10
PEACE IN DIVERSITY
The Global Need and Value
of Respecting ‘the Other’ in a Time of Violent
Extremism
Amineh Hoti, Pakistan
10.1 Introduction
As we, as a world civilization, move forward into 2016 we would
have hoped that our shared world becomes more “progressive” and as a
result more peaceful and harmonious. Some Social Scientists had indeed
argued that there is a linear progression of societies from less to more
progressive. Yet 2015 has seen more violent extremism in all parts of
our shared world—from Peshawar to Paris and from Iraq to Syria—the
world saw mass killings of innocent citizens caught in between, children
and women were shockingly not spared. The media’s sensationalizing
reporting often inadvertently ends up blaming entire communities. When
Muslims are involved words like “Islamism”, “Islamic terror” and “the
enemy” are used leading to a build-up of suspicion about Muslims who
are now perceived as “the Other”.
While there is genuine fear of terrorism, there is also a genuine
growing fear of discrimination leading to violence. This hype of “the
Other” exacerbated by the image of the Muslim community in media
results in terrible crimes on the streets against innocent people who may