AfSV Message for the UN International Day of Tolerance
November 16, 2021– On this day, the Alliance for Shared Values joins the global community in celebrating the UN’s International Day for Tolerance.
Social harmony is a core value of the Hizmet Movement, and participants actively work to foster this by building opportunities for people of different faiths and cultures to learn from each other directly to develop empathy and mutual respect.
Intolerance and hate are the opposites of tolerance and respect. The path to social peace begins with regarding every human being as a valuable creation of God and establishing a relationship with others around us on this basis. Peace in a society is possible only when differences within the framework of universal human values are seen as richness and disagreements are handled in a civilized way that upholds human dignity.
Hizmet participants believe that, in the face of challenges faced by our society and humanity, collaboration among all segments in a society and all nations in the world is needed. Such a collaboration can be achieved faster by focusing on our shared values rather than our disagreements.
On this occasion, we also underscore the role that freedom of speech and of the press plays in countering intolerance. Freedom of speech and a free press provide people with the opportunity to hear different viewpoints on an issue and help counterbalance hateful messages. In the absence of freedom of speech and a free press, when media outlets are monopolized by those who need scapegoats to justify their power grab, whole populations can be flooded with hate speech and pushed to intolerance and indifference toward human rights abuses.
As part of our commitment to promoting tolerance, AfSV pledges to continue fostering mutual understanding and respect and the respect for fundamental human rights.