The Humanist Movement began its activities during the 1960s as a
study group focused on the relation between the personal and the social.
Some of these ideas were expressed in an address given by the founder
of the Humanist Movement, Mario Rodriguez Cobos, aka Silo, on 4 May 1969
in Punta de Vacas, Argentina. This address was called, The Healing of
Suffering.
Because of the military dictatorship in place at that time, this talk
was permitted on the condition that it would be held high in the Andes
Mountains, far from the nearest town. Nonetheless, a few hundred people
took part.
Even in the face of brutal repression and disinformation campaigns,
these initial groups grew and spread throughout Latin America. This
growth was reinforced when some of the members, freely or as political
exiles, took up residence in various countries in Europe, Asia and the
Americas.
Over the next decades, the HM grew around the world, in every
culture. Its members formed different affiliated organizations to
express the proposals of New Humanism in the fields of politics,
cultures, community, peace and disarmament, and others. Humanist Forums
were held internationally, regionally and locally. And in 2008, the
Humanist Movement, together with World Without Wars, launched the World March for Peace and Nonviolence.
In 2009, the HM did away with its organizational form, becoming instead
an ambit of convergence and interchange for all the members of its five
affiliated organizations: World without Wars and Violence, the Humanist
Party, the Community for Human Development, Convergence of Cultures, and
the World Centre for Humanist Studies.