Tension Can Escalate Into Conflict

Different beliefs are what defines people; each person has a different set of values and belief systems, be it religious, ideological, or philosophical. Given the uniqueness of what each believes in, tension is likely to exist when people of differing beliefs come to work together. If conflict is defined as the clash between opposing beliefs, tension can escalate into conflict if people are unable to reach a compromise and resolve said tension. Given these definitions, it may not be necessary that conflict will be violent. Violence connotes the presence of bloodshed and physical fighting, but there is also nonviolent conflict such as rallies, boycotts and protests. In this essay, I will be discussing conflict as a result of opposing beliefs

After Belgium's withdrawal, Hutus blamed Tutsis for every crisis. (BBC News 2008) The signing of the Arusha Accords was meant to dispel the tension between them, by creating a power-sharing government between the Hutu-dominated government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which comprised mostly Tutsi refugees whose families had escaped to Uganda. However, even with such an attempt on resolving tension, this did not stop the dissent present amongst citizens, with increasing numbers of Hutus supporting the supremacist "Hutu Power" ideology and believing that the RPF was intending to restore Tutsi sovereignty and enslaving Hutus (Wikipedia 2015). This tension proved to serve as a catalyst for the Rwandan Genocide; when the airplane carrying Rwandan President and Hutu Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down, Hutu soldiers, police and militia quickly began killing the Tutsi. The deaths of up to 20% of Rwanda's population thus demonstrates how the opposing beliefs of different ethnic groups in terms of their social standing will lead to violent conflict, in this case a

However, with immigration only becoming prominent in the mid-seventies, Norwegians felt that this would be threatened. At the start of 1998, Norway's immigrant population totalled 244,700, or 5.5% of the population, which had increased by 12,400 in the course of 1997. (Lunde n.d.) This swell in immigrant numbers, especially those of asylum-seekers, gave rise to fear of crime from immigrants, xenophobic and anti-immigrant sentiments. These beliefs are evident when the anti-immigrant Progress Party has garnered increasing support since it was first elected into Parliament in 1973, winning 41, or nearly a quarter, of 169 seats in the 2009 election. (Ritter 2011) Moreover, in a survey in 1991 asking people if they found their neighbourhood safe, 44% of Norwegians, and only 1.6% of the Pakistani and 12.9% of the Tamils said yes. (Levekårsundersokelsen 1992) The opposing views of different ethnic groups regarding the Norwegian society is frighteningly distinct; there must be a disparity in the treatment of majority Norwegians as compared to minority immigrants of other ethnic groups for such contrasting sentiments. According to a survey by Gulloy et al. (1997), ethnic minorities in Norway suffer from bad housing, low income and high rates of unemployment, which proves the difference in treatment of immigrants who are from