Declaration of the IV Symposium of the World Centre of Humanist Studies, November 2014

– On the path to freedom –

Statement of the Humanist Movement

Humanists are women and men of this century, of this time. They recognize the achievements of humanism throughout history, and find inspiration in the contributions of many cultures, not only those that today occupy center stage. They are also men and women who recognize that this century and this millennium are drawing to a close, and their project is a new world. Humanists feel that their history is very long and that their future will be even longer.

Guidelines to form a Centre of Humanist Studies (CHS)

A CHS starts with an initial or promoter group, located in a local geographic ambit: city, neighborhood, university, etc.(1) The members of this team can contact the World Coordination Team (WCT) for specific inquiries in order to launch and develop it, and can also participate with an already functioning CHS (Centre of Humanist Studies), until it achieves the solidity to constitute an independent CHS, fulfilling its requirements.

Ceremony of Ethical Commitment

Reader:

We live in a world in which many are still willing to sell their knowledge and learning for any purpose. This has led to our planet being covered with machines of death. Others have used their ingenuity to invent methods to manipulate, silence, and put to sleep the consciousness of the people.

But all around the world there are also men and women who use Science and Knowledge to overcome poverty, hunger, pain, and suffering, to give voice and confidence to the oppressed.

August 31st, 2009

Background and Conceptual Foundation

Background

The World Center for Humanist Studies is an organism that is part of the Humanist Movement. The Movement first appeared on the 4th of May 1969, with a public presentation by its founder, Silo, known as “the Healing of Suffering”, in an outpost in the Andes called Punta de Vacas, close to the border between Argentina and Chile.