SPEECH DELIEVERED

BY

PICKETTS EMEKA EZENWA

THE PRESIDENT OF UNITED CULTURES INITIATIVE eV AT THE

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR TOLERANCE November2012

LOCATION: Munich, Germany Hello everybody, you are all welcome to this great occasion on behalf of our association; United Cultures Initiative . My name is Picketts Ezenwa. I am a Nigerian living and working here in Bayern. I am the president of UCI. Our association was formed with the simple aim of bring Races and Cultures together. I sincerely hope that every one of us knows the reason why we are gathering here today? Today, we are observing the UNs International Day for Tolerance. It is an event that our association mark every year. This event is observed world wide on every 16 November and we are starting today November 9th with Music and Arts. Other events will last till 16 November, the closing date.

WHAT IS TOLERANCE?
The subject matter itself is too large a topic that it can not be conclusively described within this short period we have to be together here. How ever, I will just briefly explain it the way I understand it. Tolerance is a human behaviour that is influenced by communication, knowledge, conscience or belief of an individual .Tolerance can also be described as respect, acceptance and appreciation of the diverse cultures, forms of expression and ways of really being human in a society. It is the ability to adhere to one's convictions while accepting that others adhere to theirs. It is simply the Respect, Dignity and Rights shared between Human beings.

INTOLERANCE AND ITS CAUSES:

Like I said before, this is a broad subject because we see it in our every day life, in schools, in the work places, in the streets, in the families, in the trains or buses and so on and so forth. Intolerance grows up mainly from IGNORANCE, HATE, FEAR and SCEPTICISM of the UKNOWN. The unknown here could be other Cultures, Races Religions and Nations. Some times it arises from extreme self opinionation of a wrong perception linked to superiority and pride which most often is embedded in ones mind from early age.

WHY DO WE MARK THE DAY FOR TOLERANCE?

This problem is as old as the beginning of human existence on this planet earth. The UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION would not sit and watch the senseless wars, lost of innocent lives and other forms of discrimination and persecution go on in the world with out thinking of doing some thing about it. Therefore, in 1945 immediately after the second world, there was a pragmatic action by the UN at the instance of UNESCO and again in 1995 on the day of its fiftieth anniversary, 16 November 1995, it (UNESCO ) adopted the 16 November as a Day to mark the INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR TOLERANCE world wide. 1995 was also observed as THE UNITED NATIONS YEAR FOR TOLERANCE .These actions received the blessings of the UN General Assembly in its resolution 51/95 of 12 December 1996. The essence is to encourage people to tolerate each other and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours. It is also intended to eliminate Racism, all forms of Hate, Discrimination and Xenophobia.

HOW CAN WE REDUCE THE INTOLERANCE IN US?

Like in all fields of endeavour, EDUCATION is one powerful tool that can ensure success. We should focus

more in enlightening the public on the importance for us all to tolerate each other. It is very important to begin at the very early age to start educating a child .How ever; the cancer of intolerance spreads its tentacles even on to the very educated ones in our society. Therefore, the education here should be directed not only to school children but to all ages and sectors of life, including the political or religious places and in the law enforcements. Violence breeds violence so all also, intolerance breeds intolerance. We can not solve this problem unless people start questioning their own very behaviours. One must know where his/her rights begins and stops and where the other persons right starts. We should try to solve our problems through dialogue and not violence because as we all know; violence gives birth to a vicious cycle of revenge. Intolerance was the reason why UN offices have been bombed by terrorist in Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and many other places. For the cause of intolerance, people are killing each other daily in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, Nigeria, Somalia, Mali, Pakistan, Congo and in many other lands. Intolerance was the reason why many innocent people have lost their lives during the second world war, the wars of Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia , Nicaragua, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Ireland, ex Yugoslavia, Kashmir ( between India and Pakistan ) Cyprus ( between Greece and Turkey ) and so on. It would make any normal human being cry to see that some body with the pretext of defending a perceived religion in Pakistan would take up a gun and shoot a small child (just a 14 year old baby) in the head while she and her friends were on their way to school. What crime did this little girl Miss Malala commit? The answer is frightening; She was simply

campaigning for the rights of women to be allowed to go to school, take part in sports, have right to drive cars ands to cast their votes in elections. This type of ideology does not have a place in our todays 21 century. We are pleading that now is the time for human beings to rethink and use the precious gift which we posses as the most intelligent living thing on earth to make this world a better and peaceful place for our selves and the future generations. We could duel for hours on this topic but unfortunately, time is also dialoguing with us and not being intolerant as human beings would. Therefore, I will end my speech here so as to give way for other programs billed for this evening. We implore you to take a tour of the paintings by Nicola Brcher and Robert Mayer. We also wish that you will all attend the two music concerts taking place later this night in which I am going to be performing in one of them with my Band; The Groove Masters I thank you all and hope that every one of us will do his or her own best towards reducing intolerance in this world. I also thank these two special officials of UCI in the names of Miss Nicola Brcher and Miss Martina Schint who have worked so tirelessly to see that this event took place. Thank you once again and I wish you a happy evening with us. PICKETTS EMEKA EZENWA