In philosophy, the heart of tolerance is self-control. When we tolerate something, we resist the urge to react emotionally or hatefully, and exercise control over our immediate impulses. We realize that forcefully stating our opinions or hateful comments is not more important than acceptance and maintaining peace. At least, this is what a nice and peaceful world would look like. In a perfect world, we realize that having autonomy as an individual is important and not one person in the world has the right to take away this autonomy. Problems arise when people do not respect the autonomy of another person and abuse their right to freedom of speech with hurting another person.

Back in the past, the idea of the Internet started with optimism – massive networking all over the globe that brings people together and offers more opportunities for understanding as ever before (imagine all the information and knowledge available in seconds). Yet, these same technologies are now used as a platform for ethnic, cultural and religious intolerance. We can say whatever we want, whenever, anonymously, without any repercussions – making it easier to promote extremist worldviews or to hurt others. With the development of technology, new modes of intolerance have emerged, such as cyberbullying.

Therefore, we cannot forget that tolerance is a virtue, it is our moral duty as human beings to respect and accept other human beings, and since this has not always been the case, now countries have legal obligations to ensure that tolerance is maintained. Just as we want to feel respected, heard and understood, every other person has the same needs. We all have our worries, desires and needs because we are human beings. The most important thing we can do as humans is to employ our consciousness to question things. Not only question things that others say or do, but also question ourselves and the beliefs we hold as true. When we don’t question the information we receive and blindly follow it, we are like unconscious machines with no autonomy. Why would we want that as humans – as creatures that have this amazing thing called consciousness.

What is more, people are complex beings (no surprise here), and we are surely more than our religious beliefs, or our sexuality, or our strongly held ideologies. We are all little worlds full of different memories, experiences and history. So, why do we sometimes let a small but loud part of ourselves define us? Why do we feel the need to grasp to these beliefs so strongly and build all our identity around it? There is no need to limit our identity to a mere conflict – an opposition giving us meaning through the existence of “the other.” If our beliefs are so feeble that the simple fact of someone else having a different belief or opinion could threaten ours, then it is not a problem of them, but us. Everything starts with us. We cannot control anything else but our own belief and value systems. What we can do is have a positive influence on others, share the affection, love and acceptance, and we might just impact another soul as much as to start doing it too. That is the kind of chain reaction I would like to see happen in the world.

For decades we have seen that women do not have the same opportunities as men, and with respect to the scientific part even less. It is very difficult to open a gap in the profession and especially progress in it. The data is clear, finally the proportion of women is growing.
The biochemist Margarita Salas (Canero, Asturias, 1938), one of the greatest scientists in Spain died on the 7th November in Madrid at the age of 80. Margarita Salas has been one of the most important researchers in Spain, where she worked for years on Molecular Biology.
Among her career achievements, Salas has the discovery of the DNA polymerase of the bacteriophage phi29 virus, which has a crucial application in biotechnology: it allows amplifying DNA in a simple, fast and reliable way. This technique allows oncologists to expand small populations of cells that could lead to tumors.
He earned a doctorate in biochemistry in 1963 from the Complutense University of Madrid and subsequently worked for three years with the Nobel Prize in Biochemistry Severo Ochoa at the University of New York. Later he returned to Spain and founded the first molecular genetics research group in 1967 in the CSIC.
Happy to be a woman and have references like her.

The need to try to integrate refugees into Europe is so important that it has been attempted to be done through sport, a healthy way of competitiveness where friendship has prevailed. Unfortunate in the society in which we live most of it is stratified into racial, ethnic and cultural groups, and these people are in a vulnerable position.
The objective of the FARE is clear: Promote the fight against racism at football. They also aim to raise awareness of the football family in order to enhance integration in this sport and encourage players, clubs, associations…
Racisms still being a topic that continues to generate controversy in the world of football. Racial discrimination is a problem that still at all areas of society, and sport has never been the exception.
If we talk about women in sports, I think it's even worse. Women are at a disadvantage only because our condition of women, so if we add to this fact that they come from another country, with another culture, another way of thinking and another way of living situations, it gets even more complicated.
Until the mid-twentieth century, football was exclusive for men. The situation of women's football for the Middle East remains at a disadvantage due to the socio-cultural conditions. All countries should promote equality in all areas, because only in this way would we eradicate social and racial discrimination.


Irene Suarez Macias ​

Fare, acronym of football against racism, is an organization that want to improve social inclusion through sports, especially football, as the most popular sport in the world. With their job, they want to combat all forms of discrimination, including sexism, racism, homophobia and discrimination against disabled people.

This year, along with more than other 150 organization members across European and no European state, also Praxis Greece took part at the annual Football People action weeks. During our campaign, being an organization that works for and with refugees, through our events we try to sensitize local people about refugees and the matter of social inclusion.
But in which way we can think about football as a means of social inclusion? Football, being the most famous sport in the world, has the power to bring people closer together. People from different religions, culture, language, sexual orientation and gender. During the years, and with the developing of technology, now even telephone app can be useful. For example, there are apps that organize football match with people that don’t know each other and are designed for the one that move in new cities and don’t know anybody. Maybe they don’t even know the local language but still they want to meet people, have fun and feel less alone. Football it’s perfect for this purpose: you don’t need to speak the same language to play and be part of the team. This apps works like meeting app, but instead of a dates, their goal is to arrange football matches. No matter the differences.

​So, it’s clear that it’s not just an app to play football: at the end, they are app for social inclusion.
 
Chiara Prato