International Day Of Tolerance: Valuing Our Common Origins, Our Common Destination

Emphasizing tolerance, fraternity, compassion and bringing about a better understanding among the global community is apparently a major theme of the EXPO 2020 currently underway in the United Arab Emirates. The ‘Tolerance and Inclusivity Week’, which ran from 14 to 20 November, focused on the need for greater common understanding to enable more tolerant and inclusive societies around the world.

Opening the session on ’Tolerance and Inclusivity Week’, the UAE Minister of Tolerance and Commissioner General of Expo, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, stressed the Expo’s objective of creating “a better future for all humanity”. Underlining the central role of tolerance in attaining this goal, Sheikh Nahyan said it allows us “to understand the differences” between human beings and helps to understand “the values” that distinguish people and different societies.

Also speaking during the opening session, the Vicar of southern Arabia (Emirates, Oman and Yemen) and Apostolic Administrator Vacant See of northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain), Bishop Paul Hinder said that fraternity and cohesion must be the pivotal points around which to found and build “cohesive societies” and “healthy ecosystems”.

Even religions in history “cause division” but they must never forget their “ultimate mission,” which is to remind human beings of “their common origins and common destination,” said the bishop.

Since its inception as a state in the early 18th century, Kuwait has deftly weaved the concepts of tolerance and coexistence into its social fabric. This was as much an enlightened policy of the rulers as it was a necessity, given the country’s reliance on ‘outsiders’ for nearly everything it needed to survive. From the early years of its existence, Kuwait was wholly dependent on foreigners for ensuring the safety of its borders, for its trade, and for almost all of its essential daily household supplies.

The discovery of oil in 1938 and the country’s independence in 1961 only increased Kuwait’s dependence on expatriates from around the world. The new-found oil wealth brought hordes of foreigners to its shores, both to manage its nascent oil industry, as well as to help build a modern city-state from what was essentially nothing more than a vast tract of desert with a few scattered settlements.

These foreigners, who hailed from different countries around the world, brought along with them their own cultures, customs, and faiths. Though many of these practices were alien to the then small population of Kuwaitis, the need for expatriate expertise, experience, technical know-how and administrative support to run the country, led to nationals having to make adjustments, and to tolerate and accept many of these ‘foreign’ ways of life.

Following independence, this acceptance of others was also enshrined in the country’s Constitution promulgated in 1962. Article 29 of the Constitution succinctly states that: “(1) All people are equal in human dignity and in public rights and duties before the law, without distinction to race, origin, language, or religion (2) Personal liberty is guaranteed.”

Over the decades since then, the emergence of a new generation of highly qualified Kuwaitis with the knowledge, capability and confidence to administer affairs of the country, and to run its modern oil installations, led to nationals taking over many public sector jobs from foreigners. This employee replacement is understandable and even desirable in a rapidly developing country, with a growing population and a large pool of young citizens entering the labor market each year, who invariably demand employment in the lucrative public sector.

The current Kuwaitization drive aims to meet this demand for job opportunities among nationals and to eventually replace most, if not all, foreigners employed in government entities. While these explicit human resource policies are comprehensible and acceptable, what is not equally coherent is the accompanying dilution in the spirit of tolerance and coexistence, and respect for foreigners. Nevertheless, these basic human values continue to be espoused in body and form, especially at the policy level. Support for tolerance, acceptance of diversity, and respect for others, as well as endorsement of other human rights values continue to be advocated as a state policy by the government.

Last week, speaking on the International Day of Tolerance (16 November), at the GCC pavilion in EXPO 2020, Kuwait’s Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for Development and International Cooperation, Meshari Al-Nibari, reiterated Kuwait’s espousal of tolerance. He said that Kuwait is committed to promoting the principle of moderation and tolerance, while advocating peaceful coexistence and social togetherness.

Earlier in the day, in a speech delivered as part of the ’Tolerance and Inclusivity Week’ at EXPO 2020, the head of Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) delegation to the exposition, Abdulrahman Al-Furaih, emphasized the country’s tolerance and coexistence. He said that these attributes were a model established and preserved by its leaders in a bid to consolidate national unity and spread a culture of moderation and coexistence, which are crucial to building a peaceful and inclusive society and to ensure economic and social progress of the country.

The genesis for including tolerance as a theme week during EXPO 2020 can probably be traced back to December 2018, when UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Al-Nahyan announced 2019 as the ‘Year of Tolerance’, to raise awareness of the need for greater tolerance in the region, and to deepen values of dialogue and acceptance of one another. In a bid to emphasize the importance that Kuwait, and Kuwaitis in general, place on the concept of tolerance, and acceptance of others, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) conducted a series of interviews during the ‘Year of Tolerance’ with various prominent Kuwaitis from different stratas of society.

During one interview, Director-General of the International Wasatia [moderation] Centre of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Abdullah Al-Shoreka said Islam emphasizes the preservation of the rights of all people without distinction, and allows non-Muslims to establish their religious rites according to Sharia principles. He noted that Kuwait as a Muslim country has taken that route and allows the practice of various faiths, their worships and religious rites.

Speaking on the same vein, Chairman of the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait, and pastor of the Kuwait Presbyterian Church, Emmanuel Gharib, emphasized that Kuwait is a great example in peace thanks to the tolerance of its people for all residents on its land. He added that the diversity of religions, languages and cultures should not be a cause of conflicts, but should be a treasure that enriches all mankind.”

All the references above highlight that the concepts of tolerance, diversity, indiscrimination and coexistence are consequential values that Kuwait pursues and promotes, at least on paper and as a policy initiative. In this regard, it needs to be noted that many, if not most, Kuwaitis treasure these principles of tolerance, acceptance and social inclusivity, considering it a rich legacy of their ancestors, and attesting to the open, broadminded society that existed in a not too distant past.

Sadly, these views are not universally accepted or practiced in Kuwait. These basic values of human-rights have failed to resonate with certain sections of society. How else do we explain the xenophobia and rampant discrimination against migrants, or the hoarse cries that often emanate from some nationals, who demonize all foreigners, decry their practices and behaviors, and blame expatriates for all of the prevailing shortcomings in society. These intolerant outbursts and discriminatory remarks can be considered as the opinions of a fringe group in the population that are not in consonance with the more mainstream views of the public, or policies of the government.

Nevertheless, they are alarming and raise a sense of insecurity and a feeling of exclusion among many in the expatriate community.

Socialogists and other experts point out that intolerance, discrimination and racism are closely related concepts. While intolerance is a lack of respect for the practices or beliefs of others, discrimination occurs when people from other social or ethnic groups are treated less favorably than one’s own people. Discrimination is one of the most common forms of human rights violations and abuse, and is often one of the most difficult to diagnose and treat.

Though in large measure Kuwait advocates tolerance of all sections of the population, there is no denying the many instances of discrimination that are rife in the country, especially against the large migrant population.

Discrimination takes many forms and is not limited to those from other groups, or to foreign migrants. It can also manifest against people in one’s own group, including women, the aged, and the disabled, as well as other minority sects in society.

Moreover, besides direct discriminations that are more easily discernible, there also exist indirect modes of discrimination. These include structural discrimination that often manifest as biased institutional mechanisms which consistently favor citizens over foreigners.

For instance, existing rules and norms in accessing social, political, health or economic opportunities in Kuwait are often skewed in favor of nationals, and places outsiders who do not ‘belong’ at a definite disadvantage. Discrimination is the result of entrenched prejudices that one group harbors against others, and is often difficult to eradicate since it often colors our perceptions of reality.

These deeply ingrained prejudices lead people to selectively filter information they receive; accepting those that confirm one’s own biases and ignoring those that run counter to these beliefs. Discrimination and intolerance are basically expressions of prejudices in practice.

However, repeatedly dwelling on tolerance, or enforcing laws and fines for hate crimes and discrimination against others, as Kuwait’s National Unity Law does, cannot on their own erase the intolerance, nationalism, or racism that are deeply ingrained within sections of society. To redress this we need to start much earlier, with education for tolerance and coexistence beginning right at the primary class level in schools. We need to promote in young minds the importance of mutual understanding and provide them with the knowledge of cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity that exists in society.

Tolerance is without doubt an essential component in building a more egalitarian, socially cohesive and harmonious society, and it often demands sacrifices from the majority community. However, we cannot ignore the fact that tolerance, understanding and respecting the cultures, creeds and ways of life of others is not a one-way street. Tolerance does not imply that only one group should practice forbearance and acceptance of another, it needs to be embraced by both sides in equal measure.

Although many migrants complain of discrimination by nationals, and blame citizens for all the woes that befall them, it is also true that most expatriates harbor prejudices against citizens, considering them lazy, inefficient and unable to run the country on their own. Moreover, respecting and tolerating the behavior of others does not necessarily mean that we should compromise our own principles or accept the ideas and beliefs of others. It is not a dichotomy between ‘us’ and ‘them’; tolerance and indiscrimination are fundamentally human rights that enjoin us to listen to those with opposing views and have a willingness to accept the diversity that exists in society.

International Day of Tolerance, which falls annually on 16 November, commemorates the ‘Declaration of Principles of Tolerance’ that was adopted by the member states of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 16 November, 1995. On this day each year, the United Nations recapitulates its commitment to strengthening tolerance by fostering mutual understanding among cultures and peoples, and appreciating the rich variety of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. Tolerance recognizes the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others. People are naturally diverse; only tolerance can ensure the survival of mixed communities in every region of the globe.

In his latest hard-hitting and incisive book titled, ‘On Tolerance: A Defense of Moral Independence’, Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at Canterbury University in the United Kingdom, arguably one of the leading public intellectuals of our time, states that democratization of public life and the expansion of freedom, has led to large sections of the public considering themselves as open-minded, non-judgemental and tolerant of different cultures, values and diversities of others. Nevertheless, he laments that as a society we are dominated by a culture that not only tolerates intolerance, but also often unwittingly encourages it.

Perhaps, what the world really needs is less of tolerance and more of empathy. Tolerance implies a begrudging acceptance or sympathy with the beliefs, opinions or practices of others, probably in conformation to social mores and dictates. What the world needs is more empathy for our fellow human beings; the need to understand another person’s point of view, and the ability to identify and share an emotional and intellectual rapport with the thoughts, feelings, or state of another person.

With empathy, the diversity of our world’s many religions, languages, cultures and ethnicities would not have to be a pretext for conflict, it could be considered a shared treasure that enriches all of humanity. With empathy, everyone of us can be part of the solution; all we need is to remember and live by the words of Bishop Hinder quoted earlier, on humanity’s ‘common origins and common destination’.

 

 

SOURCE  TIMESKUWAIT

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