“Only if we can call ourselves into question, we can better understand different opinions. Tolerance as an expression of respect is a principle of life and at the same time a strong commitment to humanism”, says federal president Heinz Fischer on Friday, at the opening of the first European Tolerance Dialogues in the Carinthian mountain village Fresach, http://fresach.org . According to the motto “How far can tolerance go? Duties for the state, economy and society”, social scientists as well as writers, theologians and economists discussed the central challenges on the way to a peaceful and respectful together. Hosted was this prominently booked event by Denk.Raum.Fresach. “To conceive diversity as a source of enrichment” “Tolerance“, Fischer said in his speech, “also needs binding norms”. A peaceful cohabitation cannot do without the respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. Alongside the federal president the evangelical superintendent Manfred Sauer welcomed all attendees and made a plea to “understand diversity as a source of enrichment”. The Carinthian governor Peter Kaiser emphasised that for him the concept of tolerance is inseparable with that of freedom. “Intolerance is lack of freedom”, said Kaiser. For Hannes Swoboda, president of the Denk.Raum.Fresach, tolerance must be more than sufferance, namely respect and recognition. Swoboda warned that in particular with regard to current conflicts, “that ideas and religions be measured on those who abuse them for their own ends”. Human dignity at the centre Ensuing the words of politics and church there followed a keynote of the publicist Ronald Barazon. He too criticised, that tolerance is often misunderstood as sufferance. “Tolerance means to question ones own point of view as well as those of others, to accept different opinions and to learn something from them. This is a never continuing challenge and a never ending process with its centre as the human dignity”, so Barazon. Like president Fischer he emphasised the importance of the constitutional state and underlines the necessity of a fortified democracy. “Tolerance is intolerant towards intolerance”, explains the Israel-born publicist. The keynote of Barazon was followed by a panel discussion on the issue of migration including a critical view Europe’s attitude. Poverty and war force countless people to flee their home country on a day to day basis. “We are not innocent in regard to the current developments”, explains Swoboda and criticises the military interventions of the west as well as the inactiveness of the European Commission on the question of refugees. As one important step on the way to a more relaxed situation he regards the creation of controlled corridors, which would enable refugees to enter Europe legally. Failures in EU-politics Helmuth A. Niederle, president of the PEN-Club, criticised in his statement above all the European states. They would have supported the in the meantime overthrown dictatorial regimes over decades and pretended to be deaf. For Eugen Freund, representative of the EU-parliament, too the politics of the European Union is one reason for the current crisis. “Measures of the European Union in the area of agriculture and fisheries policy have managed to downright deprive many people in the third world of their basis of existence”, Freund said. He regards the colonisation of Africa and the resulting exploitation as the historical blunder. The German-Indian philosopher Pravu Mazumdar misses a creative claim in European politics. “Europe lags behind the events and is constantly reactive if she reacts, then mostly on because of persistent pressure by lobbies”, said Mazumdar. In doing so one all to seldom asks oneself the question: “what, actually is my interest?” Equal participation instead of integration Alongside the handling of the refugee problem the participants also discussed the situation of asylum seekers in Austria. Together with Niederle, Mazumdar pleaded not to speak of integration, but rather of equal participation, as there is after all the danger, that integration is used as a synonym for tolerance. In the late morning, after the panel discussion ensued a French lecture by the linguistic scientist Zohra Bouchentouf-Siagh about the position of a “decolonial” modernity in the contemporary African thinking. Photos of the event can be downloaded at http://fotodienst.pressetext.com/album/3462
