Follow the Pluralism Summer School 2011
Every summer students and activists from Indonesia, India, Uganda, the Netherlands and (for the first time) South Africa discuss issues around tolerance and pluralism in the Pluralism Summer School. The 2011 edition just started this week in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
This year, the Summer (for some participants Winter) School is conducted from July 11 to August 5 2011 and hosted by the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. The courses are organised by Kosmopolis and the South African 'International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice', and is open to activists from South Africa as well. Hivos is the main sponsor of the Summer School.
To follow
Participants blog about their Summer School experience. Here some highlights from the first days:
Day 1 Dutch courage...“All different countries were asked to be very open and honest about their prejudices towards each other... Then it was our turn, we apologized before hand for our own rudeness”
Day 2 presentations... “We, Indonesian, were the last to present. We raised the issue of freedom as a consequence of a new democracy after the fall of Soeharto regime in 1998. Freedom of expressions embrace freedom of speech, cultural expression, and religious issues.”
Day 3 early one morning..."Is (essentialistic?) labeling something which positively defines or approves who you are, as something to be proud of? Or is it an harmful reduction of the complexity and the unending uniqueness and otherness of every individual?"
Promoting pluralism
The Promoting Pluralism Knowledge Programme is an academic-practitioner collaboration that focuses on understanding pluralism in relation to fundamentalism. The programme will generate knowledge about different forms of fundamentalism and how this affects diversity in society. Bringing together academics and practioners around the issue of pluralism, the programme aims to develop civil society based strategies to increase spaces for pluralism in practice.
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