The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
16 November 2009
editorial
How tolerant are Tanzanians? This is a very pertinent question we should be asking ourselves today, being the United Nations International Day for Tolerance.
Tanzania is a multi-ethic, multi-religious and multi-racial country, and this diversity can be a fertile breeding ground for intolerance. This is why it is important to generate public awareness of the dangers of intolerance.
We in Tanzania have been lucky in that people of different ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds have been living in harmony for as long as one can remember. However, we need not look very far to see the devastating consequences of intolerance.
Neighbouring Rwanda is perhaps the best example closest to home of what intolerance can do to a society. In 1994, hardline Hutu militias slaughtered almost a million people whose only crime was belonging to a different ethnic group. There are numerous examples elsewhere.
In Tanzania, we have had our fair share of individuals who revel in whipping up tribal, ethnic and racial sentiments. The din has been upped considerably since the country embraced multi-party politics and its attendant liberties in the early 1990s.
What these people have been preaching is intolerance whose ultimate goal is to split Tanzanians along ethnic, religious and racial lines.
We should forcefully reject any attempt by such individuals to lead Tanzania on the path to strife and anarchy.
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