Intolerance and Prejudice

Fighting Intolerance

Intolerance is very often rooted in ignorance and fear: fear of the unknown, of the other, other cultures, nations, religions. Intolerance is also closely linked to an exaggerated sense of self-worth and pride, whether personal, national or religious. These notions are taught and learned at an early age. Therefore, greater emphasis needs to be placed on educating more and better. Greater efforts need to be made to teach children about tolerance and human rights, about other ways of life. Children should be encouraged at home and in school to be open-minded and curious. Education is a life-long experience and does not begin or end in school. Endeavours to build tolerance through education will not succeed unless they reach all age groups, and take place everywhere: at home, in schools, in the workplace, in law-enforcement and legal training, and not least in entertainment, leisure and on the information highways. Laws and measures to combat tolerance are necessary but not sufficient for countering intolerance in individual attitudes.

The appreciation of diversity, the ability to live and let others live, the ability to adhere to one's convictions while accepting that others adhere to theirs, the ability to enjoy one's rights and freedoms without infringing on those of others, tolerance has always been considered a moral virtue. Tolerance is also the foundation of democracy and human rights. Intolerance in multi-ethnic, multi-religious or multicultural societies leads to violations of human rights.

Intolerance is most dangerous when it is exploited to fulfil the political ambitions of an individual or groups of individuals. Hate mongers often begin by identifying the public's tolerance threshold. They then develop fallacious arguments, lie with statistics and manipulate public opinion with misinformation and prejudice. The most efficient way to limit the influence of hate mongers is to consult refugees and ethnic minorities in open debates in order to allow them to have their opinions on what is being said about them.

Intolerance in a society is the sum-total of the intolerance of its individual members. Bigotry, stereotyping, stigmatising, insults and racial jokes are examples of individual expressions of intolerance to which some people are subjected daily. Intolerance breeds intolerance. It leaves its victims in pursuit of revenge. In order to fight intolerance individuals should become aware of the link between their behaviour and the vicious cycle of mistrust and violence in society. Each one of us should begin by asking: am I a tolerant person? Do I stereotype people? Do I reject those who are different from me? Do I blame my problems on 'them'?

Many people know that tomorrow's problems will be increasingly global but few realize that solutions to global problems are mainly local, even individual. When confronted with an escalation of intolerance around us, we must not wait for governments and institutions to act alone. We are all part of the solution. We actually possess an enormous capacity to wield power. Non-violent action is one way of tackling the problem. The tools of non-violent action-putting a group together to confront a problem, to organize a grassroots network, to demonstrate solidarity with victims of intolerance, to discredit hateful propaganda-are available to all those who want to put an end to intolerance, violence and hatred.

Fighting Prejudice

Prejudice and stereotyping is the holding of preconceived ideas about and individual or group. Those ideas are resistant to change even new ideas are presented. Prejudices cloud our judgement and sometimes prevent us from seeing people as they really are. The problem with prejudice is that it is self-confirming. This leads to discrimination, the active result of prejudice. Prejudice is unlawful if you put prejudice into effect by allowing it to influence you to the extent that you treat someone less favourably in the work environment than you would treat another.

Prejudice, which can lead to discrimination, can be formed in all sorts of different ways. We have all formed opinions resulting from personal experiences, third hand experiences, family, schooling and the whole socialisation process in general. The media and some advertising may reinforce prejudices and stereotypical ideas. For example, some people may perceive that a woman's place is in the home, not in the workplace as a career oriented individual. If that sort of preconception leads to discriminatory decision-making, then it is an offence.

Racial prejudice arises where unfavourable opinions or feelings relate to particular group based on colour, race or ethnicity. Any racial group can be racially prejudiced. If unfavourable discrimination is exercised on the basis of such opinions, that too constitutes an offence.

There should be no assumptions that individuals, because of their sex, marital status, physical ability, race or religion possess characteristics, which might put them either at an advantage or disadvantage. Examples of assumptions might be:
- women and black people have limited career aspirations.
- people from ethnic minorities lack the qualifications and skills for a career.
- women and individuals from ethnic minorities are not likely to progress to management.
- refugees are here only for having to our generous benefit system.
- refugees and asylum seekers are economic migrants who are living on tax payers' money.

INTEGRATION

It is now widely recognised that black communities and other ethnic minorities in the UK experience racial harassment, discrimination and lack of opportunities, but that in fact such problems are exacerbated by the scattered nature of the populations in most areas. Certain specific groups are the victims of poverty, which is condemning a considerable proportion of young adults, women, children, old persons, single-parent families, large families, refugees and asylum seekers, as well as members of ethnic minorities to social exclusion.

There is also evidence that mainstream service providers have not successfully engaged black and ethnic minority communities as users of their services. As a result, programmes frequently suffer from "colour-blindness" or, if they do try to address ethnic minority issues, fail to achieve this because they do not undertake the preparatory outreach and training work required to reach the communities.

Many people from black and ethnic minority communities speak languages other than English in their home, associate only with other people from their own communities and work hard with low pay in family-run businesses which do not require significant social contact with other communities. Social contact that is available to individuals outside the close circle of family and friends is often culturally inappropriate and always requires a good level of English-speaking. As a result, ethnic minority people often have only limited access to mainstream services and are often unaware of their rights in this area.

The income levels of ethnic groups shows a wide diversity of living standards but that some, most of them, are particularly likely to be in low income households. This results in part from cultural differences such as larger family sizes and lower rates of female participation in the labour force. They also experience poorer quality housing and poorer health. Some groups within the ethnic minority communities also experience underachievement in education and a higher rate of school exclusions.

The main barrier to inclusion that members of ethnic minority communities face is racial discrimination, which is harmful and unjust to its victims and to Britain as a whole. The UK benefits from being a multicultural society. We believe that ethnic diversity should be valued and that racial discrimination is incompatible with adecent and inclusive society and must be tackled vigorously.

Much more needs to be understood, though, about the exclusion of ethnic minorities in the UK. There is a need of research to collect in-depth information on how social exclusion is experienced by ethnic minorities. Despite a general rise in living standards, poverty remains one of the most important problems that is affecting ethnic minority communities. As some neighbourhoods have prospered, so others are excluded from this prosperity and have become increasingly run down - with a host of interrelated problems including unemployment, crime, poor health, housing and education.

Even the jobs, which do exist, may be unattainable for many. Low skills levels - or lack of the right skills - are not the only barriers. Poor health, lack of affordable childcare facilities or transport, lack of experience in the UK labour market, not having a British citizenship, low self-esteem and cultural factors, all deny people from refugee and minority ethnic communities to access employment and the chance of a better lifestyle. Poverty and exclusion must not be the price to pay for economic growth and well-being. Today, social exclusion is no longer a marginal problem in Europe: it is a painful and dramatic reality for millions of people.

Black ethnic minority children have the lowest school enrolment rate and the highest dropout rate among children in the UK and other EU countries. In their family life, many ethnic minority women do not have access to important knowledge, such as of health (HIV/AIDS, family planning), hygienic standards, and environmental protection. Education is a powerful tool in the process of adaptation and social integration for refugees. It forms the basis for personal development. Through education refugees and minority ethnic communities can improve their chances to contribute to society through participation in the labour market. Through the EU Networks on integration, a range of recommendations have been developed in relation to, for example, access to language tuition, recognition of previous qualifications, and the schooling of refugee children. The fundamental principle for these recommendations is that states shall make education provision widely accessible and targeted to the needs of refugees.