The Nettie Column

THIS IS actually the last time I am writing in International Humanist News for I have retired from the Executive Committee of IHEU. The reason for my stepping down as General Secretary is not that I do not enjoy being involved with international humanist affairs or that I do not think them important. Otherwise I would not have been active within IHEU for more than thirty years. But I find that I cannot combine as many activities as I used to, and that my priorities are shifting. What I would like to do in the future is to spend more time with my family, to see more of my friends - who are not getting any younger either - and to attend more cultural events than I used to lately.

As to my family, two years ago I wrote in this column that the only news that interested me right then was the fact that my husband and I had become grandparents, and that baby Frederike was the most special and beautiful girl in the world - which she still is, of course! (The other day her behaviour in the creche she goes to a few days a week, was 'evaluated' and one outcome was that she had 'considerable analytic powers' (sic) - in my time we said the child was not backward.)

Meanwhile I did become interested once more in matters outside the nursery, witness my columns in the past two years. However, a week before Christmas our grandson Eduard, brother of Frederike was born, so now my granny duties have increased considerably. It was really high time for me to retire from IHEU.

THE FIRST time I came into contact with international humanism was at the 1962 IHEU-congress in Oslo which I found most stimulating. Of course, I went to the next one, in Paris, and there I was invited to join the so-called chairman's committee, a small group of Dutch volunteers who got together every month with Jaap van Praag, the brilliant IHEU chairman, who had founded IHEU together with Harold Blackham.

Though I usually do not make a point of whether the persons I work with are men or women, I must admit that as the only woman on this committee for many, many years I often felt our meetings were chiefly (!) men's affairs. The discussions tended to be very theoretical and formalistic ('What do the bylaws say?') and the men often tried to score off each other.

One discussion I still recall was about a dinner party for board members which was to be held outside Utrecht the following week. There were long deliberations on the necessity of translating the menu which, as in most good Dutch restaurants, was in French, and about what to do if somebody had special dietary needs.

When I finally spoke up I pointed out that our board members were mature enough to let us know if they were on a diet, that they were probably used to French menus (and if they weren't they would not let on) and that they did not have a choice anyway. Also, translating a menu would take up a lot of time, what with consulting cookbooks and telephoning the restaurant to inquire after the ingredients of the Sauce du Chef. Van Praag's comment was: 'Nettie, spoken like a man!'

That was a very long time ago and at any case in the Netherlands no man would nowadays dare to give that kind of compliment to a woman. As to the proportion of men to women in IHEU: some progress towards equality has been made, but men still outnumber women, particularly in leading positions. An indication that IHEU is increasingly aware of women's achievements is the fact that at the congress in Mexico four out of the five awards, which were presented there, went to women. And I was one of them: for my active involvement with IHEU I was given the highest praise indeed in the shape of the International Humanist Award. I felt very honoured to be admitted to the ranks of such distinguished recipients of this Award as Sakarov, Dubchek and Admiraal (the Dutch pioneer of voluntary euthanasia). So I would like to thank again the people who nominated me for this homage.

When looking back over my activities within IHEU I realise how lucky I have been: without them I would probably never have travelled so much or had the opportunity to get to know and to work with so many interesting people from so many countries; men and women whose attitude to life is in essence the same as mine, however much our backgrounds differ. I always found that fascinating and the result is that I now have a great many humanist friends all over the world.

Also, I have countless memories of a great many congresses, board meetings and special conferences in Europe, India, the United States, and recently Mexico. Memories of discussions, speeches, banquets, dances, concerts, of excursions to Niagara Falls or to the old Jewish cemetery in Prague or to the Indian village where the Atheist Centre runs an educational project and where members of the Gora family had fun walking on red hot ashes - 'It feels nice and soft, like stepping on jasmine leaves,' one girl told me.

INSTEAD of going on reminiscing I will finish my column with some bits of IHEU-news:

-- In the first place I am very glad I can now inform you that we had no problems getting a working permit for our newly-appointed Executive Director, Gogineni Rajaji Rumanadha Babu from Hyderabad, India. Babu, who studied French among other things, has been involved with organised humanism for quite some years. When he visited Europe to attend a seminar in Strasbourg he also spent some time in the Netherlands to get acquainted with the activities of the Dutch Humanist League. It was in the hospital where I was working as a humanist counsellor that I first met him. The next time was in Hyderabad where he and his parents gave me the warmest welcome, and we have been friends ever since.

- The official opening of the new IHEU office in Bradlaugh House, London is planned for mid-June and will take place in conjunction with a conference in Oxford. The 1997 board meeting will also be held in London around that time.

- At the Board meeting in Mexico City, the following persons were (re)appointed as members of the Executive Committee:

President: Rob Tielman (Netherlands),

Vice-presidents: Vern Bullough (U.S.)

Fred Cook

Levi Fragell (Norway)

Jane Wynne Willson (U.K.)

Treasurer: Robbi Robson (U.K.)

The Board was particularly pleased with the return of Levi Fragell -- who has so much experience in organized humanism - as an E.C. member.

Finally, I want to let you know that I do not intend to disappear completely from the international humanist scene. I hope to attend many a conference yet and to see many of my friends again!