2007 OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

HEADLINES

5 New Books Published in 2007

Polish, Mongolian, Turkish, Georgian, Nepali

2 Stage Plays Produced

Nigeria, Slovakia

6 New Languages of Animated Philosophy of Liberty

Danish, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Somali, Hungarian, +10 in queue

3 Language Editions Resurrected

Kyrgyz, German, Romanian

13 New Language Projects

French, Tagalog, Slovakian, Slovenian, Estonian, Kashubian, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Tamil, Ukrainian, Russian, Hebrew, Visayan

Progress in Distribution and Audio Production

Spanish, Portuguese, Sinahalese, Radio, CD

Awards and Recognition

Bruce Evoy Award, Bray-Conn, Grassroot Institute, APEE

POLISH

Krzysztof Haladus has published a spectacular hardback edition of JG with

more than 40 full-color, beautifully drawn illustrations. The appearance of the new Polish edition of the book has already attracted a large following since the premier last March.

Four months after publication Kris wrote: “There have been 1300 copies sold!…The book can be bought in every bookstore in Poland, including the biggest. The final book’s price is about $14 USD. Now I am working on an adaptation of Janette’s and Ken’s comments for Polish schools. I am going to publish these comments as a separate guide for teachers and propose using it in Polish schools.” This refers to the UK Commentary Edition of the book produced by Janette Eldridge rayjan@iafrica.com that will be adapted to the Polish environment.

Kris has taken an extraordinarily creative approach to the book, seeing every possible potential. The new Polish edition was printed with the highest quality material, cloth bookmark attached, plastic wrapped for protection, and CD inside! Yes, the CD has the complete audio edition of the book professionally produced in both Polish and English. It is the ideal companion to a book that could accompany any reader in his or her car or portable CD player.

The superb illustrations were computer generated so that they can easily be adapted to other language editions of the book. Kris is offering to make these color illustrations available for all new editions at a very low price. One of these adaptations is being produced by Kris—a new English edition of the book, specifically targeting the teen market world wide! http://www.aspektpublishing.com/

MONGOLIAN

Batchuluun Baldandorj, with the sponsorship of P. Tsenguun, Chairman of the Mongolian Libertarian Foundation, published the new Mongolian commentary edition of the book. It has already been a resounding success.

Reports Batchuluun: “Three weeks ago I went to the biggest book shop in Ulaanbaatar. The salesman told me that JG is the second bestseller among the social science and humanities books. It is a good result for us. Also, summer school lectures and workshops proceeded under the JG thesis. Students of the 5-day summer school discussed all topics of JG in a very detailed way.”

Such seminars are superb for inspiring young people to apply free market analysis to local issues. We look forward to more news as these seminars proliferate.

NIGERIA PLAY PUBLISHED

Adedayo Thomas and Paul Ugbede, a student from the University of Jos in northern Nigeria have published “A Letter from Jonathan Gullible,” an English language play based on the JG book. The play has been published with the assistance of The International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL).

Thomas has already been using it in numerous university and high school forums. Thomas held a contest to determine the select group of high school students who will participate in his midterm, four-day workshop in November.

Says Thomas, “The play will be serving as the final selection for student attendance. I am targeting 30 participants. And at Kaduna State University we identified the three best students in an assessment examination of the just concluded semester. The question set read, ‘The play, A Letter From Jonathan Gullible, celebrates the essence of freedom and economic liberalism. Discuss.’ This was conducted by the course lecturer, Jeremiah Methuselah of the Faculty of Arts. I will soon be presenting these students some books as prizes.”

Continues Thomas, “At Ahmadu Bello University, in Zaria, the play is being used in the Introduction to Dramatic Text to teach students the techniques what playwrights use to communicate. This includes character, empathy and antipathy, dialogs, etc. At the end of the semester, we hope to see the best students as well as to see it on stage. The course Lecturer is Professor Jenks Okwori of the Drama and Theatre Arts Department.”

In many parts of the world, theater and skits are more natural to student learning. Thus, I am hoping that his play will be taken up in other parts of the world as well.

GEORGIAN

My family had the great good fortune of attending the summer economics seminars in Gonio, Republic of Georgia, on the eastern edge of the Black Sea. The Lessons of Liberty camp was hosted by Paata Sheshelidze, President, and Gia Jandieri, Vice President, of the New Economic School of Georgia in Tbilisi. Organizational work for the event was provided by Kevin Bjornson, Louis James, Sunni Maravillosa, Natallia Shpak, Tatiana Martos, Anna Tokar, and many others who pulled off a grand event that was attended by more than 50 students from the region: Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Georgia.

When we arrived at the camp I was presented with a copy of the new Georgian edition of JG which was made available to camp participants and served as the theme for many of the economics classes. Xiao Yi and my daughter Kenli also gave lessons and held discussions from selected chapters of the book. My wife, Li, concentrated on the debates raging over religion and government.

The camp was a tremendous success and is sure to set the wheels in motion for an annual camp and perhaps major conferences of ISIL and other freedom oriented organizations in the future. Says Louis, who brought most of his dynamic family and supported the attendance of many others with scholarships, “I can tell you that it is one of the most fun ways I’ve found for learning, teaching and doing something about freedom.”

UKRAINIAN

At the Georgia camp I met up again with Anna Tokar, the translator of JG into Ukrainian. She had one translation complete, but it was lost during a change in employment when computer files were disrupted. Undaunted, Anna has resumed the project with gusto, among a multitude of other activities. Says Anna, “I am employed now, working as a lawyer for a huge company. And as an actress I am preparing for a new theatre season, having rehearsals every evening and on weekends. No free time at all again…”

As a theater buff, Anna made great efforts during the Georgia camp to turn the Nigerian English play, A Letter From Jonathan Gullible, into a summer production. Alas, the beach at the Black Sea was too inviting to the camp attendees. I’m sure it will come to life again, most likely in the cold months of winter.

Last month I received word from Yulia Hlushko, an economics student in the Ukraine who is interested in helping to produce a Ukrainian edition. Wrote Yulia, “Two years ago with help of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) I became acquainted with the ideas of freedom and liberty. I liked these ideas very much, so I would like to spread them among the Ukrainian people, especially students. Your book The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible can really help me with this.”

I am hoping that Anna and Yulia can cooperate to bring JG to the Ukraine.

TURKISH

My family also attended the economics summer seminars of the Liberal Dusunce Toplulugu—the Association for Liberal Thinking. We were hosted by the renowned economist Birol Kovancilar, of Celal Bayar University, and his family before attending the summer camp at the coastal resort town of Cesme. What music it was to my ears to hear Birol’s presentation about the ideas of the great free market economists Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, and Murray Rothbard!

We were greeted at the sessions by the organizer, Bugra Kalkan, who presented me with a copy of the new Turkish edition of JG! This project had been delayed when the first translated manuscript was lost and had to be re-translated. It is now completed and nicely complements the institute’s extensive library of free market publications. Bugra has just informed me that the book was adopted by two universities and the first printing is already sold out. It is going into a second printing after only two months since publication!

Originally scheduled for July, the conference had to be rescheduled to August due to a political showdown between the military and the ruling AKP, Justice and Development Party. Atilla Yayla, President of the Liberal Dusunce Toplulugu, was embroiled in controversy earlier in the year when he appeared in a public forum and compared the conditions of life in Turkey today compared to the time of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic.

Fierce nationalists took offense at these comments and Dr. Yayla was subjected to charges that could result in three years of imprisonment! Such is the status of free speech and academic freedom under the watchful eye of the military and loyal Kemalists in Turkey. Hopefully, the tempest will subside and the brilliant and courageous Dr. Yayla will once again be left to comment freely on pressing economic reforms.

Bugra informs me that the institute is investigating the possibility of using Thomas Ayodele’s JG play in Turkey. Such satire may be just the medicine for a country where it is so dangerous to be direct in challenging authority. Also, work is in progress on a Turkish translation of the animated Philosophy of Liberty.

Just now Birol wrote about his university students saying, “Most of them visited the JG web page and we ordered 100-120 of the Turkish J. Gullible from Bugra. I’m using JG books in my Public Finance lectures. Very informative, useful, and funny. But my students have some wishes from you. They are planning to send you their photo with your book. And they want to see their photo on the JG web page: Turkish JG Funs!” Indeed, JG and I feel honored! The photo will be posted just as soon as it arrives!

NEPALI

Prakash Thapa of the American Library in Kathmandu wrote, “We have already published the Nepali version of the book. We are ready to organize book discussion programs in four cities outside Kathmandu Valley i.e. Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bhairahawa, and Pokhara starting September 2007. During the program, local speakers and participants will exchange their views on the relevance of JG in the Nepali context. What did they learn and what do they need to do next, etc. We would also like to organize a Digital Video Conference (DVC) program with you soon to release the book and to share your knowledge with Nepali scholars.”

Sharon Hudson-Dean, the Deputy Director of the American Center, wrote, “...we think your book is such a perfect fit for Nepal’s current situation and that there will be tremendous interest among a wide variety of readers.” Five thousand copies will be distributed to students and universities.

This is also greatly due to the efforts of Robin Sitoula, General Secretary of the Youth Initiative, and those of Editor Charu Chadha Rizal and Rakesh Wadhwa, who serialized the English edition of JG in The Boss magazine.

Robin writes, “I am really happy that the book is finally ready. It has been such a dream come true to me as well.” Charu recently wrote that the series has been well received. Says Charu, “The boss is still running the JG series. I think we are coming towards the end, but I do want you to know that it is extremely popular with our readers.”

Sadly, plans to visit Nepal for the release of the book this past summer had to be postponed due to disruptions described above in Turkey.

FLASH ANIMATION: PHILOSOPHY OF LIBERTY

The animated Philosophy of Liberty (PoL) has electrified the use of the JG website, http://www.jonathangullible.com. Monthly views of the animation on the JG website and ISIL currently number in the tens of thousands. This is surely magnified many fold by the various websites that have downloaded the PoL for viewings around the world.

The PoL is now available in fifteen languages. In addition to English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Esperanto, Russian, Ukrainian, and Romanian, five new languages have been added, Danish, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Somali, and Hungarian, and a dozen more are in the queue.

Mario Knezovic did much of the re-engineering of the animation following Kerry Pearson’s death. And now Steve Cobb cobb@freestateproject.org has been the organizing genius behind the adaptation of more languages with a new Unicode format assisted by Dmitry Shevchenko. More languages are invited.

Drew Suder has greatly expanded the usability of the PoL by offering an easy download of the animation in 6 different media formats: swf, mpg, DivX, WMV, MP4, and DVD. These can be freely accessed on the downloads page.

The response has been very strong in Spanish speaking regions, most significantly in Venezuela where personal liberty seems in jeopardy. Every day we get a great responses from viewers, such as this from Alex: “I wanted to personally acknowledge your brilliance on the flash movie you created. Our mindsets are one and the same man. Congratulations on expressing your pure thoughts in such an elegant way that has practically left me speechless. My only hope is that your message reaches the far ends of society’s spectrum.”

FRENCH

Some years ago Louis Zizka translated JG into French. This project was much appreciated and encouraged by colleagues who were eager to have a lively new introduction of free market ideas in Francophone countries. In support of this endeavor, Jacques de Guenin lent his professional touch in editing the latest revision.

Michel de Grand Ry, founding Editor of Alice Editions, an esteemed publishing house in Bruxelles, expressed interest in the book this year. Jacques has thus been engaged in negotiating a global contract that we hope to be very near completion. http://www.alice-editions.be/home.php?secteur_id=3

The potential for reaching a broad new audience is enormous. In addition to Belgium and France, the list of countries where French is a national language is long: Benin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu. French is also spoken in dozens more countries. Many of these are in Africa where a reform of popular economic thinking is so desperately needed.

SPANISH

Last Spring I was fortunate to have journeyed to a number of countries in Latin America. My first stop was to meet with my dearest friends Judy and Tony Nagy in Quito, Ecuador where I was invited to give a talk on behalf of Funcacion El Manantial of Quito. Judy Nagy is the translator and publisher of the pioneering Spanish JG in Latin America.

The Nagy’s hosted me in luxury while they carried on, among a multitude of business and political activities, a charitable business of secondhand clothing which caters to the hard-pressed, industrious folk of the neighborhood. Quito, in the company of my dear sister Judy, is truly the beautiful, legendary El Dorado, except for the altitude adjustment that Hawaiians must endure.

Judy and Tony also took me for a speaking engagement with the students and administration at the San Francisco University. I was extremely impressed to find this as an oasis of free market, intellectual genius that parallels the libertarian tide at Francisco Marroquin University of Guatemala.

Lima was next on my journey. I was welcomed as a guest in the home of Jorge Luis Hernandez Chanduvi and I delivered talks in the city. The Institutto de Defensa de la Propriedad (IDP) and Centro de Investigacion y Estudios Legales (CITEL) invited my presentation about “Education and Free Markets.” I was graciously hosted by Jorge Luis, Paul Laurent SolÍs (President of IDP), Martin H. Portillo, and the rest of what I nicknamed the “Seven Samurai of Peru” for their fierce challenge to the political left. The honored guru of these free market warriors appears to be the renowned Enriques Ghersi, the real brain behind the research of “the other path“—the advocacy of secure property rights in Latin America.

Flying over the spectacular Andes to Argentina I met Hernán Alberro and Álvaro Feuerman and their very elegant and brilliant ladies. In Buenos Aires I was invited to speak to Centro Para La Apertura y el Desarrollo de America Latina (CADAL), of Buenos Aires.

As translator and publisher of a new Spanish edition sponsored by Henry and Roya Weyerhaeuser, Hernán also introduced me to the owner and Director of Grito Sagrado, Rosa Pelz de Kofman, the vibrant and fascinating publisher of Ayn Rand’s works in Latin America. How is it that Latin America produces so many grand women like Judy Nagy and Rosa Pelz, both of whom remind me of the magnificent women of Ayn Rand’s novels!

PORTUGUESE

My final stop was in Brazil as the guest of Margaret Tse, Executive Vice President of Instituto Liberdade, and Paulo Uebel, President of the Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (IEE) of Porto Alegre. I first met Margaret at the ISIL conference in Whistler, Canada many years ago. Since then I have been impressed with the productivity of the free market institutes that she has administered. http://www.il-rs.com.br/

I was invited to speak to a terrific group of young libertarian-minded professionals and students on the topic of “Corruption: Sources and Solutions.” Part of the event was also to address the relevance of such free market educational tools as the Portuguese edition of JG, published by Margaret and the Instituto Liberal eight years ago.

It was my first time to ride in a fully bullet-proof SUV—and for good reason. During my time in Brazil, it seems there are endless stories of car-jackings and assaults in the region. But then, my friends reminded me, freelance robbery pales in comparison to the official robbery that sets the example.

SINAHALESE

Raja Senanayake and Luxman Siriwardena brought about the Sinahala edition of JG in Sri Lanka, another publication sponsored by the generous support of Henry and Roya Weyerhaeuser. The book seems to be gaining traction. Raja wrote from Colombo, “I told Mr. Wijewardene, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, about your book and he agreed to include it in his recommended reading to the university students of one of the universities where he is a visiting lecturer.”

TAGALOG

Mark Skousen’s annual Freedom Fest in Las Vegas this summer was, again, the libertarian highlight of the year, with over 1000 attendees and a multitude of great speakers. Recordings of the entire 4-days of events, including my debate, can be purchased at: http://www.freedomfest.com/index1.html Better yet, plan to attend the event next year!

One of the great values of this event is in meeting great libertarian minds. Last July I met Mark Tier, who has begun exploring the possibilities for JG in the Philippines.

Mark wrote to say, “Most promising so far — a professor at a prominent university in the Philippines has read Jonathan Gullible, thinks it’s great, is talking to colleagues and will (hopefully) recommend it be published by the university’s press! THAT would be something!”

Indeed! That will be a great accomplishment!

I must take this opportunity to recognize Ivo Cerckel, of Cebu, whose Visayan translation of JG can be found at: http://www.jonathangullible.com/translations. For those who might know of a publisher who would be interested in a Visayan edition, please contact Ivo at: philmigrator@yahoo.com .

SLOVAKIAN

The Slovakian edition is making great strides. Brano Opaterny, a former MP of Slovakia, published the first Slovakian edition last year and plans to publish Janette Eldridge’s full commentary edition soon. Wrote Brano, “The text for commentary edition is already translated. I have to check it and put things in order. I believe I will do it before X-mas so I suppose the book would be published in the Spring of 2008.”

Matus Posvanc has been working on a multimedia theatrical production of JG in Bratislava. “According to JG,” wrote Mat, “we have finished a second version of the play after a meeting with the professional director who made some comments…I am planning to translate what we produce into English during the following months.”

I look forward to this translation as it will make Mat’s script available to many more countries. For more information about the The F. A. Hayek Foundation Bratislava (FAHF), visit: http://www.nira.go.jp/ice/nwdtt/2005/DAT/1282.html

SLOVENIAN

I met Matej Steinbacher, President of the Free Society Institute (FSI) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at the Mont Pelerin Society conference in Guatemala City last summer. He has been serializing JG in his journal, The Tribunal, over the past year. Have a look at their great free market website, also in English, at: http://www.fsi-institute.si/.

Matej introduced me to his organization with this photo. “I’m attaching for you a picture with most of the FSI members who are working on The Tribunal. From left to right: Matej Steinbacher (FSI president), Matjaz Steinbacher (Editor-in-Chief of The Tribunal), Mitja Steinbacher, and Anze Burger. Missing: Tanja Stumberger.”

ROMANIAN

And great news from Romania. Last January I received this message: “My name is Iulian Tanase and I am the general manager of Libertas Publishing, a Romanian publishing house. We are interested in translating and publishing libertarian economists and writers. Our first two translations are Denationalisation of Money, by F.A. Hayek, and Economics in One Lesson, by H. Hazlitt. Next month, these two books will be followed by Professor Walter Block’s book, Building Blocks for Liberty. Therefore, we would very much like to publish the Romanian translation of your book, The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible. I mention that the book has already been translated into Romanian by a member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Romania, and we have agreed with Mr. Cristian Comanescu, the president of the LvMI, to use this translation.”

And in August we see the progress in this endeavor with this news, “The book will be in print by the end of the year, together with a book by Professor Walter Block, so you can include the Romanian edition in your newsletter.” I am very delighted to do so!

ESTONIAN

Paul Vahur, a free market activist in Tallinn and founder of the Estonian Liberal Club “Nahtamatu Kasi” (invisible hand in Estonian) has taken up numerous free market literary projects. Says Paul, “We are in the early stages of creating a non-profit organization with the aim to translate ‘easier’ books about capitalism.” Paul has indicated that JG will likely be translated this year. Writes Paul, “We yet haven’t had time to discuss which books we will be translating first but JG is certainly high on the list if not the first.” paul.vahur@icegold.com

Estonia is always the example I give to my students of the successful application of free market ideas. Surely, the work of the Estonian Liberal Club is partially responsible for establishing the intellectual climate.

KYRGYZ

This summer my family trekked to Kyrgyzstan at the invitation of Mirsulzhan Namazaliev, m.namazaliev@gmail.com, Co-chairman of the Liberal Youth Alliance and Aida Alymbaeva, Chair of the Social Research Center of the American University of Central Asia, http://src.auca.kg. Elnura Adylova, sister to one of my best former students, Erkin Adylov, hosted us at her home during the visit and, along with Mirsulzhan, guided us through the spectacular mountain and lake country. These two were absolutely the greatest friends one could ever have.

Mirsulzhan kindly introduced us to the UNV’s Summer Democracy School, www.bdk.kg; Cholpon Nogoibaeva, President of the Bishkek Liberal Club, http://www.akipress.org/_htm/blc.htm; and the Liberal Platform of Action and the Club of Young Liberals, www.liberal.kg.

Our quest was to seek out the long lost copies of the Kyrgyz edition of JG. This was a project of the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) at the American University in Kyrgyzstan. Zarina Osmonaliev, at one time the Sam Walton Fellow for SIFE at AUCA, helped us to resurrect these books. Mirsulzhan and Ulukbek described a plan to use these in the villages to promote economics education.

Mirsulzhan is one of the most energetic, intellectual, and bold of libertarian activists I have met anywhere in the world. He was in the midst of the demonstrations that recently brought a change in the government and he will surely be the instrument in future reforms throughout Central Asia.

RUSSIAN

Most people in the cities of Kyrgyzstan speak and read Russian instead of the traditional Kyrgyz language. This seems true in most of the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia. Thus, it is with keen interest that we look forward to publication of the new, revised Russian editions of JG.

Alex Kouryaev in Moscow has completed translating a new Russian edition of JG and has been planning to use the illustrations that were produced by Krzysztof Haladus for the Polish edition. ppcd372@ints.ru The magnificent characters are easily suitable for any European edition and might be modified for elsewhere as well. 


Vitaly “William” Milonov in St. Petersburg is also preparing a new Russian edition and is working on completely new illustrations, some of the most artistic and ethereal I have ever seen. Says William, “The book is completely ready, but…I’ve decided to order a new set of pictures. Actually, they should be ready in a week.” v_milonov@yahoo.com

A week can be very long in Russia, but it will be well worth the wait once it is published. Many people of the former Soviet Republics eagerly await the arrival of these books!

GERMAN

The German edition of JG has been resurrected and is now available again from André F. Lichtschlag, Lichtschlag Medien und Werbung KG: http://www.capitalista.de/product_info.php?products_id=981001378 Much credit for discovering this long-lost inventory goes to Dr. Oliver Knipping”

Dr. Barbara Kolm-Lamprechter, Secretary General of the F.A. v. HAYEK INSTITUT in Wien, Austria, has also been very supportive. She says her institute will help to promote the book. http://www.hayek-institut.at/

Michael Kastner wrote, “It’s great news to read that the German version JG is available again. I have been offering the English commentary version of your book for a few years already in my online bookstore. I wish you and André good luck with the German version.” http://www.buchausgabe.de/shoproot/444item.html

I am also grateful to Susanne Galler, Holger Haupt, Christian Butterbach, and to all who helped in preparing the German edition of the animated Philosophy of Liberty. It seems that half the world speaks German, and there are as many ways to interpret it as there are people who speak it! Susanne, a former student of mine from Austria who is now settling in New York City, is among the finest of researchers and analysts I have known in my years of teaching.

KASHUBIAN

When Michal Ostrowski asked for permission to publish a Kashubian edition of JG I had no idea where this language was spoken. I learned that it is a small community in Poland. Explained Michal, “We are a small (two person right now) group of people who enjoy (really!) making translations, because for us it is the only way to show to other Kashubians their own language. Currently w