q Li LiHS Liga Humanista Secular do Brasil (Secular Humanist League of Brazil) Annual Report 2010 Members of the Atheist Alliance International www.ligahumanista.org LiHS - Liga Humanista Secular do Brasil R. Duque de Caxias, 837/702. Centro Histórico. Porto Alegre - RS. Brazil. 90010-282 @ligahumanista youtube.com/ bulevoador bule. atheis.me E-mail: contato@ligahumanista.org facebook.com/ vimeo.com/ LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org LiHSBrasil bulevoador 1
LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 2
Content Message from the President... 5 The year at a glance... 6 Growing to become one of the top 3 Brazilian secular organizations... 7 Rapid start, steady growth... 7 Emeritus members... 7 Promoting Human Secularism in Brazil, in a daily basis... 8 Bule Voador (The Flying Teapot) daily blog... 8 Bule and LiHS at Twitter... 10 Vimeo videos... 10 YouTube videos... 11 Promoting Evolution at Evolucionismo.org... 12 Public appearances human secularism and skepticism on the media... 13 LiHS supporting the abortion of anencephalic fetuses... 13 LiHS in the public demonstration against stoning... 13 TV appearances... 14 Radio appearances... 16 Supporting skeptic/secular/ atheist/rationalist local events... 17 LiHS participation in Skeptics in the Pub events... 17 Establishing new partnerships... 18 Coletivo Acido Cético (Skeptic Collective Acid)... 18 Atheist Alliance International (AAI)... 19 Organizational structure... 20 LiHS four major structures... 20 The General Assembly... 21 LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 3
The Funds Council... 21 The Audit Council... 21 The Events Council... 21 The Media council... 21 The Law council... 21 The Students Alliance Councils... 21 The future... 22 LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 4
Message from the President 2010 has been a great year for LiHS. To begin with, within just one week after the launch of the new website there were already 620 registered members. Not to mention this was only months after we decided to start a new secular humanist organization in Brazil. We were flabbergasted by the amount of people who almost instantaneously showed up, demonstrating the viability of our embryonic organization a success I can only attribute to "Bule Voador" (Flying Teapot) blog, its ability to communicate a clear and positive message of our propositions and fundamental values. I feel honoured and enthusiastic for being part of an initiative that may be the start of the definitive flourishing of humanism and secularism in Brazil. Together with Åsa Heuser, Pedro Almeida and Alex Rodrigues, I would like to thank our members and supporters for this great, unforgettable year. In this spirit of brotherhood through reason and empathy, I salute you, happy to share a world and an era with all of you. I hope you will find in this report not only what we have accomplished so far and it is an impressive list of achievements for an organization 100% ran by volunteers, as you shall see but inspiration to look ahead, to look on the horizon and see the future of Secular Humanism in Brazil. Yours sincerely, Eli Vieira, President of the Secular Humanist League of Brazil (LiHS) Eli Vieira Brazilian biologist, graduate student in evolutionary molecular genetics, populariser of science. eli@ligahumanista.org I feel honoured and enthusiastic for being part of an initiative that may be the start of the definitive flourishing of humanism and secularism in Brazil. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 5
The year at a glance JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH 2010 Q1 LiHS is formally constituted after four months of deliberation (February 1 st 2010). Documents are submitted for approval by the Brazilian government to get our serial number as juridic person. APRIL MAY JUNE 2010 Q2 LiHS organizational structure is improved and new volunteers join the councils A Secular Student Alliances Council are created LiHS organizes the first Face to Face Member Meeting JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2010 Q3 In August, LiHS members join the One hundred cities against stoning protest In September, LiHS bylaws are edited by the board OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2010 Q4 In October, Bule Voador, LiHS official blog, publishes its 1000 th post In November, Bule Voador reaches a new record of 107,154 pages served in a single month In December, LiHS has 820 registered members LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 6
Growing to become one of the top Brazilian secular organizations Rapid start, steady growth LiHS had a fast increase in numbers since its foundation, and keeps growing at a steady pace. In December 2010 there were more than eight hundred members, a number that certainly trends to double in 2011. LiHS has become the second largest officially recognized secularist organization in Brazil in number of members, and keeps growing and is certainly a top of mind among atheists especially in the online environment. Emeritus members Besides regular members, LiHS has also elected prominent figures of skepticism in Brazil and abroad people like the American philosopher Daniel Dennett, the American linguist Daniel Everett, the Brazilian human rights academic Debora Diniz and Iranian activist Maryam Namazie, among others to become emeritus members. These fellow participants, who help LiHS with their credentials and their public exposure, are a source of pride and role models to us all. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 7
Promoting Secular Humanism in Brazil, in a daily basis Bule Voador (The Flying Teapot) daily blog Overview Bule Voador (The Flying Teapot), LiHS Official blog created in September 18 th 2009, is an active community that produces at least one new article, and hundreds of comments, every day and generates an average of 37,351 page hits per month 1. To keep the design clean and to maximize readers experience, LiHS has deliberately decided not to include any random advertisement (Google Ads or the likes) at Bule s website and uses only donations to cover the site operational costs. Bule is the place to go in Brazil for secular humanism, skepticism, atheism, separation of church and state, defending civil rights and talking about anything skeptic. The name of the blog comes from the famous analogy of the orbiting china teapot, purported by Bertrand Russell to illustrate that, in an irrational worldview, any idea could be claimed holy however absurd it be. Bule can be accessed at http://bulevoador.haaan.com, it is hosted by the HAAAN project of skepticism founded by our honorary member Kentaro Mori. 1 Google Analytics measurements from January to December 2010 LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 8
Bule s 2010 Numbers (from January 1 st 2010 to 31 st December 2010): 448,218 unique visits 923,771 page views Average of 2 pages/visit 3:43 average time on site 230,356 visitors Country/Terr. Visits Brazil 427,693 Portugal 6,770 United States 4,608 Japan 1,588 Germany 1,523 United 728 Kingdom France 576 Chile 514 Canada 444 (other) 844 LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 9
Bule and LiHS at Twitter Bule (@bulevoador) and LiHS (@LigaHumanista) accounts on Twitter are increasingly responsible for LiHS s traffic. These two accounts, combined, have more than 7,000 followers and are actively promoting secular humanism in Brazil. Comments on current affairs are made in real time to try and give a humanist approach to events such as the invasion of the favela territory in Rio made in 2010 by governmental military forces. Vimeo videos LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 10
Bule s vimeo channel has been used to publish relevant secularist / humanist/ skeptic media, especially radio and podcast programs with the participation of LiHS s members. LiHS has been very active in translating foreign content into Portuguese, thus expanding the reach of these videos to hundreds of thousands who do not speak English. LiHS Vimeo videos are available at http://vimeo.com/bulevoador YouTube channels and videos LiHS s channels in YouTube are popular for their skeptic content in Brazil. Created in 30 th September 2009, the channel had, in December 2010: More than 250,000 video views More than 17,000 channel exhibitions LiHS channel on youtube can be accessed at http://youtube.com/lihsbrasil LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 11
Promoting Evolution at Evolucionismo.org LiHS also helps to promote the www.evolucionismo.org website and the @evolucionismo twitter account active voices against creationism and Intelligent Design in Brazil and other countries. Evolucionismo s numbers 2 : More than 1,500 tweets More than 200 answered questions on the website More than 1,700 followers on Twitter ~8 thousand visits a month 2 December, 2010 LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 12
Public appearances human secularism and skepticism on the media In 2010, LiHS has participated in several events about human secularism, atheism, separation of church and state, defending civil rights such as the right to abortion, rights of the homosexuals, promoting science based medicine in contrast to pseudoscientific, pre-scientific practices. This section describes some of these public activities. LiHS supporting the abortion of anencephalic fetuses In February 2010, LiHS supported a public campaign for the right to stop pregnancies in cases of anencephaly the absence of a large part of the brain and the skull. In Brazil, abortion, even in extreme cases such as anencephaly, where there is no chance of survival of the fetus, is still illegal. LiHS supported a public campaign lead by the CEPIA (www.cepia.org.br) organization and the National Council for Women s rights organization (CNDM) to raise public awareness about the problem. LiHS in the public demonstration against stoning In August 29 th 2010, LiHS members in Porto Alegre protested against the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Stoning is a barbaric ritual still in place in Iran and other countries and LiHS members joined in the One hundred cities against the stoning worldwide protest. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 13
TV appearances Eli Vieira (LiHS s president) and Åsa Heuser (LiHS s vice-president) participated in a very interesting TV documentary entitled Prejudice against atheists, which is being produced by students of the UNISC (University of Santa Cruz) University, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 14
In May 3rd, 2010, Kentako Mori, one of LiHS s emeritus members, spoke for almost half an hour in Programa do Jô Soares 3, arguably the most famous talk show in Brazil, with an audience of more than 4.6 million 4 viewers. Kentako Mori, and Brazilian television presenter, Jô Soares at the Programa do Jô talking show. The interview is available online at http://bulevoador.haaan.com/2010/05/11246/ 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/programa_do_jô 4 http://comercial.redeglobo.com.br/programacao_entrevista/joaltas_apa.php LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 15
Radio appearances In May, 2010, LiHS s honorary member Marcelo Druyan participated in a radio show hosted by the Tropical AM 1320 radio in Curitiba, Brazil. The one hour talk show discussed a new Christian book defending the idea that the mark of the beast is evident in present times. In the show, LiHS defended secular humanism, the idea that morals and ethics are not derived from religious doctrines and combated the absurdity of the mark of the beast claims. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 16
Supporting skeptic/secular/ atheist/rationalist local events LiHS participation in Skeptics in the Pub events LiHS has been active in organizing local Secular events such as the Skeptics in the Pub gatherings, as well as other casual meetings of members and non-members. The atmosphere of one of the latest Porto Alegre Skeptics in the Pub (SiTP) events, where, people get together to celebrate science, skepticism, humanism and socialize in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. LiHS helps to organize and promote skeptic events like SiTP at the Bule Voador website as well as social networking such as Twiiter and Facebook. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 17
Establishing new partnerships 2010 was an important year in terms of strengthening LiHS relationship with other secular organizations in Brazil and abroad. The following partnerships have been established: Collaboration with the Coletivo Ácido Cético skeptic group Atheist Alliance International affiliation Coletivo Acido Cético (Skeptic Collective Acid) Coletivo Ácido Cético 5, or CAC for short, is a very active skeptic group in Porto Alegre, Brazil, organized by a group of teachers and students from UFRGS The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Besides a very popular blog, CAC also hosts a weekly radio show and podcast called Fronteiras da Ciência 6 (Science Frontiers) that discusses the limits of science and pseudoscience. LiHS teamed up with CAC to collaborate on some episodes of the show and also during Porto Alegre Skeptics in the Pub gatherings. 5 Coletivo Acido Cético website: http://coletivoacidocetico.blogspot.com 6 Fronteiras da Ciência radio show and podcast website: http://frontdaciencia.ufrgs.br LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 18
Atheist Alliance International (AAI) Atheist Alliance International (www.atheistalliance.org) is a global network of atheist and free thought groups, committed to educating its members and the public about atheism, secularism and related issues. AAI strengthens co-operation between atheist and free thought organizations around the world, supports the establishment of new atheist/free thought organizations, publishes Secular World magazine and co-hosts atheist conventions worldwide Atheist Alliance International's vision is in several ways LiHS vision as well to transform society into one that understands and respects atheism; that supports and respects a worldview based on the values of reason, empiricism and naturalism; and that respects and protects the separation of religion and government and the constitutional and human rights of atheists as members of society in free, democratic and open nations. LiHS listed at the Affiliates & Associates section of the AAI website LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 19
Organizational structure LiHS major structures This section describes LiHS organization in terms of its four major structures: I. The General Assembly II. The Presidency and the Vice-presidency III. The Executive board IV. The Funds Council General Assembly Funds council President Presidency Vice-president General Director First treasurer Audit Council Events Council Media Council Law Council Students Alliance Council Executive board The executive board is composed of the General Director, the First Treasurer and the Audit, Events, Media, Law and Secular Student Alliances councils. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 20
The General Assembly The General Assembly is the highest decision-making instance of LiHS, composed of all members. The assembly is required to elect the President, change the bylaws and vote exceptional cases, such as the exclusion of members. The Funds Council The Funds Council coordinates the cash flow and is in charge of the accountability of the association, operating bank accounts, checks, fund transfers and investments. The Audit Council The Audit Council is in charge of revising all expenditures and financial moves of the association, analyzing, monitoring and advising on management, accountability and other financial acts of the association. The Audit Council can also convene the General Assembly at any time. The Events Council The Events Council is in charge of organizing events sponsored by LiHS, such as member meetings, the "Skeptics in the Pub" gatherings and conferences. One of the goals of the council is trying to organize a major secular conference in Brazil. The Media council The media council is in charge of LiHS s visual communication strategies, LiHS s presence on the Internet via LiHS s websites such as BuleVoador and LigaHumanista, and other media interfaces such as Twitter, FaceBook, Vimeo and YouTube accounts. The Law council The Law Council is LiHS s interface with the Brazilian legal system and the board responsible for defending LiHS in any legal procedure and lawsuits. The Secular Student Alliances Council This council is responsible for coordinating LiHS activities within student organizations that promote secular humanism in universities across the country. There are four alliances congregated in this council, in four different universities: Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Federal University of Pará (UFPA), Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and University of São Paulo (USP). These alliances are also affiliated with the American SSA. LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 21
The future In 2011, LiHS will keep promoting Secular Humanism in Brazil and expand all activities executed in 2010. Moreover, LiHS will pursue a number of new initiatives, including: To articulate efficient methods of fund raising through donations and products with our trademarks conveying our tenets. To launch a complementary podcast about Bule s hottest topics. It will be another interesting media space to talk about Secular Humanism, atheism, skepticism, science, evolution, to defend civil rights and separation of church and state. To establish new partnerships and join other International Secular organizations that share similar values To improve the www.ligahumanista.org website transforming it into a simplified form of a social network and to sell official LiHS merchandising at the website. To host and support more local events in major Brazilian cities. To be even more active in the media, participating in radio and TV shows, documentaries, submitting articles to newspapers and magazines and being a even more active voice for secularism on the internet. To increase LiHS s participation in social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and at least double the number of online visitors at the Bule Voador website. There is so much to do. But there are also many people keen to help. Ideas are flourishing and new members are joining in. It will be a lot of work, but we are excited and confident that LiHS will continue to deliver its mission to help to build a more secular, rational and fair country. Porto Alegre, Brazil, December 31 st 2010. Eli Vieira President Åsa Heuser Vice-president Pedro Almeida General Director Alex Rodrigues President of the Media Council LiHS Annual Report 2010 www.ligahumanista.org 22