It’s a brand new year, and in what is now a new SpeakFreely tradition, we’re taking a moment to share our highlights of 2025. But let’s start with the boring stuff: numbers.
Last year, we more than doubled the number of articles we published. Thanks to our authors, editors, and readers, SpeakFreely put out a whopping 170 articles written by over 97 contributors. Not bad for a platform built on the simple idea that good arguments deserve a place to live.
Let’s get down to business, starting with what you read the most.
Here are the top five articles our readers couldn’t get enough of in 2025.
Written by a high school student in Canada, this article struck a nerve. Do Prado raises the alarm on the failings of the Canadian education system and argues that inclusivity does not and should not mean lowering standards. Teachers need to prepare students for the real world, and when schools keep pretending otherwise, we shouldn’t be surprised by the results.
Originally published in Learn Liberty, this piece encapsulates one of SFL Europe’s most impactful campaigns this year: the push to stop EU’s “chat control.”
If you’ve somehow slept through one of the most consequential privacy fights in recent years, Brown will bring you up to speed, laying out the details of the chat control bill, why it matters, and how close Europe came to fundamentally reshaping private communication.
Barreiro’s first article on Dune made last year’s editors’ list. This year, it’s back and once again near the top.
This piece explores compatibilism—the coexistence of determinism and free will—alongside ecology and humanity’s recurring desire for control, and how that desire often produces unintended consequences.
In an era defined by political and ecological crises, this article reminds us that morality, responsibility, and agency are not constraints but prerequisites for sustainable futures.
Missing money. Lavish spending. A political elite that never seems to pay the price.
In this piece, Caconda tackles Angola’s ongoing corruption crisis, detailing scandals involving mismanaged public funds and widespread tax fraud. With corruption deeply entrenched, the economy continues to suffocate while ordinary citizens bear the cost. Until meaningful reform takes place, Angolans remain hostages to their own government.
Education clearly topped our readers’ interests this year. In this article, Pablo argues that Spain’s education system, rooted in rigid, 19th-century thinking, stifles creativity and individuality.
The solution? Less state control, more freedom of choice. By empowering families through reforms like school vouchers, Pablo makes the case for an education system that adapts to students instead of forcing students to adapt to it.
I have to admit that as an editor myself, I am partial to some articles and the same goes for the SpeakFreely team. So if you’re curious about which pieces we loved the most this year, wonder no longer.
Out of the over 170 articles published, we nominated 12 and put them to a vote. Here are the five Editors’ Picks of 2025.
1. Before I Knew What Freedom Was, I Wore It by Anna Shnaidman
Anna Shnaidman features in our Editors’ Picks once again with a heart-stirring story that stays with you long after you finish reading. When we talk about freedom, we often think of markets and institutions, but a child can’t understand all that.
For Shnaidman, growing up in the communist USSR, freedom was the feeling of luxury that a pair of oversized jeans gave her.
2. Love Is Dystopia: An Exploration of 1984 and Anthem by Josh Cheshire
We always love a good cultural piece and in this one, Josh Cheshire asks an interesting question: what is the link between liberty and love?
According to Cheshire, “Love cannot exist where liberty is tarnished, and liberty dies when we forget how to love.” Instead of the usual political readings of 1984 and Anthem, this article approaches them through the lens of a steamy romance. Or at least, as steamy as the overlords would allow.
3. Émile Durkheim’s Suicide: A Study in Sociology by Beatriz Santos
Santos revisits Durkheim’s concept of “fatalistic suicide” and questions whether it was ever merely theoretical. By connecting his 19th-century framework to real historical and modern cases of extreme regulation and oppression, this article offers a compelling reflection on how classical sociology applies to the modern world.
4. Minecraft Proves Hayek’s “Knowledge Problem” Right by Ilia Zhuzhunashvili
What does a video game have to do with economics? If you’re familiar with Hayek’s knowledge problem, the answer is “everything”.
Zhuzhunashvili shows how Minecraft players, using decentralized knowledge, consistently build better systems than any top-down planner ever could. That’s why we need to “trust the spontaneous, creative, and emergent order of free individuals to solve their own problems.”
5. The Ethics of Scarcity: Why Voluntary Plasma Systems Are Failing by Victor Silva Do Prado
The road to hell is paved with good intentions and Canada’s ban on paid plasma donations is a case in point. This article argues that the current system is ethically inconsistent, economically flawed, and practically unsustainable. A must-read for anyone interested in healthcare policy, ethics, or pragmatic reform.
This year promises to be even better but we can’t do it without you.
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Here’s to another year of ideas, debate, and speaking freely. 🥂
