Cercle Frédéric Bastiat – Newsletter
Annual General Meeting. This took place at the Calicéo hotel, in Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, on Saturday 7th March 2009.
The accounts are balanced.
As usual, the subscriptions enable us to make up for the deficit of the dinner-debates. They are therefore extremely precious. Thanks to these subscriptions, we are able to maintain a reasonable price for the dinners and to welcome people who do not yet belong to the Cercle, which in turn helps to make it better known.
Confirming the international reputation and appeal of our Circle, a foreign patron made a donation that we have decided to devote to some "great projects" :
- the translation into English of the book "The Logic of Liberalism"
- an exceptional conference in Bayonne on the current crisis
- the publication of the complete works of Frédéric Bastiat
- a Weekend on Freedom
The first three projects are described below. The Weekend on Freedom is presented separately on this website (http://bastiat.net/en/FW/Announcement.htm )
The Meeting unanimously agreed to the following modifications in the Board of Directors :
Mr. Régis Blin, our highly appreciated general secretary, has asked to be relieved of this function while remaining on the Board. He has been replaced by Dr. Patrick de Casanove. Moreover, it has been decided to open the Board to an exterior personality who is active in the Libertarian sphere. Our choice has been Vincent Ginocchio, president of the association "Liberté Chérie", who regularly attends our dinner-debates although he lives in Paris. The Board for 2009 is therefore made up as follows : Jacques de Guenin, chairman; Philippe Couture, vice-chairman; Patrick de Casanove, general secretary; Françoise Couture, treasurer; Régis Blin, Gérard and Diana Dupuy, Vincent Ginocchio, Jean-Claude Paul-Dejean, directors.
Translation into English of the book "The Logic of Liberalism". This book, which contains many long quotations from Bastiat, had been the subject of a talk in English by its author, Jacques de Guenin, during the congress of the International Society for Individual Liberty, in Prague. In the audience was the managing director of "Laissez-Faire Books", the largest distributor of classical liberal books in the United States, as well as a few American donors who offered to finance the printing of the book. The translation still had to be financed, and this was decided on by our Board of Directors. The translator was Dennis O'Keefe, one of those who took part in the translation into English of the Complete works of Bastiat.
Conference in Bayonne on the current crisis. Tired of reading or hearing the nonsense that is propagated on the causes of the crisis and how to get out of it, we organized a special conference in Bayonne, the speaker being Vincent Bénard, one of the very best specialists on the subject. It was also an opportunity to show ourselves in the Basque Country, where we have many members. It took place in a lecture hall in the new Nive Campus of Bayonne University. Different members of the Board of Directors helped put up or distribute small posters in the town halls, libraries, book- and paper-shops in the Basque Country and at the University itself. The Bayonne edition of the newspaper 'Sud-Ouest' gave us a very good write-up, with photos. Contacts with the University were in the hands of Patrick de Casanove, who was well received by the president's secretariat. Despite very unfavourable weather and traffic conditions, we attracted about fifty people, who all showed great interest. We may therefore say that the event was a success. The video-recording of the conference can be found on this website http://bastiat.net/fr/cercle/rencontres/Conference_Vincent.Benard.html)
Publication of the complete works of Frédéric Bastiat. In partnership with the Charles Coquelin publishing firm, the Cercle is preparing a thematic edition of the Complete works of Bastiat, in four parts and seven volumes :
1 – The Man (1 volume). This volume will notably include Bastiat's correspondence in chronological order.
2 – The Politician (2 volumes)
3 – The Economist (3 volumes)
4 – The Champion of Free Trade (1 volume) This edition will be the most complete ever published, for it will include various hitherto unpublished documents rediscovered by Jean-Claude Paul-Dejean, a director of the Cercle, and one of the most knowledgeable historians on Frédéric Bastiat in the world. It will also include a biography by Mr. Paul-Dejean, as well as notes and a glossary written for the main part by Mr. Paul-Dejean and in a few cases by Jacques de Guenin.
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