After the closure of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence which took place on January 2 at the Park of Study and Reflection at Punta de Vacas (Mendoza province, Argentina) and at which close to 20 thousand people gathered, the Humanist Party (HP) -now redefined as the International Humanist Party- held a meeting on January 4 in the same location to “relaunch” the organization on a global level, within the framework of the restructuring of the Humanist Movement.

More than 1,300 activists participated in the meeting, viewing short videos of the history of the Humanist Parties of Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain and France, accompanied by a brief description by a local representative of the current status of the organization in each of those countries. Also, members of the Humanist Party of India and of Uruguay described the principal activities in their countries, number of activists, political relations and future challenges, among other issues.

The Global Promotional Team of the IHP led the meeting. This team includes Guillermo Sullings (Argentina), Gustavo Joaquin (Argentina), Ricardo Jullian (Brazil), Tomás Hirsch (Chile), José Rafael Quesada (Costa Rica), Alain Ducq (France), Sudhir Gandotra (India), Valerio Colombo (Italy), Loredana Cici (Italy), Ivan Andrade (Mozambique), Pau Segado (Spain) and Marisa Gabaldón (Spain).

In a communiqué the organization stated as a central point of the new stage that is beginning that, “The Humanist Party is a global federative organization. This structure permits the HP to articulate positions and campaigns of international scope, while maintaining the autonomy and creativity at various level of action down to the community base, where it is rooted.”

The following day, January 5, activists from different cities and towns, planned their support for the future of the organization, under the themes “What Party do we want?; how to create greater depth in Siloist spirituality within political action; strengthening coherence avoiding the mediocrity of traditional politics; proposals for forming the Humanist Party in countries where it doesn’t exist; strategies for gaining access to government and parliamentary representation; implementation of real democracy within the organization”, among other points that guided the debates.

To conclude, an internal calendar was established with elections at the base, national level and global level for May of this year, and various organizational mechanisms that the Party will implement in the future. The organizers reported that, as early as mid-2010, the IHP may begin a worldwide campaign.

The International Humanist Party had significant participation last year in the World March for Peace and Nonviolence as it attempted to include within the political agenda the positions of the global campaign. The Party achieved participation in the World March by Presidents Michelle Bachellet, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales, among others.

Additionally, the political action of the organization obtained declarations of interest in the movement from hundreds of mayors, legislators and councils, that tried to raise awareness of the danger of nuclear weapons, the need for immediate disarmament and the signing of non-aggression treaties between countries as priority policies to be carried out by governments.

*(Translated by IUS Lingua)*