Ramazan Dicle

On 30 of March 2011, the meeting was organized by the Politiken, Humanity in Action and the British Council at City Hall, Copenhagen. The quality and number of the Panelists (Peter Gundelach, Richard Jenkins, Dolan Cummings and
Yildiz Akdogan) was notably remarkable. The topic was very interesting and the participants were highly into the subject. The questions were challenging and relevant to the topic which is very well organized by the Moderator Ander Jerichow. In general, the panel took place in an open-minded, participative, informative and dialogue-centered environment.

Richard Jenkins stated Denmark posed a powerful image on being homogenous which wasn’t true in reality. He continued on that tolerance has to be courage, produced and defended, and that Denmark needs more voices in its multi-cultural society. He contemplated on the politicians lacking bravery to put solutions and to change, which is not something new as can be seen in its history. He emphasized on the term diversity as be taken a normal human experience and tackled with all its realities.
Gundelach glossed that Danes took a one-sided attitude towards the immigrants. He reported “The difference is wide when looked from high politics, but in society the gap is smaller. The Danishness is becoming a political view, which doesn’t seem to be very tolerant.”
Cummings took the turn and gave the examples from England where Danes built their own Church as they first settled the island. He pointed out that people should focus on not the difference but the things they have in common. In brief, he went on “in the politics Britishness is praised, however in the recent surveys conducted among British on being British, no one could provided most of the correct answers. The ideology of multiculturalism has failed in England. People are getting territorial and leading parallel lives. The religion is mostly performed by the Muslims not the rest of the society.” Lastly he emphasized that even the intolerance should be tolerated but have the grounds to be criticized.
Yildiz Akdogan highlighted the harshness of the discourse spoken by the politicians and media. She demonstrated this with some statistics of the articles and columns from several popular newspapers in Denmark. In sum, she stated that the terminology has been remarkably offensive during the last decade, that the peace in the society is being destructed, and that the ‘otherness’ and polarization is created. Lastly, she emphasized that the society is more concerned about other issues like better education, financial stability and better nutrition, not with the worries the politicians have.

Towards the end of question session, a participant proclaimed that the fear is resulting from the difference between the Islamic and Christian point of views by exemplifying the 9/11 attacks. However, the panelists responded as a few extremists cannot account for all the believers since it was just a misinterpretation of Islam.
All in all, the panel hosted for an atmosphere where the diversity of people and ideas was present and the importance of getting to know each other was overtly implied so as to live in harmony.

Notes from the Panel: Tolerance and Value Differences
by Ramazan Dicle