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“TERROR OF SMALL DIFFERENCES” // PARALLEL PROGRAM OF THE WAR/SHE PROJECT
20.10.2014 @ 6:00 pm - 25.10.2014 @ 7:00 pm
TERROR OF SMALL DIFFERENCES
October 20–25, 2014
Opening on October 20 at 18:00
Opening on October 20 at 18:00
Oleh Vynnyk, Mykhailo Dolianovskyi, Anastasiia Zhyvkova, Oleksandr Kaplia, Daria Koltsova, Serhii Melnychenko, Roman Mykhailov, Oleksii Salmanov, Elmira Sydiak, Oleksandr Yeltsin (YOD Group)
In times of crisis, alienation and hostility increase within society, the mechanism of “othering” gains momentum, and conflicts develop at different levels of society. “Othering”, a set of differences that are often insignificant, becomes the basis for defining group identity. The well-known principle comes into play: “Who shall we unite against?” And because of intolerance and a low level of tolerance, this gives rise to hatred and hostility.
When society is divided into “us” and “others”, it is very easy to imagine what those others are like — and contemporary media and various political groups will do everything to exploit this and inflame the conflict. After all, the “other” is convenient material from which an enemy can easily be made, leading to manipulation of citizens’ consciousness and emotions. Thus, language becomes filled with negatively charged labels: “ukropy”, “Banderites”, “Luhandons”, “Donetskie”, which reinforce stereotypes about people from different regions of the country. Society is “heated up” by propaganda programs of various political or civic camps. Although, upon closer inspection, these repackaged concepts ultimately have differences that are not particularly significant, it is precisely these differences that become signs acting like a “red rag”. Perhaps this is why part of contemporary Ukrainian society still feels nostalgia for “Soviet internationalism”, which downplayed differences? And now the resulting tension resembles the wail of a siren filling peaceful Ukrainian cities in an unpeaceful time…
Ukrainian society is multicultural. This poses a certain challenge of “diversity”, which must be accepted with the conviction that it is not a threat to the country’s integrity, but rather holds potential. Instead of fighting against “others”, we need to try to understand them and establish connections.
It is precisely when a country is torn apart by internal contradictions that society needs once again to emphasize the importance of respecting people with different points of view and developing mutual understanding. After all, we are all different and similar at the same time.
When a country is torn apart by internal conflicts, we simply need to remember that mutual understanding and tolerance toward representatives of different ethnic (linguistic, religious, cultural, and other) groups in society are important.
We are all different, but together we form a single whole.
In times of crisis, alienation and hostility increase within society, the mechanism of “othering” gains momentum, and conflicts develop at different levels of society. “Othering”, a set of differences that are often insignificant, becomes the basis for defining group identity. The well-known principle comes into play: “Who shall we unite against?” And because of intolerance and a low level of tolerance, this gives rise to hatred and hostility.
When society is divided into “us” and “others”, it is very easy to imagine what those others are like — and contemporary media and various political groups will do everything to exploit this and inflame the conflict. After all, the “other” is convenient material from which an enemy can easily be made, leading to manipulation of citizens’ consciousness and emotions. Thus, language becomes filled with negatively charged labels: “ukropy”, “Banderites”, “Luhandons”, “Donetskie”, which reinforce stereotypes about people from different regions of the country. Society is “heated up” by propaganda programs of various political or civic camps. Although, upon closer inspection, these repackaged concepts ultimately have differences that are not particularly significant, it is precisely these differences that become signs acting like a “red rag”. Perhaps this is why part of contemporary Ukrainian society still feels nostalgia for “Soviet internationalism”, which downplayed differences? And now the resulting tension resembles the wail of a siren filling peaceful Ukrainian cities in an unpeaceful time…
Ukrainian society is multicultural. This poses a certain challenge of “diversity”, which must be accepted with the conviction that it is not a threat to the country’s integrity, but rather holds potential. Instead of fighting against “others”, we need to try to understand them and establish connections.
It is precisely when a country is torn apart by internal contradictions that society needs once again to emphasize the importance of respecting people with different points of view and developing mutual understanding. After all, we are all different and similar at the same time.
When a country is torn apart by internal conflicts, we simply need to remember that mutual understanding and tolerance toward representatives of different ethnic (linguistic, religious, cultural, and other) groups in society are important.
We are all different, but together we form a single whole.
Curator: Daria Prydybailo