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Cultural diversity: time for recognition

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Subido el 18 de julio de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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Does a culture that is not economically viable have the right to exist and lay claim to international influence? Answering yes to that question means creating an international legal framework capable of acting as a counterbalance to the law of the market, which tends to reduce the diversity of cultural content and forms of artistic expression. This is precisely what has been at stake at UNESCO for the last two and a half years: the adoption of a draft International Convention recognising the need to protect and promote cultural diversity and the importance of international cooperation in this field. This report recreates the atmosphere behind the scenes of the UN institution. It listens to what several parties to the ‘cultural diversity’ negotiations have to say and includes interviews with international artists who argue in favour of the draft convention and lobbyists.

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Paris, UNESCO headquarters, the 20th of October 2005. 00:00:00
The General Conference is voting on a text which will completely change the way cultural 00:00:08
issues are governed around the world. 00:00:12
With 148 votes in favor and only two against, the United States and Israel, a convention 00:00:15
to protect and promote cultural diversity was adopted. 00:00:21
This vote is the culmination of more than two years of intense negotiations within 00:00:25
the cultural body of the United Nations. 00:00:29
The new convention is a first in many ways. 00:00:32
A first because it won the largest ever international consensus in this area. 00:00:35
It's also a first as it's given the European Union a chance to play a new role in UNESCO. 00:00:40
For the first time in history, 25 countries plus European Commission in UNESCO negotiated 00:00:47
successfully with all member states a new text and the proposal of the convention. 00:00:54
Practical application of such convention means taking into account cultural aspects when 00:01:01
we deal with, for example, economy. 00:01:07
Cultural goods have dual character, not only economic character, which is usual, but also 00:01:09
cultural. 00:01:16
This must be reflected when we negotiate or implement relations, treaties, agreements 00:01:18
in order to protect and promote also cultural content. 00:01:26
Within the European Union, it means that from now on the EU treaties will guarantee that 00:01:32
the cultural aspects of all policies are considered. 00:01:36
The UNESCO convention will also play a similar role on a world scale. 00:01:39
It fills a legal vacuum by establishing rights and obligations at both national and international 00:01:43
level. 00:01:48
The countries of Africa were united during these negotiations. 00:01:50
For many of them, it's simply a question of cultural life or death. 00:01:53
Benin, for example, has some 30 spoken and written languages, but not one single structure 00:01:57
capable of supporting and handling the worldwide distribution of any kind of film or musical 00:02:02
production. 00:02:07
In the long term, the world market would simply gobble up Benin's identity. 00:02:09
For a country like Benin, as for most African countries, the advantage of having a convention 00:02:21
means first and foremost having the power to decide on their own cultural policy. 00:02:28
We want to be open, but at the same time have the right as a sovereign state to decide 00:02:35
what we wish to be open to. 00:02:39
It's simply a question of existence, and as we do exist, we say we too have something 00:02:42
to offer the rest of the world. 00:02:46
And there's no time to lose for the international community. 00:02:51
The statistics speak for themselves. 00:02:54
Of the world's 6,000 known languages, only 4% are used, and that's by 96% of the population. 00:02:56
Two languages disappear every day. 00:03:03
There are other astonishing statistics. 00:03:06
Five countries control world trade in culture, and eight multinationals control almost all 00:03:09
the audiovisual production. 00:03:14
On the Internet, a symbol of globalization and cultural exchange, 90% of the world's 00:03:17
languages are simply not used. 00:03:22
Since 2003, Valérie Panis and Xavier Trussard have been regular commuters between Brussels 00:03:25
and Paris. 00:03:31
They were negotiators for the European Commission, and played an active part in all the decisive 00:03:32
steps along the way to this historic vote on October 20, 2005. 00:03:37
The first sticking point is not wanting to make a distinction between commercial value 00:03:46
and absence of commercial value, because it's well known that apart from their commercial 00:03:50
value, goods or activities have a cultural expression, and therefore, little by little, 00:03:55
we come down to a very conceptual definition, where we recognize, first and foremost, the 00:04:00
essential function of an activity, a good or a service, which is to transmit a cultural 00:04:06
content. 00:04:11
The supporting principles and values show that there's a lack of standardization at 00:04:17
the international level, and that the gap will be filled by this convention, which will 00:04:21
create not only a text with the principles, references and joint actions, but above all, 00:04:27
a discussion platform, which puts these questions on the international agenda. 00:04:33
The job of the two lawyers for the Commission was to coordinate the positions of all the 00:04:42
EU member states, and negotiate with the other UNESCO members right up to the final vote. 00:04:46
Members from civil society have also played a crucial role in the negotiations, such as 00:04:53
Robert Pilon, a sociologist and economist. He's vice president of the Coalition for 00:04:57
Cultural Diversity, a worldwide organization which represents all the artistic sectors, 00:05:02
theatre, literature, music, and audiovisual production. 00:05:08
When they're participating in a negotiation, countries will have a reference in international 00:05:16
law to legitimize their actions. To be able to say, we refuse to negotiate the cinema, 00:05:20
music, or theatre sectors as if they were the automobile or textile sectors. They can't 00:05:29
be compared. 00:05:35
The adoption of the Convention on Cultural Diversity opens up the way for exchanges which 00:05:43
respect cultural identity. To become law, the text must still be ratified by 30 countries. 00:05:48
It could be a long road, with some stumbling blocks along the way in certain countries. 00:05:56
But for artists around the world, it's already the end of a long struggle. 00:06:00
I don't want to compose in other languages than my own, because that's what I feel, and 00:06:08
music is a feeling. When you have no feeling for a language, you don't want to sing in it. 00:06:12
We've been treading water for 40 years. The day when our governments take culture into 00:06:18
account, they'll see that the country will take off, and development will begin. That's 00:06:22
why this convention is so necessary and so urgent for African countries. 00:06:27
For more UN videos visit www.un.org 00:06:42
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
      • Nivel Intermedio
Autor/es:
The European Union
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
879
Fecha:
18 de julio de 2007 - 9:45
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
European Commission
Duración:
06′ 47″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
448x336 píxeles
Tamaño:
34.72 MBytes

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