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NOTHING ON AGW IN WIKI OR ON OFF WWW

roberts climate obstruct

  1. Networks of think tanks are spreading obstruction globally

A group of think tanks—public policy institutes that perform research and

advocacy—have promoted disinformation and misinformation about climate

science and contested climate policies via reports and presentations to leg-

islatures, news and social media, and other channels.49,50,51 They present

quasi-academic positions while shifting the framing of climate change from

a science-based issue to a matter of individual liberty and economic free-

dom (Chapter 5). They have also funded research reports and conferences to

challenge the IPCC consensus on anthropogenic climate change52 and have

networked transnationally to increase their capacity to promote or disrupt

specific political discourses on the topic.53 Their institutional structure is

shaped by the predominance of men, especially in the case of European think

tanks, illustrating a documented alignment between masculinity and climate

contrarianism.54 There is also a strong convergence between the far-right,

neoliberal thought advanced by these think tanks and resistance to climate

action (Chapter 5).55

Many of the most influential think tanks are based in the United States, but

the dominance of think tanks has spread globally, thanks in part to the Atlas

Network, a global network of such organizations that advocates free-market

(libertarian) and neoliberal policies (Chapter 5). The Heartland Institute in the

United States, the Free Market Foundation in South Africa, and the Global

Warming Policy Foundation in the United Kingdom all have worked to chal-

lenge climate policies and programs (Chapter 5). Similar ideas and practices

have also spread to think tanks in the Global South, such as Andes Libre in Peru

and the Instituto Liberdade in Brazil (Chapter 8). Funding flows around the

world to support these think tanks, which share information, tactics, events,

connections, experts, board memberships, and legal support.56...

11 25

Free Market Foundation - Wikipedia

NO TALK

The Free Market Foundation (FMF) refers to itself as a classical liberal think tank located in Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa. Founded in 1975, the FMF was established to further human rights and democracy through the principles of an open society, the rule of law, personal liberty, and economic liberalism and press freedom.[1] According to The Mercury editor Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya, the FMF is a "libertarian think tank" wanting "unfettered capitalism" which "eschews all forms of state intervention in the life of the individual citizen".[2] In 1987, Leon Louw, the FMF's co-founder and then-Executive Director, described the work of the foundation as follows:

"We mobilise public opinion, we lobby, we fight government, any government, and make representations and submissions. Our objective is to create a climate of public opinion among politicians, radical groups and unions in favour of free markets."[3]

In 2017 the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the University of Pennsylvania ranked the FMF as the 123rd best think tank in the category "Top Think Tanks Worldwide – (U.S. and non-U.S.)," the 21st best think tank in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the 109th best "independent think tank" in the world, for the year 2016.[4]

From 2012 until May 2014, businessman Herman Mashaba, who was the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, served as chairman of the foundation's board.[5] He stepped down from his position when he joined the Democratic Alliance as an "ordinary card-carrying member," citing the need for the foundation to remain politically impartial.[6]

After a bitter power struggle over several years, Leon Louw, the face of the foundation for nearly five decades, was ousted from the organisation and resigned in July 2022. Louw said the FMF wanted to be more partisan while he wanted to retain its neutral stance. The executive committee said he refused "to work within the lawful structures of the Foundation and work with its executives."[7]

As of November 2023, David Ansara is the chief executive officer and Rex van Schalkwyk is the chairman of the board.[8]

The FMF is an Atlas Network partner.[9]

History

Apartheid era

The "South African Free Market Foundation" was founded in August[10] 1975 "to promote free enterprise" in South Africa.[11] The initiative was spearheaded by the Association of Chambers of Commerce of South Africa (Assocom), which sought a way "to promote the free market economy in South Africa".[12] According to the Sunday Express, the FMF was founded by "a group of five young professional men", because "Government [was] progressing inexorably toward a greater degree of control over traditional free market forces." Leon Louw led the steering committee responsible for the establishment of the foundation.[13] The steering committee consisted of Louw, FE Emary, M Lillard, Fred Macaskill, André Spies and Marc Swanepoel".[14] When asked about its view of South Africa's apartheid policies, the first chairman of the FMF, Lu Sher (who was President of Assocom[15]), said that the FMF "would like to see restrictions on the movement and use of labour, capital, and goods, phased out wherever possible". Sher continued, saying the FMF was generally "limiting [itself] to the economic field, but there we believe that the fewer restrictions the better, and that all races should be able to compete freely in all sectors".[12]

The foundation published a monthly classical liberal magazine, The Individualist, from its founding in 1975[14] until October 1976, when the FMF was officially registered as a non-profit organisation in South Africa. The magazine was from then on published independently.[16] The Individualist is currently defunct. The FMF would later publish its own journal, Free Market,[17] which was released six times a year. Senator Owen Horwood (Minister of Finance) and Gerhard de Kock (Governor of the Reserve Bank) were among its contributors.[18] Free Market is also currently defunct.

In May 1976, the FMF moved offices to 401 City Centre, 36 Joubert Street, Johannesburg.[19]

In November 1976, after the FMF's registration as an NPO, it was reformed into the "Free Market Foundation (Southern Africa)". Dirk Hertzog, Chairman of the Oude Meester Group and President of the South African Society of Marketers, was chosen as chairman of FMF's interim executive committee. By this time, the FMF "had the backing" of Assocom, SASOM, the South African Federated Chamber of Industries (SAFCI), the National African Federation Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC), and the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHI). The Clarion magazine also "[pledged] its full support to the whole concept" of the FMF.[20]

At its inaugural congress in 1977, Professor Stephan du Toit Viljoen, Chairman of the Bantu Investment Corporation and the Bank of Lisbon[12] (today Mercantile Bank), was elected as the FMF's first president. In his inaugural address, Du Toit Viljoen claimed that the cause for the unrest throughout South Africa was because black South Africans could not identify with the political and economic system in which they lived. According to Du Toit Viljoen, it was necessary to involve all of South Africa's races in the development of the free enterprise system, to avoid this unrest. To this end, Du Toit Viljoen called for the progressive removal of discriminatory laws, improving education facilities, and improving the quality of life by providing home ownership; and that "the gradually increasing involvement of all races in the administration of the country would be an essential corresponding development in the political field".[21] At the time, André Spies was the secretary of the FMF.[22]

In March and April 1978, the FMF and the School of Business Leadership at the University of South Africa hosted Friedrich A. Hayek, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, on a visit to South Africa. Hayek addressed a public meeting at the Carlton Hotel on Wednesday, 22 March, on social justice and economics.[23][24] The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce held a lunch for Hayek on Thursday, 6 April, at the hotel. At a banquet on Friday, 7 April, at the same hotel,[25] Senator Horwood was the main speaker.[26]

The FMF criticized the South African government's 1980 budget, especially the "increased welfare spending including subsidies and housing". Howard Preece,[27] an editor of the Rand Daily Mail, responded to this criticism, sarcastically remarking that "there will be all those black pensioners whooping it up on their R33 a month while the oppressed whites slave to provide cheap bread for the blacks generally". The editor concluded that "[c]ommunists never had better friends than these ultra-marketeers and their Standard Nine [eleventh grade] economics".[28]

Eustace Davie became a director of the FMF in 1981.[29]

Professor Jan A. Lombard, Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Pretoria and Deputy Governor of the SA Reserve Bank,[30] was President of the FMF between 1981[31] and at least 1991.[32]

Louw and Frances Kendall, his wife, wrote the bestselling book South Africa: The Solution[33] in 1986, which put forward a vision for direct democracy broadly based on the Swiss canton system. The book sold over 25,000 copies and was translated into Afrikaans.[34]

By 1987, much of the FMF's funding came "from large corporations, with lesser contributions coming from individuals and smaller companies". The FMF also earned an income from consulting work for companies seeking to overcome government interventions that inhibit their enterprises, and advising government institutions and homeland governments, especially on deregulation and privatization. Its With Justice For All training program, aimed at teaching "economic principles and also covers politics", which ended in 1988, accounted for 60% of the FMF's total income.[3] The Rand Mines Group sent 100,000 of its staff to participate in With Justice For All. Don King, the group's personnel director, said the program would "tell workers of the benefits of the free market system as the viable and more welcome alternative to the marxist-socialist system".[35]

At the time, the FMF argued that privatization was the only way to bring about racial equality between black and white South Africans. Louw said that, in addition to producing enough wealth to raise the welfare of blacks, privatizing South Africa's state-owned enterprises and industries would depoliticize various economic sectors, like buses and trains, which had been racialized whilst in state hands. Resistance from civil servants and the possibility of generating private monopolies were two issues Louw identified, but this could be overcome by guaranteeing job security and ensuring privatized enterprises are not given to one firm.[36]

In 1988, the FMF awarded Lawrence Mavundla with its "Free Market Award" for his contribution to the cause of economic freedom in South Africa. Mavundla had co-founded the Co-Operative for Hawkers and Informal Business in 1986 to fight for the right to enterprise of black South Africans during the time of the apartheid regime's discriminatory legislation.[37]

Post-apartheid

The FMF was an active participant in both the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa (notably, the Dakar Conference of 1987) as well as the negotiations surrounding what the provisions of the Constitution of South Africa, 1996 would be.

The FMF opposed the inclusion of section 8(2) of the Constitution, which provides that the rights in the Bill of Rights do not only bind government, but also citizens (so-called "horizontality"). The FMF further protested the inclusion of "public interest" as a justification for the expropriation of private property, currently found in section 25(2)(a) of the Constitution. Public interest, it argued, is wide and leads to uncertainty, making it "not only open to abuse, but deprives the courts of clear principles on which to adjudicate property rights disputes". The FMF also opposed[38] including socio-economic rights, such as the right to access to housing (section 26) and the right to access healthcare, food, water, and social security (section 27), because, firstly, it argued the South African government did not have the resources to give effect to these rights, secondly, that 'right to have access' is "jurisprudentially vague", and thirdly, socio-economic rights were "unprecedented" in South African law, meaning the courts of South Africa would need "to decide whether measures that confer 'access' to targeted benefits are sufficiently 'reasonable' and 'progressive' and what the state's 'available resources' are, which means judges may have to determine levels of taxation; budget deficits and allocations; housing, health et al policies..."[39]

[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Ketumile_Masire,_Leon_Louw_and_Nelson_Mandela.jpg)The "Free Market Award" 2000 ceremony. From left to right: Ketumile Masire, Leon Louw and Nelson Mandela.

Professor Themba Sono, who was the President of the South African Students' Organisation between 1971 and 1972 and a co-founder of the Black People's Convention, was President of the FMF from 1997 to 2000.[40][41]

In 2000, the FMF awarded its "Free Market Award" to Sir Ketumile Masire, the former President of Botswana (1980-1998), with FMF chairman, Michael O'Dowd, saying "Botswana maintained all the institutions and practices which constitute a free market economy." The award ceremony was attended by the former South African president, Nelson Mandela.[42]

The FMF came out in opposition to the South African government's decision to expand South Africa's nuclear energy capacity in 2014, with executive director, Leon Louw, saying, "The government has shown conclusively that it is unable to manage electricity. It is entirely in the wrong hands." Louw, however, expressed approval of nuclear power in principle.[43]

Between 2013 and 2016 the FMF attempted to have section 23 of South Africa's Labour Relations Act, 1995 changed. The section "allows the minister of labour to extend a collective agreement concluded in the bargaining council to any non-parties to the collective agreement that are within its registered scope".[44] The FMF's argument was that this section was detrimental to small businesses "which could not afford wage agreements reached in councils they are not affiliated with".[45] In Free Market Foundation v Minister of Labour and Others 2016 (4) SA 496 (GP), Murphy J of the Pretoria High Court found against the FMF, holding that the section need not be changed and that the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000 provided sufficient protection for small businesses wishing to review the labour minister's extension of agreements.[46]

In 2017, the FMF opposed the South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development's Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, 2016, arguing that the "right to free, uncensored communication was the foundation of a truly democratic society." The FMF also argued that the Bill falls foul of the section 16 protection of freedom of expression found in the Constitution.[47] When the Bill was updated in April 2018, the FMF welcomed the changes but continued to argue that the Bill was unnecessary.[48]

Frans Rautenbach (left) and Daniel J. Mitchell (right) speaking at the FMF on the Rule of Law on 14 November 2018.

The FMF has opposed the South African government's plan to amend section 25 of the Constitution to enable the expropriation of private property without compensation. Nolutshungu warned that expropriation without compensation would betray the victory of constitutional democracy over such legislation as the Natives Land Act, 1913, and said that even though the current government might not wish to use the power to expropriate without compensation maliciously, the nature of constitutional change means any future government will have the same power.[49] Professor Robert Vivian, who sits on the FMF's Rule of Law Board of Advisors, said in September 2018 that, contrary to the conventional belief that only two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly would need to support the amendment for it to pass into law, 75% of the assembly's votes would instead be necessary. This is because according to Vivian, amending the requirement to pay compensation for expropriated property does not simply affect section 25 of the Constitution (in the Bill of Rights), but also affects section 1's (in the Founding Provisions) commitment to the advancement of human rights and freedoms. Provisions in the Bill of Rights require two-thirds of the assembly, and provisions in section 1 require 75%.[50]

The FMF has also voiced its concern over the public participation process surrounding the adoption of the expropriation without compensation policy. It pointed out that the government had allocated more time for written submissions on a tobacco regulation bill than it did for the constitutional amendment.[51] Later, the FMF condemned Parliament for not inviting the foundation to participate in the oral hearings before the National Assembly's constitutional review committee.[52]

...

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The Free Market Foundation (FMF) is a right-wing libertarian think tank, founded in 1975, which has a history of working on behalf of the tobacco industry.

Background

FMF is a partner of the Atlas Network.1

In 2017, FMF and Atlas co-hosted the Africa Liberty Forum, an annual event that promotes greater freedom in public policy in the African region.2

FMF’s Executive Director Leon Louw and FMF staff and advisors have long been affiliated with the Mont Pelerin Society, an international organisation consisting of influential people who embrace free market principles.34 Other Mont Pelerin members include Dr Tim Evans and the Eamonn Butler from the Adam Smith Institute.

Relationship with the Tobacco Industry

Part-Funded by Tobacco Companies

British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA), which holds about 74% of the South African cigarette market,5 has been a “senior corporate member” of FMF from 2000.678910 Philip Morris International (PMI) was also listed on FMF’s website as a senior corporate member in 2013. ^10 Shortly after, the FMF removed information about members from its website, and it no longer makes its donors’ details public.11

Senior membership is the highest level of FMF corporate membership10 and senior members donate between R100,000 and 250,000 annually (roughly equivalent to £5,000 – £12,750 per annum).12

A statement on FMF’s website outlines the relationship between FMF and its members:

“the FMF is employed by members to promote a market economy in which they earn higher profits.”13

Furthermore, its role is to “assist business” by “making representations on behalf of its members to the government.”14

Relationship with “Tobacco Kingpin” Johann Rupert

FMF has a long-standing relationship with the Rupert family of South Africa, who established the tobacco company Voorbrand in the 1940s, which was later consolidated with Rothmans International, before merging with British American Tobacco (BAT) to form BATSA.1516 After this restructuring, Johann Rupert, described by some as South Africa’s “tobacco kingpin”,15 became Chairman of investment companies Remgro and Reinet, each of which has had a major shareholding in BAT.17

In 2012, Reinet Investments was reported as holding 84 million shares in BAT, which accounted for around 85% of Reinet’s value181919 and 4.3% of BAT’s capital.

Johann Rupert and his father Anton have been patrons of FMF between at least 2000 and 2016.2021 FMF’s Louw has reported that in 2016 Johann Rupert “donated millions” to the FMF Khaya Lam project.22

Pro-Tobacco Activities

One of FMF’s objectives is “persuading the general public and consumer associations that government does not solve problems”14. FMF staff and advisors have a long history of opposing tobacco control measures, criticising health research that threatens tobacco industry profits, and using national media outlets to voice their arguments.

Opposed South Africa’s 2018 Draft Tobacco Control Bill

In May 2018 the Government of South Africa announced its intention to introduce the Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, aimed at strengthening the country’s tobacco legislation.23 The Bill proposed several measures strongly opposed by the tobacco industry, including Plain Packaging.

In response to the draft Bill, FMF’s Executive Director Louw has made various unsubstantiated claims in the media, including that the Bill is “anti-small business”, “unconstitutional”, and “ignores the mental health benefits of smoking”.2425 Louw has further claimed that the draft Bill is an “assault on human dignity”,26 is “racist”,2728 and will “threaten jobs and the economy”.26

A peer-reviewed study from Bath University researchers has found that some of these misleading arguments have been used repeatedly by the tobacco industry in opposition to tobacco control measures.29 The study also showed that having its anti-legislation arguments voiced by more credible allies, like FMF, is a well-documented tobacco industry tactic to lobby governments and sway public opinion in favour of de-regulation.29

FMF Advisor Labelled World Bank Health Report “Wicked and Shameful”

In response to the World Bank’s 1999 report Curbing the Epidemic, which found tobacco control resulted in public health benefits without harming economies,30 tobacco companies recruited academics to write reports discrediting this evidence.30

FMF lists two of these reports on its website under ‘Our History’ (key milestones and publications timeline).31

The first, Smoked Out: Anti-Tobacco Activism at the World Bank published in 2000, appears to have been a joint effort between FMF and Hugh High from the IEA.32 Deepak Lal, a FMF Advisor between at least 200033 and 201834 wrote the preface to the report, in which he labelled concerns about passive smoking as a “false scare” and claimed tobacco control would damage poorer countries’ economic wellbeing.32 The report was cited approvingly in internal BAT documents.35

The second report, Smoke gets in your eyes: The economic welfare effects of the World Bank-World Health Organisation global crusade against tobacco, was also published in 2000.31 It was co-written by Deepak Lal who describes the World Bank’s report as “wicked and shameful”.36 Lal claimed that tobacco control was simply “political correctness” and argued that for many “poor people”, smoking was “one of the only sources of pleasure in lives which remain ‘nasty, brutish and short’”.36

Internal documents suggest BAT paid Lal over $55,000 USD for his work on the “World Bank Project”.37 Neither report discloses its funding sources.

Defender of Tobacco Marketing

Internal tobacco industry documents identify FMF as an organisation that helped protect the tobacco industry’s “marketing freedoms”.38

For instance, in 1993 BAT carried out a survey of its global public affairs employees, who were asked to: “List the third party groups which have helped in the defence of your marketing freedoms (eg. advertisers, media, etc)”. FMF was one of a small number of organisations listed for South Africa.38 In a 1996 BAT document, an employee who had visited the United Tobacco Company (a company later acquired by BATSA), reported that United Tobacco Company were members of FMF because FMF helped protect against “legislative interference in marketing of products.”16 ^39

These documents indicate FMF worked on behalf of BAT to try and block attempts to restrict tobacco marketing.

In 2016, FMF was one of 47 think tanks that collectively wrote to the World Health Organization to oppose plain packaging for tobacco products.40 Many of the other think tanks were affiliated with the Atlas Network.

TobaccoTactics Resources

Relevant Link

References

  1. ↑Atlas Network, Global Directory Africa, 2018, accessed September 2018
  2. ↑Free Market Foundation, History, 2018, accessed September 2018
  3. ↑Free Market Foundation, 1995 Mont Pelerin Society Regional Meeting – Cape Town, 2018, accessed September 2018
  4. ↑Unknown, List of Attendees: Special Gathering Mont Pelerin, Switzerland April 9-12, 1997, accessed September 2018
  5. ↑Euromonitor International, Cigarettes in South Africa. July 2017
  6. ↑Free Market Foundation, Who we are, 2000, accessed September 2018
  7. ↑Free Market Foundation, Who we are, 2004, accessed September 2018
  8. ↑Free Market Foundation, Members, 2007, accessed September 2018
  9. ↑Free Market Foundation, Members, 2011, accessed September 2018
  10. ↑abcFree Market Foundation, Members, 2013, accessed September 2018
  11. ↑Free Market Foundation, Who We Are, 2018, accessed September 2018
  12. ↑Free Market Foundation, Support Use, 2018, accessed September 2018
  13. ↑Free Market Foundation, Become a Corporate Member or Donor, 2018, accessed September 2018
  14. ↑abThe South African Free Market Foundation, Introducing the South African Free Market Foundation, 1 December 1975, accessed September 2018
  15. ↑abW. Stassen, New smoking laws to serve majority of South Africans, The Star, 31 July 2012, accessed September 2018
  16. ↑abBATSA, Our South African History, 2018, accessed September 2018
  17. ↑Remgro Limited, Company History, 2018, accessed September 2018
  18. ↑M. Hasenfuss, The three faces of Johann Rupert, “Fin24”, 1 July 2010, accessed September 2018
  19. ↑abReinet Investments SCA, Reinet proposes revision to the terms of its prospectus, 24 January 2012, accessed September 2018
  20. ↑Free Market Foundation, Who we are, 2000, accessed September 2018
  21. ↑Free Market Foundation, About Us, 2016, accessed September 2018
  22. ↑L. Louw, [Rupert’s actions his best reply to critics](https://web.archive.org/web/20180830161826/http://www.freemarketfoundation.com/publications-view/business-day-column-rupert’s-actions-his-best-reply-to-critics), Business Day, 30 March 2016, accessed September 2018
  23. ↑C.O. Egbe, How South Africa is tightening its tobacco rules, The Conversation, 31 May 2018, accessed September 2018
  24. ↑S. Gumada, Free Market Foundation fumes over proposed public smoking ban, The Citizen, 3 May 2018, accessed September 2018
  25. ↑N. Motloung, Proposed new tobacco laws predicted to ‘go up in smoke’, Jacarandafm, 8 May 2018, accessed September 2018
  26. ↑abP. Phakgadi, Tobacco and electronic delivery systems slammed, Eyewitness News, undated, accessed September 2018
  27. ↑C.J. Okoye, Last days to comment on ‘outrageous’ draft smoking bill, The Citizen, 7 August 2018, accessed September 2018
  28. ↑F. Collins, Foundation fired up by ‘racist’ proposed tobacco bill, Times LIVE, 4 May 2018, accessed September 2018
  29. ↑abS. Ulucanlar, G.J. Fooks, A.B. Gilmore, The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity, PLoS Medicine, 2016, 13(9):e1002125
  30. ↑abS. Glantz, H.M. Mamudu, R. Hammond, Tobacco Industry attempts to counter the World Bank Report Curbing the Epidemic and obstruct the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Social Science & Medicine, 2008, 67(11):1690-1699
  31. ↑abFree Market Foundation, Our History, 2018, accessed September 2018
  32. ↑abR. Tren, H. High, Smoked out: Anti-Tobacco Activism at the World Bank, 2000, accessed September 2018
  33. ↑Free Market Foundation, Who we are: Patrons, Council, Academic Advisors, Committees, 2000, accessed September 2018
  34. ↑Free Market Foundation, President, Academic Advisors, Rule of Law Advisory Board, 2018, accessed September 2018
  35. ↑Unknown, WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Q&As (not for external publication), 9 March 2000, Truth Tobacco Industry Documents, Bates no: 325035614-325035620, accessed September 2018
  36. ↑abR. Scruton, D. Lal, War on Tobacco: At What Cost?, 2000, Truth Tobacco Industry Documents, Bates no: 321331276-321331319, accessed September 2018
  37. ↑Unknown, Science & Regulation Forecast, 16 September 1999, Truth Tobacco Industry Documents, Bates no: 325049951-325049964, accessed September 2018
  38. ↑abB. Brady, Public Affairs Review 1993, 25 May 1993, Truth Tobacco Industry Documents, Bates no: 500888155-500888336, accessed September 2018
  39. ↑Unknown, Report on Visit to United Tobacco Company (UTC) – South Africa, 17 March 1996, Truth Tobacco Industry Documents, Bates no: 700570893-700570898, accessed September 2018
  40. ↑R. Ullah, G.G. Norquist, L.B. Nelson et al., International Coalition Letter Against Plain Packaging, undated, accessed September 2018

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AI Overview

The

Free Market Foundation (FMF) is a South African think tank and advocacy group founded in 1975 to promote individual liberty, private property, and free enterprise. It conducts policy research, produces publications, holds events, and engages in public advocacy on issues such as economic freedom, limited government, and constitutionalism to counter what it views as excessive government intervention. The FMF advocates for solutions to problems like economic stagnation, high unemployment, and insecure property rights, and also addresses issues like education, corruption, and consumer choice.

*

Activities: The foundation engages in various activities to influence public opinion and policymakers, including:

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