PCCA Launches New Conference Series – Othering and Hatred of Diversity

Othering and Hatred of Diversity

The world we live in is marked by rapid change and unexpected shifts, whether because of war, migration, racism, or religious and ethnic persecution, which unceasingly undermine and challenge the traditional order of social and individual life. What is familiar and homogeneous is severely threatened, and with it, traditional values and identities are questioned and found to be lacking, as if the only solution possible is to replace them with what is new, dominant and fashionable. These destructive trends are manipulated and amplified by the all-prevalent social media. As identities and values founder, there is a growing sense of instability, lurking danger and lack of safety. 

In such circumstances, the Other who represents a different identity and divergent social values readily becomes the signifier of the threat to me personally, and the source of danger for my group and cohort. Racism and othering co-exist at both the individual and systemic levels. Manifestations of differences and diversity challenge the quest for the purity of self, race and nation. The tendency on both the individual and group level is to project such fears and hatred outwardly, and to identify the Other as the enemy that exists beyond the boundaries of self and group identities. This can easily be used by political leadership to manipulate aggression in the service of its survival. If not checked, it may deteriorate into violence and persecution of otherness as the way to restore and regain stability, safety, and purity. 

PCCA’s commitment to confronting collective atrocities is not limited to past ones. We have recently tackled the human factor in the self-imposed atrocity of climate change. The currently prominent global trends of hatred and violence towards otherness and diversity cannot and should not be ignored. They represent the spread of present atrocities as well as potential future ones. PCCA is therefore launching a series of conferences to deal with these trends. 

These conferences will aim to enable participants to encounter and explore their internal stance on othering, racism, exclusion and inclusion, in relation to their experience of themselves and others at the conference, so as to mitigate the influence of these internal stances. 

We are proposing a series of conferences which may be attended separately or altogether. The series will consist of three online conferences followed by an in-person conference. The suggested topics and dates are as follows (subject to change): 

1. Antisemitism – 11,12, 14 September 2025
2. Islamophobia – 5-7 November 2025
3. Migration – 30 January- 1 February 2025

These online conferences will be followed by an in-person conference in June 2026 (date to be determined).

We look forward to working with you in this series of conferences.

Shmuel Erlich, Chair 

On behalf of the PCCA Board