Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, co-founder of Whole Foods John Mackey, Hollywood actor Mark Pellegrino, activist Spike Cohen and many others to headline at SFL’s flagship event this February 7-8, 2025
LibertyCon International 2025
LibertyCon 2025 Lineup
Washington DC, Feb. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Washington DC – Feb. 4, 2025 – Students For Liberty (SFL) is excited to announce the final lineup of their yearly flagship event, LibertyCon International 2025, taking place on February 7-8 at the Washington DC Downtown Westin. With students active in 111 countries, previous LibertyCon events have been hosted in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and South America. The theme of this year’s convention is From Impossible To Inevitable, focusing on the positive achievements in civil rights and economic freedoms happening in the world.
This year will also debut the Students For Liberty partnership with CiVL, a streaming platform that “inspires humanity to build beyond politics.” The platform allows individuals to gain access to award-winning films, shows, live streams, documentaries, and debates completely free. Justin Arman, founder of CiVL, talked about how CiVL is “thrilled to partner with SFL to collaborate on this mission.”
“So many are over partisanism and the culture war. We believe we’re entering an era of optimism and creativity, which is why we founded CiVL.” Arman continued, “We’re collaborating with remarkable creators on a catalog that inspires humanity to build beyond politics, to choose innovation over coercion, and to embrace human respect in the pursuit of a lasting prosperity.”
CiVL will be streaming the bulk of LibertyCon International main stage presentations live throughout the weekend on the CiVL platform for free, which includes many celebrity guests, political movers and shakers in the liberty sphere, and a heavily promoted immigration debate.
Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, Glenn Jacobs has been announced as the keynote speaker for LibertyCon International 2025. Mayor Jacobs is currently serving his second term as Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Prior to becoming Mayor in 2018, he enjoyed a successful career in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the stage name “Kane” that culminated in his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020.
Elected as a member of the Republican Party, Mayor Jacobs has a long libertarian streak running through him, especially when it comes to civil rights and economic freedom. “I was taught, growing up, that there are two ends of the political spectrum: left and right. But there’s so much more than that. For me, it’s about liberty versus authoritarianism.” The bookshelf in his office backs this sentiment up, with such titles as “Man, Economy, and State” by Murry Rothbard, “Human Action” by Ludwig von Mises, “More Guns, Less Crime” by John R. Lott Jr., and “End the Fed” by former Congressman Ron Paul. Mayor Jacobs will be delivering his keynote speech during the Students For Liberty awards dinner Saturday evening.
Opening the convention on Friday evening is jazz, R&B and blues musician Daryl Davis, who is not only an international star still touring to this day, but is also an activist who made a name for himself over the decades by converting over 200 klansmen. Through communication and compassion, Davis spent years confronting and converting numerous members of the Klu Klux Klan mostly around his home in and around Maryland.
“If you spend five minutes with your worst enemy – it doesn’t have to be about race, it could be about anything… you will find that you both have something in common. As you build upon those commonalities, you’re forming a relationship and as you build about that relationship, you’re forming a friendship.” Davis’ talk is titled From Hate To Harmony and is expected to be a highlight of the convention.
Appearing on a panel to discuss the entertainment industry and how the individual panelists found their path into the freedom movement is Hollywood actor and producer Mark Pellegrino. Known for playing memorable characters like Lucifer in the series Supernatural, Paul Bennett in Dexter and more recently Virgil Poe in the series American Rust, Pellegrino co-founded the American Capitalist Party, which advocates “for reason, for individual rights, for limited Constitutional government, and for laissez-faire capitalism.”
Appearing alongside Pellegrino on the entertainment panel is professional wrestler and recent TNA world champion Nic Nemeth. Known for over twenty years in WWE under his stage name Dolph Ziggler, Nemeth does podcasting, stand up comedy and is the current TNA World Champion. Nemeth and Pellegrino will share the stage with fellow actor and serial entrepreneur Brando Eaton, known for playing roles in Dexter and American Sniper, and running almost a dozen different business prospects in his hometown Nashville. Rounding out their discussion is TV personality Emily Austin, who made a name for herself interviewing NBA stars on her show Hoop Chat, while also working as an MTV anchor and routinely serving as a Miss Universe judge.
Considered the biggest feature of the conference for many is Immigration Debate: Who Exactly Should We Be Letting In? On Friday night. Hosted by co-founder and CEO of the non-profit Emergent Order Foundation, John Papola, the immigration debate distinctly tries to draw lines on two very different ideologies with regards to who should be allowed to enter the country and who should be turned away.
Born in Venezuela, economist Daniel DiMartino believes that “America should welcome many more highly skilled immigrants (college educated and young), and effectively restrict illegal and even low-skilled legal immigration; that is, of people who tend to not speak English or receive more government benefits than they pay in taxes.”
George Mason economist Bryan Caplan disagrees with the restrictions, believing that “there are massive economic gains of low-skilled immigration.” He claims “we benefit from drivers, gardeners, and nannies as well as doctors, programmers, and bankers,” and continues by stating that “anyone concerned about immigrants who consume more benefits than they pay in taxes should carefully study the math to see how common this really is, and push for restricting government spending rather than human beings.”
Distinguished Professor Emerita of Economics and of History, and Professor Emerita of English and of Communication, adjunct in classics and philosophy, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Deirdre McCloskey will be returning again with her wit and wisdom with a discussion she calls “Equality of Permission.”
Co-founder and former CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey, will also join us on the main stage to talk about his life as an entrepreneur and to promote his new book titled The Whole Truth: Adventures of Love, Life, and Capitalism. He will also be taking part in the book author signing station set up throughout the weekend.
Many notable speakers from multiple groups and diverse backgrounds across the globe will also be taking part in the conference throughout the weekend. Some of these presenters include:
- Economist David Friedman
- Reason magazine Editor-In-Chief Katherine Mangu Ward
- Vice President of NetChoice Robert Winterton
- Adjunct Research Fellow for AIER and SFL Alumni Ethan Yang
- Economics Professor Antony Davies
- President of Advocates For Self-Government Mike Sertic
- Business professor Chris Freiman
- Economics professor Jeremy Horpedahl
- Executive VP for International Programs at Atlas Network Tom Palmer
- Journalist and Host of Undivided Brandi Kruse
- Director of Educational Programs for AIER Ryan Yonk
- School Choice Advocate Corey DeAngelis
- Executive Director of Students For Sensible Drug Policy Kat Murti
- Austrian School Economist and Pro-Reform Police Officer Mike ter Maat
- Serial Entrepreneur and Tech Business Leader Lars Mapstead
- Author and Journalist Stephen Kent
- High Dollar Fundraiser at Emergent Order Foundation Ivy Karns
- COO for Young Americans For Liberty Sean Themea
- Writer, Teacher, and Educational Entrepreneur Marsha Familaro Enright
- Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies Marcel Van Hattem
- Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute Dr. Judy Shelton
- Reason Magazine Reporter Billy Binion
- Reason Magazine Features Editor Peter Suderman
- Producer and Audio Engineer for Emergent Order Foundation Jessi Bennett
- Executive Director of the Free State Project Eric Brakey
- Podcaster and founder of Free Speech Media David Fite
- Reason Magazine Reporter Christian Britschgi
- Director at European Policy Information Center Adam Bartha
- Director of Research and Education at the Adam Smith Institute Maxwell Marlow
- Founder and President of Freedom Law School Peymon Mottahedeh
- Manager of Educational Programs at the Cato Institute Conor Fogarty
- Vice President for International Studies and Director at Cato Institute Ian Vasquez
- Programs Coordinator for the Cato Institute’s Student Programs Cortez Bartolome
- Program Director for Initiatives at the Cato Institute Sophia Coyne-Kosnak
- Associate Director of Libertarianism.org Pericles Niarchos
- Senior Fellow and Policy Advisor at Cato Institute Aaron Steelman
- Senior Research Fellow at Mercatus Center Veronique de Rugy
Senior editor at Reason magazine and co-host of The Hill’s online commentary show Rising, Robby Soave will be the host and emcee for LibertyCon International at the Westin Downtown the weekend of February 7-8. Soave is a Students For Liberty alumni; this will be his second year in a row hosting the event. Registration for the event can be found at LibertyCon.com where you can register to see these great presenters and more.
Many fantastic sponsors will be at LibertyCon taking part in presentations and breakout sessions, but we would like to thank the Smith Family Foundation for being our Platinum sponsor for LibertyCon International 2025.
For any questions or clarification, or to schedule an interview with a Students For Liberty representative, please contact Brian Lambrecht directly at BLambrecht@StudentsForLiberty.org
About Students For Liberty
SFL is the largest pro-liberty student organization in the world with students active in over a hundred countries on every inhabited continent. With a multi-million dollar budget and over 80 full-time staff members, they serve pro-liberty students in their pursuit to become leaders of liberty. They accomplish this through a strategy of identifying the top students and then empowering them to be agents of change in their communities. Last school year, their students organized over 2,591 events with 157,654 people in attendance. They are a fully virtual, vibrant, and entrepreneurial organization working with a diverse team in the U.S. and around the world.
Attachments
CONTACT: Brian Lambrecht Students For Liberty blambrecht@studentsforliberty.org
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