Are you up for thinking along with me about preventive politics of education?

By Kathrin Fischer, HIA Fellow

“The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he (sic!) is one who asks the right questions.”

(Claude Levi-Strauss)

Today we were not only provided the possibility to talk with and to see the Museum of the History of Polish Jews with the enthusiastic Piotr Kowalik, the Head of the Educational Department of the Museum, we also discussed minority rights with Dr. Sebastian Rejak who is Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Relations with the Jewish Diaspora. In the afternoon, we were honored to listen to Maciej Kozłowski’s story about Jan Karski, and, on a very different note, we finished the day with Jacek Purski from the Never Again Association.

Watching the architecture of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews with Piotr Kowalik

In the spirit of Claude Levi-Strauss, I would like to share a few questions that were raised in today’s lectures on the prevention against discrimination and hate speech via long-term education, human rights policy, monitoring and reporting, and individual people’s actions.

What do we want to prevent? What does the discrimination-to-be-prevented consist of and why so? How can we bridge the collective pressure to repetitively praise well-meaning and established concepts such as freedom and equality and the necessity to spell out otherwise empty word shells? Is collective reflection a form of prevention?

 

Looking at the model of the wooden synagogue that once stood in Gwoździec and has been re-created for the Core Exhibition of the Museum opening in October 2014

What do we need to know from the past to learn about preventive actions in the future? Who will teach (or: tell the stories) about the past and who is reached? With whom can we go for educational walks and read the (existing) historical archives? At what age should children learn preventive action against discrimination including being exposed to the oftentimes horrifying and destabilizing acts of discrimination?

 

Listening to Piotr Kowalik during the walk in the museum

Who is it who prevents discrimination (against whom) and how do ‘preventors’ contribute to the discrimination (against other ‘others’)? And is there someone to prevent discrimination against those who do not have an institutionalized voice? Do we prevent discrimination for ‘our’ sake or for the sake of ‘others’? Who are we speaking for and who are we speaking with? Are we preaching to the choir or do we invite more choristers?

Listening to Maciej Kozłowski and his stories about Jan Karski

Do we prevent what happened in the past or do we prevent what we fear to happen in the future? Who will be discriminated against in 50 years? Are we preventing the discrimination in front of our eyes or are we preventing potential discrimination that is happening/will happen (elsewhere/at another time)?

How can we understand commemoration as a form of prevention of discrimination? How can we commemorate and build up a common identity around history without losing the (conflicting) polyphony of historical voices and representations? How do we strike a balance between the commodification and/or political instrumentalization of commemoration on the one hand, and meaningful prevention of discrimination through building a collective memory on the other hand?

 

Bench of Jan Karski in front of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Whom are we reporting discrimination and how can we avoid double-victimization through the very act of reporting or by the addressee of the report? How can organizations build coalitions for the prevention of discrimination without being trapped in organizational insecurities, competitive behaviors or non-interference issues?  How do we reconcile creating citizens’ awareness on laws and rights, when laws themselves have the capacity of creating spaces of illegality and categorical discrimination?

 

Listening to the talk of Jacek Purski on racism in Polish football stadiums

How can we support prevention of group-based discrimination without perpetuating the classification? How can we avoid rankings of discriminated groups and competitive victimization but build coalitions across and beyond identities? Are those discriminated against more likely to participate in preventing further discrimination, why so? How can we engage in incremental preventive actions at a grassroots level without individualizing structural disadvantage?

How can we strike a balance between looking at the processes by which discrimination and the assignment of categories operate, and preventing discrimination by resisting regimes of normalcy and construction of otherness?