Ideas for a Free Society
We know that ideas have consequences and that many influential and inspirational advocates of a free society read just one book which had a profound impact on their understanding, leading them to dedicate their lives to the pursuit of the free society.
But unfortunately ideas that explain the relationships between individual freedom, limited government and prosperity are not available to most people in the world. This is the case in much of Africa, Asia and the Middle East particularly if you don’t have access to fast download speeds. For those who do not speak English or another European language, they are generally not available at all.
So we have produced a mini library of relevant texts on a CD called Ideas for a Free Society. We support the translation of texts and production of CDs, DVDs and associated books in other languages, essay competitions about these ideas, and major outreach efforts by local partners in some of the least free and poorest parts of the world. A DVD has recently been launched in Portuguese and a CD and student primer in Kyrgyz. Currently under production are CDs in Turkish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic, and books for students in Chinese.
We originally focused on CDs because they are inexpensive to produce and distribute. Likewise CDs provide access where the books are not available or download speeds are too slow or expensive. The cost of producing the second edition of our CD Ideas for a Free Society was about 75 cents each and the average cost of shipping them 20 cents. So for under a dollar we can get over 100 of these wonderful texts on the CD to almost any country.
Progress over the last 18 months has far exceeded our expectations, with achievements by our partners often being way beyond anything we could have imagined. 80% of the 100,000 CDs produced in English have been distributed to over 50 countries including Afghanistan, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
The aim of the project is to increase the number of people who share our understanding of and commitment to liberty and in their turn they will become the intellectuals in their countries who change the climate of opinion in favour of freedom.
For more information read
Network for a Free Society Progress Report – Summer 2011 – PDF
If you want others to share the freedom and opportunities you enjoy, please donate now to invest in our work.