Paul A. Martin, director of the Instituto Henry
George in Managua, Nicaragua, traveled to Des Moines, IA,
to be a presenter at the Sept. 2000 Council of Georgist
Organizations conference. The IHG is funded in part by the
Robert Schalkenbach Foundation and works in cooperation
with the Henry George Institute of New York.
Nicaragua is
the largest country in Central America with the smallest
population (4 to 5 million) and the most dynamic political
environment for change in the region.
Paul Martin's North American hometown, Newton Mass.,
had a sister city relation with a Nicaraguan pueblo, and
his University Spanish teacher drew his attention to
Nicaragua during the controversial "Contra" war years in
the late 1980s. As a result, Martin visited Nicaragua to
do research for his undergraduate thesis on the Nicaraguan
nationalist Sandino.
Shortly thereafter graduating from Boston College
with a degree in Spanish, Martin returned to Nicaragua to
do volunteer work for a humanitarian aid project. Like
many naive leftist of the epoch, Martin lost interest in
the Nicaraguan cause when the revolutionary party there was
voted out of power by a reactionary coalition amenable to
Nicaragua's rapid reintegration into the gobal economic
system. He worked for some years as a career counselor and
for a government reemployment project where he grew
disillusioned with the futility of the band-aid approach to
orthodox unemployment "solutions".
Acting on a business plan he had been developing
since 1994, Martin returned to Nicaragua in 1997 to
establish the Spanish language immersion industry there in
order to create employment opportunities for Nicaraguans
(then and now with a 50+% real unemployment rate). After a
few years of successfully developing this project, all the
time feeling the growing pressure of rent and taxes in the
US and Nicaragua, Martin stumbled across the Henry George
Institute's website "Understanding Economics" (operated by
Lindy Davies) and the explanation of the law of rent.
Enthralled but skeptical, Martin read Progress and Poverty
and quickly saw the irrefutable truth of its, for him,
liberating argument. From that moment on, Martin became an
ardent Georgist advocate. He subsequently volunteered to
translate the entire "Understanding Economics" website into
Spanish for the HGI, NY, which he did during last half of
1999.
This April, Martin founded the Instituto Henry George
in Managua, an organization dedicated to educating the
entire Nicaruaguan population about the Georgist economic
analysis and remedy. Among its many activites, every two
months, the IHG offers "Comprender la Economia" a 20-hour
intensive course based upon the HGI, NY's "Understanding
Economics" website course, and open to all Nicaraguans.
The IHG graduated its first class of 24 students in
June 2000, and another class of 23 students in August. All
of of the higher level graduates expressed interest in
doing volunteer work, and many are presently active
participants in activities of the Instituto. At this
moment another class of over 100 students is enrolling for
the Instituto's third course.
The IHG has its own website (http://ibw.com.ni/~ihg)
which offers volunteer work and information on the
Instituto's projects. IHG has published and distributed
"Progreso y Miseria" and "Comprender la Economia" texts for
use in the Instituto's intensive course on Political
Economy. The "Comprender la Economia" guide includes a new
12-page synopsis of the original P&M text. The IHG office
currently has two computer stations with Internet access
for research and space for 6 volunteers to be working at
one time. The IHG will be seeking to annex itself to a
Nicaraguan university in the future.
The IGH hand-out information, "What We Do" says:
"El Instituto Henry George functions with financial support
from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation of New York USA,
the Henry George Institute of New York USA, and the Henry
George Foundation of London England. Our personnel
consists of Nicaraguan and international volunteers.
Volunteer work includes: facilitating studies and opinion
polls of various sectors of the econony and society;
investigating, analyzing, tabulating, and interpreting
studies, and correspondence; preparation of education and
promotional materials (texts, charts, flyers, posters,
graphics, cassettes, video); preparation of class and
workshop curricula; contacting interested organizations
and leaders; organizing and facilitating presentations
lectures, workshops and classes; management of public
relations campaigns; administrative and technical help, and
more. Work tours can be up to 6 months.
To participate in
the activities of the Instituto Henry George as a
volunteer, a candidate must first take and pass the course
"Understanding Economics" either via the free internet
course (http://www.henrygeorge.org/) offered by the Henry
George Inbstituto de NY, or in person in Nicaragua through
the Instituto.
----------------------------
editor's note: Paul A. Martin, Director,
Instituto Henry George, can be reached at: De la Rotonda
Bello Horizonte, 2 cuadras al sur, 2 cuadras arriba (al
este), casa amarilla #C-IV-36. Apartado Postal SL-145,
Managua, NICARAGUA, +505-244-4512
email nssmga@ibw.com.ni
WWW http://ibw.com.ni/~ihg