

Martin van Staden
http://www.martinvanstaden.com
Martin van Staden is the Head of Policy at the Free Market Foundation and former Deputy Head of Policy Research at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR). Martin also serves as the Editor of the IRR’s History Project and its Race Law Project, and is an advisor to the Free Speech Union SA. He is pursuing a doctorate in law at the University of Pretoria. For more information visit www.martinvanstaden.com.
- Total Post (129)
Articles By This Author

2+2=5? Don’t “panic” about EWC – but don’t be misled either
- By Martin van Staden
- . Feb 6, 2025
A chorus of voices from the mainstream media, certain business groups, the ANC-controlled GNU, and even the DA, have told the public, “Relax – everything

Wandile Sihlobo is too bullish on the Expropriation Act
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jan 30, 2025
The nature and history of the African National Congress (ANC) cannot be discounted when reading the text of the new Expropriation Act. The rule of

Unnamed enemies: why ideology is – necessarily – inescapable
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jan 23, 2025
“An enemy without a name is impossible to defeat on the battleground of ideas,” writes Andrew Doyle in his The New Puritans (2023). Those who

Democracy must only be allowed to add to liberty, never to undermine it
- By Martin van Staden
- . Jan 16, 2025
Modern-day discussions about liberty rarely conclude without associating it with democracy, nor do discussions about democracy conclude without associating it with liberty. With this textbook

Refreshingly, classical liberal McCloskey receives doctorate from SA university
- By Martin van Staden
- . Dec 19, 2024
Last Wednesday, Stellenbosch University bestowed an honorary commerce doctorate on Professor Deirdre McCloskey, one of the most important classical liberal thinkers of our time. What

Hitler-as-victim and free speech absolutism
- By Martin van Staden
- . Dec 12, 2024
Free expression is an incredibly important part of the edifice of liberty. Offensive or repugnant expression must be unambiguously tolerated. But “free speech absolutism” is

Don’t blame the mob – blame the appeasers
- By Martin van Staden
- . Dec 5, 2024
In the age of so-called “cancel culture,” it takes two to tango: the cancel mob, and those who tolerate and appease them. We might be

Now is the time for the GNU to pre-empt the radicals on the Reserve Bank
- By Martin van Staden
- . Nov 28, 2024
The instances of historical societies and civilisation crumbling under the weight of hyperinflation are numerous – as are modern examples. South Africa has thus far

GNU “reform”: Centralising spaza regulations and excluding foreigners?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Nov 21, 2024
The first notable initiative in government by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – South Africa’s second oldest existing federalist institution – has been to centralise

Is the DA abandoning its values in the GNU?
- By Martin van Staden
- . Nov 14, 2024
Almost three decades ago, the erstwhile Democratic Party (DP) campaigned on a motto of “Freedom, Free Enterprise, Federalism.” Today – when those three things are