In the mid-eighties, the advertising campaigns for the Benetton brand—under the art direction of Oliviero Toscani—provided an iconic image for the coexistence of different races and, in doing so, for the very idea of diversity. In 2000, an image created by Polish designer Piotr Mlodozeniec spelled out the word "CoeXisT," with the "C" replaced by a Muslim crescent, the "X" by the Star of David—a Jewish symbol—and the "T" by the Latin cross representing Christianity. Through these images, the concept of coexistence became associated with tolerance, serving as a counterpoint to both racism and religious fundamentalism.
Regrettably, this ideal of tolerance has been destabilized in the 21st century. In the first decade of the century, both the so-called "War on Terror" and the Second Intifada cast doubt on the possibility of coexistence between different religious beliefs. Meanwhile, nationalist and xenophobic reactions to the migration wave of the last decade have made it difficult to envision the coexistence of different races. The disparate responses to global warming also remind us that, when faced with the threat to the species' survival, selfishness seems to prevail over collaboration.
