 1,000-year-old system of hawala was the only option. Gladstein concluded the session with a memorable quote:
“Maybe bitcoin is not for everyone, but it is certainly for activists,” he said.
Orange pills for the underprivileged
The bitcoin talk and panel on Off was quite unique from what I’ve seen at other conferences. The main reason was that the speakers had no agenda other than to clearly explain why they should seriously consider this neutral monetary system, and how it could serve as one of their most powerful allies. Is.
For example, Foday Diop and Jack Mallers discuss The CFA franc regime, and how it has kept dictators in charge in Central and West Africa for decades. Diop stressed that the nature of money can either enable or suppress human rights. Mallers explained that bitcoin operates as a permissionless payment system, no matter what the price, and explained why the feature is so revolutionary: anyone in the world, regardless of their nationality, political affiliation, religion or race. And can transfer value to, at least for more than just a phone and low-bandwidth connection. This is somewhat unheard of, especially for the disadvantaged majority of the world’s population.
Foddy Diop and Jack Mallers on the main stage. Watch the recording of this session Here (3:09:30).
had another great session Discussion of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) between Odell, Matthew Mezinskis, Lisa Negut and Jayne Romm.
Mezinskis of Porcopolis Economics begins the discussion with his Quarterly Update on the Global Monetary Base, an in-depth analysis of the monetary inflation of dozens of fiat currencies, which account for 97% of world GDP, which I highly recommend reading (see Fig. Tweet embedded below) The panelists also emphasized the importance of cash for personal transactions; And with this there is a high probability that cash will be phased out in the coming years, replaced with CBDCs, which were dubbed part of an unconventional war the state is waging on its citizens. .
According to the participants of the session, the key difference between CBDC and bitcoin is the aspect of permission. Whereas CBDCs would be entirely under the control of central banks and states and would open up new forms of harassment and surveillance, bitcoin is the very opposite – open to all, always and everywhere.
A highlight from the panel was the conclusion that a free society needs cash, which can be either physical (fiat cash), or digital (bitcoin).
Most of the bitcoin content was scheduled for noon on the day of the previous conference, when the bitcoin academy took place. The Academy included panel discussions (such as the one on CBDC mentioned above) and workshops. Several high-profile bitcoiners attended the academy and it felt like an all-star bitcoin meetup, with people such as Odell, Stephen Livera, BTC Sessions, Jimmy Song and Uncle Rockstar taking turns explaining how bitcoin was in understandable terms. works in.
Paradoxically, the problem with Bitcoin Academy was that there were Many Bitcoiners are participating, so the ratio of bitcoiners to activists was around 80 to 20. While it was fun and each worker had multiple teachers at once, it was a pity that the academy failed to attract those who might benefit most from it. The session should probably be a preference for the next time the activists sit, so that the bitcoiners in the audience don’t occupy all the places.
the beginning of a beautiful friendship
As Sergej Kotliar beautifully put it, the first off with the widest representation of bitcoiners was probably not about orange piling freedom fighters, but about giving freedom to bitcoiners.
New friendships that crossed the social bubble were formed, and bitcoiners were strongly reminded why their work matters. Open-source tools like Muun, Trezor and BTCPay Server can save lives and help people escape oppression and poverty. We should not disappoint those who rely on us for everything.
This is a guest post by Joseph Tetek. The opinions expressed are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of BTC Inc. or . reflect the thoughts of bitcoin magazine,
