Vrij-on-zinnig

Internationaalhuge responsability for humaniststo implement what we say about allhuman beings and equality intoeveryday life. While finishing thistext I hear on the radio that for thefirst time India will have a woman,-Ms Meira Kumar-, as chair of theparliament. She is member of alower cast. That is good news in away and I do fiercely hope that thesituation of and women and lowercast Indians will finally improve. Iam well aware that her presence isnot enough to change the way oflife in India…Dear friends, we might have beenpersuaded that the Age ofEnlightment reached its aims butmore and more the ideals of thatperiod are being attacked. In name oftolerance we accept lots of violationsof human rights. It is important torealise that not only freedom ofspeech is under attack, but also theright on education, the right to livea descent life, the right to accessgood healthcare, the right forhousing, the right for work… It isimportant not to forget theserights, it is not or this or that butand this and that. Freedom to diefrom starvation is not freedom ofcourse, when freedom of educationis seen as just learning the contentof an old book, presented as holy, itcannot be considered as freedom.Tolerance and respect are vital butthis doesn’t mean that we have toaccept everything. Of course wedo live in a world where differentreligions, cultures, come together.We have to look for a way to livetogether but this may not lead to asociety where particular rules areprevalent on laws. And again: it istime to be proud of being humanist,atheist.And I am glad to say that humanistyoungsters do what they can butwe have to help IHEYO as much aswe can for they are the future. It issimply a must to work togetherwith them without patronisingthem. To find a way to offer themour experience without tellingthem how they have to do what, isa difficult exercise but necessary.I would like to end this speechwith the very simple words:“there is probably no god. Nowstop worrying and enjoy your life”,for this audience we can drop theprobably of course.Sonja Eggerickx 7 juni 2009GENERAL ASSEMBLY IHEU68 JULI-AUGUSTUS 2009