The Translation Project is a new initiative of The Rosenkranz Foundation. This program begins with the assumption that the “war on terror” is, in a most important dimension, a war of ideas. Victory in this theater will mean countering the radical ideologies promulgated by radical, Islamist extremists by actively supporting and disseminating the core ideas that are the foundation of liberal democratic values around the world. Among these values are personal liberty, property rights, rule of law, free exercise of religion, a free press, and free and open participation in government. These ideals give support to political moderates worldwide and the encouragement they need to advance the struggle to tip the balance in favor of liberty.
In February 2007 the Foundation gave two grants to support this initiative. Both awards are to groups that will translate and distribute writings on human rights, free markets, and democracy throughout the Middle East. The Cato Institute’s Lamp of Liberty will translate into Arabic, the works of Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, Hernando de Soto and Voltaire and disseminate them to readers in the region. These articles and books will also available on the Lamp of Liberty’s Arabic-language website.
The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, a Washington-based non-profit dedicated to promoting democratic ideals in Iran, will translate into Farsi articles and books on liberalism and human rights by authors such as, Milton, Locke, Voltaire, Spinoza and the American Federalists. These will be made available to Iranian readers so that they can see that other people have faced and overcome similar challenges of intolerance and despotism throughout history. The works will also be disseminated on the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation’s website.