Atlas 30th Anniversary

 

ATLAS HIGHLIGHTS

 

PERSPECTIVES ON THE UNREST IN EGYPT

 

This is a pivotal moment in the history of Egypt. The people are angry; in the last 24 hours tens of thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets demanding economic reform and an end to corruption. On this 4th day of demonstrations, some are calling on Hussni Mubarak, Egypt's president for the past three decades, to step down. Authorities have responded by forcing telecommunications companies to shut down and cutting Internet access. Security forces on the streets have used tear gas, water cannon, and plastic coated bullets. News agencies have reported that hundreds of demonstrators were injured and at least five people were killed today.

 

Here at Atlas, we're following the news via sources like Alarabiya.net (available in Arabic and in English) and getting perspective on the unfolding events via a briefing paper in Egypt released by The Quilliam Foundation. This briefing provides a detailed explanation of the background to recent events, and suggests that the influence of Islamism in Egypt may be overstated. It is difficult to predict where events in Egypt will lead next, but we can be hopeful about this public outrage against state corruption. It reflects the growing opportunities throughout the region to promote classical liberal principles via independent think tanks like the Egyptian Union for Liberal Youth and Atlas's own Minbaralhurriyya Arabic outreach program.

 

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF ADVANCING LIBERTY

 

If you share our optimism about the future of freedom and the important role to be played by think tanks connected through the Atlas network -- then you're going to want to help us celebrate during 2011, because it's Atlas's 30th Anniversary! We have a lot to be proud of in Atlas's first three decades, but we also have a lot more to accomplish. 

 

In 2011, we're going to win some victories for liberty. We're operating on more fronts than ever before with an operating plan that emphasizes results, including a clear mission, cost-effective strategy and dedicated team.

 

Join us in celebrating your 30th anniversar as we expand and strengthen the Atlas Network of think tanks and individuals working to advance liberty across the globe. We appreciate the support of our friends and partners over the past 30 years, and we hope you'll continue to stand by our side as we advance this vital cause.  

 

Below in this email, we have information about our April event, The Atlas Experience, which would be a wonderful opportunity for you to catch up with your friends in the Atlas network. But first, we'd like to share an assortment of news from several of our partners.

ATLAS NETWORK NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

 

-- The Central Asian Free Market Institute (Kyrgyzstan) introduced Social Entrepreneurship and Crisis, by Mamyr Abdullaev, an independent journalist from Osh city and a participant in the Smith Foundation-sponsored free market school 2009. Abdullaev states, "People working in the field of business may become ideal social entrepreneurs because this is the type of people who have the powerful entrepreneurial spirit inside. Perhaps many of them have simply not thought about this kind of activity." Read the entire article here.

 

-- The Institute of Economic Affairs (UK) held a book launch for Mark Pennington's Robust Political Economy (US release date: Feb 28)This page at the IEA website includes ashort video with the author explaining how he defends classical liberalism against the critiques of communitarians and egalitarians, even on their own terms.

 

-- Richard Durana, director of the Slovakia Institute for Economic and Social Studies and the project The Price of the State, discusses how his group is working to educate Slovaks that many services currently provided by the government could be delivered more efficiently by the private sector. View the interview on Reason.tv.
 

-- Just Facts devoted its online radio show to the topic of Sound Money this past week, hosting Judy Shelton the co-director of the Sound Money Project at Atlas.  The hour-long program entitled Preserving the Value of Your Money can be accessed here as a podcast.

 

-- "Every child in America deserves challenging, motivating, effective education. All schools should succeed. Period. It doesn't matter if the failing school is in the heart of the city or in the wealthiest neighborhood in town." This is one of several talking points shared across the United States during National School Choice Week, January 23 - 29. Atlas partnered in the nationwide efforts by declaring as "IN" early in the campaign and continues to promote school choice. For more information, contact Matt Warner at matt.warner@atlasnetwork.org

 

-- Niall Ferguson gave the annual John Bonython Lecture at Centre for Independent Studies (Australia) last year.  The lecture -- titled Empires on the Edge of Chaos: The Nasty Fiscal Arithmetic of Imperial Decline -- was just reprinted as an Occasional Paper of the CIS and is available on video as well.  It looks at the U.S. government's precarious fiscal situation in the midst of observing: "We tend to think of geopolitical shift as a protracted and gradual phenomenon... but history suggests it may not be so slow-acting."

 

ATLAS IN THE NEWS

 

GO-TO THINK TANKS RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE

 

The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the International Relations Program, University of Pennsylvania, has identified 6480 think tanks around the world (including government affiliated think tanks and others quite different from the independent model championed by Atlas), and created a process for ranking them.  Its latest publication -- The Global "Go-To Think Tanks" 2010 by James McGann -- lists 35 think tanks connected to the Atlas Network who appear among the top 25 institutes in its 29 different categories. Atlas itself appears on the list of the Top 25 International Development Think Tanks in the world. 

 

Congratulations to the following institutes for also earning recognition within the study: Adam Smith Institute (UK), Acton Institute (US), American Enterprise Institute for Policy Research (US), Association for Liberal Thinking (Turkey), Center for Independent Studies (Australia), Centro de Divulgacion del Conocimeneto Economico (Venezuela), Cato Institute (US), Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (Serbia), Civitas: Institute for Study of Civil Society (UK), Competitive Enterprise Institute (US), European Ideas Network (Belgium), F.A. Hayek Foundation (Slovakia), Fraser Institute  (Canada), Free Market Foundation (South Africa), Fundacion Libertad (Argentina), Heritage Foundation (US), Hudson Institute (US), IMANI Center for Policy and Education (Ghana), Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (Nigeria), Instituto Ecuatoriano de Economia Politica (Ecuador), Instituto Libertad y Democracia (Peru), International Policy Network (UK), Libertad Y Desarollo (Chile), Liberty Institute (India), Lithuanian Free Market Institute (Lithuania), Macdonald-Laurier Institute (Canada), Manhattan Institute (US), Mercatus Center (US), Pacific Research Institute (US), Prague Security Studies Institute (Czech Republic), Reason Foundation (US), and Taxpayers' Alliance (UK).

 

Mandarin VOA Channel interviews Atlas's Tom Palmer

 

Voice of America's Mandarin TV channel interviewed Atlas's Executive Vice President Tom Palmer on January 18th about trade and economic issues on a Mandarin channel of Voice of America (with call-ins and emails from China). View the video here. Please note that the video clip is in Mandarin Chinese.

 

Atlas Fellow Deroy Murdock on Scripps News

 

"Rwanda improves steadily and does so with infectious self-confidence. These days, alas, it's hard to say that about America," concludes Deroy Murdock, Atlas Senior Fellow in this Scripps News op-ed discussing how America should follow free-market Rwanda.

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

The Atlas Experience, April 27-28, 2011 in Dallas, TX


Join Atlas in Dallas! With amazing speakers, such as Johan Norberg, author of In Defense of Global Capitalism and Financial Fiasco, John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, and John Goodman, CEO and President of the National Center for Policy Analysis, Atlas's popular networking conference The Atlas Experience will begin our 30th anniversary celebrations. 


The Atlas Experience 2011 will be held in at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas on April 27 - 28, and will take place in conjunction with the Heritage Resource Bank which follows immediately after our event. If you haven't already, save the dates for these two popular events.


To make your hotel reservations for The Atlas Experience and the Heritage Resource Bank meetings, and to take advantage of the group rate of $179/night, call the Hilton Anatole at 1.214.748.1200 or 1.800.955.4281.


For more information, please visit AtlasNetwork.org or email events@atlasnetwork.org. If you need to speak with someone at Atlas, please call 202.449.8449. 

ONE MORE CHANCE FOR A 2010 TAX DEDUCTION

Persons aged 70 1/2 or older can still enjoy 2010 tax savings by making charitable gifts directly from their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) during the month of January 2011 if they choose to declare the gifts on their 2010 tax returns. You can find more details here.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, LIBERTY! 

 

Freedom Champion Video Series

 

Upcoming Freedom Champion Video: Angel Soto - Santiago, Chile

Freedom Champion Gurcharan Das - India
Gurcharan Das, chairman of the Centre for Civil Society (CSS), has been a pioneer of India's school voucher program. In 2009, India adopted education reforms that may enable transformative levels of School Choice (but which may also have some negative effects on existing educational options in the free market).

Freedom Champion Adedayo Thomas - Nigeria 
Adedayo Thomas, publisher and director of outreach for AfricanLiberty.org, walks across Africa to share the message of liberty to university students; spotlighted as a 2010 YouTube nonprofit video receiving over 13,000 views.
                                                                                                           Atlas 30th Anniversary

 

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Contact Information

Phone 202.449.8449  Fax 202.280.1259
1201 L St. NW, Washington, DC 20005

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