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In this issue IHEYO Executive Committee meets in Ghent: an update on plans Dear readers, Herein is insight to inspire you, educate you and challenge you into the humanist world!! Many thanks to all the readers, funders and our supportive member organizations. IHEYO Conference 2006: Critical thinking and Free inquiry in education IHEYO is glad to announce for its 5th International Conference in Vijayawada, India under the theme “Critical Thinking & Free Inquiry Education”. Many humanists recognize the importance of critical thinking and free inquiry in education. One can find courses and methods for this in countries such as the Netherlands, US, India, Germany, Belgium, Nigeria, etc. And there are non-formal educational activities in many other countries that stimulate young people to think and formulate for their own, like in Russia, Nepal, East Africa, all Scandinavian countries, Italy, Australia, Peru to name a few. In some organisations the methods are more developed; in others one can find the ideas in practice but not so thought out. This conference will be an international training for using educational methods in critical thinking and free inquiry and a start for much more intense collaboration between Indian and young humanist groups and individuals worldwide. It would give young humanists from around the world a better understanding of humanist thinking and the problems in India as well as an opportunity for networking with like minded international organizations. In this sense it is an unique activity with a global and national impact. Please fill-in the Application Form at: http://www.iheyo.org/activities/conferencean.htm If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact us: india2006(at)iheyo.org
TheCartoonSaga Western press has manipulated their readers once again. Their governments and media have told people in western countries that the Cartoon Saga in the Muslim World was about some cartoons. It is not, and we should all know it. Of course, many Muslims did not enjoy the 12 mocking caricatures of their prophet Muhammad. As we know, Islam has a prohibition of picturing their god and prophet and other holy things. When the largest newspaper in Denmark and a small Norwegian extremist newspaper published these caricatures, it was the famous last straw that broke the camels back. The western world has neglected the Islamic world in centuries, and its words and actions it has treated the Islamic world badly - from the old crusades to the Iraq wars. All the time, the message communicated has been: "We are better than you!" The cartoons where not the reason for this winter's chaos. It was the trigger that released frustration from centuries of western oppression. Discussing the world's power balance is difficult, but to give the cartoons as reason for the riots is plain childish. We must know our world's uncomfortable history better than that, and take the responsibility of our knowledge. Lars-Petter Helgestad
Executive Committee meets: an update on plans The weekend of 3-5 February, the EC had an official meeting concerning current and future projects for IHEYO. It was great to meet each other again, for some it was a meeting for the first time. It is every time an enriching experience to work in an international team, with some great output!
We discussed funding requests and how to improve networking to ensure our member organization get to the right funding organization. Next topic of concern was our African Working Group. We set out a concrete direction; EC-member Asaba Lawrence will coordinate a meeting in East Africa, and will try to organize one in West Africa as well. After this stimulating meeting, all ec members are looking forward to make the best of IHEYO’s future. More details can be found on our website. New office for IHEYO
IHEYO present at celebration 50 years of IHEYO member organisation, the Norwegian Humanist Association, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a jubilee event at Oslo City Hall on 1 April 2006. Among the guests were King Harald of Norway, Norwegian minister of education Øystein Djupedal and Oslo's Mayor Erling Lae. The large hall was filled with Humanist veterans, current national and local leaders, foreign guests and others. There were speeches, greetings and high-quality music by well known singers, string and brass orchestras and choirs. IHEYO was represented by Gea Meijers, executive director and Lars-Petter Helgestad, interim president.
The youth of the Norwegian Humanist Association were the flag bearers, and they did their job with precision and dedication. During this weekend, they had an informative training on how to increase and coordinate humanist youth activities in Norway. The Norwegian Humanist Association has set the goal to have a national youth wing, in complete function and established by 2009. The current active young people are working hard to bring together all the humanist youth for such national structure. Already in some counties of Norway, like the Oslo county (which is the biggest city of Norway) there are on regularly basis, youth activities.
The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics is having its international conference at 21-23 April in New York, USA to discuss the entity of bioethics and its place in the scientific world through paper presentations and panel discussions . The conference is co-organised with Genetics Policy Institute assisted by The Alden March Bioethics Institute (AMBI). Many distinguished scientists and humanist will speak. For those who cannot attend (which are the majority of us) a lot of the information around the conference is also online. Please check out the website of IHEU: www.iheu.org. Silvia Geise is elected vice president of the Council of Europe liaison committeeIn January 2006, Silvia Geise, was elected as one of the three vice president of the Liaison Committee of the Conference of Council of Europe's (COE) International NGOs. Silvia, who had served as deputy to IHEU’s main representative Alexandre Marius Dées de Sterio for the past five years, switched functions with him this January. She was also contact person for the Liaison committee towards the COE youth advisory council, a function which she now passed on to another young person.
Around 400 International International Non-Governmental Organisations have participatory status with the Council of Europe (CoE), and these INGOs constitute the ‘Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe’, one of the four pillars of the CoE. The Council of Europe focuses on human rights in Europe and has an own parliament just as the European Union (EU). It is much larger than the EU with over 50 member states. Silvia will devote her three year mandate to increase the public relations of the ‘Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe’. She looks forward to be in touch with humanists and receive feedback on the Council of Europe’s activities or blind spots. When you have any suggestions, questions or comments, you can e-mail them to IHEYO’s secretariat who will then forward them to Silvia: office@iheyo.org Spotlight: Humanist Youth Belgium
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Main topic of our meeting was the next IHEYO Conference. This conference will take place in India, Vijayawada, in November 06. You can read more about this exciting event in this Youth Speak.