ADVOCACY FOR ALLEGED WITCHES:

SKEPTICISM IN ACTION

(Photo from Humanists International)

Leo Igwe, PhD in Religious Studies (University of Bayreuth in Germany), and Bach. & M.A. in Philosophy (University of Calabar in Nigeria), and Director of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches

Skepticism is usually associated with the West, not with Africa or Africans. Western anthropologists, colonialists and missionaries introduced Africa as we largely know it today to the world. But that introduction was impaired. It was defective. Western interpretation of African culture is one sided and stereotypic. Western scholars explained Africa in religious, dogmatic, magical and occult terms. They presented Africans as primitive in thinking and outlook. Westerners have interpreted African cultures in ways that created the impression that scientific or skeptical rationality had no place in the African thought and culture. They westernized scientific outlook and Africanized magical thinking. This mistaken impression, or scholarized racism, which many African intellectuals have been reluctant to challenge, pervades and persists. The stereotypic image of a magical Africa has become a staple in the academic discourse of Africa. It has become a 'standard' for the perception and representation of Africa, African thoughts and cultures. This mistaken idea of Africa has become a liability. It encumbers and undermines efforts to foster skepticism, dispel superstitious beliefs, eradicate superstition based abuses, and realize positive and progressive change. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches is an effort to correct this mistaken impression and deploy skeptical rationality in addressing issues and problems that affect Africa and Africans.

This advocacy group, founded in 2020, combats witch persecution and campaigns to make witch hunting history by 2030. Witchcraft belief is a silent killer and eliminator of Africans. Witchcraft accusation is a form of death sentence. Alleged witches are attacked, banished or murdered. Alleged witches are buried alive, lynched or strangled to death in many parts of the region. The AfAW became necessary to fill in many gaps and supply missing links in the campaign and representation witch hunting in the region. Western anthropologists misrepresented and misinterpreted witchcraft and witch hunting in Africa. They created the impression that witch hunting was cultural to Africans; that witch persecution was useful and fulfilled socio economic roles. Western scholars presented witchcraft in the West as a wild phenomenon and witchcraft in Africa as having domestic value and benefit. They explained witchcraft accusations and witch persecutions from the accuser, not from the accused's perspective.

Incidentally, Western NGOs drive and dominate 'global' efforts to address witch persecution in Africa. Witch hunting is not a problem in the Western societies. So, Western NGOs have waged a lack lustre campaign that paper over the problem. They do not treat the issue of witch persecution with the urgency that the issue deserves. On their part, African NGOs and activists have been complicit. They lack the political and funding will to challenge this sham, and ineffective approach to combating witchcraft accusation and witch hunting in Africa. Meanwhile to end witch hunting, a paradigm shift is needed. The way that witchcraft belief or witch hunting is perceived and addressed must change.

AfAW exists to realize this shift and change. AfAW is an exercise in practical and applied skepticism. It deploys the canons of reason and compassion against witch hunting. AfAW engages in public education and enlightenment. It questions and debates witchcraft and ritual beliefs to dispel misconceptions too often used to justify abuses. AfAW tries to reorient and reason African witchcraft believers out of their illusions, delusions and superstitions. It foregrounds the skeptical Africa too often forgotten and ignored. Abuses linked to witchcraft and ritual beliefs are pervasive in Africa because the region lacks a robust initiative to apply skeptical thought and rationality. To this end, AfAW uses the informaction (from information and action) theory of change because witch hunting persists in the region due to lack of information, or misinformation, and due to lack of action, inaction, or infraction.

At the global level, there is a lack of information about witch-hunting in Africa. Although a lot has been written and published on witchcraft in African societies, many people in Europe and America do not know about raging witch hunts in many parts of the region. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches works to fill this gap and correct the misrepresentation of witchcraft accusations in Africa. We campaign to draw attention to this imbalance in the perception of the phenomenon. But correct information is not enough. Balanced interpretation does not suffice. To combat witch persecution, information needs to be turned into action. Interpretations need to be translated into effective policies and interventions, hence the action aspect of the informaction theory.

On the action side, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches takes measures to address the problem because lack of adequate information has occasioned inaction or infractions. Wrong information has resulted in apathy and indifference towards witch hunting in Africa. Many international agencies are reluctant to act; they have refused to take action or to treat the issue with the urgency it deserves. With adequate and balanced information, international organizations would take appropriate actions.

Pa Justin, a survivor of witch persecution and lynching back in his village in Benue.

At the local level, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches works to fill the information and action gaps. Many people accuse and engage in witch hunts due to a lack of information or misinformation. Accusers are misinformed about the cause of illnesses, deaths, and other misfortune. Many people persecute witches because they have incorrect information about who or what is responsible for their problems, because they are not informed about what to do and where to go, who or what to blame for their misfortunes. Many people do not know what constitutes sufficient reason and causal explanations for their problems. As part of the efforts to end witch-hunting, the AfAW highlights misinformation and disinformation about causes of misfortune, illness, death, accidents, poverty, and infertility, including the misinformation that charlatans and con artists, god men and women such as traditional priests, pastors, mallam and marabouts use to exploit poor ignorant folks. The AfAW provides evidence-based knowledge, explanation, and interpretation of misfortunes. It informs the public about the law and other existing mechanisms to address allegations of witchcraft. The AfAW sensitizes the public and public institutions, including schools, colleges, and universities. It sponsors media programs, issues press releases, makes social media posts, and publishes articles and blogs on witch-hunting in the region.

The AfAW facilitates actions and interventions by state and nonstate agencies. The post colonial African state is weak so state agencies have limited powers and presence. The AfAW encourages institutional synergy to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. The AfAW petitions the police, the courts, and state human rights institutions. It pressures these agencies to act, collaborate and take appropriate measures to penalize witch-hunting activities in the region. AfAW also intervenes to support individual victims of witch persecution. This intervention is based their needs and available resources. For instance, in situations where the victims survived and were not killed, AfAW works with relatives to take them to a safe location, support their medical treatment and facilitate access to justice. In situations where the alleged were murdered the AfAW supports relatives of victims and ensure that the murderers are brought to justice. As expected AfAW gets more cases that it can handle and support. Due to limited resources we have not been able to intervene in all cases that have been reported to us. However in less than four years, the advocacy group has registered effective presence through its interventions in Nigeria and beyond.

With an informactional approach, the AfAW is deploying the canon of skeptical rationality to save lives, awaken Africans from their dogmatic and superstitious slumber and realize an African enlightenment that speaks to a specific problem and challenge.

 GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II) 

SKEPTICISM IN ARGENTINA

(Photo from pensar.org)

Alejandro Borgo, journalist, writer, director of Pensar magazine, 
representative of the Center for Inquiry in Argentina, 
and member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).

Perhaps the first Argentine who wrote a book on skepticism was Eduardo Goligorsky. The book was called Contra la Corriente. Guía de mitos, tabúes y disparates para escépticos, herejes e inconformistas [Against the Current. Guide of myths, taboos and nonsense for skeptics, heretics and nonconformists] (Granica Edi,1972). In it, Goligorsky wanders through a wide variety of topics related to irrationalism. An essential gem.

Back in 1979, interested in paranormal phenomena, I went to the Argentine Institute of Parapsychology (IAP) to take a course. At that time, I had read a book that attracted my attention: Parapsychology, by Robert Amadou. Although I did not rule out the possibility of the existence of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis, I had my doubts. After the course, I began researching parapsychological phenomena at the IAP. I met serious researchers and, together with Daniel De Cinti (1954-2020), we became part of the Institute's research team.

We tried to replicate the "successful" experiments that appeared in the publications we received: the journals of the Society for Psychical Research in the United Kingdom and the American Society for Psychical Research in the United States. Thus, we learned statistics and experimental design. Over time, we did dozens of investigations with no positive results. We were strict with experimental controls and found no evidence for the existence of ESP. I left the IAP in 1987, after 7 years of serious research, and I was disappointed, as were many of my colleagues. We had already become skeptics.

The idea of forming CAIRP ("Argentine Center for the Investigation and Refutation of Pseudoscience") arose in late 1989 from a telephone conversation between Enrique Marquez and an Argentine subscriber to the Skeptical Inquirer, the official publication of CSICOP (now CSI). Both agreed to call friends from their environment who might be interested in forming a group dedicated to demystifying pseudoscience. At the end of February 1990 the first meeting took place, to which I joined myself, Enrique Carpinetti (Kartis), Naum Kreiman, Rudyard Magaldi, Enrique Peralta (Marduk) and Benjamín Santos Pedrotti.

It was thus that in 1990 a group of skeptical students, professionals and illusionists formed the CAIRP. The first members were Enrique Márquez, Alejandro Agostinelli, Enrique Pereira de Lucena (1956-2021), Enrique Carpinetti, Aldo Slepetis, Benjamín Santos Pedrotti, Heriberto Janosch, Ellen Popper and myself, together with other students and professionals who shared a skeptical view of the paranormal.

Many scientific researchers joined our initiative, among them: Dr. Celso M. Aldao (University of Mar del Plata), Dr. Fernando Saraví (University of Cuyo) and Iván Tiranti (Río Cuarto, province of Córdoba). Then more and more people joined, curious to know what the pseudosciences were about. Among them, Arturo Belda, Francisco Bosch, Orlando Liguori and others.

(Image from facebook.com/ElCojoEsceptico/photos)

In 1991 the first skeptical magazine appeared, which I had the pleasure of directing for six years: El Ojo Escéptico [The Skeptical Eye]. Both CAIRP and El Ojo Escéptico had an enormous impact in Argentina. We began to carry out a task of demystification of the paranormal that took us to the written press, radio and television. For years we were invited to hundreds of programs in which we had the opportunity to show "the other side of the coin". Many of the programs in which we participated can be seen on YouTube. We began to receive letters from teachers, journalists and other professionals, who contacted us to collaborate with our work. Carl Sagan accepted to be an Honorary Member of CAIRP. So did Mario Bunge, who in 1985 had tried unsuccessfully to create an association similar to ours. Thus, we began to give courses, lectures, workshops in various institutions, even at the University of Buenos Aires. And of course, we contacted CSICOP, the most important organization dedicated to the demystification of pseudoscience.

CAIRP was dissolved in 2001 because those who took a place when Márquez, Agostinelli and I were no longer there, distorted the work of the Center.

A few years later I joined the Center for Inquiry (CFI) and began to edit the magazine Pensar, in 2004, in print. The journal had hundreds of subscribers, but due to the economic crisis its publication had to be suspended in 2009. Then we resumed Pensar magazine, but this time online, pensar.org.

In 2005, the First Ibero-American Conference on Critical Thinking was held in Buenos Aires, with 21 speakers from various countries: Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, the United States and Spain.

The task of demystifying pseudoscience continues, but more people are needed, especially professionals, who are more committed to the fight against charlatanism.

(Translation by Deepl.com of the Spanish article EL ESCEPTICISMO EN LA ARGENTINA, and review by Manuel A. Paz y Miño)

 GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 15: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II) 

NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (II)

(Image generated by AI, courtesy by Canva.com)

Lima, July-December, 2023

SKEPTICISM IN ARGENTINA
Alejandro Borgo, journalist, writer, director of Pensar magazine, representative of the Center for Inquiry in Argentina and member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).

ADVOCACY FOR ALLEGED WITCHES: SKEPTICISM IN ACTION

Leo Igwe, PhD in Religious Studies (University of Bayreuth in Germany), and Bach. & M.A. in Philosophy (University of Calabar in Nigeria), and Director of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches

THE SKEPTICAL MOVEMENT IN MEXICO

Mario Méndez-Acosta, civil engineer (National Autonomous University of Mexico), journalist and Mexican Society for Skeptical Research-SOMIE's founding president

HISTORY OF GWUP: THE SOCIETY FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF PSEUDOSCIENCES 

Amardeo Sarma, Electrical Engineer (Technische Universität Darmstadt) 

and former chair of GWUP

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SKEPP: THE STUDY CIRCLE FOR THE CRITICAL EVALUATION OF PSEUDOSCIENCE AND THE PARANORMAL 

Tim Trachet Bach. in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), is a reporter at the Flemish Association of Radio and Television (VRT) and honorary president of SKEPP 

FATE AND DESTINY OF THE RATIONAL SKEPTIC ASSOCIATION OF VENEZUELA

Jesús Omar Guevara Rivas (1990-2021), 

Graduate of political scientist career and Lecturer, School of Psychology, 

Universidad Bicentenaria de Aragua, Venezuela

IR A NEO-SKEPSIS # 16: ESCEPTICISMO EN EL MUNDO (2)

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 15: SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (I)

NEO-SKEPSIS (New Skepticism) is a critical-rationalist magazine, and publishes papers and articles in Spanish on skepticism about paranormal, supernatural and pseudo-scientific claims. 
NEO-SKEPSIS is published by the Center of the Investigation of the Paranormal Phenomena, Pseudo-sciences and Irrationality in Peru (CIPSI-PERU), and the Peruvian Rationalist Humanist Institute (IHURA-PERU).

PAST AND PRESENT OF ARP-SAPC:

SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING

Juan A. Rodríguez, 
Secretary of ARP-SAPC and Editor of the magazine El Escéptico.

At the end of the seventies, Spain was experiencing a boiling point in matters such as parapsychology, ufology and the so-called "occult sciences", a sign of new times after the end of Franco's dictatorship, where these activities were not well received for being contrary to the Catholic faith that was the backbone of the regime. There were many fans of them and almost everyone considered them serious subjects, given that they occupied prime time slots in the media, especially in the slots dedicated to entertainment programs.

However, at least in the case of ufology, a group of followers began to question the veracity of the subject, given that, despite the time and effort dedicated to hundreds of investigations, they never found anything that did not have a rational explanation. They even saw how easy it was to deceive the gullible with some tremendously crude set-ups. Thus was born the Rational Alternative for the Investigation of the UFO Phenomenon (ARIFO), which lasted about five years, until they saw that ufology was little more than a social myth, and they began to look for other areas of interest, such as telepathy, telekinesis, Spiritism or astrology. Contacts with international collectives and personalities, such as Paul Kurtz and CSICOP, the French Rationalist Union and Henri Broch, as well as with the philosopher Mario Bunge, also began to intensify. The time had come, back in 1986-1987, to found the Rational Alternative to Pseudoscience (ARP).

With ARP, perhaps a more serious work began, with more or less frequent interventions in the media and academic environments trying to refute and give rational explanations to all those phenomena that were badly explained and tried to pass themselves off as inexplicable, organizing conferences and courses, and editing the pioneer publication of Spanish skepticism: La Alternativa Racional. This was a compendium of his own texts, press clippings and little else, a fanzine photocopied and stapled by hand, with a very limited distribution.

In the nineties a new step was taken: the criticism of pseudosciences was not enough; it was necessary to extend scientific skepticism to many more areas. This gave rise to the current name: Society for the Advancement of Critical Thinking (ARP-SAPC), where ARP has remained as a nostalgic memory of its former name, although without a concrete meaning. According to its statutes, the objectives are: to promote the development of science, critical thinking, science education, secularism and the use of reason; to promote the critical investigation of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims from a scientific and rational point of view, and to disseminate information on the results of these investigations among the scientific community and the general public.

Since then, the only significant change has been to add, in 2013, the promotion of secularism as one of its objectives. It should be noted that, at least in Spain, the skeptical movement has never been characterized by placing too much emphasis on criticizing religious-type ideas -as long as they are not attempted to be passed off as equal to scientific knowledge-, perhaps because in a Europe as secularized as it is today, religion has been increasingly restricted to the realm of personal beliefs and freedom of conscience, without such a profound social impact as in the past.

An important milestone in this journey was the publication, in 1998, of the first issue of the magazine El Escéptico, already in print and with a more professional look, of which 58 issues have been published and is still alive with a print run of about a thousand copies, all of them available on our website in PDF format.

Taking a look at it, you can see how our focus has been changing. In the first issues we collected works dedicated, for example, to clairvoyance, extraterrestrials, cryptozoology, the Holy Shroud or esoteric interpretations of the Bible or the Torah. These are almost all subjects that have been quite forgotten, displaced by everything related to pseudosciences associated with health, something that barely existed a few decades ago, apart from some folkloric village healer who was generally used only by people with few resources and little culture. We are also working on everything related to the new sectarian movements, pseudoscientific pedagogies or conspiracy theories (anti-vaccine movements, anti-antenna telephony, climate change denialism...), as well as the manipulation of history, especially with political motivations. All this in collaboration with other groups that have emerged in recent years, such as the Círculo Escéptico, the Association to Protect the Sick from Pseudoscientific Therapies (APETP) or RedUNE (Network for the Prevention of Sectarianism and Abuse of Weakness).

Although we understand that our work is still necessary, so it is not among our plans to dissolve, the popularization of science is living a golden age in Spain with considerable echo in the media, even if it is in somewhat hidden pages or in difficult schedules in the case of radio and television. A fundamental milestone in this has undoubtedly been the covid pandemic, which has required clarifying many doubts and combating a lot of misinformation. We should also point out the change in mentality that is taking place in the academic and professional world, traditionally on the fringes of these matters, perhaps because they underestimate their importance, and which is being translated into concrete initiatives, such as the observatory of pseudotherapies and health sects of the Organisation of Medical Associations or the CoNprueba [WithProof] plan of the Spanish Government.

Pseudoscience, although it has not disappeared, far from it, is being relegated to social networks, where it continues to win by a landslide: getting a few hundred views on our YouTube channel is considered a success, while any guru gets his nonsense followed by hundreds of thousands of people. And another aspect that we have not yet solved is the gender gap in the skeptical movement, traditionally dominated by men. In ARP-SAPC, less than 20% of our members are women. However, pseudosciences, especially those associated with health or New Age mysticism, are overwhelmingly followed by women, although their leaders and manipulators are mostly men.

All the information concerning ARP-Society for the Advancement of Critical Thinking can be consulted on the web site www.escepticos.es.

(Translation from the Spanish article PASADO Y PRESENTE DE ARP-SAPC: SOCIEDAD PARA EL AVANCE DELPENSAMIENTO CRÍTICO by Deepl.com, and reviewed by Manuel A. Paz y Miño)

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 15:  SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (I)

THE NETHERLANDS – SKEPSIS

Jan Willem Nienhuys, 

Ph. D in Mathematics (Utrecht University), Retired teacher of Mathematics (Eindhoven University of Technology), a Board member and Secretary of Stichting Skepsis, and Editor of its magazine Skepter

(Photo from Wikipedia)

Skepsis is a Dutch organization established in the end of 1987. The first chairman was the astronomer Cornelis de Jager (until 1997). Its main activities are the publication of a quarterly magazine, Skepter, and the organization of an annual conference. Skepsis also maintains a website which contains mostly articles that have been published in the magazine.

    Skepter reaches about 2800 subscribers in a country with 17 million people (i.e.  more per capita than The Skeptical Inquirer).

    Skepsis has tried to get believers in the paranormal to take part in tests, and the best of these tests was an astrology test: over 40 experienced astrologers tried to match birth data of seven people with  extensive files with answers to many questions posed by the astrologers themselves. The expected average number of matches was 1 and there was a 1 in 5040 chance of getting everything right. No one got everything right and the average number of correct matches was 0.75. The result was indistinguishable from the situation that all participants would have used dice.  We would have liked to do more testing, and once it looked as if homeopaths were willing to take up a challenge, but then they withdrew.
    After Skepsis had dedicated part of an international conference (1991) to discussion of the astrological claims of Gauquelin, I became interested in this matter and helped out with the publication of a book on a French test of the so-called Mars Effect and discovered a formerly unknown bias in Gauquelin’s data, namely selective treatment of erroneous data.
    Together with another board member, Marcel Hulspas, I wrote a Dutch Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience in 1997, which went through five printings. It is now in pdf-form on the Skepsis website.
    The number of readers of the magazine slowly increased to about 2800 in 2023. This should be seen in the perspective of the existence of the Association against Quackery (about 1800 members, established 1881) which is mostly concerned with medical pseudoscience and fraud. Together with this organisation Skepsis has a stand on an annual ‘Health Fair’.
Skepsis tries to distance itself from religious matters. For Dutch interested in atheism, there is a separate association (established 1856) which is nowadays called De Vrije Gedachte (meaning The Free Thought).
    Just before Skepsis was established an opinion poll had shown that in the Netherland quite a few (30 tot 40 percent) of the people believed in such things as graphology, clairvoyance, paranormal healing, dowsing for earth rays and telepathy: mostly belief in special powers of some people. The belief in about twenty other subjects was also considerable. Recently Skepsis ordered a new poll, and for most of these subjects the belief was almost halved. The only thing that seemed to have increased is belief in ‘invisible’ entities such as ghosts, angels and extraterrestrials.
    A risk for organisations such as Skepsis is that they incur great costs for defamation and/or libel suits. Essentially this has happened only once with Skepsis: a rich American sued a board member of Skepsis for making fun (on his personal blog) of the rich man’s invention of a telescope with negative lenses to observe antilight, and then also Skepsis’s chairman because he suspected the chairman to be a member of an international conspiracy dedicated to suppress that rich man’s theories. Actually the chairman was completely unaware of this person. Eventually the case against our chairman was dropped, and the other case was settled.
    When Skepsis was founded we paid a lot of attention to parapsychology and pseudoscience, for example pseudoscientific support for racism. Nowadays the articles in the magazine are more about bad science. Another change is that nowadays most authors of the magazine are professional science journalists and the magazine pays standard fees to its authors. This has improved the quality of the magazine.
    In Belgium a bit more than half of the people speaks Dutch. We had hoped to become a Dutch-Belgian organization. However, notorious Dutch charlatans are unknown in Belgium and vice versa. Also, famous activists against quackery and superstition are unknown across the border.
    The same is true across the language border in Belgium. So, the contents of the Dutch magazine didn't appeal to Belgian readers and after some time the Flemish skeptics started their own organization with their own magazine.

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 15:  SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (I)

IN SEARCH OF RELEVANCE:

HISTORY AND ACTIVITIES OF THE AUSTRALIAN SKEPTICS

Tim Mendham, 

Executive officer and a life member of Australian Skeptics, and Editor of The Skeptic.

There are two schools of skeptics - the investigators and the activists. The former exists to research pseudoscientific and paranormal beliefs, much as the psychical research organisations of the 19th century did, and by publishing results hope to promote greater critical thinking in the community. The latter actively (as the name implies) campaign to counter purveyors of dangerous pseudoscience through protest, legislation, lobbying, and hopefully minimise (if not eradicate) their influence on the public.

The skeptical movement in Australia covers both schools, with an over-riding vision of “a society that makes decisions based on evidence, reason and critical thinking”.

We have undertaken campaigns against some of the key issues which affect skeptical groups around the world – anti-vaxxers, quack cures, psychic rip-offs – as well as some of the classic skeptical areas, such as UFOs, ghosts and unknown animals (we have our own version of Bigfoot, known as a Yowie).

It is important to note that, while this article is primarily on the activities of the formal skeptical organisations in Australia, all such activity is based around individuals, whether members of committees, skeptical organisations, or concerned people working on their own to counter misinformation. They have all contributed, with or without the overview or participation of Australian Skeptics.

The organisation

Australian Skeptics (AS) dates its foundation to 1980, when James Randi, the then principal investigator for the American-based Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP – now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), visited Australia to investigate water divining. This investigation was sponsored by Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith.

For these tests, Dick and others raised a prize amount of $50,000. That has since grown to $100,000 and is the basis for the Skeptics’ challenge to anyone who claims to have psychic or paranormal powers to demonstrate their ability under proper observing conditions.

Randi’s visit raised a great deal of interest, not least from those wishing to continue the momentum by setting up an organisation that would investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims and act as a central source of information for the public and the media.

James Randi investigating water divining in Australia (1980).

Consequently, Australian Skeptics was founded in Melbourne, Victoria, and began publishing a quarterly magazine called The Skeptic from 1981. It is thus the second oldest English-language skeptical group in the world, with the second-oldest English-language magazine. Dick Smith became a patron of the group and remains so to this day.

Groups in other states and territories were soon started, all sharing the same aims of promoting skepticism in Australia, with the Victorian group working notionally as the national headquarters.

The first Australian Skeptics National Convention, now known as Skepticon, was held in Sydney in 1985, and a convention has been held in some Australian city every year since, a record for any skeptical organisation. Skepticon 2023 - the 39th in the continuing series - will be held in Melbourne.

With changes to the committee in Melbourne, in 1986 we moved out headquarters from Melbourne to Sydney as Australian Skeptics Inc (ASI); production of The Skeptic magazine was transferred to ASI in 1987.

ASI is responsible for coordinating several awards and the annual national conventions, the $100,000 challenge, as well as the magazine, a newsletter, and as the primary focus for media and the public (though local groups are also active in these areas).

Various regional groups have also started up, many based on the Skeptics in the Pub model of monthly informal gatherings.

ASI is supported by subscriptions to the magazine, donations and bequests.

Media

Over the years, Australian Skeptics has been active across a wide range of areas.

The magazine is now in its 43rd year, with four issues published annually. The first issue was a curious 4-page tabloid format; since then, it has appeared in A4 size and since 2010 also in a digital format. In that time, we have published thousands of articles and items on a broad range of topics. Compendiums of articles and items from the first ten years of The Skeptic were published first in print, and then in CD-ROM format. The entire back catalogue, including inserts, has now been digitised and published online for free download (excepting the most recent four issues) - we believe this to be a first for skeptical organisations.

Since June 2016 we also have a fortnightly newsletter since June 2016.

Over the years, various books have been published, including a series of articles refuting key creationist claims and a book showing how Uri Geller’s spoon-bending tricks were performed.

ASI has had a website since 1996, and with the appointment of a social media manager, we are assessing various platforms to reach the public.

Over the years, Skeptics have appeared regularly in the media, and have taken part in public campaigns, some targeted at specific issues (say, a visiting psychic or anti-vaxxer) and other more general support for broad issues.

There is also significant lobbying of politicians and organisations on a case-by-case basis.

Bent Spoon award

Awards, grants, and campaigns

Since its beginning, AS has supported individual and organisational activity with awards and grants.

Currently the awards are: Skeptic of the Year; an award for the Promotion of Reason; and an award for skeptical journalism - the last two awards include $2000 for the winner or to a charity or cause of their choice.

Of course, since 1982 there has been the less-desirable Bent Spoon award, which is given to the “perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle”.

In 1995 we received a sizeable bequest and with these funds we established the Australian Skeptics Science and Education Foundation (ASSEF) and appointed the paid position of an executive officer. We have given grants for most of our existence for various skeptical and scientifically oriented activities, including awards to science students at high school level, research on skeptical projects, and activities by state and local groups. These include science teachers’ associations, local and national museums, research centres and activist groups.

On the more proactive side of Skeptical activity, the Skeptical community, ASI, and various skeptical groups and individuals have been very active – and very successful – in a range of campaigns. Just some of these include:

·               o     A campaign against the teaching of creationism in science classes which resulted in creationist organisations withdrawing (or being withdrawn) from such promotion.

·              o     A major study on the teaching of pseudoscience and pseudomedicine in Australian universities. Several universities withdrew or toned-down support for such courses..

·              o    A major study of Australian health insurance funds’ cover for alternative medicine.

·              o     A media campaign against pseudoscience Power Balance wristbands, which resulted in the local distributor going out of business.

·              o     The establishment of legal defence funds for various skeptics both in Australia and overseas, such as Britt Hermes in her legal battle in Germany with an American naturopath.

·               o    A major campaign against the leading anti-vaccination group in Australia

One project which has achieved media coverage in Australia and overseas was a major study on psychic predictions in Australia - The Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project (see The Skeptic, December 2021). Twelve years in the making, this project assessed over 3000 predictions by more than 200 ‘psychics’ over a period of 20 years. It highlighted the appalling record of such predictions and underlined the false claims of success made by self-professed psychics.

One of the highest profile outreach activities of Australian Skeptics is the $100,000 challenge to anyone who can prove a paranormal or “extraordinary” skill under strict scientific conditions. We receive roughly one application every week from people with skills as broad-ranging as telekinesis (a common one is spinning a piece of tinfoil on a needle point), thought projection and telepathy generally, palmistry, distance health diagnosis, picking lottery numbers, and of course dowsing (a popular activity in a dry continent like Australia). There have also been some very strange skills, such as making someone fall in love, moving clouds, or spinning around on the spot.

Over the years, around 200 applicants have gone to a preliminary test to prove that they actually have a skill (such a test is a preamble to a full test under strict conditions). The majority of those have been water or metal diviners. To date, no-one has gone beyond this first stage of the test, there being no particular skill being demonstrated.

Our role

This rather lengthy profile of skeptical activity in Australia indicates that there is a range and long history of pro-active, reactive, and activist activity which has had measurable results via campaigns and considerable impact in the spreading of relevant and reliable information.

We have obviously benefitted financially from a number of generous bequests which have allowed to undertake many activities, to support other groups, and appoint an executive officer and social media manager. But these bequests have been inspired by our activities and high-profile role – without that activism we would never have encouraged such support.

When Australian Skeptics started over 40 years ago, it was treated as somewhat of a novelty. After all, UFOs and unknown creatures were hardly a serious threat, so anyone making a case for the truth must be a bunch of eccentric naysayers and party-poopers.

Come the realisation that misinformation can have a far more perfidious role to play in social and personal ills, then the role of groups like Australian Skeptics becomes more pressing and taken much more seriously. Interviewers no longer say, “But do the Skeptics believe in themselves?”, and while there is still the fair percentage of media activity in which the producers might say “we just want some fun with this” and “is Friday the 13^th really a problem”, there are just as many – if not more – who seek out Skeptics’ opinion and assessment of real threats that have real and sometimes tragic consequences in terms of finance and health.

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 15:  SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (I)

BRIEF HISTORY OF CIPSI-PERU:

THE FIRST PERUVIAN SKEPTICAL GROUP 

 

Manuel Abraham Paz y Miño, 

Founding-Director of CIPSI-Peru and Editor, Neo-Skepsis

(Photo taken and edited by Tom Flynn, ca. 2000)

At the beginning of 1990s while browsing through an English-language magazine -I don't remember if it was Nature or New Scientist- I saw an advertisement about The Skeptical Inquirer so I asked them for a sample issue. That's how I got in touch via epistolary correspondence with philosopher Paul Kurtz (USA), president of the organization that published it, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP for short) now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).

Because of our interest in skepticism and secularism we were invited to the 13th World Humanist Congress (co-organized by the International Humanist and Ethical Union, now called Humanists International) in Mexico City in 1996 where we met Kurtz and other skeptics and secular humanists in person. 

Some time later, our work of dissemination of skepticism began through the founding of the Committee for the Investigation of the Paranormal, Pseudosciences and Irrationality in Peru (CIPSI-Peru), with academics from various disciplines, in 1998, and its periodical Neo-Skepsis ("New Skepticism" in Greek), a critical-rationalist magazine with 15 issues already published, 4 printed and 11 digital, and which currently has the support of the Rationalist Humanist Institute of Peru (IHURA-PERU).

Neo-Skepsis publishes original and translated articles by authors from around the world. It has had in its honorary editorial board prominent skeptics such as: Mario Bunge (1919-2020), Tom Flynn (1955-2021), Paul Kurtz (1925-2012) and James Randi (1928-2020).

Printed issues:
# 1: Science or Pseudoscience?         # 2: The UFO Phenomenon

# 3: The Paranormal Phenomena     # 4: Psychology and Pseudoscience

On Facebook we have opened a CIPSI-Peru page, and the Peruvian Skeptics page with its discussion group (1).

Through Ediciones de Filosofía Aplicada (EFA), our freethinking publishing house started in 1994, with more than 50 books published to date, we have released some skeptical (2) titles, as well as secular, philosophical, etc. 

In 2006 we organized at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, the II Iberoamerican Congress of Critical Thinking and, between 2011 and 2016, 4 seminars on science, pseudosciences and pseudoscientific therapies, as well as periodically we carry out other seminars and activities, such as talks and debates, inside and outside that house of studies.

Paul Kurtz at the II Iberoamerican Congress of Critical Thinking in Lima, 2006. 

(Photo from archives.centerforinquiry.org)

It should be added that we have a Youtube channel called Filosofía Aplicada TV [Applied Philosophy TV ]where you can watch our activities: conferences, debates, seminars, interviews, documentaries, microprograms critical of supernaturalist and paranormalist claims (3). 

For our work in spreading humanist, rationalist and skeptical points of view, Kurtz named us CFI-Perú, one of the affiliates that the Center for Inquiry (CFI), the institution he founded together with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), has all over the world.

Manuel A. Paz y Miño, director of CFI-Peru, in a public demonstration, organized by the Center for Inquiry (in Amherst, New York, USA), that walking on burning coals is not necessarily harmful, much less superhuman.

And we also teach, when possible, to university students that kind of criticism in our country of ancient Andean-Catholic syncretic tradition where, especially in the highland provinces and even in their universities, the natural forces are still worshipped, especially the hills, the earth and the water, with Our Fathers and Hail Marys. 

Of course there are Peruvian science popularizers (Darwiniana, Dr. Trónico, Plato's Robot, etc.), scientific newscasts (Robotitus, Salud con lupa) and newscasts in general (Ojo público) that also question pseudoscientific claims especially in social networks. And here, in Peru, as in many other parts of the world, many biased news, magazines and books are published, and even radio and television programs that promote this type of paranormal beliefs are broadcasted (4).

NOTES

(1) There is also on Facebook another skeptical group independent of ours: Perú Escéptico. 

(2) The Secular and Humanist Society of Peru (SSH), a separate organization from ours, has published the book El mundo invisible. Ensayos con pensamiento crítico (2020) by biologists H. Aponte and D. Barona and psychologist V. García-Belaunde where they explain biological evolution, the supposed visits of extraterrestrials and ghostly apparitions, as well as terraplanism, among other topics. 

(3) Other skeptical channels were "La manzana escéptica" (2016-2021) by V. García-Belaúnde and "Para Normales de la Noche" (2011-2022) by communicator A. Landacay (first called "Escépticos en la radio" and transmitted by the open and internet signal of a Lima radio station, and where I was one of the first co-hosts), as well as the podcast "Guía Escéptica "(2015-2017) by then university student A. Austral.

(4) For more information see "Paranormal and pseudoscientific claims in the Peruvian media" (in Spanish): http://neo-skepsis.blogspot.com/2021/09/las-afirmaciones-paranormales-y.html
Furthermore, a former video in English of the same topic is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h1o2avwnbQ

(Translation from the Spanish article BREVE HISTORIA DEL CIPSI-PERÚ: EL PRIMER GRUPO ESCÉPTICO DEL PERÚ by Deepl.com, and reviewed by the author)

GO TO NEO-SKEPSIS # 15:  SKEPTICISM IN THE WORLD (I)