Many do not know the philosophy underpinning the naming of this e-zine as YouthSpeak!. Well the idea is: Speaking Out Youths. This is premised on the need to offer humanist youths everywhere, and anywhere, the platform and opportunity to air their views, unchained! And this, indeed, has been our guiding mantra since it was established some years ago.
Youths by virtue of their place in the society are change-agents. From the African youth movements that fought colonialism to freedom, to the youths of Ghandi movement of non-violence that gave birth to the modern day ‘largest democracy in the world’, to the German political youth movement of the 60s, and to the 1989 Tiananmen Square (youth) victims of Prime Minister Li Ping’s tyranny, among others, youths have never find it difficult to raise their voices for the voiceless in the society. In fact, many will agree with me that to gag the youths is to cage freedom and development. And since freedom and growth are human desires, it is therefore imperative that we can’t but Speak Out!
There are different ways of doing this. The IHEU, International Humanist and Ethical Union, is sponsoring a programme to ‘Speak Out’, to the world, on the plight of the untouchables all over the world, this June. Later in the year, IHEYO, International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organisation, shall be ‘speaking out’ in favour of Secularism, state-church separation, all over the world, in Nepal. These are just two of those events that humanists can use in speaking out, in reaching out to everyone concerning the plight of those victims of beliefs, sexuality among other criminal denials of fundamental human rights.
In this edition, we reported cases of ‘speak outs’, like the Singaporean Pink rally, the Icelandic humanists’ induced parliamentary drama, among others. To us, there is need for many of these ‘speaking outs’, for without them no one will appreciate the value of our struggle. It is therefore pertinent that we, as humanists, find our voices, and speak, loud and clear, against the pervasive injustices all around us.
Onward!
Yemi Ademowo Johnson, Editor