• cropped-Encuentros03.jpg
  • cropped-Encuentros04.jpg
  • cropped-Encuentros17.jpg
  • cropped-gente17.jpg
  • cropped-gente18.jpg



The Humanist Movement

Extract of a talk by Silo given on the 4th of January 1998 in the Obras Sanitarias stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

... "What is the humanist movement today? Is it perhaps a refuge in the face of the general crisis of the system in which we live? Is it a sustained critique of a world that is becoming more dehumanized day by day? Is it a new language and a new paradigm, a new interpretation of the world and a new landscape? Does it represent an ideological or political current, a new aesthetic, a new scale of values? Is it a new spirituality, destined to redeem subjectivity and diversity through concrete action? Is the Movement perhaps the expression of the struggle in support of the dispossessed, the abandoned, and the persecuted? Or is it a manifestation of those who feel the monstrosity inherent in human beings not having the same rights and the same opportunities?

The Movement is all that and much more. It is the practical expression of the ideal of humanizing the Earth and the aspiration of moving towards a Universal Human Nation. It is the seed of a new culture in this civilization that is becoming planetary, and which will have to change its course, accepting and valuing diversity and giving equal rights and identical opportunities to all human beings, because of the dignity that they deserve by the simple fact of their having been born.

The Humanist Movement is the external manifestation of the profound changes that are taking place in the interior of the human being and that are history itself: tragic, disconcerting, but always growing. It is a small voice, which foretells what is to come beyond the human being we have known. It is a poem and a rainbow of diverse colors. It is a David facing an insolent Goliath. It is the softness of water against the hardness of rock. It is the strength of the weak: a paradox and a Destiny.

My friends, even when we do not immediately achieve the results that we have hoped for, this seed exists already, and awaits the arrival of the times that are to come.

For all, from heart to heart, the fervent desire for this coming social change and the hope for this silent transformation which, beyond all compulsion, beyond all impatience, beyond all violent aspiration, beyond all guilt and all feelings of failure, is already nesting in the intimate depths of many humanists."

The Humanist Movement is a collection of people who participate in the proposals of New Humanism, also known as Universalist Humanism. These proposals, in their broadest sense, can be found shaped in the Document of the Humanist Movement.

This current of thought that is presented in the works of Silo and in those of the diverse authors who are inspired by it also implies a sentiment and a way of living, taking shape in multiple fields of human endeavor, giving rise to diverse organisms and action fronts; all of them applied to their specific fields of activity with the common aim: to Humanize the Earth. In themselves they have in common the methodology of Active Nonviolence and the proposal for personal change as a function of social transformation.

The HM appeared on the 4 th of May, 1969 with a public presentation by its founder, Silo, known as the "Healing of Suffering", in a mountainous outpost in the Andes called Punta de Vacas, close to the border of Argentina and Chile .

The HM is not an institution even though it gives rise to numerous groups and organizations.

The organisms that have emerged from the HM until now are the Humanist Party, the Community for Human Development, Convergence of Cultures, World without Wars and without Violence and the World Center for Humanist Studies.

Even if these organisms have specific organizational forms that allow them to carry out their activities, the HM itself has no type of organization and constitutes an ambit of convergence and interchange for members of the different organisms.

The activities that are developed by those who participate in the HM will depend on their free initiative.

Among the materials the HM counts on are:

  • Document of the Humanist Movement
  • Manual of Personal Development for members of the Humanist Movement.Center of Studies, Punta de Vacas Park, 2009
  • Collected Works, Silo, Volume I and II.
  • Psychology Notes
  • Humanism (extract of the audiovisual production "Silo´s Commentaries" - 2008)

Magazine - Other articles

HUMANIST MOVEMENT

The Humanist Movement is an international organization formed by people of different ages, nationalities, cultures and religions, united by the project to build a truly human world. A world in which human beings, with their needs and aspirations, are the central value. A society in which human rights are completely realized: the right to health, education, freedom, spirituality, search for the meaning of life, and an existence with dignity.

The humanist movement is the organized expression of the ideals and values of New Humanism, an activist current of humanism that emphasizes the need for simultaneous personal and social change. New Humanism recognizes that the social changes we long for will not be possible without corresponding changes in personal values, beliefs and actions; and also that our personal freedom expands or contracts according to the society in which we live.

The system, driven by global finance capital, continues to produce and to justify monstrosities of daily injustice and suffering and widening cycles of violence that threaten our very survival. The political parties and social, religious and business leaders are either unwilling or unable to stem this destructive tide. In this context, New Humanism emphasizes the necessity to find both the mechanisms and the impetus for the people, the citizens of our region and the world to become protagonists in a process of change based on active non-violence and framed by the following six points:

  • placing the human being as the central value and concern,
  • affirming the equality of all people and striving for truly equality of opportunity for all
  • valuing personal and cultural diversity and condemning all forms of discrimination
  • encouraging the development of knowledge beyond limitations accepted as "truths"
  • affirming the freedom of ideas and beliefs
  • rejecting all forms of violence, including economic, racial, religious, sexual and other forms of violence

 

Humanist Movement is working in 150 countries with 4 Million volunteers (we have no paid workers and no infrastructure to spend for, and no one earns from this activity) with the aim of Personal & Social Transformation.


For us, Human being is of the highest value and there is nothing that can come in as discrimination. Our methodology is of Non-violence.

While we care for the psychological (personal) growth of the human being, the social progress as a necessity is done simultaneously with that.

Humanist Movement expresses itself in different fields of life through different Organisms, like :

1. World Without Wars (which is now organising the biggest World March from 02 Oct 2009 to 02 Jan 2010, that will start in New Zealand and reach mountains of Andes in Argentina, through Australia, Asia, China, Russia, Europe, Africa, North America and South America, covering 1,60,000 KM journey in 90 countries seeing participation of 10 Million people. http://www.worldmarchforpeace.org/ , and http://www.marchamundial.org/


A presentation of the World March is available at : http://www.sudhirgandotra.org/wm-english.ppt

2. Center of Culture, that works by bringing people of different cultures together as Humans, creating strong bonds among them.

3. The Community for social Development, works in the social field, bringing people together on various issues that concern the society.

4. Humanist Party is the mission of the Movement to cleanse the society of Corruption and Violence through non-violence. Its a mission wherein we are bringing together the good-honest-selfless people together with a clear mission to manage the society through the formation of Humanist Governments, thereby bringing fundamental changes in the way society is run-managed, changing the lives of billions in quality. http://www.humanistparty.org


A very detailed explanation about the Humanist Movement is available at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanist_Movement

 

 For any further information/clarification, please contact us :
HUMANIST MOVEMENT
R-10, 3rd floor, KhirkiExtn., Malviya Nagar, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

or :
PARKS OF STUDY AND REFLECTIONS, NARHI
Via Kaluahi, Off National Highway No. 105,
District Madhubani - 847229, Bihar, India

Phone : +91-9312465666.  E-mail :  info@humanistmovement.org
Contact person :  Sudhir Gandotra / Manju Jha