TOLERANCE--TO WHAT EXTENT ?
I wake up from hibernation to find the basic structure of me being destroyed. I am turning intolerant. I want to blame everybody for the bomb blasts. I introspect, I find no concrete answers.
Why are we being targeted again and again ? What is so special about Mumbai that we are following Gandhiji's advice literally?Do we have short term and long term solutions ?
In short term we need to realise that acting tough does help.
It is the meek who are bullied. We need to punish the guilty and send a strong message that we will not tolerate divisive polticis from any body. A revolution is needed because we are all dead and we need to be resurrected.
In long run I have the following passage from UNESCO.
The appreciation of diversity, the ability to live and let others live, the ability to adhere to one's convictions while accepting that others adhere to theirs, the ability to enjoy one's rights and freedoms without infringing on those of others, tolerance has always been considered a moral virtue. Tolerance is also the foundation of democracy and human rights. Intolerance in multi-ethnic, multi-religious or multicultural societies leads to violations of human rights, violence or armed conflict.How do we achieve tolerance?Intolerance raises many moral questions. It always has. In the 1990s intolerance also raises political questions. Intolerance is increasingly seen as a major threat to democracy, peace and security. Understandably, the issue is alarming governments and the public. Yet, any talk of intolerance raises more questions than it answers.Intolerance has been ever present in human history. It has ignited most wars, fuelled religious persecutions and violent ideological confrontations. Is it inherent in human nature? Is it insurmountable? Can tolerance be learned? How can democracies deal with intolerance without infringing on individual freedoms? How can they foster individual codes of conduct, without laws and without policing their citizens' behavior? How can peaceful multiculturalism be achieved?Laws are necessary but not sufficient for countering intolerance in individual attitudes. Intolerance is very often rooted in ignorance and fear: fear of the unknown, of the other, other cultures, nations, religions. Intolerance is also closely linked to an exaggerated sense of self-worth and pride, whether personal, national or religious. These notions are taught and learned at an early age. Therefore, greater emphasis needs to be placed on educating more and better. Greater efforts need to be made to teach children about tolerance and human rights, about other ways of life. Children should be encouraged at home and in school to be open-minded and curious.Education is a life-long experience and does not begin or end in school. Endeavours to build tolerance through education will not succeed unless they reach all age groups, and take place everywhere: at home, in schools, in the workplace, in law-enforcement and legal training, and not least in entertainment and on the information highwaysFighting intolerance requires access to information:Intolerance is most dangerous when it is exploited to fulfil the political and territorial ambitions of an individual or groups of individuals. Hatemongers often begin by identifying the public's tolerance threshold. They then develop fallacious arguments, lie with statistics and manipulate public opinion with misinformation and prejudice. The most efficient way to limit the influence of hatemongers is to develop policies that generate and promote press freedom and press pluralism, in order to allow the public to differentiate between facts and opinions.Fighting intolerance requires individual awareness:Intolerance in a society is the sum-total of the intolerance of its individual members. Bigotry, stereotyping, stigmatizing, insults and racial jokes are examples of individual expressions of intolerance to which some people are subjected daily. Intolerance breeds intolerance. It leaves its victims in pursuit of revenge. In order to fight intolerance individuals should become aware of the link between their behavior and the vicious cycle of mistrust and violence in society. Each one of us should begin by asking: am I a tolerant person? Do I stereotype people? Do I reject those who are different from me? Do I blame my problems on 'them'?Fighting intolerance requires local solutions:Many people know that tomorrow's problems will be increasingly global but few realize that solutions to global problems are mainly local, even individual. When confronted with an escalation of intolerance around us, we must not wait for governments and institutions to act alone. We are all part of the solution. We should not feel powerless for we actually posses an enormous capacity to wield power. Nonviolent action is a way of using that power-the power of people. The tools of nonviolent action-putting a group together to confront a problem, to organize a grassroots network, to demonstrate solidarity with victims of intolerance, to discredit hateful propaganda-are available to all those who want to put an end to intolerance, violence and hatred.
