Activities of the Humanist Movement

The Humanist Movement organizes activities to work against injustice, exploitation, and discrimination, and against the violence that has been imposed on society by an oppressive minority.  The benefits flowing to this minority continue to grow, while the conditions of life for the overwhelming majority continue to deteriorate.
The aspiration to have health care, education, equal rights, and equal opportunity freely available to every human being, clash with today’s privatizing and monopolistic globalizing models.
The present and the future of new generations are at stake in this struggle.  At the same time, the traditional political models no longer work. Society is becoming de-structured.  Labor organizations, social organizations, neighborhood groups - even families and couples are becoming fragmented, are becoming individual “islands.”  Meanwhile, the power of the worldwide banks and multinationals continues to grow.
The Humanist Movement is working to create a broad social movement, without rejecting political participation or commitment to concrete and local struggles.  The proposals for these actions are outlined in “The Statement of the Humanist Movement” and this document is available to anyone who studies our materials, visits our neighborhood centers, or connects with our electronic bulletin board systems or web pages.
One important point should be emphasized:  The information that people at large are being fed and the manipulation they are being subjected to has an impact in the consciousness of each and every citizen.  We must do something with our own lives that counteracts the suggestions and the hypnosis of the prevailing System, which threatens to convert us into robots.  The Humanist Movement gives special importance to renewing human subjectivity, to the building meaning in life, and to personal re-appraisal.  It is important to do all this in order to gain faith and to strengthen the possibilities for change.

A Few Ideas about the Humanist Movement
1. Who is in the Humanist Movement?

People from many different countries, cultures, beliefs, and professions who are organizing ourselves, gaining strength, and growing in number in order to take an active and constructive role in orienting the great changes that are coming to our Universal Human Nation.
2. What are the institutional activities of the Humanist Movement?

The Humanist Movement is not an institution.  Rather, it is an organized human structure made up of many people, which has in turn given birth to various institutions such as:  Multi-cultural Centers; Humanist Associations and Clubs, Neighborhood Centers Communication, the Humanist Party, and the Community for Human Development.
The Movement places great importance on people taking the initiative to produce and circulate books and pamphlets, periodicals, neighborhood newsletters, radio and TV programs, electronic magazines, and contact through computer networks.
The Humanist Movement supports the work of humanitarian organizations and groups of volunteers who help to alleviate some specific instances of social suffering, however, its objective is not limited to correcting these specific disasters generated by the present system of power.  Instead, the objective of the Humanist Movement is to transform the system we live in, to humanize it.
3. Where and how do people meet to participate in this project?

Participants meet in weekly meetings, which take place in neighborhood centers or members’ apartments or homes.  This weekly meeting is of fundamental importance so that there can be direct, human interchange, and so that specific tasks or activities can be planned according to the possibilities of each person and group.  Those who participate are typically the relatives, co-workers, neighbors, and friends of members, that is, the immediate human environment.
4. How are these activities financed?

All of the activities of the Humanist Movement are financed entirely through dues payable every 6 months, in an amount always less than the cost of any social or athletic club.  In order to remain independent, the H.M. accepts no grants or other funds and relies entirely on dues for all its activities worldwide. This independence would be compromised were it to accept contributions from institutions, companies, etc. with different goals. The Movement itself has a policy of spending all current income and accumulating no assets, and thus the H.M. will never have significant funds or economic possibilities.  But we do not believe that our strength depends on money, we feel it lies in the human potential of the growing number of people who participate.  In the long run, that is the only thing capable of producing the new direction, the human society to which we aspire.
5. How did the Humanist Movement originate, what is its present state of development, and what are its immediate goals?

Toward the end of the sixties, Mario Rodriguez Cobos, better known as Silo, organized a group to study the social and personal crisis that was then beginning to become a global phenomenon. This Latin American thinker and writer produced the first books related to New Humanism, and he helped develop the projects of the initial group until today this movement has reached 55 countries and a modest core structure of 30,000 members.  Of course, this number reflects the most dedicated members; if one includes participants and supporters, the number is several times larger.
By the year 2000 the Humanist Movement aspires to create structures that are much larger, and capable of coordinating cooperative action among hundreds of thousands of members.
At present there are about 500 neighborhood centers in different parts of the world, there is a monthly circulation of almost 2 million neighborhood newspapers, numerous radio and television programs, and more than one million books have been translated into 20 languages and dialects.
The greatest growth is in Europe and Latin America, then Asia, the United States, and finally, various parts of Africa.  Thus, the Movement’s growth is uneven. Related political parties have now demonstrated some small electoral successes, having achieved the election of a few candidates to local office and national legislative bodies in several countries.
Everywhere we see a Movement that is small for the moment, yet is strong and enthusiastic in ideas and action, and has a promising future in the short and medium term.
6. What are the fundamental ideas of the Humanist Movement?

The Humanist Movement works for a profound social change that is only possible by transforming the structures of the present system (the economic structures, the legal structures, and the structure of values).  It challenges the inhuman way of life of today’s society.  It does not place the social world in opposition to the personal.  It coherently combines personal and social change, giving special importance to interpersonal relations and to surpassing pain and suffering at the personal and social levels.
Its declaration, “Nothing above the human being, and no human being above another,” clearly indicates the aspiration to a model of society in which the human being becomes the central value, a model in which the State, other institutions, economic factors, or beliefs are never placed above the human being. 

From " Futura: A Voyage Through New Humanism", published by Multimage in 1998