International

I want to thank the World Center of Humanist Studies for inviting me to discuss “Foundations for the future Planetary Civilization” in this Park of Study and Reflection located at Punta de Vacas. I wish to emphasize how extraordinary it is to be discussing these issues seemingly so distant from political and social activities.

The 2nd International Symposium of the World Centre of Humanist Studies will take place in the Punta de Vacas Park of Study and Reflection, Mendoza, Argentina, organised by the “Ténetor” Centre of Humanist Studies from the city of Mendoza. Speakers from Chile and Argentina, from the city of Córdoba CHS and the “Educate to be human” CHS from the city of Neuquén will attend.

This is how it’s done in China, ignore everything and without stretching things to any limits, get on with it. This was the message the lone meditator seemed to express as he sat in lotus style under the trees in the quiet hinterland of the Taoist temple of the Yellow Dragon. Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Common Man relaxed while children frolicked in a heady afternoon of family fun.

*China’s Communist Party Central Committee 15 October, 2010, started its annual closed-door meeting to map out the country’s economic course for the next five years, amid increasingly fervent calls for political reform and against the continuing crackdown on human rights activists, dissidents and lawyers. Also, open letters by opposing voices and a wider press coverage*

Dear Mario, now we live in different spheres, but I feel that our spiritual and moral contact, our friendship and sympathy have not disappeared and cannot ever disappear. Only after the death of a man can we appreciate the real meaning of his life because in everyday life is almost impossible to appreciate the magnitude of the work of others.

The discovery of a new planet and the denied appointment by the UN of someone responsible for relations with ‘aliens’ leads us to reflect on the moment in which humanity finds itself as a whole. What will mankind do at this historical crossroads? Will we continue in our prehistory or will we launch ourselves like a shooting star towards other worlds?

The culture of minimising and hiding the true extent of nuclear danger raises its ugly head again. A fire at Aldermaston nuclear bomb making establishment on August 3rd was reported in the newspapers as a minor incident which, although neighbours were evacuated for some hours, did not really represent a nuclear risk. Well, not exactly…

The Afghan government and the Taliban have reportedly begun secret, high-level talks over ending the Afghan war. According to the Washington Post, Taliban representatives have recently met with officials from the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. At least one session was reportedly held in Dubai, even if there are differing versions of it.

Mario Luis Rodríguez Cobos, Silo, died in Mendoza, Argentina on the 16th of September 2010 but none of the big European newspapers (nor the television channels) reported this fact. They therefore silenced the great initiatives and humanist proposals which came from the other side of the Atlantic and which are still there, constructing *“life to come”*.

The annual announcements of Nobel Prizes started in Sweden today with the first prize for Medicine being awarded to the British Scientist, Robert Edwards, for his pioneering work in in-vitro fertilisation. An estimated 4 million children have resulted from his work. A Vatican official denounced the award as, *“completely out of order”*.