After a relaxing and hot summer IHEYO is buzzing again with many new projects!!

2005 IHEYO Conference

IHEYO will hold its fourth annual international youth conference in Paris following the World Humanist Congress in July 2005. The conference will be held from 8 July to 14 July and will focus on 'multiculturalism'. As in the past, this conference too will be a mix of cultural visits, practical training, in-depth debate and stimulating keynote speeches. It has proven to be a good formula.

The conference aims to bring together 60 youth aged 18 to 35 years from Europe and elsewhere. IHEYO is coorganising this conference with the French La Ligue d'Enseignement. http://www.laligue.org One can preregister for the event by sending an e-mail to:

Frederik.Dezutter@iheyo.org or to .

New Humanism

Humanism has a lot of potential! There are many more directions Humanism can take. At IHEYO we want to explore these. The Executive Committee will meet this fall and discuss new routes for organised Humanism. Many very important and valuable activities are undertaken by humanists, but the concept of Humanism has more potential than currently employed.

One thought I have when I think about the limits of organised Humanism is that in many countries around the world, groups focus quite a lot on the rational and scientific side to life. While this is a very important aspect of our Humanism, we ought not to forget the creative, artistic side. As the IHEU Amsterdam Declaration 2002 states as one of the fundamentals: "Humanism values artistic creativity and imagination and recognises the transforming power of art. Humanism affirms the importance of literature, music, and the visual and performing arts for personal development and fulfilment". I think especially when we want to attract new groups of young people and communicate to them the potential of Humanism, we should include creativity and art more often in our humanist practices.

One of the other fundamentals in the Amsterdam Declaration states: "Humanism is a lifestance aiming at the maximum possible fulfilment through the cultivation of ethical and creative living and offers an ethical and rational means of addressing the challenges of our times. Humanism can be a way of life for everyone everywhere". Let's work on this promise!

To bring the concept of Humanism into full practice worldwide is a very ambitious, but also a very worthwhile journey to undertake. Everybody is invited to join our discussion about renewing humanist practices.

Office plans

To give all our plans the needed organisational backing we are working on setting up an office in Belgium, in Gent to be precise. We want to staff this office with at least one young humanist to start in January 2005. We have office space and the needed humanist support in Gent. We are currently working to get the finances together.

Design IHEYO’s Brochure and win a free registration to our Paris Youth Conference 2005!!!

Our current brochure is quite empty! We would like to introduce IHEYO and Humanism to a young audience. For this we need an attractive brochure.

We challenge you to come up with an original and amazing brochure for IHEYO. Let us hear your introduction to Humanism!

If you are not a typical brochure-person or introduction writer, you can also send in a proposal for our logo, a lay out for our website or other material you think we need!

For the most impressive designs and useful introductions, IHEYO will offer a free registration to our Paris Youth Conference 2005 and a place in our ‘hall of fame’ (yet to be launched)! This competition runs until 31 of December this year. You can send your suggestions to: IHEYO, e-mail: , or by snail mail (post):

IHEYO, Att: Frederik Dezutter, Coupure-rechts 4; 9000 Gent, Belgium.

Join IHEYO

Both organisations and individuals can join IHEYO

● An active youth network

● Electronic newsletter 'Newspeak'

● Full member organisations have a vote at the General Assembly

Visit www.iheyo.org for more information