Will we be able to leave the violent prehistory of humanity? The answer could very well be yes, given these recent events taking place in many parts of the planet that are encouraging nonviolent individuals and groups.
During his visit to Munich, the Chilean humanist and activist Tomás Hirsch offered his vision of the present situation in Chile, Latin America and of the world, in two events that took place on March 5 and 6. He spoke as co-founder of the Chilean Humanist Party, ex-candidate for the Presidency of the left-wing alliance “Juntos Podemos Más” (Together we can do more) and author of the book *“El Fin de la Prehistoria – Un Camino hacia la Libertad” (The End of Prehistory – A Path towards Liberty)*.
The events took place in the Eine-Welt-Haus (One-World-House), a meeting point for more than 100 social, cultural and political organizations. The first part was a “Literary Café for Non-Violence” organized by two local humanist organizations, where Tomás Hirsch’s talk was based around the topics of his book, aiming to interpret the recent events of mass protests in Chile as well as in many other countries. He explained that in the current moment the inherent dynamics of the inhuman neoliberal system – imposing more and more back-breaking conditions on the people – clashes with a growing consciousness and sensibility, mainly among the new generations.
Without trivializing the threats of the present crisis, Tomás Hirsch illustrated various promising developments of the past years where the creativity and courage of common citizens as well as of some politicians and governments were able to take advantage of weaknesses in the dominating violent structures in order to achieve some progress for the new wave. Although appearing to be occasional or partial, these incidences show possible ways of moving towards a just and non-violent world.
In the political area, he pointed out the case of Argentina, which abandoned its privatized pension scheme and thus opened the way for various benefits for the population and the economy of the country. Also, it is the first country worldwide to pass a law of completely egalitarian marriage, in 2010, in this way overcoming a long history of discrimination strongly supported by conservative sectors. The second part, on March 6, was organized by the “Internationaler Versöhnungsbund”, the German branch of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Resuming the thematic line of the previous day, Tomás Hirsch placed emphasis on the situation of Chile, his country of origin. He surprised the audience with many facts, which were in clear disagreement with the image of a successful Chile, that has been sold by the established media in recent years. The content of his speech coincided in the main with his explanations at a similar event in Berlin on March 1st.
(for more details, please refer to http://www.pressenza.com/npermalink/the-case-of-chilex-in-berlin-tomas-hirsch-reveals-the-truthx).
The pleasant atmosphere and the great interest of the audience allowed an enriching interchange. Although various details of the explanations about the distinct aspects of the crisis in Chile, Latin America and the world were somewhat depressing, Tomás Hirsch managed to highlight that nowadays many positive and encouraging possibilities are arising – also showing ways to leave humanity’s violent prehistory and opening spaces for hope, curiosity and positive action.
