Slavery was associated with the ancient Greeks and Romans. And of course there was slavery in America. Remember the African prisoners sent to the “new world” where they were sold and bought and owned. But that was a long time ago!

It was not merely necessary that Barack Obama become the President of the United States, it was vital that he become so through popular mandate. Politics succumbs to tokenism far too often; witness the rival presidential candidate, John McCain, choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate simply because she’s a woman.

Given the great debate that has raged for decades in the United States regarding the role of religion in politics it was good to see a presidential candidate giving support for secularism. The full speech can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Kh-xzerjE

Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal, speaks to Babu Gogineni, International Director, IHEU

Untouchability persists in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen and Nigeria.

Nearly 250 million persons are directly affected by this disease.

It is time for the world to take note and to eradicate this heinous practice.

Calling Victims, Rights Activists, Academics and Governments to contribute to, and to participate in, the First World Conference on Untouchability

I shall begin with a joke.

When I agreed to write about Humanist movements in the Middle East, I thought I had the whole idea in my head. But when I sat down to write, I felt confused. “How do we define Humanism?” The question came to my mind. I started searching, browsing and reading. I realised that it was not only me; the concept is too broad, too undefined.

Freedom of expression matters. It is not a luxury, a Western value, and it’s certainly not up for sale (though obviously governments and the UN mistakenly think it to be so). More often than not it is all we have. But like many other rights and freedoms, it becomes most significant and finds real meaning when it comes to criticising that which is taboo, forbidden, sacred.

The International Humanist News reaches out to a large community of Humanists in forty countries around the world. If you would like to tell the world about your activities this is the right place to start.

Thirty years ago when the reign of political Islam officially started in Iran and while the whole world saw what they were told was an ‘Islamic revolution’ on the screens of their televisions, I and many people of my generation, feeling suffocated and oppressed by numerous rules and regulations, started to rebel against the new powers who were crushing our revolution.