Interculturalism contributes to the respect of human rights for all, minorities and majority, immigrants and refugees, undocumented and internally displaced, men, women, transgendered, children, seniors, etc. Moreover, it leads to a deeper understanding of the fact the equal opportunities do not mean favoritism, but an attempt to diminish the inequalities and historical injustices (Gorski, 2008). For this reason, the participation of all citizens in shaping the societies in which they live is necessary in order to reflect the pluralism of their own realities. There is a scientific and political debate about multiculturalism and interculturalism as policies for managing the cultural diversity of contemporary societies. The multiculturalist approach “involves acknowledging and respecting the cultural needs of minority groups by making allowances for the fact that their beliefs and practices may differ from those of the dominant group and by adjusting and adapting the laws, rules and regulations in order to enable minority and majority individuals to adhere to their own cultural practices” (Barrett, 2013, p. 16). Over the past years political leaders across Europe acknowledged that multiculturalism is not an effective policy. Their declarations incited various reactions, including those proposing a return to the monoculturalist society – an approach which in not only undesirable, but virtually impossible in today’s globalizing world. The interculturalist approach on the other hand, builds on the foundation of multiculturalism, but takes it one step further. Interculturalism values cultural diversity and pluralism, is concerned with social inclusion and integration and with tackling structural political, economic and social disadvantages. At the same time it acknowledges that these
objectives cannot be reached in the absence of structural and meaningful dialogue. Interculturalism places a central emphasis on intercultural dialogue, interaction and exchange (Barrett, 2013) and all these need to be based on respect for human rights and on democratic principles.
2.3.
HUM AN RI GHTS EDUC ATI ON AND I NTERCULTURAL EDUC ATION
Too often the intercultural perspective was regarded as just relevant for those who are culturally different from the majority, ignoring how interlinked communities and people are, as well as the roots of inequality in a long history of structural racism. Intercultural education does not mean learning new models and theory, and is not a separate reality. By tackling aspects of social and political every day reality intercultural education offers a framework for the analysis of the living and working context and offers tools for the analysis of situations in which “culture” is useful for understanding and action and of situations in which it is less useful (Titley, 2004). Intercultural education has the potential for social transformation; it is a tool for social change. The vast amount to stereotypes and prejudices that people grow up with, the “we-they” dichotomy which is so often used, from classroom interactions to political discourses need to be replaced with genuine curiosity about our fellow human beings, with care and with intercultural competence. The central challenge for modern, diversifying societies is to create a new, broader sense of “we”. Schools need to implement both human rights education and intercultural education as transversal approaches. The main
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