The 70th radio program as part of the Center for Research and Security Studies’ (CRSS) counter-radicalization initiative Ulasi Taroon (Social Cohesion) was aired on May 24, 2019, on the theme of “Leveraging the Potential of Art for Social Cohesion”.
History is a testament to the importance of artists who have always brought positive changes in the society. They are the real ambassadors of a culture and society and have always served as connectors in and between multicultural diverse societies.
The first guest in studio, Mr. Mehmood Shahab, a KP based senior artist, noted that artists are the ambassadors of a society; they promote their social culture and languages when they go abroad, serve as connectors by bridging the gaps and create a positive impact. This gives them a huge leverage to understand the feelings and perceptions of a society, and utilize the medium of art for peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
The potential of art should be leveraged to disseminate the positive messaging in the society. This includes the use of different formats like dramas and movies to motivate the youth into social action for community development and to contribute to social cohesion. The artists – given their skill of creativity – can come up with and employ several different ideas to lay stress on the values critical to social cohesion like rule of law, respect, acceptance and equality. Given the critical need of social cohesion, there is a huge onus on artists’ community to be engaged in peacebuilding having outreach across such a broad cross-section of the society.
The second guest, Mrs. Zahida Tanha, a female artist and poetess said that the artists – including but not limited to poets, writers, painters and sculptors – have a very diverse range of skills and talents that can be channelized for national development purposes. Every person has some kind of art within and it is our duty to encourage them for the expression of their talent. Artists have a huge leverage to sensitize the youth for their positive participation in the community.
“We should serve as a role models for exhibiting tolerance and patience, showing respect for others rights and opinions and adhering to rule of law to inspire the young generation become responsible citizens”, she concluded.
About Ulasi Taroon
Ulasi Taroon is a counter radicalization initiative of Center for Research and Security Studies that aims to address the radicalization challenges, extremist ideologies and foster social cohesion through a discourse anchored in the core constitutional values which are fundamentally essential prerequisites for social peace and harmony. The endeavor aims to cultivate and sensitize the people of KP in the core values in the Pakistani constitution and our social contract. It’s an attempt to highlight the criticality of abiding by these ideals – such as adherence to rule of law, primacy and sanctity of constitution, equal citizenry, responsible citizenship, respect for fundamental human rights, tolerance for diversity and different opinions, inclusive democracy and good governance – as a measure of fostering social cohesion and peaceful co-existence.