It is expressed in conscious suppressing of a feeling of aversion usually caused by something different and unusual – appearance, clothing, manners, speech, tastes, way of thinking, etc. Tolerance implies tuning to understanding and dialogue with a Different One and respect of his right to be different.
Initially a Latin word “tolerantia“ meant passive patience, voluntary suffering associated with such terms as “pain” and “evil”. But in the 16th century other meanings were added to the original one – “allowance“ and “restraint”. Since that time tolerance was also interpreted as concession in the issue of religious freedom – the government’s and the official church permission to confess different religions and cults. Historically, toleration of different religions was the first and dominating form of tolerance. The main means of achievement of tolerance in the New Times became separation of church from the state and cancellation of the right to punish followers of other religions.
It is important to note that toleration of another point of view does not prohibit its criticism or denial of the person’s own convictions. It means recognition of the possibility of pluralism. Tolerance is especially needed in those areas where there are no exact criteria of evaluation or proofs of the preference of some views, principles or decisions over others (in questions of religious faith, ethnic traditions, and personal convictions).
As an important element of culture of communications, tolerance today is caused by a necessary condition of public unification of people of different religions, political views, and cultural traditions.
Intolerance to lifestyle, faith, or behavior of other people always exists in deep layers of “routinely morals” and gets aggravated in the periods of economic and political intolerance. That is why it is so important to define a possibility and ways of resolving conflicts between values of representatives of various cultures and groups of people.
I believe a possibility and desire to learn more of other cultures of today, to try and feel them, looking with the eyes of a Different One, helps to unmask the myths and ideas of superiority of one culture over another.
What conditions is it necessary to create for development of tolerance? Can we change stereotypes of perception of a Different Person and destroy prejudices?
Ideologists, teachers, and children – participants of the international children’s camp “Sources of Tolerance” have been looking for answers to these questions for a second year. This camp is the first social and psychological experiment of this sort in post-Soviet countries. The camp is located in the territory of Ukraine within a framework of intercultural dialogue, a priority activity of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. Besides EAJC the camp is sponsored by the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, State Committee for Family and Youth Affairs of Ukraine, State Committee for Nationalities and Migrations, and Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine (united).
In 2003, there were 140 children – representatives of 17 ethnic communities (Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Germans, Romanians, Moldovans, Volga Tatars, Armenians, Ukrainians, Crimean, Tatars, Russians, Greeks, Buelorussians, Bulgarians, Azerbaijanians). Tutors in the camp also belonged to various ethnic cultures. Professional psychologists also worked with children. At the age of 11–18 teenagers begin to seriously think about who they are, what they live for; they begin to form their system of values and meanings.
The main principle of the camp was personal contact, “feeling into”, and an attempt to live though a day through the eyes of a Different Person. Personal acquaintance, personalization, helps to destroy biased opinions, lower the level of indifference, aggressiveness and fear of a Different Person.
Children are not divided into groups depending on their ethnic belonging, that is why children from different nations don’t have to compete with each other and prove which nation is better. Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Russians, and Armenians live one common camp life. Thus, the principle of “whom shall we be friends against?” loses its meaning here. Joint activities, dwelling of children of different nations in one room, and rich friendly fellowship change “friendship against someone” to merely friendship.
Each day the camp plunges into a world of culture, language, symbols, customs and traditions of one nation. Each morning starts with the national anthem of Ukraine and another national anthem or song of a particular nation. During their morning classes children learn about culture and history of this nation, learning words from its mini-dictionary to be able to greet one another on that day. It is important for children to feel that they are not alone in this world, that they are surrounded by many cultures, that they are different from one another but each of them is interesting and unique.
Classes are held in an interactive game form; children discuss specifics of traditions of a nation, comparing their ideas of this nation with real facts. In cafeteria they can taste ethnic dishes, in clubs – learn dances and songs of different nations, as well as traditional ethnic trades and sports. Children of that particular culture feel special on that day, telling the others about their nation’s traditions, games, and holidays.
In the evening, the whole camp is invited either to a Tatar feast or Greek Olympiad, Ukrainian party or Jewish salatron. It includes national games and competitions. Each group makes a gift – a dance, a song, or a play to the children of a birthday nation. At the final international festival children demonstrate those new things that they have learned in the camp.
Psychologists play an important role in the camp helping children and their tutors to interface effectively and develop fruitful fellowship, to be a united team, to understand the joy and pain of another person.
Psychologist of camp 2003 Yunona Ilyina developed and organized polls of those who worked on this project, of tutors and children. The answers she received show peculiarities of international cooperation in the camp, specifics of understanding of the term “tolerance”, factors that help develop tolerant attitudes, and ways of peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Let’s analyze strategies of tutors that they used at the camp:
1. Personal example (“I enriched my knowledge and understanding of cultures of different nations”; “I tried to learn more about the life, history, and culture of those ethnic communities that were represented in the camp for more effective fellowship”; “I was interested in learning about the culture of every ethnic community and found out a lot of new things for myself; I also tried to help each community reveal its culture”);
2. Discussions with children (“On the example of my personal attitude to children I tried to impart in them mutual understanding, mutual respect, tactfulness; I taught them to find compromise solutions”, “I convinced the children of my community that we need such camps to learn more about the nations living around us”);
3. Organization of joint activities (“I tried to help children to feel respect to representatives of every nation in the course of our joint activities and informal fellowship”).
An important task for a psychologist was to find reasons for ethnic stereotypes and ways to overcome them. In the opinion of researchers, stereotypes in general are a form of adaptation to the surrounding, a way to put one’s worldview in some order by dividing the world and people into types and classes. To follow ethnic stereotypes means to generalize, making one’s system of understanding the world more plain and primitive: Germans are dull, Jews are cunning, Americans are goal-oriented, Japanese are cruel, etc. According to the research of social psychologists, biases provide a sense of social superiority and can make it easier to mask one’s feeling of inferiority. Negative ethnic stereotypes make the foundation for xenophobia of mass mentality.
Stereotypes destroy interaction; they hinder understanding between people that belong to different ethnic groups, cultures, and religions.
In the camp, ethnic stereotypes were broken by fellowship for intensive personal contact breaks through the shell of stamps that bear nothing of individual characteristics. Instead of a stereotypical “Jew” (“Greek”, “German”…) that is known mostly from jokes, a teenager sees a real person in his peer. While getting to know the cultures of other nations, the child begins to understand real (rather than stereotypical) characteristics of conduct and cultural traditions – for it is no secret that in their mass people have absolutely fantastic explanations to other nations’ rituals and traditions.
Since not two or three but seventeen cultures in total are represented in the camp, children begin to understand very soon that every nation is worthy of respect and the culture of each of them is wonderful and deserves respect too. So, one can co-exist and have fruitful cooperation in various situations and with everyone.
Besides, it was a discovery for children how interesting other cultures were. And not only that for the others took an interest in their own culture! And the children began to understand that tolerance was not just being neighbors and turning a blind eye to dirt and other neighbors’ family quarrels, but it is a desire to give and be needed.
Unlike our everyday life, artificial situations are good for being like a play where we can concentrate on fellowship. Can anything be changed in one’s soul within a month?
Probably, yes. For such concentration can be compared with years of everyday contacts, self-education and incidental fellowship. Learning about seventeen cultures in a short period of time creates a certain critical mass that might have not emerged without this experience at all.
And after the so-called “critical mass” of understanding of a Different Person starts filling a teenager’s mind, he will hardly be ever shocked by any new culture while his peers who lack his experience are sure to face a cultural shock.
I guess this is what tolerance is all about. Perhaps, it might be wrong to say that it can be taught. One can try to help feel it, and this was carried out in the “Sources of Tolerance” summer camp. And its result can be best seen from the children’s description of their new experience:
“It is very hard to make people think similarly, because there are as many thoughts as there are people; it makes this life more interesting”;
“I believe each person must somehow try and restrain himself and accept the others as they are”;
“This is a camp where representatives of different nationalities live together. Together they perform, solve problems, have fun and never fight”;
“The camp of tolerance is a place where every person can come and have a rest, where people don’t focus on another’s nationality or faith. People are all equal here and they are all friends. Each one tells of his/her nation and wants to learn more about the others”;
“It is a combination of different nationalities in fellowship and understanding”;
“It is a camp where it does not matter what nationality you belong to but it is important what kind of person you are on the inside. Your heart matters most”;
“This is a unique school where children are learning respect and tolerance. It is very important since every day you find yourself in different societies and circles of fellowship. After the camp you will never again be indifferent”. |
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