Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Unity in Diversity
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
– A point to reflect upon
-Anthony Chettri, Lecturer
St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar
Kofi Annan, former Security-General of the United Nations once said, “Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected.” (UNFPA, Calendar 2009)
“Unity in diversity” is the theme of the Nepal’s first Social Work Journal- The “Advocate”. Is it really possible? Or is it an idealistic stance? We all know that diversity is the reality, a fact that could not be denied. Indeed it is an enigmatic claim – a conundrum. Human beings are not the same but they are diversely different. The world is frequently taken to be the collections of religions, values, class, gender, profession, language, science, morals and politics.
Unity can be possible if we are able to accept the plurality of the society. Everybody has the right to be different. Can you imagine a world where everything looks alike? How monotonous it would have been? Thus diversity is the need for one’s existence. The ecology can only be balanced with the diverse organism networking with each other for their own survival. Thus diversity is the need of the society. It is the inherent truth of the nature. Nature is the best example of unity in diversity. We need to learn a lot from the nature Nature is full of different kinds of living things as well as non living things... Each one is unique. Everyone has their own roles and responsibilities to perform. Each one is the part of the whole universe. However small or insignificant they are, their existence matters for the ecological balance. No one in this universe can say that they can live as an island. Everyone is dependent and inter dependent on each other...
Unity in diversity can be possible when we practice the virtue of tolerance. Tolerance can be strengthened through dialogue. Dialogue should be based on the principle of acceptance, non-judgmental, respect and individualization. Today we see suffering of mankind all around us. It is due to intolerance of the people toward the diversity that exists in this world. Hence we see violence. Violence is directly proportional to the identity. More your identity is exposed more you are vulnerable to violence. If you are a woman you are exposed to violence. Again if you and lower caste women, you are more vulnerable. Vulnerability increases as your identity gets exposed like illiterate, lower caste women; widow illiterate lower caste women; old widow illiterate lower caste women etc.
Today we talk about inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion means acceptance of diversity. Inclusion will lead to unity in diversity. But we are facing lot of challenges in this process of inclusion. It is only because of power dynamics. Inclusion threatens the status-quo of the so called “powerful” caste, race, gender, religion etc. Hence we cannot tolerate diversity. Everyone wants to paint the world according to our own colour or paints. Why is it so? Why can’t we accept the fact that diversity is the need? When we see our physical body. It is the finest example of unity in diversity. Eyes, Ears, Hands, Chest, Legs, Mouth, Teeth, and Tongue etc are all different organs performing different functions. They do their own work accepting them as they are and thus helping the whole body to more. A body is the collection of different organs, performing diverse function. When we can accept our own body, then why can’t we accept different people, culture, language, religion, race etc?
The basic thing is that many times, we are not aware of the diversities that are present in and around us. It is also that we do not accept any deviant behaviour around us. These may be the challenges of unity in diversities. The challenges are due to the socialization process. In our families we are taught the roles and set of behaviours that a boy should do or not do and how a girl should behave and not. These dos and don’ts close the door of accepting diversities. So any boy who is a bit different from the set of rules is ridiculous or made to feel bad about his behaviour. Same thing with a girl. So our socialization process gives us an orientation of not accepting diversities. It is from here (.i.e. micro level) that we slowly find hard to accept other diversities in the society (.i.e. macro level). Thus the society is dichotomously divided into majority group and minority group. The majority group starts finding faults in the minority group and pushes them to the corner. They try to sabotage their culture, language, norms. Values etc and domesticate them. This is what called as cultural invasion (as per Paulo Friere).Thus a culture dies.
Today in this era of globalization it is really difficult to preserve the diversities prevailing in the society. Originally globalization basic philosophy was to accommodate all the diverse culture but the dynamics of international politics made it difficult. Only the culture of certain groups became superior and people started following it blindly. Hence we really need to think and have debate on the saying – Unity in diversity.
One need to remember that - “United we stand, divided we fall”.
Reference:
UNFPA, Calendar 2009
– A point to reflect upon
-Anthony Chettri, Lecturer
St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar
Kofi Annan, former Security-General of the United Nations once said, “Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected.” (UNFPA, Calendar 2009)
“Unity in diversity” is the theme of the Nepal’s first Social Work Journal- The “Advocate”. Is it really possible? Or is it an idealistic stance? We all know that diversity is the reality, a fact that could not be denied. Indeed it is an enigmatic claim – a conundrum. Human beings are not the same but they are diversely different. The world is frequently taken to be the collections of religions, values, class, gender, profession, language, science, morals and politics.
Unity can be possible if we are able to accept the plurality of the society. Everybody has the right to be different. Can you imagine a world where everything looks alike? How monotonous it would have been? Thus diversity is the need for one’s existence. The ecology can only be balanced with the diverse organism networking with each other for their own survival. Thus diversity is the need of the society. It is the inherent truth of the nature. Nature is the best example of unity in diversity. We need to learn a lot from the nature Nature is full of different kinds of living things as well as non living things... Each one is unique. Everyone has their own roles and responsibilities to perform. Each one is the part of the whole universe. However small or insignificant they are, their existence matters for the ecological balance. No one in this universe can say that they can live as an island. Everyone is dependent and inter dependent on each other...
Unity in diversity can be possible when we practice the virtue of tolerance. Tolerance can be strengthened through dialogue. Dialogue should be based on the principle of acceptance, non-judgmental, respect and individualization. Today we see suffering of mankind all around us. It is due to intolerance of the people toward the diversity that exists in this world. Hence we see violence. Violence is directly proportional to the identity. More your identity is exposed more you are vulnerable to violence. If you are a woman you are exposed to violence. Again if you and lower caste women, you are more vulnerable. Vulnerability increases as your identity gets exposed like illiterate, lower caste women; widow illiterate lower caste women; old widow illiterate lower caste women etc.
Today we talk about inclusion and exclusion. Inclusion means acceptance of diversity. Inclusion will lead to unity in diversity. But we are facing lot of challenges in this process of inclusion. It is only because of power dynamics. Inclusion threatens the status-quo of the so called “powerful” caste, race, gender, religion etc. Hence we cannot tolerate diversity. Everyone wants to paint the world according to our own colour or paints. Why is it so? Why can’t we accept the fact that diversity is the need? When we see our physical body. It is the finest example of unity in diversity. Eyes, Ears, Hands, Chest, Legs, Mouth, Teeth, and Tongue etc are all different organs performing different functions. They do their own work accepting them as they are and thus helping the whole body to more. A body is the collection of different organs, performing diverse function. When we can accept our own body, then why can’t we accept different people, culture, language, religion, race etc?
The basic thing is that many times, we are not aware of the diversities that are present in and around us. It is also that we do not accept any deviant behaviour around us. These may be the challenges of unity in diversities. The challenges are due to the socialization process. In our families we are taught the roles and set of behaviours that a boy should do or not do and how a girl should behave and not. These dos and don’ts close the door of accepting diversities. So any boy who is a bit different from the set of rules is ridiculous or made to feel bad about his behaviour. Same thing with a girl. So our socialization process gives us an orientation of not accepting diversities. It is from here (.i.e. micro level) that we slowly find hard to accept other diversities in the society (.i.e. macro level). Thus the society is dichotomously divided into majority group and minority group. The majority group starts finding faults in the minority group and pushes them to the corner. They try to sabotage their culture, language, norms. Values etc and domesticate them. This is what called as cultural invasion (as per Paulo Friere).Thus a culture dies.
Today in this era of globalization it is really difficult to preserve the diversities prevailing in the society. Originally globalization basic philosophy was to accommodate all the diverse culture but the dynamics of international politics made it difficult. Only the culture of certain groups became superior and people started following it blindly. Hence we really need to think and have debate on the saying – Unity in diversity.
One need to remember that - “United we stand, divided we fall”.
Reference:
UNFPA, Calendar 2009
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