Empowering the online presence of the Lebanese humanist movement

Active since 2007 but formally launched in 2012, Freethought Lebanon is the only humanist organization in the country. Since 2019 it is an Associate of Humanists International. In 2021, Freethought Lebanon aims to increase its online presence with the creation of new humanist formats, including the series “Free Thought of the Week”, the creation of a “Freethought TV” where to broadcast live events and other educational videos on humanist issues like secularism, freedom of speech, LGBTI+ rights.

Background

“Freethought Lebanon” is an initiative that aims to empower freethinkers in Lebanon in order to promote humanism, encourage critical thinking, and disseminate secular values as a solution for intolerance and sectarian violence in Lebanon. Freethought Lebanon’s vision is “Expanded Horizons with Minds Liberated from the Tyranny of Custom”. Soon after becoming an Associate of Humanists International, Freethought Lebanon organized a Café Humaniste in Beirut on the theme “Secularism in Lebanon“, which has been also live streamed on Facebook.

A photo from the Café Humaniste on “Secularism in Lebanon” organized by Freethought Lebanon in December 2019 with the support of Humanists International.

The founders of this initiative have been highly involved in the Lebanese activism scene for more than 10 years, particularly in the struggles related to civil marriage, electoral reform, LGBT rights, abolishing the death penalty, secularism and nonviolence. Freethought Lebanon is entirely volunteer-based and it is active both as an online platform and as a youth entity that organizes events, conferences, gatherings, film screenings, etc. on a regular basis. Through its work, Freethought Lebanon seek to promote:

• freethought principles
• secularism
• rationalism
• critical thinking
• science
• free speech
• tolerance
• nonviolence
• human rights.

About the project

As of February 2021, “Freethought Lebanon” owns and manages multiple online platforms:

• “Freethought Lebanon” Facebook page, which has approximately 24,000 followers;
• “Freethought Lebanon” Instagram page which was recently launched and is still at 376 followers;
• A website, freethoughtlebanon.net
• A private Facebook group with 4000+ members, which serves as a safe space for discussion and community building.

Freethought Lebanon’s online presence is the primary method in which the organization can make humanist voices heard and promote humanist values.

However, this online presence has an enormous unrealized potential, mainly because it is hard to consistently produce original content with no dedicated staff and no resources.

With this project, Freethought Lebanon aims to a bold expansion of its online presence through this collaboration with Humanists International. Freethought Lebanon is aiming to at least double the number of online followers by the end of 2021, thus reaching 50,000 followers on the Freethought Lebanon Facebook page. On top of that, Freethought Lebanon will aim for an expansion of the Instagram page from 376 to 5000 followers. These will inevitably feed into increased traffic to the website, expansion of the private Facebook group, and recruitment of new volunteers to our initiative.

Freethought Lebanon proposes the three following components to achieve the above objectives:

1. Publishing 36 flashcards under the title “Free Thought of the Week”. These flashcards will be in the format of a visual poster or a picture of a champion of humanism (ex: Bertrand Russel, Carl Sagan, etc.) combined with a short text that is either a quote or a brief explanation of an idea. The goal is to raise awareness on themes related to humanism such as secularism, critical thinking, free speech, evolution, LGBT rights, gender equality, etc. These can also be synchronized with important humanist days on the calendar.
2. Producing and publishing 4 educational videos (2 to 5 minutes each) that raise awareness on the same themes mentioned above. Potential topics of these videos: a- “Why Lebanon needs secularism”, b- “Free speech includes the right to offend ideas”, c- “Is homosexuality unnatural?” d- “What is evolution and why isn’t it taught in Lebanese Schools?”
3. Launching “Freethought TV”, an initiative to host a series of live episodes on different social media platforms, in particular Facebook and Instagram. Each episode will include a presentation and/or an interview with an expert on a topic related to humanism. The goal is to organize and host 4 episodes with this program. Topics could include: “Can we be moral without God?”, “Does religious education belong in public schools?”, “Social Change in Lebanon”, “The rise of censorship & intolerance in Lebanon”. It is also possible to host an international humanist personality in one of the episodes and connect them with the Lebanese humanist community.