Humanists for Peace represents nonreligious and religious humanists and freethinkers who oppose militarism and seek to reform the US's historically unethical foreign policy.

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On Saturday, June 5, 2010 Humanists for Peace hosted a session titled, “Why Peace is a Humanist Issue: Examining Humanism’s Anti-War Legacy,” at the American Humanist Association’s (AHA) annual conference, in San Jose, California. The session marked the first time in many years the conference featured a session specifically focused on humanist peace activism and the problem of U.S. militarism.

Panel participants included Debra Sweet, executive director of the anti-war group, World Can’t Wait; David Swanson, author and founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, which has changed its name to WarIsACrime.org; Armineh Noravian, president of the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley, California; and Jeff Nall, author, activist, and founder of Humanists for Peace. Read panel biographies.

Audio transcript of session:

David Swanson's summary of the conference and text of his presentation: www.davidswanson.org/node/2756

Panel organizer Jeff Nall began by articulating the impetus for the session, namely the humanist and freethought movement’s relative silence on the problem of U.S. wars and militarism. Drawing on his forthcoming work, Humanism and Peace, Ending Our Faith in Militarism, Nall explained that in contrast to humanism’s historic opposition to war and militarism, contemporary humanist and freethought movements had privileged scientific advancement and church-state separation at the expense of the crucial cause of combating war and militarism.

He explained that atheist intellectuals such as Christopher Hitchens had gone so far as to promote the kind of brutality early humanists like the philosophe Condorcet had hoped humanity would bring an end to. In fact, the AHA itself had passed strongly worded yet nearly forgotten anti-war/pro-peace resolutions during the late 60s and 70s. Moreover, Nall explained that, historically, several notable humanists have proffered searing criticism of U.S. militarism including Christian humanist Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, renowned freethinkers including Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain, and Albert Einstein, and several AHA “Humanists of the Year” award winners, such as Alice Walker and Pete Starke. He argued that contemporary humanism’s ambivalence and, at times, support for U.S. militarism directly contradicted its anti-war legacy.

The second speaker, Armineh Noravian, president of the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley, California, discussed the incompatibility of humanist ethics and war and militarism. In particular Noravian took issue with some humanists’ attempts to justify U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on grounds that they are essentially paving the way for women’s liberty. She argued that truly “rational” humanists who rely on quality “evidence” would find it impossible to defend such unethical wars which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. In particular, she cited the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, which has worked for women’s rights in Afghanistan since 1977, as having indicated that the U.S. war in Afghanistan and consequent occupation disempowered one group of religious fundamentalists (the Taliban) only to empower another group of brutal misogynists (various warlords).

Noravian explained that as an ethnic Armenian who was born in Iran, she is able to vividly envision the face of civilian death in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since she looks similar to the women of these regions, Noravian asked the audience to consider that when they hear of “collateral damage” what is really being said is that women like her are being destroyed. In sum, she called on humanists to follow the nonviolent paths taken by Rev. King and Mohandas Gandhi, and to live up to the Humanist Manifesto’s contention that differences should be resolved “cooperatively without resorting to violence.”

Next, author and national anti-war activist David Swanson delivered a fiery call for humanists to treat the myths used to perpetuate war the same way skepticism used to analyze traditional ideas about God and religion. Swanson, himself a secular humanist, told the audience that religious progressives were far more involved in efforts to combat unethical, irrational war and militarism, and asked: where are the humanists, atheists, and assorted freethinkers?

He then explained how humanists could take concrete action on behalf of peace. In particular he urged humanists to oppose forthcoming Afghanistan war funding, ridiculing the idea that additional funding would, as touted, succeed in deescalating the war. Swanson also took the opportunity to denounce Israel’s then recent assault on a Gaza-bound aid vessel, indicating that those humanitarians killed by Israeli soldiers will not have died in vein because the nonviolent, global peace movement would prevail.

Following Swanson, executive director of World Can’t Wait, Debra Sweet, stood before what had become a crowded room and denounced President Obama’s perpetuation of the Bush administration’s wars and criminal policies including extraordinary rendition. Holding up a copy of a flyer showing presidents Obama and Bush side by side under the heading, “crimes are crimes no matter who does them,” Sweet explained that in some ways the Obama administration is worse than the Bush administration. Signed by the likes of Cornel West, Chris Hedges, and Noam Chomsky, the document calls on those of conscience to condemn illegal, unethical policies being enacted under the Obama administration in the same way they condemn Bush administration criminality.

First, Obama’s election had largely defused the anti-war movement, meanwhile his policies perpetuate wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Second, Obama has now expanded the use of unmanned drones in Pakistan, where such strikes kill a disproportionate number of civilian non-combatants compared to purported terrorists being targeted. This is particularly problematic because the Obama administration is claiming that the U.S. has the legal authority to conduct extrajudicial killing in sovereign nations without such nation’s permission. Third, Sweet said that Obama’s decision to openly target an American citizen for assassination marked a departure from Bush’s equally criminal yet unofficial approval of such targeted assassinations.

Finally, the Obama administration refuses to hold Bush administration officials responsible for war crimes including documented, systematic torture. With the editor of AHA’s magazine, the Humanist, in the audience, Sweet said that she hoped to see the “crimes are crimes” ad appear in the publication.

Nall is the author of Perpetual Revolt: Essays on Peace & Justice and The Shared Values of Secular, Spiritual, and Religious Progressives (Howling Dog Press). His writing has appeared in Z magazine, Toward Freedom, and the Humanist Network News. In Florida Nall has co-organized a variety of actions including “Protest to End the War Economy” (Orlando, 10-17-09), “Florida March for Peace” (Melbourne, FL, 3-28-09), and “Mass March to Stop War on Iran” (Melbourne, FL 8-30-08).

His writing has appeared in a variety of publications including the Humanist, Seattle Times, and Baltimore Sun. Swanson holds a Master's degree in Philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN.

In 1970, Sweet received a Public Service Medal from President Richard Nixon. Using the opportunity to voice her disgust at Nixon's actions in Vietnam, Sweet accepted Nixon's handshake, and admonished him for killing millions of people in Vietnam. The incident made that day’s evening news and was on both national and international front pages the following morning.

Immediately following the White House confrontation, Sweet dropped out of college to dedicate her life to progressive social change. She continues to believe in the power of collective action: “Why just hope for change when you can be the change? You have a voice,” she says.

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