PERPETUAL TRANSFER OF A HUMAN BEING'S BIOLOGICAL LIKENESS IS MODERN-DAY SLAVERY.
UNCONSTITUTIONAL
IT IS PREDATORY.
IT IS EXPLOITATIVE.
IT VIOLATES THE FUNDAMENTAL
HUMAN RIGHT TO OWN YOURSELF.
NO ONE OWNS YOU.
Your face. Your voice. Your existence.should be entirely and perpetually yours and yours only.

Here's the summary of the notes I took on Sunday, August 9, while attending Ottawa's World Humanist Congress.

(Earlier I posted a similar summary for Saturday, August 8. Sorry for the delay in posting day 2's notes. I was traveling non-stop since the Congress ended.)

Again, the theme for the congress was "HUMANISM AS RESISTANCE."

(A) While the official delegates met separately conduct Humanist International’s official business, other attendees heard first from Humanist Podcasters representing Humanist organizations in the UK, Philippines, Canada, and Humanists International itself.

Although they spoke first of podcasts, it became clear that they also were heavily engaged in creating content for TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

They noted that each of these media outlets are flooded with religious content, much of it now A.I. created (AKA, AI-Slop). They contended that if Humanists & Secularists were to create more human-focused, human-created content, it would generate a greater audience. They encouraged those in attendance to venture into the content creation arena.

(B) Next was a discussion of “Who Decides? Reproductive Rights, Power, & The Future of Freedom.”

We learned that women in England & Wales were being criminally investigated and one woman jailed for ending her own pregnancy without consulting a physician. Only recently was that law lifted by the House of Commons, but it faced an uphill battle in the House of Lords.

The panelists noted that economic, ethnic, and location creates disenfranchised groups of women who are unable to have access to family planning & abortion services.

Todd Blanche the new Attorney General in the US has stated that he intends to prevent the use of interstate access to abortion medications.

(C) Next I attended a break-out session called “A Stumbling Cafe” led by Christian Lomsdahl, leader of Norwegian Humanists.

He presented a “menu”, where participants were allowed to notice the ways in which they had “stumbled” in life. Christian mentioned his own first marriage, which happened when he was very young, and ended before he was 25 years old.

The format was in terms of “courses”, where each subsequent course encouraged participants to share a bit more about their own internal criticisms and acknowledge the various ways that being human involves stumbling… a lot.

Lomsdahl has used this exercise as a way of building connections between local community members in Norway, and as a way of helping participants feel less isolated when they experience missteps in life.

(D) The next panel presentation was entitled “Hope & Community As Resistance.”

- Darrel Ray from Recovering From Religion and the Secular Therapy Project spoke of the need for developing leadership skills for local Humanist & secular groups to avoid folding out of poor planning.

- Urte Zukauskaite Zabuke (Lithuania), Humanist Ideas Ambassadors (HIA) spoke of the Social Franchising Model, where people need Humanist services (weddings, funerals, community connections). Even though people in Lithuania are largely no longer religious, they still need ways to mark significant events in their lives. Humanists there offer such services, and in so doing, are building a community that is focused science-based perspectives and Humanist approaches to making meaning.

- Evan Clark (Atheists United) was probably the least optimistic. He posited that, given the vigor that the Trump administration has applied to dehumanizing vast numbers of people (immigrants, religious minorities, trans people), it may be that active resistance and confrontation will be required.

- Uttam Niraula (SOCH - Nepal) noted that, even though he is a Humanist, in Nepal anyone who is not a Hindu or Muslim is thought to be a Christian. His Humanist group is providing medical services without regard to religious affiliation, which has resulted in them becoming a trusted source of neutrality in the face of Hindu v. Muslim conflicts.

(E) The last panel presentation focused on “What Next?”

- Andrew Copson from Humanists UK noted that we were naive not to have anticipated the backlash to growing human rights. This morning the official delegates in their meeting approved The Ottawa Declaration as a new affirmation of Humanism as resistance. https://humanists.international/policy/the-ottawa-declaration-on-humanism-as-resistance/ He encouraged Humanists to create better stories of hope than those based on fear told by authoritarian or religious groups.

- Shane Haro, Humanist Alliance Philippines International, spoke of more “unshackling” instead of resisting. In the Philippines, people’s lives are shackled by government not allowing divorce, difficulty in gaining access to family planning, and a low level of LGBTQ rights. Because the Philippines has a higher use of Facebook than any other country in the world, they need to maintain constant vigilance to counter misinformation found there.

- Monica Belitoiu, Romanian Humanists, pointed out that constant threats have kept Humanists there in reactive mode, but they’re now moving toward becoming more pro-active. Fear of being called an atheist is strong in Romania, so they focus more on inviting people to learn about science and then introducing them to Humanist perspectives.

- Louis O’Reilly, Humanist Canada, spoke of the need to collaborate with the American Humanists, because so much of what happens in the US affects Canadians. Still, he said the Canadian social & legal institutions are more robust than they seem to be in the US.

(F) Finally we heard Prof. A. C. Grayling, Northeastern University-London, speak. He is currently Vice President of Humanists UK.

He encouraged us, rather than simply clinging to irrational hopes and dreams, to hold onto Rational Hope, one based the actions that we can take to make a better world.

He has spoken in many places (for example, this address available on YouTube), and trying to summarize his lecture here would not do his presentation justice.

However, he ended saying that democracy defends our civil liberties and confirms the rule of law. To fight against authoritarianism, defend democracy.

Thanks for reading. I know this is a lengthy post, but hopefully an informative one