The Nettie Column

ACTUALLY, the only news I am really interested in right now is the fact that my husband and I have become grandparents, and that of a girl called Frederike. Self-evidently she is the most special and most beautiful baby in the world! However, since I am supposed to give you IHEU news, I'll try and do just that. So here goes:

Recently we received a fax from a Nigerian lawyer informing us on behalf of some Reverend Father that IHEU had inherited US $400,000! Our benefactor was a German woman doctor in Lagos who had been married to a Nigerian there. You can imagine our excitement: now we could start an endowment fund or do more travelling or finance more projects. However, after happy discussions in the Utrecht office about how we would spend our riches, we began to smell a rat.

What made us particularly suspicious was a clause in the will which stated that 'any organisation that is to benefit from my legacy will be prepared to pay taxes on such income to the Federal Government of Nigeria.' And that' ... in the unlikely event that an organisation is not capable of paying the taxes' the money would go to another humanitarian organisation.

This we thought most peculiar, but out of curiosity we sent off a fax anyway, asking the lawyer (Barrister and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, no less!) to transfer the legacy to us after deduction of taxes. The answer was --as we expected - that this was not possible 'as the money has been programmed to be paid in full'.

By that time we had already been told by our bank to be wary of 'faxes from Nigeria' and read articles about this legacy fraud in Dutch and English newspapers. From an example cited by The Guardian, it appears that the manner in which a British charity had been approached was exactly the same as with us. In the letter they received, though, the testatrix was described as English. As in ours the letter asks for 'your bank particulars and account' in order that the lawyer can apply for 'foreign exchange allocation at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lagos for onwards transmission to your bank'. What then happens is that, after having supplied many thousands of dollars in taxes and fees, the charity will receive a draft for the amount mentioned in the will. This draft, which can take weeks to clear, will then prove to be false.

Fortunately we were not greedy enough to fall for this swindle, as did some wealthy individuals and charities overseas: one American recently lost $4 million, an American church-based charity lost $90,000, while two Canadian churches lost over $20,000. They are evidently more credulous than humanists.

LAST month we had a nice visit from Ray Dahlitz, who has been very active in the humanist movement in Australia for more than forty years. Among others he told us a little about one of their latest initiatives, a form of cooperation with ecological organizations through the publishing of a joint magazine which they sell in health shops. I hope to hear more about it.

Before he left Ray made me a present of the Secular Who’s Who, the Biographical Dictionary he produced about more than 200 men and women who were involved in Australia's and New Zealand's secular movement from 1850 onwards. I knew about this publication because it was mentioned in the June 1994 issue of this magazine, but I had not seen it. So I had no idea what fascinating reading it would make.

Not surprisingly, most persons appearing in this Who's Who are men, particularly those who were born in the nineteenth century. As Ray Dahlitz points out in the Introduction '... it was difficult for early female members to be identified as leaders of the secular organizations. With few exceptions, their participation tended to be relegated to 'preparing cups of tea and washing up.'

Most of the secular women who did become famous -- and often infamous - at that time, were very involved with the suffragette movement. Their professions ranged from teacher, journalist, lecturer, bookseller, to gynaecologist and dress reformer. One of the latter' ... stunned the local community by opening an Institute of Hygiene advocating dress reform for women, divided skirts and abolition of corsets'.

Ray Dahlitz has managed to dig up a lot of such details about some of his subjects, which make their biographies so interesting. For instance, there is the description by a feminist (born in 1858) who moved from Catholicism to rationalism, of her political evolution as from 'imperialistic butterfly' to 'democratic grub', or the fact that the poet son of an editor who was considered to be 'mother of Australian suffrage', referred to her as 'The Chieftainess'.

Apart from all the personal histories, the book provides an excellent survey of the development of the secular movement in Australia and New Zealand. If you want to order a copy of the Secular Who’s Who you should get in touch with Ray Dahlitz, GPO Box 1555, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001.

SOME time ago IHEU received an appeal from Professor Barbara Stanosz for financial support for the Polish humanist magazine Bez Dogmatu. This monthly is the recognized focal point and mouthpiece of more than a dozen small humanist groups in Poland and therefore of vital importance for the humanist movement there.

So the Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands, which, within the European Humanist Federation, is responsible for our cooperation with Eastern European countries, set to work raising funds in Germany and among other IHEU members. They did such a good job that the continuity of Bez Dogmati is now guaranteed till the people responsible for the magazine have secured reliable financial support for it from within Poland in the course of 1995. Also, they were able to give Barbara Stanosz a much needed electronic typewriter. A good example of international solidarity between humanists!

Another interesting activity of our Berlin friends is their involvement in the public discussion on medical ethics. At a recent symposium of doctors, lawyers and politicians they presented their views on the issues of self-determination of the patient, organ transplantation and euthanasia, for which there are no clear rules in Germany. In addition they explained their counselling concepts.

A most gratifying result of this meeting is the promise of a director of the Berlin Medical Association, to support the popularisation of the 'living will' provided by the HVD. Such a document contains an individual's instructions as to medical treatment or non-treatment as well as the authorization of a trustee. The German humanists are now facing the task of creating an effective network in the various areas they serve for' their activities in the field of secular funerals and of counselling the terminally ill and the bereaved. And, judging from their achievements in other fields such as ethical education where they already employ over 200 teachers, I am sure they will succeed.