Vijesti ROMI.HR

U okviru obilježavanja ovog dana, u posljednjih 20 godina poduzeto je više inicijativa, uključujući konferencije, festivale i drugo. Međutim, upozoravajuća poruka preambule Deklaracije iz 1995. i dalje je relevantna, ako ne i više:

„Trenutni porast netolerantnog ponašanja, nasilja, terorizma, ksenofobije, agresivnog nacionalizma, rasizma, antisemitizma, isključivanja, marginaliziranja i diskriminacije usmjerene protiv nacionalnih, etničkih, vjerskih i jezičnih manjina, izbjeglica, radnika migranata, imigranata i ranjivih skupina u društvu, kao i nasilničko ponašanje i zastrašivanje  pojedinaca koji koriste svoju slobodu mišljenja i izražavanja -  prijetnja su konsolidaciji mira i demokracije, i na nacionalnoj i na međunarodnoj razini, kao i prepreka razvoja“.

Koliko god zvučalo kontradiktorno, pitanje koje bi se ovdje moglo postaviti glasi: Da li je tolerancija rješenje za netoleranciju? Riječ tolerancija potiče od latinske riječi 'tolerale' što znači sposobnost podnošenje teškoća i bola. Tolerancija je već dugo jedna od središnjih ideja europske političke misli.

Progon kršćana u Rimskom carstvu okončan je Ediktom iz Sardike, današnje Sofije, koji je poznatiji kao Edikt tolerancije. Time je kršćanstvu priznata ravnopravnost s drugim religijama u Carstvu, a njihovim sljedbenicima je dopušteno slobodno izražavanje vjere.

U 17. stoljeću, nakon desetljeća surovih vjerskih ratova između katolika i protestanata u Europi, istaknuti prosvjetitelj filozofije John Locke je 1689. godine objavio djelo pod nazivom „Pismo o toleranciji“. U ovom značajnom tekstu europske modernosti, Locke se zalagao za priznavanje slobode pojedinaca. Štoviše, ukazao je na to da uvjerenja ne mogu biti nametnuta nasiljem.

Stoljeće kasnije, u toku prve faze Francuske revolucije, točnije 1789. godine, usvojena je Deklaracija o pravima čovjeka i građanina. Članak 10. Deklaracije glasi: „Nitko ne smije biti pozvan na odgovornost zbog svojih uvjerenja, pa čak ni religijskih, ako njihovo iskazivanje ne ometa javni red utvrđen zakonom“.

Određivanja granica tolerancije i njen odnos prema redu i zakonu bilo je ključno pitanje nakon Drugog svjetskog rata. Karl Popper, britanski filozof austrijskog podrijetla, u svom djelu „Otvoreno društvo i njegovi neprijatelji“ iz 1945. godine, iznosi ovaj problem i definira „paradoks tolerancije“: „Neograničena tolerancija mora dovesti do njenog nestanka. Ako neograničeno toleriramo i one koji su netolerantni, ako nismo spremni braniti tolerantno društvo od napada netolerantnih, ono će biti uništeno kao i sama tolerancija.

Poznati slovenski filozof Slavoj Žižek ukazuje na problem tolerancije iz drugog ugla. On smatra da taj „dvosmisleni pojam […] može biti svoja suprotnost“. Žižek tvrdi da „liberalna tolerancija“ pretežno izražena kao politička korektnost u javnom govoru, često prikriva reproduciranje odnosa moći, ali kroz elegantne formulacije. Uz to, tvrdi kako „tolerancija“ može funkcionirati kao povećanje društvene „udaljenosti“, ili drugim riječima – može ovjekovječiti „tiraniju različitosti“ ili je čak štititi i idealizirati. Žižek tako ukazuje na latinski smisao ovog pojma – podnijeti bol ili teškoću, kao da „drugačiji“ pojedinci ili skupine uzrokuju patnju zbog svog kvaliteta različitosti.

Stoljećima duga rasprava o toleranciji složena je i zahtijeva razmišljanje. Međutim, surova svakodnevica netolerantnosti na mnoge ljude utiče u društvenom, političkom i ekonomskom smislu, uključujući i dosta Roma u Hrvatskoj. Iako su ovi problemi globalnih razmjera, sredstva za njihovo rješavanje pretežno su u rukama nacionalnih vlada koje mogu djelovati kroz zakonodavstvo i provođenje zakona. Ipak, Ujedinjeni narodi imaju moć otvoriti to pitanje i što je još važnije – odrediti sam jezik kojim bi definirali izazove s kojima se čovječanstvo suočava. Deklaracija UNESCO-a iz 1995. godine bila je vrlo jasna po pitanju tolerancije „to je, prije svega, aktivan stav potaknut priznavanjem općih ljudskih prava i osnovnih sloboda drugih“. Poziv na „aktivan stav“ direktno upućuje na društveno, političko i ekonomsko uključivanje jer, upravo je isključivanje „drugačijih“ ono što suvremenu suptilnu netoleranciju čini tako razarajućom  po svako društvo.

International Day for Tolerance

On November 16th 1995, during the United Nations Year of Tolerance, UNESCO adopted a Declaration of Principles of Tolerance. Since the following 1996, this date is commemorated as the International Day for Tolerance.

Multiple initiatives have been undertaken within the framework of this annual observance day in the last two decades, including conferences, festivals, etc. However, the alarming message from the 1995 Declaration preamble remains still relevant, if not even more so:

“[T]he current rise in acts of intolerance, violence, terrorism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism, exclusion, marginalization and discrimination directed against national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, refugees, migrant workers, immigrants and vulnerable groups within societies, as well as acts of violence and intimidation committed against individuals exercising their freedom of opinion and expression - all of which threaten the consolidation of peace and democracy, both

nationally and internationally, and are obstacles to development”.

As paradoxical as is might sound, the question that one could ask here is: Is tolerance the solution to intolerance? Tolerance, from the Latin tolerale: denoting the action of bearing hardship, or the ability to bear pain and hardship, has been for a long time one of the central concepts in European political thought.

The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was ended with the Edict of Serdica (today’s Bulgarian capital Sofia) or as it is commonly known - the Edict of Toleration. With this act Christianity was recognised as equal to other religions in the Empire and its followers were allowed to express their faith freely.

 In the XVII century, following decades of brutal religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in Europe, John Locke, a prominent Enlightenment philosopher, published his Letter Concerning Toleration (1689). In this crucial for European Modernity text, Locke advocates for the recognition of individual freedom. Moreover, he insisted that belief cannot be compelled by violence.

A century later, in 1789 during the first stages of the French Revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was adopted. Its Article 10 states: "No-one shall be interfered with for his opinions, even religious ones, provided that their practice does not disturb public order as established by the law."

The question for the limits of tolerance and its relation to order and law has been pivotal after the Second World War. In his book from 1945 The Open Society and its Enemies, the Austrian-born British philosopher Karl Popper articulates this problem and defines the “paradox of tolerance”: “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”

The popular Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek problematizes the concept of tolerance from another perspective. He reckons that this “ambiguous term […] can work as its own opposite”. “The liberal tolerance”, expressed predominantly as political correctness in the public language, Žižek asserts, often masks the reproduction of power relations, but with elegant wording. Additionally, he claims that “tolerance” could function as enhancing social “distance”, or in other words – it can perpetuate “oppressive otherness” even by patronization and idealization. Žižek thus points at the Latin sense of the concept – to bear pain or hardship - as if “the different” individuals or groups cause suffering by their very quality of being dissimilar.

The centuries-long debates on tolerance are complex and thought-provoking. However, there is a harsh everyday reality of intolerance that affects many people socially, politically, and economically, including many Roma in Croatia. Although such problems occur on a global scale, the instruments for their resolvement are predominantly in the hands of national governments, which can act through legislation and law enforcement. The United Nations, nevertheless, has the power to organise international agenda and even more importantly – to set the very language that defines the challenges faced by humanity. The 1995 UNESCO Declaration has been very clear on the question of tolerance: it is, “above all, an active attitude prompted by recognition of the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others”. The call for “active attitude” directly points at inclusion – social, political, and economical, because it is the exclusion of “the different” what makes the contemporary subtle intolerance so disruptive for any society.