– What I want everyone to take away from here today is to think that broken Norwegian is nothing negative. It is a resource. This means that this person is most likely fluent in a completely different language.
Actor and activist Iman Meskini gathered students from Kolvikbakken and Skarbøvik secondary schools, together with Borgund, Ålesund and Akademiet secondary schools, at a packed Terminalen Byscene in Ålesund.
Just a few weeks after the municipality had to close the comments section on its own Facebook page, when they announced that Tinashe Williamson was coming to Ålesund to talk about racism and anti-racism.
Throughout her childhood, she laughed at the racist comments. Then she made a choice
In 2022, Iman ended up on Forbes’ European “30 under 30” list, under the “social impact” category, as one of the 30 most influential people under 30 in Europe.
In the justification, the jury wrote that the 27-year-old is on the list, among other things, for having started discussions about the representation of Muslim youth in Norway and other western countries.
As a Muslim with “ancestry from a country other than Norway”, Iman is keen to show that differences make us stronger.
Photo: Mona Schanche
Stereotypes vs. prejudices
– It is said that our society is becoming more and more diverse. That is to say, we can see greater differences between people and groups in society, which can lead to us putting certain people in booths based on stereotypes we have of them.
Iman draws an important distinction between stereotypes and prejudice. Stereotypes in themselves are not necessarily negative:
– It would be physically impossible to meet every single person with completely blank pages, without any thoughts whatsoever about what that person is like. But the important thing is that we become aware of which stereotypes we have, and why.
An example is that all young people in the village are robbers. Stereotypes often come from what others have told us, rather than what we have experienced ourselves, explains Iman.
She often meets people who don’t know a single Muslim, but think they know everything about Muslims, she says. For example, through the media’s portrayal of certain Muslims.
– Another example is that many people are surprised when they hear me speak, because they think I speak Norwegian so well. This means that many people have the stereotype that people like me speak Norwegian poorly.
Iman Meskini on stage during the lecture.
Photo: Alexandra Olsen
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Differences in strengths
Iman says that it doesn’t matter to have stereotypes, but that you have to be careful when these slip into prejudice. She explains that stereotypes are beliefs that can change, while prejudices do not change as easily.
– If I have a stereotype about a group of people, but meet a person from that group who is completely different from what I thought, I can think that “maybe not all these people are what I thought”. But if it’s a prejudice, I think that person is an exception, while everyone else I haven’t met yet is still what I think.
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Therefore, Iman believes that prejudice is much more dangerous than stereotypes. Prejudice is often used as a distinction between “us” and “the others”.
– This means that we consider actions as evidence of prejudice. If we hear about a terrorist with a Muslim background who commits a criminal act, we can easily say that terror is part of his religion and ideology. But if a terrorist is ethnically Norwegian, it is easier for us to add special personality traits, such as “he is sick” or “he is mentally unstable”.
– Through dialogue, we can create understanding, respect and tolerance by meeting new people with blank slates. Because we are actually much more alike than we think. We must use our differences as strengths, and build a society with room and space for everyone, urges Iman.
