Humanitarianism isn't enough

On Sunday 19 June, I will be speaking at the Northeast Humanists conference in Newcastle on Humanism and Humanitarianism. Here are details if you can come to it.

I have been thinking about what I will be saying. Most likely it will be something to this effect:

Obviously humanitarianism is a good thing; it’s good to care about the promotion of human welfare and social reforms. But humanitarianism and charitable works have become the social duty of the day and have replaced the more urgent need for social justice and solidarity. Whilst humanitarianism gives the impression of neutrality, it more often than not helps maintain the status quo at the expense of those trying to change things.

A few days ago, I posted an interview with Hamid Taqvaee on the Iranian 'elections' which actually addresses this matter as well:

‘...There are reformists [in Iran] – like Ms Shirin Ebadi – who at one point began a campaign to remove mines left over from the Iran-Iraq war. This is a humanitarian task but if it becomes the only task – whilst every day people are being executed and stoned and she has nothing to say about them or is silent on the serial killings and complains that there is censorship in the country when journalists are being killed, this is either pleading ignorance or assuming that the people are ignorant!’

Clearly, when you live under an Islamic inquisition, humanitarianism isn’t the answer; solidarity and support in getting rid of this colossal beast is.

In his interview, Taqvaee goes on to say that even a demand for reform requires getting rid of Islamism.

‘It’s like saying Hitler’s rule was bad because during his reign, they took two years to asphalt our roads! Of course the roads should also have been asphalted but those who reduce the problem to this are actually trying to cover up the main issues at hand.’

‘...A precondition for those who speak of reform under Nazism is to call for the fascists to get out of government and to be prosecuted. Otherwise, what reform? You can’t be under Hilter’s yoke and complain about the lack of asphalted roads. This is no longer called reform. Under a regime where writers are killed, you can no longer merely complain about censorship.’