1105 words
MODULE: THE RIGHT TO BE DIFFERENT
Defining the problem
Every human being is different. Each one of us is recognisable as an individual, initially and most superficially, by our physical appearance. However, our uniqueness as individual human beings involves, not only being distinguishable from others, but also being different in our behaviour, character, likes and dislikes, ability, gender and nationality. Our linguistic, religious, cultural and ethnic background also helps to define who we are. Some of the factors that make us different from others are a result of exercising our democratic rights and preferences, but there are other aspects over which, in normal circumstances, we can exercise no choice. These include our sex, the colour of our skin or the family or cultural traditions into which we are born. Yet we are all members of one indivisible human race.
One of the most intractable problems that arises out of our human condition is our tendency to define other people in purely negative terms and to regard the whole group to which they belong, as inferior. This has led to the ideology and practice of classifying people into distinct, homogeneous groups, on the basis of a range of criteria such as, skin colour, language, religion, or genetic or cultural heritage. By this process, the peoples of the world are graded into fixed hierarchies of unchanging desirable or undesirable characteristics, which are used to define and label all the people in those groups.
The human race has a long history of intolerance of difference. Throughout that period, being labelled "different" has been synonymous with being seen as inferior, undesirable, deviant and therefore fit only for servitude, enslavement or elimination. The persecution of Jews from ancient times to the nineteenth century lies not in their difference per se, but in the refusal of different societies and nations to tolerate, let alone accept that difference. Jews were not only seen as different, but separate, in their race, religion and culture. In the Middle Ages Christians regarded Muslims and Jews as heretics and Muslims saw the adherents of all other faiths as "Kafirs", unbelievers. Between the 14th and 19th centuries Europeans justified slavery and the slave trade by arguing that Africans were congenitally inferior and that they were providing opportunities for them to be civilised and converted to Christianity for the salvation of their souls. During the Reformation the Huguenots were persecuted and other Protestants were not tolerated in the other countries of Europe. Hitler and the Nazis targeted Slavs, Gypsies and Gay people for elimination, but his obsession with annihilating the Jews led to the Holocaust.
Throughout the world women are seldom accorded equality with men, the disabled are still trying to assert their rights and Gay people still encounter discrimination in all societies. At the end of the 20th century, atrocities in the Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor demonstrated the lengths to which human beings are still prepared to go in order to deny the right of others to be different. Of the many lessons learned during the 20th century, respecting other people's right to be different has not been one.
Length of Module:between 4 & 6 hours
Module Objectives:
The objectives of the module are to: enable students to:
understand the characteristics that make for individual differences;
reach a common understanding of what constitutes peoples’ right be different in Europe today;
explore how, in the past those rights were destroyed;
analyse the factors that prevent people from recognising the right of others to be different;
reflect on ways of using the experiences of young victims and survivors of the holocaust who used their creativity to resist; oppression;
research in newspapers and other sources examples of people and organisations that promote the rights of people who are different from themselves. E.g. Refugees, asylum seekers, national ethnic minorities, and the disabled;
recognise that they have a responsibility to oppose discrimination and intolerance of difference;
develop a number of practical strategies to give them confidence to oppose discrimination
and to promote diversity.
Session 1 - 2hrs
1Take photographs of the class. When these are developed, hand them out randomly to the students, ensuring that no student gets his/her own photograph.
Ask each student to find the peer whose photograph he or she is holding?
They should then sit in pairs and note and discuss obvious similarities in their appearance. After they have done this they discuss the differences in their appearances. They should try to explain what it is that makes each one of them recognisable and different.
2In small groups of four students should discuss, “How are people different in Europe today?”
Groups should consider this question and come up with as many differences as they can.
(Hopefully these differences will include all or some of the following: ethnicity, colour, religion, culture, gender, physical characteristics, disabilities etc., political affiliations, social class, home & family circumstances, financial situation, geographical location of their homes, abilities & aptitudes, language.)
Each group should feed back to rest of class. Findings are recorded on a flip chart divided into two categories
a)differences people are born with
b)differences people choose or have been able to alter
Class discussion around the following question:
Which identifiable group of people does the class see as most different to the majority of people in their own country?
What makes them so different?
Discussions should be minuted by a reporter and main points recorded on a flip chart. The group should elect a facilitator.
3The students should return to their groups and use stimulus of Anne Frank’s story (see appendix I) to discuss the questions:
“How many of these differences have led to discrimination in the past?”
“How many of these differences cause discrimination in the present?”
Groups are given flashcards describing different events in European history over the past three thousand years that have been the result of discriminating against people or groups that are different (see appendix 2). They (i) sort these into chronological order, (ii) add their present day examples to the timeline, and (iii) discuss the following questions:
a)What was generally the main cause of discrimination?
(Was it religion, politics, ethnicity, culture?)
b)Had the people who were discriminated against committed any crimes against
the general population?
c) What justification for their actions did the ‘majority groups’ give?
Groups should gather together to share their perceptions of this exercise.
4The students are divided into smaller groups to consider the question:
“Does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights uphold the right to be different?”
Groups read the abbreviated version of the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’.
Each group lists up to TEN articles that the group thinks focus most specifically on the right to be different. They put this list in order of priority.
Using this stimulus, together with the awareness raising stimulus of the previous exercises, each group writes a school statement supporting the ‘democratic rights of all Europeans to be different in our pluralistic and multicultural society.’
Session 2hrs (optional)
1The students should work in 6 groups. Each group is presented with a number of different primary and secondary sources of information about one of the following young people who were different. These young people were all able to use their creativity to resist oppression.
Anne Frank – her diary
Helga Weissova – Hoskova – her drawings
Gunter Discher – his music
Ephraim Shtenkler – his ‘poetry’(archaic Hebrew)
The Boys of Terezin – their secret magazine
Jonah Oberski – his silence
They use the evidence from these sources to answer the following question
‘How did each young person use his / her creativity to resist oppression?
(Each group will be presented with a selection of different sources about the young persons. For example,Helga’s sources will be her drawings, Gunter’s his music and a video, the boys of Terezin their magazine, Anne her diary etc.).
2The groups get back together to share their findings about each young person and to discuss their feelings about this creative resistance.
3Introduce local or national newspaper accounts of different types of oppression that are suffered nowadays. Ask pupils to examine these newspaper accounts and to list the forms of oppression.
4Çlass’discussions: ‘What could or should be done to resist such oppression?’
(Perhaps the teacher could present clauses from various declarations to indicate
could protect such people)
5Class discussion: can you think of incidents in your school in which people were discriminated against because they were different ?(Take care that students are not singled out, and ensure that their anonymity is preserved)
(i)Have the students list the reasons why this example of discrimination took place.
(ii)Think of a number of different ways in which people who are discriminated against can be supported. These strategies are listed too.
6Introduce paragraphs from Anne Frank's diary where she describes her negative attitude to her mother (conflicts). Discuss in groups whether they too have been intolerant of people they know well. In different groups think of a number of strategies that could be adopted to prevent intolerance and misunderstanding from taking place. List these strategies.
7Plenary Session: strategies to oppose discrimination
Students should draw up their final lists and share them with the whole class.
This should be followed by a class discussion to list strategies under four headings: home, school, local/national and global.
Appendix 1 (mock up)
Anne Frank was discriminated against because she was different in the following ways
she had a different religion
from the majority
she was seen as being of a
different race from the majority
she had a different culture
from the majority
she had different social and financial
circumstances from the majority
she was a Jew.
As a consequence of these differences Anne Frank had to
- leave her home
- leave her native country
- go into hiding
- suffer physical and emotional abuse in Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen
- be starved in Auschwitz & Bergen Belsen
- watch her mother and sister die of typhus
- become ill herself, be refused treatment and die
Anne Frank was only fifteen years old when she died
Questions
1Did Anne Frank choose to be different?
2Did Anne Frank consciously do any harm to other people?
3Did Anne Frank deserve to die?
4Why did Anne Frank die? (List the reasons below)
Reasons why Anne Frank died.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Throughout Europe, babies, children, young people, and adults are suffering or even dying because they are different
1Consider your own countries. When, in the recent past have people been killed or discriminated against because they are different? List your answers below:
NAME OF INDIVIDUAL/GROUP / COUNTRY / FORM OF OPPRESSION/DISCRIMINATION / REASON1