Mukazhanova Almira Zhaparovna - Almaty, Kazakhstan

TOLERANCE AND ETHNIC HARMONY IN KAZAKHSTAN

In modern conditions, when the processes of globalization make the world community more interconnected and interdependent, the principle of tolerance is, above all, is the principle of toleration and safety. All international and inter-ethnic conflicts arise from the misunderstanding, so in the modern world the development of tolerance is an essential basis of the culture of interethnic harmony.

According to the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO (1995), "Tolerance means respecting, accepting and understanding correctly the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of self expression and ways of expressing our individuality ... it is a harmony in diversity, it is a virtue that makes reaching the peace possible, and contributes to the replacement of culture of war with the culture of peace ... " [1].

This definition implies a tolerant attitude towards other ethnic groups, races, sex, languages, religions, political or other opinions. The desire for friendship between peoples, the recognition of the "strangers’ " right to exist, has a long history. Modern ideas of tolerance or, speaking more precisely, accepting it as a factor strengthening civil peace and giving protection against injustice, was prepared by the works of philosophers, who rebelled against tolerance of "intolerance", and violent religious conflicts in XVI - XVII centuries.

In Ethics dictionary edited by AA Huseynov, there is an extended definition of tolerance: "Tolerance – is the moral quality, which characterizes the attitudes towards the interests, beliefs, faith, habits and behavior of others. It is expressed in an effort to reach mutual understanding and harmonization of diverse interests and points of view without using the pressure, but by the methods such as clarifying and persuading ... "[2]. As an indisputable advantage of this definition, in our opinion, we can point out the presence of moral basis of the tolerant attitude to the representatives of other nations, nationalities and religions.

Humanity had to pass difficult trials in order to understand the need for tolerance as a principle of the political process, including the political process within the state, and the totality of international relations.

A viable and strong political system - it is the authority plus the legitimacy and effectiveness, i.e. the ability to meet the basic management functions. However, the legality and effectiveness are largely determined by the way the state institutions and the political system conform to the prevailing social ideals and values, where moral and ethical beginnings take one of the top places. In other words, a moral component of society’s political self-organization is another important supporting framework of the legitimacy.

Politics, like authority, is a huge force in the establishment of tolerant relations in a society. One-dimensionality of thinking and ideological intolerance lead to implanting violent forms in solving existing problems and conflicts that leads to the generation of new conflicts. That is why in conflict situations besides the knowledge of using appropriately the political opportunities, practical skills for adjusting the dialogue, establishing a constructive relationship between the opponents, the possession of a conceptual-categorical system, characterizing the degree of tolerance - intolerance formation is required.

"Toleration", "tolerance", along with the categories of "non-violence", "recognition of cultural diversity", "consent", "freedom", "justice", "solidarity", is becoming one of the key elements of the conceptual apparatus of political science.

In contrast to the concepts of "patience" and "endurance", the notion of "tolerance" is used here, on the one hand, as a more clearly expressed active position of the individual and the group - not a submissive patience and forbearance as a moral and psychological state, but as a tolerance in order to achieve socio-political agreement, consensus, social compromise, mutual understanding between different social groups, political institutions, etc.

On the other hand, tolerance is not the simple opposite of intolerance, his bare denial, but includes creative impulses to create a new, non-confrontational reality, leading to solidarity as well as to virtue.

Certain difficulties in implementing of tolerance as an essential factor in strengthening and developing a culture of ethnic harmony are related to different understanding of tolerance, which is in different civilizations is like a base for tolerance. Therefore, there are not so much the forms of cooperation but the confrontation on the basis of ethnic relations. In nation, which is the result of forming a new culture of government type, the opposition "own" - "alien" looses essential value not only for the state, but also for the culture of the society, that means ethnic values lose directly their determinative nature. Now the value of individuals, their rights and the ability to realize their talents, the ability to choose their national identities are put in the forefront. In socio-cultural formation of the nation type there occurs moving beyond a certain ethnicity, which is rightly regarded as a necessary cultural prerequisite for the realization of tolerance as a major factor, fostering a culture of inter-ethnic harmony.

Tolerance – is a factor that stabilizes any community of people, directing a relationship in society in a peaceful direction, connecting individuals with traditions, norms and culture of their folk. In a stormy and unpredictable period of our development when it is necessary to prepare the younger generation for the life in a rapidly changing environment, the preparedness to change is required, that is a challenge. And the solution of this problem, in our opinion, should begin with training personnel, focused on educational activities in a spirit of tolerance. Educational programs in education should improve mutual understanding, enhance tolerance between individuals and as well as between different groups, nations. With this aim other relevant topics and sections on the psychology of tolerance should be put in the curriculum of courses in political science, sociology, psychology, ethnic psychology, culturology.

Kazakhstan, located between East and West, was and remains a kind of bridge that allowed accumulating and combining economic modernization and cultural traditions of the various civilizations for centuries. Today, there is a need to establish a system of upbringing and education that will address the issue of "intercultural dialogue", a respectful attitude towards the representatives of various ethnic religious and social groups and strata of the population.

Political analysis of the main features of international cooperation particularly in Kazakhstan shows that in the republic there is the basis for ethnic tolerance in the form of proximity of cultural traditions of its peoples, the development of cultural mechanisms that regulate the conflicts, contradictions, of ethnic complementarity. Traditions of tolerance of people of Kazakhstan are the part of their spiritual life, based on principles of mutual help, hospitality, respect for elders, etc.

The presence of groups with different cultures and religions in Kazakhstan plays the stabilizing role because they are conductors of the idea of human equality regardless of nationality or religion, they see a basis for the unity of republic ethnics in the regional and psychological community, "grounding" heat of ethnic passions. The existence of such groups gives steadiness and stability to the whole complex system of international relations in a multicultural region. Priority directions in multicultural education today are the formation of national identity, transforming the national cultures and present achievements of educational standards into it.

Because of this, a fundamental mechanism for the approval of the idea of tolerance should be a system of school and university education, which collects under one roof children and young people who belong to different ethnic and religious communities. Education for tolerance should aim at countering influences that lead to fear and alienation towards the other. It should help young people to develop capacities for independent thinking, critical thinking and making judgments based on moral values.

Also, tolerance should be regarded primarily as respect and recognition of equality, the rejection of domination and violence, recognition of the multidimensionality and diversity of human culture, norms, faith and refusal to reduce this diversity to uniformity, or to the predominance of one point of view. Tolerance implies a willingness to accept others as they are, and interact with them on the basis of consent. Tolerance should not be reduced to indifference, conformity, denial of self-interest. First, it implies reciprocity and active role of all interested parties.

People perceive the foreign culture in their own light, which they instinctively recognize as the only correct one. The question of culture of interethnic communication - primarily is a security issue, since conflicts, including international and inter-ethnic, arise from the misunderstanding. Therefore, in the modern world promoting tolerance among its citizens is one of the main objectives of education policy of liberal democratic societies. The position of tolerance and trust - is the basis for future generations‘s choice in favor of peace, peaceful coexistence of mankind. Establishment of the spirit of tolerance, of attitudes to it in the school and universities as for the most important value of society is a significant contribution to school and higher education in the development of the world. Changes in social development have made the problem of tolerance a necessary condition for regulation of ethnic relations and the stabilization of ethno-political relations. Without a doubt, the formal definition of the term "tolerance" as its one-dimensional memorization, can also give a little in practical terms, as well as learning by heart the concepts of "love", "friendliness", etc.

We fully share the view of N. Smelser: "Respect and tolerance for different lifestyles occurs due to the need. Society is becoming more diverse, so the old methods of controling morality do not correspond to the spirit of the time. Apparently, there is only one way to achieve harmony in society, whose development is characterized by pluralism, - we should all become more tolerant and kinder to each other" [3].

In this connection it should be noted that tolerance as a crucial factor in strengthening and further developing the culture of ethnic harmony implies a social acceptance not only of existing national and cultural differences, but also a recognition of another modern phenomenon, about which many complain, but can never deny it - a dual ethnic identity. Tolerance requires that this duality, normal for the man of multiethnic society, should be recognized as a legitimate human state. Then the existing national and cultural differences will not be given self-sufficient and institutional values, and we cease to be a hindrance to each other. Tolerance to another person, nation or culture which differ in their values and lifestyle, is a prerequisite for peace and harmony in the world. Progress of tolerance in the world community becomes an indicator of maturity of the political, legal, psychological and ecological culture, an indicator of morality level of the nation, its social consciousness.

Only realization of tolerance as a major factor fostering a culture of inter-ethnic harmony can create the conditions to the less conflict societies. Assuming, first of all recognition of "human" traits in others, tolerance does not mean that all the specific ethnic characteristics should be ignored. It involves establishing a reasonable balance between individuality and universality. The viability of any multi-ethnic community is achieved through minimum common values, images, vocabulary, political culture, etc. This minimum (as universal) should be provided in the first place, despite the ethnic and cultural differences (singularity). Unlimited ethnicism lead to anarchy as well as unlimited internationalism leads to increased intolerance in the culture of ethnic harmony.

Therefore, to avoid intolerance in the field of inter-ethnic harmony, which may take the form of anarchism, petty nationalism, typical to the post-Soviet society, fundamentalism, repression of the multinational empire, etc., any pressures must be ceased in dealing with ethnic and national issues, as well as the national claims (at least in public) to protect and preserve basic human rights, compliance with which is possible only within a pluralistic democracy.

Appealing to the history of the formation and development of the idea of tolerance allows us to understand more fully the idea of tolerance, nature of its essence’s manifestation, the content of the principle of tolerance and contemporary political approaches to dealing with this phenomenon, since, as said Popper in the first volume of "The Open Society and Its Enemies " those issues that are considered by us, referring to the past can also be seen as today’s problems. Originated in ancient times, along with the emergence of human civilization, the idea and practice of tolerance open to man not only the possibility of life in harmony within the family, clan, tribe and religious groups, but also survival within the political, social, economic and cultural inequality of men within the state or groups of states. All this is reflected in the concept of mutual tolerance, justice of people, their abiding of morality’s "golden rule", not harming each other and all living things.

In conclusion, one may conclude that a culture of interethnic harmony involves people’s exercising of legal and ethical norms in a multinational environment. A moral and aesthetic literacy is included in the culture of interethnic harmony, helping people understand the psychological state of people involved in ethno conflict situation and determine the path of rational solutions of the problem.

When the basic needs of people become finding peace and harmony for their survival and full-fledged life activities, it is the tolerance that becomes the main factor. Tolerance towards the other is precisely that cultural norm, which augments and improves the results of social cooperation and universal communication. This is the most important factor for strengthening and developing a culture of inter-ethnic harmony.

References:

1. A. Abdakimov Kazakhstan - a country of religious tolerance / / Thought. 2008. № 12. - P.48-49.

2. Ethics Dictionary, ed. A.A. Guseinova, etc. - M., 1989. – p. 447.

3. N. Smelser Sociology. - M., 1994. - p. 239.