The complicated title of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development suggests that cultural diversity does not automatically lead to dialogue or to development. We need to encourage it. As we know in Australia, difference of religion, politics or race can easily lead to tensions, to discrimination and to rejection.
Many Australians have regarded our First Peoples and their descendants as less than fully human, as a dying race, as feckless and as primitive. The inferiority which the settlers attributed to them has borne fruit in poorer health, poorer access to education and employment, poorer physical and mental health, much higher representation in prison and far greater chance of being removed from their parents. Only recently has it been commonly recognised that the disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians is the result of the decisions made by settlers and their institutions and perpetuated in later Australian attitudes. Many people still resist this recognition.
Race is only one of the areas in which we are tempted to resist diversity. Although the bitter relationships between Christians of different Churches have now largely disappeared, there is still much prejudice directed against Jews and Muslims in Australia. People who take moral positions based on their understanding of faith, too, often meet with intolerance.
We are all challenged to engage in a dialogue with one another which leads to growth in understanding and to the development of good relationships. If we are to appreciate diversity as a blessing and not as a burden, we must focus initially on the humanity that we share and not on our differences. We shall then see all human beings as precious because they are each unique and possess a dignity that is deeper than their differences. When we meet one another as persons and not as objects, our differences of race, religion, wealth and history become a source of interest and not of conflict.
If we focus on our differences they can blot out what we share in common. Then we cannot befriend someone of another race, religion, political or ethical views or gender orientation. Diversity becomes a gulf. In our society we have seen how difficult this attitude makes to agree on laws about free and injurious speech. Instead of asking how we can find a way in which the legitimate claims of both sides can be accepted, we demand that our own position and claimed rights prevail at the expense of others. As a result, nothing can be done.
The development of a healthy society depends on dialogue, and dialogue depends on mutual respect that accepts our diversity while allowing us to disagree with one another’s arguments.
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