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Spotlight
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'Specialized English'
Script Title: International Day for Tolerance
(Program number: 661)
Hello. I’m Marina
Santee.
And I'm Peter Laverock. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Tolerance is about respecting and accepting the differences in our world’s cultures.
It is about
respecting
It is about respecting and accepting our different ways of being human.
Tolerance is uniting in differences.
Tolerance is the good quality that makes peace possible.
These are some of the words declared by the member states of UNESCO. They produced a written document stating the values of tolerance. The member states signed the document on the sixteenth November, nineteen ninety-five.
That was an important year. It was the United Nation’s fiftieth anniversary. Nineteen ninety-five was declared the United Nation’s Year for Tolerance. UNESCO was their leading organization for this year. Social groups gathered together - social scientists, human rights experts, governments and artists. They met to discuss the problem of intolerance and propose possible answers. Different projects organised events to increase public knowledge of tolerance. There were film and theatre festivals. There were also special broadcasts and publications.
From that year, came the International Day for Tolerance. It is held on November the sixteenth. The aim of the day is to increase public knowledge of the importance of tolerance. UNESCO and other groups seek to make clear the dangers of intolerance. They aim to use programmes in schools of science, culture and communication.
UNESCO also gives a special award on this day, every two years. It is the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize. The award is for people who work to encourage others to be tolerant and avoid violence. It is a money award – [of] one hundred thousand dollars! The money came from Indian writer Madanjeet Singh.
Madanjeet Singh works as special adviser to the Director General of UNESCO. He has spent much of his life working to encourage tolerance and unity among people. He joined in the struggle for freedom against British colonial rule. In nineteen seventy-two, the Indian Government gave Madanjeet Singh their Freedom fighter award - the Tamra Patra.
The Madanjeet Singh Prize is for people who have succeeded in increasing public knowledge of tolerance. The aim is that their actions will serve as models for others to follow. UNESCO hope that the award will encourage more people to work for a peaceful and tolerant world.
An international jury proposes the winners for the award. The jury is made up of five respected people. The UNESCO General Director chooses the winner. In two thousand and two, the award went to Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi has worked for many years to establish freedom in Burma, or Myanmar. UNESCO awarded her peaceful efforts to establish democracy and tolerance. The leading member of the jury praised Aung San Suu Kyi. He said that she is an international example. She shows how to peacefully resist oppression.
The
jury wanted
to
recognise
some
other
people,
even
though they did not win the award. It did this by declaring special praise for
these people, using statements called ‘Honourable Mentions’. The
first of these people was American news reporter, Daniel Pearl. Daniel worked
for the American Wall Street
Journal. His work took him to
Karachi, Pakistan. But he was kidnapped and
killed
there in January, two thousand and two.
The
jury also
gave an
Honourable Mention
to a group of people. They were nine
reporters from
eight
countries.
They
were
were
killed in Afghanistan, in November, two thousand and one.
The
third Honourable
Mention
went to Simon Wiesenthal and his centre in Austria. Mr
Wiesenthal suffered in one of Hitler’s Nazi camps during the Second World War.
He created the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in nineteen seventy-seven. The centre is an international Jewish
human rights organisation.
The international jury praised Simon and
the
Centre
for their work in condemning Nazi crimes. And it praised their work in
‘education for tolerance and non-violence.’
The
jury gave the fourth Honourable Mention to the Ramakrishna Mission of
India. It praised this
organisation
for its endless work in assisting people in need. And the
jury praised it for holding its values of tolerance and non-violence.
The
jury gave the fifth Honourable Mention to a Canadian aid Group, ‘Kids Can Free
the Children.’ The group is made up of mainly children. They are united in their
aim to ‘free children’ around the world. This includes working to help child
victims of war. An important part of their work is providing an education for
poor children.
Education
is an important part of the International Day for Tolerance. UNESCO states one
of the main reasons of intolerance as, ignorance -a lack of education. Education
comes in different forms. UNESCO considers art to be a powerful form of
communication - and therefore education.
Six of the world’s great artists have created flags for UNESCO. The flags represent the spirit of Tolerance. The artists are from Austria, Senegal, Algeria, Chile, Vietnam and the United States.
Algerian artist, Rachid Koraichi, painted one of the flags - ‘The Path of the Infinite.’ It has a blue background. Rachid said that blue represents the path of the infinite, or never ending. It expresses ‘moving away’ from the values of this world. A gold star is on the left. Rachid said that for an African, gold is the way to gain human security and happiness. He said that the star, ‘shines in people’s hearts.’ On the right of the flag he has painted a gold checkerboard with seven words on it - seeking, love, knowledge, independence, unity, wonder and devotion.
American painter, Robert Rauschenberg, produced another of the flags. It is called the ‘spiritual globe’. His flag represents the spiritual element of tolerance. The picture is of two hearts. The hearts join at their pointed ends. Inside the hearts is a map of the world. Robert said the hearts are the globe - the round world. The globe opens out and becomes a heart. He said that the heart is like the hands in one of Michelangelo’s paintings. It is his famous painting of the creation of the world. Michelangelo painted this high up on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Robert says that the hands in this painting unite the creator to his creation. They unite God to man. He says that the heart in his own painting acts like a spiritual organ - it sets the beat of life on earth.
What do Robert’s words mean? Maybe he means that a person’s heart is at the centre, directing everything they do. So people can only move with the spirit of tolerance if their hearts permit them to do so. And if they do not? Maybe there is a reason why the hand of man is reaching for God in Michelangelo’s painting. Maybe help from heaven is needed to win tolerance on earth.
The writer of today’s programme was Marina Santee. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom. Computer users can find our programmes on our website at www.radio.english.net. This programme is called ‘International Day for Tolerance.’
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