Humanist Movement

The Humanist Movement is an international volunteer organisation following and spreading the ideas of Argentine writer Mario Rodríguez Cobos, commonly known by his nickname "Silo". The movement's ideology is known as New Humanism, Universal Humanism or simply Siloism. Silo said that normally, people live in a state of "inner violence" caused by human desire, which leads one to subject others to violence as well. The term "violence" as used here means not only physical violence, but also encompasses for example "economical violence", which is the exploitation of other people, and for example forcing one's way of life on other people. To heal the world's suffering, then, Silo said that each individual must go through a process of self-transformation that would calm their desire. Silo likened the state before self-transformation to sleep in a parable, and said that true liberation required self-transformation. This self-transformation is to be achieved through meditation under the guidance of those who are already liberated. Silo warned to be doubtful of political change through reforms; in Siloist thought, all change has to start with the individual. In fact, early Siloists rejected the idea of participating in party politics, though they later revisited this and started the Humanist Party in many countries. Under the pseudonym "H. van Doren", Silo criticised then-governing communist party Popular Unity for preserving the capitalist system, instead proposing a "total revolution" led by young self-transformed people that would result in libertarian socialism, a communist society without hierarchies.