SHEET 10 - PROMOTING
CULTURAL DIVERSITY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
DIVERSITY:
PART OF THE HERITAGE OF HUMANITY
Culture is more
than the arts and literature. In its widest
sense, culture embraces everything from your choice of what to wear each day to the
traditions, beliefs and values of your family and community. Of course, this includes all forms of artistic
expression and creativity. Culture is also
the language you speak, your place of worship, the things that move you emotionally, the
sources of meaning in your life. Culture is
all of these elements and the way they connect to make up your way of life. According to the I982 Mexico City Declaration on
Cultural Policies, culture is "the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material,
intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group."
Everyone has a
fundamental human right to practice the distinctive way of life of their tradition, and to
share in the joys of the cultural life of their community.
This is the meaning of Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, as well as other articles that affirm everyone's right to freedom of expression
and opinion, association, and choice of education for one's children. This freedom is the basis of the world's cultural
diversity, a part of the heritage of humanity as essential as biodiversity- A pluralism
that cherishes and nurtures cultural diversity is critical to guaranteeing respect for the
freedom of all.
CREATIVITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR SURVIVAL
A living
culture is not static or isolated. To the extent that its members are free to think,
a culture grows and develops in response to other cultures and changes in its environment. Cultural freedom does not give authorities the
right to impose a rigid code of conduct on a population, or to suppress any members of
their own society because of their gender or any other characteristic. UNESCO's World Commission on Culture and
Development, in its 1995 report, Our Creative Diversity, stated that any national policy
of "nation-building" that seeks to make all groups homogeneous - or to allow one
to dominate - is neither desirable nor feasible. A
nation that believes in creative diversity needs to create a sense of itself as a civic
community, freed from any connotations of ethnic exclusivity.
UNESCO's
programmes in the field of culture include both preservation of the cultural heritage of
societies around the world and promotion of living cultures. The two are not entirely separate categories,
because a living culture draws on its heritage, depends on it for nourishment and
inspiration. A society's heritage, both
tangible and intangible - from national monuments, museums, and galleries to a people's
language, history, and religion - is an essential source of meaning and fulfilment to
people living now. Hence, the importance of
protecting and preserving this heritage, and of restoring it in the aftermath of
destructive conflicts and natural disasters.
UNESCO's
programme to preserve world heritage sites, guided by the Convention for the Protection of
the World Cultural and National Heritage, is working to make sure that future generations
can inherit the treasures of the past. Almost
600 sites of extraordinary natural, cultural and historical significance have been
designated worldwide. One such site is
Anthony Island, located at the southern tip of the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west
coast of British Columbia. There the Haida
village of Ninstints stands as a unique example of the richness of the coastal Aboriginal
cultural heritage. The Council of the Haida
Nation, Parks Canada, and the British Columbia Provincial Museum are working in
partnership on the site. Their aim is not
only to conserve the totem poles, mortuary columns, longhouses, and other heritage sites
on the island, but to make the living culture of the Haida people a contribution to the
heritage of humanity.
The
organization of United Nations Volunteers in partnership with UNESCO has created a
Cultural Heritage Volunteers programme to mobilize skilled professionals from all over the
world in areas as diverse as archaeology and conservation of monuments and buildings, care
of manuscripts, revival of traditional crafts and craft employment, protection of
indigenous languages and promotion of traditional medicine.
They work on UNESCO projects in such meaningful places as Angkor Wat, Copan,
Lamu and Samarkand, Bokhara, Quito, Zanzibar, Phnom Penh and Tegucigalpa in their efforts
to rediscover, enhance and preserve the cultural heritage of peoples and nations.
HERITAGE IS ESSENTIAL FOR
SELF-ESTEEM AND IDENTITY
CULTURAL PROPERTY
UNESCO is the only world-wide organization
developing rules of international law to protect cultural heritage. The organization is now working with its member
states to update and enhance the 1954, Hague convention for the protection of cultural
property in the event of armed conflict. In
an era of increased ethnic and intercultural conflict, cultural property monuments,
monasteries, archives, historic sites - is especially vulnerable. It may be damaged or destroyed not only by
accident but by direct targeting. When a
conflict is over and people begin to rebuild their society, the cultural heritage serves
as an important link with the past and a critical element in re-establishing their
identify.
TRADITION
Not all cultural heritage is tangible. The history, traditions, songs, and beliefs of a
people, and their language itself, are integral parts of a society's identity. It is in this area that the homogenizing effects
of the global media are especially strong. For
example, the World Commission on Culture and Development found that as many as go per cent
of the languages spoken in the world today may become extinct in the course of the next
century. The disappearance of a language, the
Commission observed, is every bit as much a depletion of our resources as is the
extinction of a plant or animal species. Linguistic
diversity is a precious human asset. The loss
of any language represents an impoverishment of the reservoir of knowledge and tools for
intra- and inter-cultural communication.
LANGUAGE
UNESCO is proposing a World Report on
Languages to take stock of the current situation and to consider strategies for
maintaining linguistic diversity while promoting wider facility in more than one language. UNESCO is encouraging the revitalization of local
languages by assisting member states that wish to formulate policies favouring
multilingualism. The priorities are saving
languages in danger of disappearance, promoting languages of wider communication, and
encouraging countries to adopt multilingual language policies so that every individual may
speak a local, a national and an international language.
This will encourage linkages with the past that will also be heard in the
present and future.
CANADIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEBATE
ON CULTURAL POLICY
At the
Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development, held at Stockholm in
i998, Canada was recognized for its cutting-edge policies promoting cultural diversity. One example of this is the effort of the Canada
Council for the Arts to bring Aboriginal artists into the mainstream of its programmes. In each of its six programme areas - dance, music,
theatre, publishing and writing, visual arts, and media arts - the Council is reaching out
to strengthen the capacity of Aboriginal people in arts production. The Council has found that there is no shortage of
excellent Aboriginal artists but that more support is needed in such key areas as skill
development for Aboriginal publishers, gallery curators, and theatre company
administrators. The Aboriginal communities
in Canada are remarkably diverse; their artists serve to strengthen the capacity of their
people to know themselves and to express themselves to the world.
Understanding
and appreciation of one another's cultures help us live together and build a more
inclusive society based on common civic values. Encouraging
cultural diversity can, paradoxically, help us to find the common ground for living
together in the same nation. When people are
secure in their right to live their lives according to their cultural values, they are
better able to enter relations of dialogue an@ co-operation with their fellow citizens. All of us have a responsibility to know and
understand more of the cultures that make up Canada - the history, values, languages, and
symbols of the peoples who make up this country.
The
International Forum For Solidarity Against Intolerance and for a Dialogue of Cultures,
held in Tbilisi, the Republic of Georgia in July 1995, alerted the international community
to the urgency of counteracting and eliminating aggressive intolerance in its various
manifestations. The Forum proposed the
creation of an international association or network to be called "For the Dialogue of
Cultures for Peace and Tolerance," with a view to promoting a culture of peace,
tolerance, and democracy. Its focus is to be
regions and zones of conflict as well as contacts between major cultural and religious
areas.
SUCH AN
INTERNATIONAL association should contribute to the creation of groups and clubs for
dialogue in support of tolerance, and for dialogue on culture, particularly where there
are different settings, for example, in schools, universities, scientific research
institutions, sport clubs, and associations of journalists, writers, musicians, artists
and sculptors. Would you consider taking such
an iniative?
If you are a cultural worker, or even if you have another profession, you can help
to contribute to building a culture of peace by strengthening the capacity for cultural
expression and creativity. UNESCO’s 1980
“Recommendation concerning the status of the artist” provides and support their
role in society. We could still go much
further in Canada to implement these recommendations.
RESOURCES
World Commission
on Culture and Development, Our Creative Diversi!Y. Paris: UNESCO, 1995
"The
Power of Culture," Final Declaration and Plan of Action of the Intergovernmental
Conference on Cultural Policies for Development, held at Stockholm, 30 March- 2 April
i998. http://www.unesco-sweden.org/Conference/Action-Plan.htm
United Nations
Volunteers - Cultural Heritage Page http://www.unv.org/activs/idxchv.html
Recommendation
concerning the status of the artist
http://www.unesco.org/culture/copyright/html_eng/copy20.htm
UNESCO Linguapax:
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/linguapay-/menupage.htm
World Heritage
Programme
http://www.unesco.org/whc/
Andrey Grachev,
Vladimir Loemiko "The meeting of civilizations: Conflict on dialogue", UNESCO
1996