New humanism is what we need today
The University of the Philippines Cebu held an online Valediction for Graduates of Batch 2020 last October 27 in lieu of the graduation ceremony whose date in June was moved to sometime in the future when circumstances allow.
A valediction is simply an action of saying farewell. But UP Cebu saw it fit to conduct a formal ceremony not only as a send-off to its graduates of 2020 but also as a way of honoring their achievements and leaving them with a message relevant to the times and that will serve as a guiding light for the challenging path after graduation.
UP Cebu had the honor to have Ramon Magsaysay awardee, former associate justice of the Supreme Court and ombudsman of the Philippines Conchita Carpio-Morales as the bearer of that message. Allow me to share portions of her speech, and I must tell you her message is exactly what we need in these times.
Morales in her speech beamed via Zoom video conference said that our society is in the middle of a war of dehumanization amid the backdrop of the rise in global digitization and connectivity. “A scholar once observed that the internet is rapidly becoming the framework of our lives, private and public, and that there are parts of the world where mobile internet access is easier than access to clean water or sanitation facilities,” Morales said.
“In reality, the internet is in great danger of becoming invariably a (inaudible portion due to internet lag) of dehumanization where users are reduced to avatars and data when they serve as consumers of often deceptive content or where narcissistic politicians (inaudible)… Similarly many political leaders who capitalize on national identity and popular support dehumanize people by behaving as if there are (inaudible) mobs at their beck and call to attack and silence critics…
“While robots and artificial intelligence are now replacing humans, we are experiencing grim challenges to our humanity today – culture of conflicts and violence, culture of death, extra-judicial killings, insensitivity to killings and human rights violations, intolerance to others because of differences in ethnicity, religion, gender preferences and political identity, among others.
“People’s failure to recognize one another as fellow human beings on a shared journey and to care for one another is at the root of all these which ought to be resolved if humanity is to pass the test of the current pandemic. Otherwise, the forecast by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres just a few days ago will come to pass: a microscopic virus could push millions of people into poverty and hunger with devastating economic effects in the years to come.
“In response to this war of dehumanization, schools like the University of the Philippines Cebu along with its class of 2020 should be at the forefront of restoring humanism in our world, but especially, in our country.” Echoing the statement of former UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Morales continued: “Development across the globe calls for a new humanism that aims to create a more inclusive society in which all humans have a chance to access knowledge and quality education, and every voice is heard in the universal dialogue.”
“Bokova believes new humanism should (prioritize) a new sense of respect for multiplicity and cultural diversity and must support media development with the goal of consolidating the new culture of peace, as cited in Tornero & Varis.
“In the context of today’s media culture and technological civilization, Tornero & Varis (2010) identified the values of new humanism. The human person is recognized to be at the core of media civilization… The classical idea of the cosmopolitan universal citizen with very clear rights and responsibilities that entail a planet-wide commitment should be revived.”
Addressing the graduates of UP Cebu Batch 2020, Morales said: “Please consider humanism. I congratulate you for you are artists, communicators, biologists, environmental scientists, computer scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, psychologists, political scientists, and teachers. But, you are humans first.
“Will your arts be vehicles to a future for the oppressed (inaudible)? Or will they be window dressing a system that widens the gap between the haves and have-nots? Will your communication practice fearlessly give a voice to the voiceless? Or will it be all about you or the delusions of your richest clients? Will your biological and environmental research or eventual practice of medicine bring healing to nature and to the sick especially the poor? Or will you eventually surrender to the perks of a glamorous job and forget that you wanted to help people in the first place?”
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