“If we can help an indigenous libertarian project, it may mean more to this country, the region, and the world, than hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars poured from one governmental hand into another,” Atlas’s Tom Palmer wrote in an email early this week.
He was referring to the exciting effort spawned last Friday on Facebook where a conversation began on Palmer’s page about the newly established Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO) and his recent visit to their office in Kabul. The conversation turned into an impromptu fundraising campaign which raised $1,200 for internet access for the AELSO office for an entire year. Now the organization will be able to go live with their website in no time. At Atlas, we encounter situations like this frequently — where we hear from a partner in Asia or Eastern Europe, Africa or Latin America that a few hundred dollars would fund an intern, pay for a copy machine or internet or the electricity bill — the bare essentials that allow an institute to make an impact. Thank you to those who helped this young group take such a crucial step in their development. Check back soon for a link to their new website.
Palmer:
I got back in yesterday after a 13 hour drive through the Hindu Kush from Mazar-e-Sharif, where we presented the Dari edition of Common Sense Economics; What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity at the University of Balkh. Our friends are doing a lot of good work at great personal expense and risk. I was able to deliver some funds that were donated by friends in the U.S. to help them. We were so astonished when on Facebook, in response to a simple question, some dedicated liberty-lovers pledged $1,200 to pay for the internet access for the AELSO office, which currently does not have it, as it is expensive for them. They have a modest office, with a seminar room and library, and I hope to be able to fund the library for the next year, at $400 per month (there is a work room with desks, a seminar/library room with a large conference table and many shelves, and a tea room for smaller discussions and preparation of tea). It is a short walk from the Kabul University. They have purchased, all second-hand, a computer, a printer, and a scanner. I would like to help them buy a second-hand copier, as well.
Click here for pictures of Tom Palmer’s visit to Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.
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