MCLEAN, VA., September 2, 2022 – NBA star and human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom has been announced as the featured Saturday presenter at the Students For Liberty flagship event LibertyCon International at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, October 14-15.
Enes Freedom is a civic activist who has gained lots of attention with his outspoken criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Throughout his career in the NBA as a player for five different teams, he began to speak out against the way China treats their Uyghur minority in the western province of their country.
Criticism of China, where the NBA has more basketball fans than in the US, was bound to have consequences for his career going forward, and it was this kind of integrity that convinced Students For Liberty to reach out to him to speak to their international gathering of students at LibertyCon.
The current NBA free agent spoke to Arale Weisberg from Walla Sport last month on this exact topic: “I knew in advance that I would pay this price, and I regret nothing. These things are bigger than me, bigger than the NBA, and bigger than basketball,” Kanter Freedom started off the interview. “While I dribble in America, people are being killed all over the world or imprisoned and tortured in prisons. If this is the sacrifice I have to make, I’m ready to live with it.”
More recently, Kanter Freedom publicly accused the NBA of hypocrisy over its decision to host a “civic engagement night” the day before Election Day. “The NBA’s biggest backer is China — so when they promote Civic Engagement here, do they care to comment about a dictatorship they are profiting off of? The NBA constantly told me ‘we don’t want to get involved in politics’… I guess what they meant to say was ‘we don’t want to upset China.”‘
With the announcement of Enes Kanter Freedom joining the line-up for LibertyCon International 2022, Students For Liberty CEO Dr. Wolf von Laer reminded us that “Enes has been a human rights advocate for nearly a decade, selflessly using his status as an NBA star to speak out against the genocidal actions of the Chinese Communist Party against the Uyghur population, and the human rights violations from the leadership in his home country of Turkey.”
“This,” von Laer continues, “is exactly the kind of integrity and commitment to individual liberty and human rights that Students For Liberty stands for. We are very excited to hear from him in Miami this October.”
Kanter will be speaking in the Saturday evening portion of the conference, but is expected to be taking photos and signing autographs throughout the day with the students in attendance. LibertyCon International, the annual flagship event for Students For Liberty, will be at the Hyatt Regency in Miami October 14-15. Registration for the event can be found at LibertyCon.com where you can register now to see other speakers including Rep. Nancy Mace, Former Rep. Justin Amash, and 2020 Libertarian VP Candidate Spike Cohen.
For any questions or clarification, or to schedule an interview with a Students For Liberty representative, please contact Brian Lambrecht directly at 708-420-8324 or [email protected]
Brian S. Lambrecht
Students For Liberty
[email protected]
708-420-8324