Humanist FutureHumanist FutureIt seems that today’s world is going through a stage that places us before a decisive dilemma…
It seems that today’s world is going through a stage that places us before a decisive dilemma. Either we are dragged along by an increasingly absurd, violent and destructive global trend that could even end life on the Planet, or we give events a humanising sense, placing the human being as the highest value above money, states or religions.
Human history, with its cycles, diversities, nuances, permanent changes and transformations, constantly faces a kind of duality, which is expressed both in the events of personal life and in the social field. Either one is in the direction that protects life and growth, or one is for a system that leads to the abyss and meaninglessness. The human being, defined as the historical and social being whose mode of action in the world transforms his own nature, acts permanently expanding his freedom of choice and that of others, or restricting both of them.
The aforementioned allows us to affirm today that this duality is expressed in two great fields of human thinking, feeling and acting: Humanism and antihumanism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4wZ-hiPodw
We affirm that Humanism:
– Rejects all forms of violence, be they physical, economic, psychological, ethnic, religious, sexual, ideological or moral.
– Rejects all forms of discrimination, whether overt or covert.
– It puts the rights and needs of workers before the accumulation and speculation of capital.
– It seeks to move from formal democracy to real democracy by promoting the decentralisation of power.
– It favours the development of science to overcome human pain.
– It defends a harmonious relationship with the environment.
– It prioritises public, free, quality health and education.
– It encourages every human being to find a meaning in life that will lead him or her to overcome mental suffering.
– And it aspires to the construction of a Universal Human Nation governed by personal freedom, solidarity, equal rights and opportunities, non-discrimination and non-violence.
In contrast, the camp of antihumanism is characterised by:
– Bringing together the defenders and enablers of big capital.
– Defending the military industry, the real culprit of millions of deaths and the main cause of environmental pollution.
– They look for false culprits to explain the chaos and damage they themselves have created. They point the finger at immigrants, women and young people. From this position, they incite hatred of those who are different, they encourage exploitation, racism, discrimination, intolerance and different forms of violence.
– All these attitudes are whitewashed and defended by large media corporations which, disguised as journalism, manipulate and try to domesticate the subjectivity of populations.
It is not necessary to go into much more detail because every human being, if he asks himself, knows where these realities are to be found. And he also knows which political parties, social or cultural movements support one or the other. The antihumanist world has erected a wall of violence that drags everything towards disintegration. And it is true, we are not naïve, that the powerful have more money and brute force, but their triumph is temporary, their future is not assured.
But humanists are confident that our species will not succumb to this absurdity.We are optimistic, we believe in freedom, solidarity and social progress. We believe that we will once again find that sense of meaning so often lost in the history of humanity.
We aspire to a world with multiple ethnic groups, languages and customs. Multiple in regions and autonomies, multiple in beliefs, atheism and religiosity, multiple in work and creativity.
We aspire to a world where every human being, by the simple fact of being born, has equal rights and equal opportunities.
Between humanist aspirations and the realities of today’s world, the wall of antihumanism has been erected. The time has come to tear it down, and to do so we need the union of all those who feel that this monstrosity must end, that the progress of a few is the progress of no one.
An antihumanism that can be identified, that is not an impersonal or immaterial force. Pointing it out as if it were abstract entities, be they the market, the system or capital, leads to inaction because one has the impression of fighting against ghosts. Governments, political parties, companies, trade unions, associations and organisations of all kinds are all in one place or another.
As Silo (founder and inspirer of New Humanism) rightly pointed out: “to humanise is to leave behind objectification in order to affirm the intentionality of every human being and the primacy of the future over the present situation. It is the representation of a possible and better future that allows the modification of the present and that makes every revolution and every change possible. Therefore, the pressure of oppressive conditions is not enough to set change in motion, but it is necessary to realise that such change is possible and depends on human action. This struggle is not between mechanical forces, it is not a natural reflex; it is a struggle between human intentions. And this is precisely what allows us to speak of oppressors and oppressed, of the just and the unjust, of heroes and cowards. It is the only thing that allows us to meaningfully practice social solidarity and commitment to the liberation of the discriminated, be they majorities or minorities.”
This is the humanist camp that can dislodge antihumanism, with the force of non-violence as a methodology of action.
Humanists invite all those who feel that the future is open to join this humanising intention. And that it will be that Universal Human Nation towards which we can walk together if we align our best aspirations.
Do not look for false doors. The future is in humanism.