Let’s respect, tolerate each other
By Editor
Wednesday March 14, 2007 [02:00]
IT is a truism, but nevertheless true, that good listeners in most cases turn out to be good students or effective learners. So those who want to learn something and understand how to live in harmony with each other in today’s turbulent world should pay particular attention to Queen Elizabeth’s words of wisdom.
Today, nobody can deny that the world is deeply divided along clearly drawn-out fault lines, essentially because of a lack of respect, tolerance and understanding for and among each other. We agree with Queen Elizabeth on her message that it is more important than even to keep respecting and understanding each other better in today’s difficult and sometimes divided world. If we did an objective self-reproach either as individuals, groups or nations, we would come to a realisation that many of the divisions among ourselves have been our own creation primarily as a result of a lack of respect and understanding among ourselves.
But we should realise, as Queen Elizabeth puts it, that each one of us is an individual with ties of emotion and bonds of obligation to culture, religion, community and beyond. Each one of us is special! And the Queen advises that the more we see each other in this way, the more we can understand each other’s points of view. She encourages us to have open minds and hearts so that we can find our diversity as a cause for celebration and source of strength and unity.
If we looked at things this way, the world would not be going through some of the worst situations that it has had to encounter. Some of the conflicts, be they military, political, economic or otherwise, have been due to a lack of respect and understanding of one another. What is even more sad is the fact that some of the misunderstanding is deliberate.
For instance, we know very well that it is generally agreed that the world needs to move towards a more free trading system if other disadvantaged nations have to benefit and perhaps lift their peoples out of poverty. There have been talks after talks about the need to agree and make each other understand that fair trade rules should be applied if poor nations are to get a fair share from the world market.
However, what we see from the developed world is wanton protectionism on one hand as they on the other keep humming the hypocritical song of fair trade. Sometimes it is not that there is a lack of understanding of the issues. In most cases, the misunderstanding is deliberate.
The failure of trade talks also shows that there is little or no respect for each other even when the issues have been clearly understood by those concerned. If there was respect for each other and among the nations involved in these trade negotiations, a solution should have been long found and an agreement should have been in place by this time.
When we talk about the need for peace and security in the world, we have some powerful nations which want to police the rest of the world without regard for agreed upon mechanisms.
We have countries, such as the United States of America, which are swift to implement far-reaching unilateral actions in the name of peace and security without following systems that have been put in place in order to avoid unilateral excesses. Even when other nations are opposed to such actions, the United States will not respect the opposing views, but instead label such nations opposed to their excesses as ‘the unwilling’ or ‘Old Europe’. This is the kind of lack of respect for other views that is not bringing about order in the world.
This is the kind of lack of respect that is prolonging some of the conflicts which may be difficult to resolve now and in the near future. We have already seen the crisis in Iraq where the United States did not want to respect the views of the ‘unwilling’ or the views from ‘old Europe’ on the fact that the military route that was being pushed would not help the situation. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps, the United States should by now have realised that it should have respected the views of others before it went ahead to unleash unilateral force on the Iraqis.
In short, in a world of diversity, it is important to understand and respect each other. In fact, we are also being warned by eminent scholars such as Samuel Huntington that today’s world politics is entering a new phase, in which the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of international conflict will be cultural.
These divisions along culture fault lines may appear less significant now, but we have seen that they are becoming increasingly important. And this is the more reason why we must begin to learn to respect and understand each other more and more. In a world that is surrounded by countless conflicts, we must begin to respect and tolerate each other.
Labels: EDITORIAL, TOLERANCE
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Tolerance should start with Mwanawasa – Shamenda
By Bivan Saluseki
Tuesday March 13, 2007 [02:00]
TOLERANCE should start with President Levy Mwanawasa himself, Union Network International secretary general Fackson Shamenda said yesterday. President Mwanawasa on Sunday ahead of the Youth Day, which fell yesterday, advised Zambians to guard jealously the culture of tolerance for divergent views in the country. But Shamenda yesterday said although tolerance should start with people in power, the government should fight poverty in homes so that tolerance should also evolve from people's homes.
"Tolerance should start with people who are in power. Even in homes, it's the head of the house who provides the guidance; in villages, it's the chief. Therefore when given the necessary instruments of power, they know that you can be tolerant," he said. Shamenda said leaders, just like chiefs, should expect to be insulted and have more than one name. "But if you are the first one to react to criticisms and make threats, then people will always be making reference on how a leader behaves," he said.
Shamenda said people would not always agree with each other. He said leaders should in fact spend more time with people who disagree with them instead of those in agreement so they can learn more. "You will not always find people who agree with you. There are those who disagree with you. You can't all be right, probably it's just the approach," he said. Shamenda said he was glad that the top leadership had begun to appreciate the need for tolerance. "They should lead by example. The culture of talking to each other through the newspapers and public meetings is not healthy," he said.
Shamenda said even in conflicts, there was tolerance. "Even where there is war, there is tolerance; like how to treat prisoners of war, civilians and others. It's how you manage it, that's what is important," he said. Shamenda said the starting point of resolving intolerance were homes too. He said the ruins of a nation began in the homes of its people. "Our starting point is the standard of living of the citizens themselves. A hungry man is an angry person because he does not have anything to eat. We should start addressing poverty in homes if people are to be tolerant to you as a leader," he said. Shamenda said there was conflict now because of the high levels of poverty and people were not tolerant as a result. "People can only be able to contribute to tolerance if they have got the basic needs of human beings," said Shamenda.
And United Liberal Party president Sakwiba Sikota said tolerance was very important in terms of accepting divergent views, accepting different people and those with different lifestyles. "We have to be particularly tolerant of the minorities," he said. Sikota said once the minority were marginalised, a country got the tyranny of the majority. He said President Mwanawasa should exhibit tolerance in practical terms as well. Sikota said leaders should accept criticism and divergent views even when they did not agree with those same ideas. "We must accept that we don't have a monopoly of wisdom," said Sikota.
President Mwanawasa advised Zambians to guard jealously the culture of tolerance for divergent views in the country. "We have a duty as Zambians to teach this culture of tolerance to our brothers and sisters who have been torn apart by conflict arising from intolerance and lack of respect for one another," he said. President Mwanawasa said the socio-economic gains that Zambia had made in recent years were as a result of the tolerance and respect for divergent views. The President said the government would adhere to the rule of law and a political culture that promoted transparency, accountability and economic development. President Mwanawasa said his government would always support the independence of the Judiciary and the freedom of expression.
Labels: TOLERANCE
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Preaching tolerance
By Editor
Tuesday March 13, 2007 [02:00]
Tolerance is generally defined as one’s capacity to endure something, especially pain or hardship. To tolerate is to allow something that one does not like or agree with to happen or continue. It can also mean to endure something without complaining, to put up with. This is what we always have in mind when we talk about tolerance. And this is what we also recognise to be the meaning of tolerance when we hear other people talk about tolerance. Tolerance and respect for our fellow human beings make us allow our critics to express their opinions or views without inhibition, whether these views seem palatable or not.
Tolerance is an extremely important ingredient in the meaningful existence of humanity. Intolerance must surely rank as one of the worst forms of immorality in human affairs. If accepted, toleration allows others to help us see things differently because, as the saying from Mali states: “The serpent that is hidden increases in size.” This means that weaknesses in ourselves get stronger if not corrected. Another wise saying from Uganda states that: “Because of lack of criticism, the warthog’s teeth have grown disproportionately long.” This means that people should welcome criticism and correction so that they do not develop incorrectly.
It is with this background that we welcome President Levy Mwanawasa’s advice for Zambians to guard against tolerance because we realise that most conflicts arise where tolerance is absent.
But like Fackson Shamenda observes, tolerance must begin with Levy himself. When we look around, we see a distinct lack of tolerance among our politicians.
There is no culture of humility which accepts that all citizens have a right to participate in the shaping of their destiny directly without fear or reprisal. Our politicians, especially those in powerful and ruling positions, always want to smash any contrary thinking of citizens.
Levy himself is not strong to criticism. In fact, he doesn’t like to be criticised. But Levy needs to bear in mind that he is not President only for those who agree with him, those who are in good terms with him and those who sing praises for him. Levy is President for all Zambians, including those who detest him and those whom he detests.
Levy has a duty to treat every Zambian with respect and humility and he should lead by example in this area. Leading or presiding over the affairs of 11 or 12 million people is not an easy task and requires a lot of level-headedness and humility. Sometimes, if not many times, Levy doesn’t seem to have these qualities. We are not saying this for the sake of it. From time to time, our people see for themselves the way Levy explodes, even at the slightest provocation.
Of course, we hear Levy say he is only open to constructive criticism. But what do these politicians mean when they talk about constructive and destructive criticism?
The terms “constructive” and “destructive” criticism have been coined in order to place potential opponents or so-called enemies in some categories so as to reward the loyalists and punish the malcontents. From experience, we see that those in powerful positions would accept flattery and agreement from their praise singers as constructive criticism. Criticism per se does not exist. If they are opposed or criticised, then those opposing or criticising are expressing hate, not pure disagreement.
Of course we are mindful that there are also cynics among our people and politicians. But these should be isolated from the point we are making above because we have always said that cynics have never been known to build any society. So cynicism cannot be hidden behind the word criticism.
But in most cases, our leaders don’t seem to differentiate between an ordinary citizen seeking to exercise his freedom of expression and a rabid political opponent. It seems our leaders can’t distinguish between a critic and a traitor.
However, we are encouraged that Levy now seems to be appreciating the importance of tolerance although there is a big challenge for him to practice it. We urge him to put his theories in practice because rhetoric is not good; action is.
Levy is not in State House to do as he pleases. He is there to perform the duties which that office requires him to do - whether he likes it or not. And in so doing, sometimes he has to meet and talk to people he may not like simply because duty requires him to do so. Levy should learn to reconcile his differences with people through reasoning and also to be tolerant of those who have different views from his.
Labels: EDITORIAL, TOLERANCE
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