International Day of Tolerance

As the world experiences increased levels of conflict, violence, aggression, and discrimination because of our differences in many dimensions, today is one of those days where we should pause and reflect on this. A question I often ask myself is: What am I doing to ensure the world I leave behind will be better for future generations? It is a challenge of stewardship. One of the tasks at hand is to contribute to building a more tolerant world. Tolerance is respect, acceptance, and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, forms of expression, and ways of being human.

As a South African who has worked, lived, and travelled to many countries, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of cultural experiences, and how they enabled me to feel more connected with the world around me. I often visit museums, spend time with locals, and share meals and I also try to learn some basics of their home languages – which has created many bridges of positive dialogue.

UNESCO has done great work globally in driving tolerance. "Our Organization thus works day to day to defend and promote cultural and linguistic diversity and diversity of knowledge, especially indigenous knowledge, so that all these outlooks and ways of seeing the world can open up new vistas for humankind through dialogue and exchange." Audrey Azoulay Director-General of UNESCO.

What can you do to contribute to the fight against intolerance? Below are practical actions you can take in this regard and areas you can influence:

1. Fighting intolerance requires law: Each Government is responsible for enforcing human rights laws, for banning and punishing hate crimes and discrimination against minorities, whether these are committed by State officials, private organizations, or individuals. We’ve seen many countries with unjust laws being pressured to consider human rights through various actions, including sanctions. I’m privileged to be in a country that has one of the most inclusive and liberal constitutions in the world, which affirms humanity in everyone. Law is critical!
2. Fighting intolerance requires education: Intolerance is very often rooted in ignorance and fear: fear of the unknown, of the other, other cultures, nations, and religions. Intolerance is also closely linked to an exaggerated sense of self-worth and pride, whether personal, national, or religious. We have seen this manifest itself recently in violence in the Middle East, earlier in Ukraine, and daily on the continent and elsewhere in the world. School curriculums need to evolve to drive social cohesion.
3. Fighting intolerance requires access to information: Intolerance is most dangerous when it is exploited to fulfill the political and territorial ambitions of an individual or groups of individuals. 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.?In South Africa, our media has played a critical role in driving access to information, through their investigative journalism and legislation that enables access to information.
4. Fighting intolerance requires individual awareness: Intolerance in a society is the sum total of the intolerance of its individual members. Bigotry, stereotyping, stigmatization, insults, and racial jokes are examples of individual expressions of intolerance to which some people are subjected daily.?Many times, this is because we are misinformed about others, and conducting our own research or engagement with those different from us will build more bridges of understanding. Have you also checked your own biases? Do you know what they are?
5. 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 at an individual level.?The tools of nonviolent action a group together to confront a problem, organize a grassroots network, demonstrate solidarity with victims of intolerance, and discredit hateful propaganda are available to all those who want to put an end to intolerance, violence, and hatred. Everybody needs and deserves love.

Let’s all play our roles and contribute towards creating a more just, kinder and tolerant world.