We know that IHEU has member organisations in several parts of the world but does that mean that they are all similar? Of course not. In the May 2009 issue, we read how different various Humanist ceremonies can be, and yet how similar. It is exactly so with the work of our members. We all agree with the Amsterdam Declaration and the minimum statement. All are in favour of separation of religion and state, but for some this is their main work, while others have different priorities. That is why we asked some of them to write about their activities. Though there are only a few MO’s who’re covered in this issue, yet we get a fair idea about their diverse activities. We thought this was a good way to learn more about and from other groups.

It is not always easy for Humanists to remain optimistic: while all sorts of “natural” violence like earthquakes, floods, heavy rains, are responsible for destroying villages and killing people, at the same time, terrorists commit suicide attacks and kill a lot of human beings, mostly innocent, and even small children. As the Geneva Convention comes under increasing attack, its provisions ignored, more wars are being waged. All groups are convinced that they have the right to use violence since they feel besieged by others. We know the consequences when everybody asserts his own might. It is one of the most difficult things to break that circle of violence. Nevertheless we must not give up and keep trying.

Humanism and peace are natural allies. Peace will also be the theme of our next congress in Oslo 2011 (more in the next issue). We are not naive, we know that a mere conference cannot result in peace across the world. But Humanists can give a strong signal that we do have a responsibility and that we won’t run away from it. Conflict management could be a first step. Alas, some wars have escalated so much that a solution is very far away.

Francisco Ferrer, born not far from Barcelona in Spain in 1859, was executed 100 years ago. He was in favour of a republic, not a kingdom, and he defended the workers, the poor. He fought against the clergy that oppressed the people. He knew that for an open society, it was important for the people to be educated. Ferrer founded the Modern School. In Spain, at that time, schools were mostly run by the clergy, and they were against any scientific theory or cultural tendency which went against the rules and ideas of the church.

Ferrer installed a method that the clerics considered damned. His education was based on natural sciences and rationalism. No religious dogma, but science. No competition, no marks, no special prizes for the “best”, no humiliation. As a consequence of his anarcho- political ideas, he pleaded for education and instruction guided by the “principle of solidarity and equality." In Catholic schools at that time, pupils were punished and had to kneel for hours, and were beaten and humiliated. In the Escuela Moderna, on the other hand, the teachers had to take into account the spontaneous desire of students to acquire knowledge and permit them to learn at their own pace. The purpose of the school was not to make obedient citizens but to create human beings capable of forming their own rational convictions on every subject.

Ferrer had to go in exile to Paris, from where he returned to Spain. There was an attempt to kill the king. The bomb was thrown by a colleague of Ferrer. This was the excuse to shut down the school. At the same time it was a resurrection of the Catalans against Madrid. Churches and monasteries were set on fire and the army fraternized with the inhabitants. But it didn’t last long. The bishops of Catalan protested “against the events and against those whom they declare responsible: the partisans of the schools without god, of the sectarian press and of the Anarchist groups which should be abolished”. So Ferrer was captured and sentenced to death. Before the execution they transferred him to the chapel. But he did not give in: “He doesn’t want to have anything in common with the black frocks”. They denied him permission to sit in the hope that he would kneel. He did not.

In the morning of October 13 1909, he was executed. It was the clerical Spain that killed Ferrer. Murdered for building schools and not accepting those dogmas which kept people obedient.

In addition to the Centre d’Action Laïque in Belgium the Libre Pensée in France also commemorated the centenary of this assassination. Ferrer was already, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, a human being who wanted individuals to be instructed in such a way that they could think for themselves. He was a great man.

Sonja Eggerickx is President, IHEU