Nettie’s Column

HAVE YOU made reservations yet for the Thirteenth Humanist World Congress starting on November 14, 1996 in Mexico? This conference on Global Humanism for the Cyber-Age promises to be very enjoyable and interesting, and has the attraction of such distinguished speakers as Taslima Nasrin, Mario Bunge and Wole Soyinka.

The latter is arguably Africa's most outstanding writer and one of its strongest champions of human dignity and freedom. His literary and human rights work has been recognised with numerous awards, including the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature. A native of Nigeria, and former prisoner of conscience there, Wole Soyinka is now resident in the USA. Mario Bunge from Argentina is one of the world's leading philosophers of science. His work to explain and popularise the scientific outlook has made Bunge one of the most widely read philosophers both in the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking worlds. He is currently professor at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

I anticipate that this will be a memorable congress because I have never been to Mexico before and because I will be stepping down as General Secretary of IHEU. After more than thirty years of active involvement with IHEU I am allowing myself to retire. (Obviously, I still have a Calvinist streak, otherwise I would just have said 'I want to retire'!)

Elsewhere in this issue you will find more details about this congress.

IN MY column of last April, I mentioned the international humanist conference which is going to be held in Warsaw, 27-29 September 1996. Its theme is 'A Humanist Vision of European Integration'. The conference will explore issues in the field of European unification which concern humanists. Topics for discussion are among others: the historical contribution of humanism to the shaping of European civilisation, the limits of tolerance, education towards overcoming intolerance and nationalism, the theory and practice of human rights and liberties.

There will be workshops on discrimination, co-operation between humanist organisations and with other social movements, dialogue with Churches, humanist ceremonies and other subjects. Information will be provided on the situation of humanist associations in Central and East European countries.

This conference is a joint initiative of the Federation of Polish Humanist Associations, the European Humanist Federation's Secretariat for Central and Eastern Europe (SCEE) and the Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands (HVD). It will feature guest speakers from Europe and the USA, humanists from many countries, guided tours, simultaneous translations and not forgetting the gentle touch of traditional Polish hospitality.

For our friends in Poland the conference will be of great value in their efforts to make humanism a visible and acceptable cultural alternative to Roman Catholicism which has tremendous power there. To start with its visibility: you can help them by increasing the number of conference participants with your presence.

Full information about the programme, accommodation and fees on p l0.

This Warsaw conference is actually the second of its kind. The first, at which perspectives for Secular Humanism in Central and Eastern Europe were discussed, was held in October last year in Berlin. Humanists from thirteen countries participated: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia.

Most of the speeches given there and summaries of the discussions have appeared in a booklet which can be had from the Humanistischer Verband Deutschland, Hobrechtstrasse 8, D-12043 Berlin, Germany. It includes reports by humanists from the various CEE countries which I found quite enlightening: I had not realised how much their situations varied.

N.B. The dates for the 1997 conference of the European Humanist Federation in Strasbourg are 7-9 March, and it will take place on the premises of the Council of Europe. We expect to meet with a considerable number of humanists from Southern Europe on that occasion.

AND NOW something that has no direct connections with IHEU, but it does have to do with humanism or rather with humanist thinking. What I want to talk about is a book Dancing with Mr D, Notes on life and death, it was translated from the Dutch by the author, Bert Keizer, who studied philosophy in England before becoming a physician in a nursing home for the terminally ill in Amsterdam.

In this fascinating memoir, Keizer tells with great empathy about his patients, and about the reactions of their relatives and staff members to their imminent death. Their stories are interspersed with amusing philosophical discussions - e.g. on religion - between three doctors working at the home: Jaarsma, the indifferent old-timer; the author, here called Anton, the humanist, who often uses cynicism to disguise his despair; and recently qualified Van Gooyer, with his naive faith in the power of medical science.

Other subjects discussed in asides are: the placebo effect, the meagre scientific content of medical practice, the failure of cancer research, the anatomical ideas of the average citizen, the underrated and ignored history of medicine, the nature of the quarrel with alternative medicines, the things people do to allay their fear of death, the inscrutable way our minds are anchored to our brains (to have a mind - to be a body).

Of course, euthanasia is a recurrent theme, and the book illuminates both the ethical dilemmas it poses for doctors and the dignified release it can represent for the dying. Since Keizer describes quite a number of occasions on which he administered euthanasia, one might get the impression that he is doing it all the time. Actually, it has been nine times in fourteen years, less than once a year, and Keizer always finds that he is much more afraid and much less certain than the persons who are going to die; they know exactly what they want.

The original version of Dancing with Mister D became a bestseller in the Netherlands: it received high praise for its humanity, intellectual scope, literary quality and humour. Besides being quite moving, these Notes on life and death are indeed very funny in places, it rarely happens that a book makes me laugh out loud, but this one often did.

I am glad there is now an excellent translation - published by Doubleday - so I can share my enthusiasm with English friends.