International
Network for Cultural Diversity
Newsletter 23 – September 2002
This month’s edition of the newsletter is shorter than normal as the Secretariat is busy with preparations for the INCD’s third annual meeting Fostering Cultural Diversity and Development: Local, national and global strategies in Cape Town, South Africa, October 11-13. Members who have not yet registered are encouraged to do so – all registration and conference materials are available online at www.incd.net/conference.html.
The block booking at the Greenmarket Square Hotel will be released after Friday, September 20 and, while rooms should still be easily obtained, the INCD cannot guarantee availability or reduced rates after that date.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Secretariat either the main office (incd@ccarts.ca) or at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town (incd@nlsa.ac.za) if you have any questions regarding the conference.
*If you require assistance with a visa application, please contact the Secretariat in Cape Town immediately.
Contents
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Culture and the WSSD
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Intangible cultural heritage and cultural diversity
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INCD Coordinator at the Nordic Film Institute
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The INCD in Mexico
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The INCD in South Africa
In an announcement on September 12 that surprised many, President Bush declared that the United States will rejoin the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after an absence of 18 years. During his speech to the United Nations (UN), Bush stated: “As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to UNESCO.”
The US quit UNESCO in 1984, claiming mismanagement and politicization of the UN agency. At that time it contributed fully a quarter of UNESCO’s budget. In the ensuing years, the Paris-based organization has undergone a significant change in leadership with comprehensive bureaucratic restructuring.
Some see the US move towards greater support of the UN and its agencies as a positive shift towards a more cooperative relationship while others argue that, given the increasingly unilateral foreign policy decisions of the US, it is simply using the UN to give force to its own actions.
While the INCD welcomes the re-entry of the US, it worries
that it may use its new power within UNESCO to influence negatively the
cautious steps taken by UNESCO towards the creation and implementation of an
instrument for cultural diversity. There were rumors that the US watered down
the language of the November 2001 Declaration on Cultural Diversity through
back door lobbying; official standing within UNESCO may allow them to stall the
process. As Dr. Christine von Weizsäcker, one of the
architects of the Biodiversity Protocol, explained during the second INCD
meeting in Lucerne in 2001, the
current American strategy often seems to be to participate in negotiations of
international treaties in order to weaken their provisions, only to refuse to
sign them.
- Culture and the WSSD
UNESCO hosted a special seminar on cultural diversity during the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development, which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 26 to September 4. This session underlined the links between cultural and bio-diversity and attempted to put the cultural aspects of sustainable development in the forefront. Several heads of state, including French President Jacques Chirac, took part. UNESCO has yet to put out any official documentation following the session, somewhat weakening its stated position on the importance of culture in sustainable development.
- Intangible cultural heritage and cultural diversity
UNESCO is hosting a meeting of cultural ministers from an anticipated 80 countries in Istanbul, October 16 and 17 to discuss the protection of intangible cultural heritage (which covers performing arts, language, rituals and traditional knowledge) and its role in the maintenance of cultural diversity. For more information, go to http://portal.unesco.org/culture_roundtable .
- INCD Coordinator in Sweden
INCD coordinator Garry Neil made a presentation on the implications for culture of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) to the Nordic Film Institute, in Stockholm, Monday Sept 9. Neil argued that the existing agreement has “a far greater impact on culture than many might imagine,” not only because a number of countries have made specific commitments in cultural fields, but also because certain provisions apply to all services sectors, regardless of whether countries have taken commitments in the sector. For example, when the GATS was implemented, countries with co-production treaties were required to list these treaties as “not conforming” to the GATS’ provision on most favoured nation treatment. Such reservations are scheduled to expire in 2005. He also reviewed developments in the ongoing renegotiation of the GATS. Neil reported that the US Trade Representative announced on July 1 that the “United States asked the WTO’s 144 members to lower their trading barriers for several services industries, including audiovisual services.”
For an in-depth analysis of this issue, please read “The GATS and Culture” available at www.incd.net/resources.html.
- The INCD in Mexico
The INCD’s first regional meeting will take place in Cuernavaca, Mexico September 21 to 22. Hosted by the Civic Council for Culture and the Arts of Morelos at the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, this meeting will examine a number of issues related to cultural diversity, including the cultural rights of indigenous peoples, the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage and the impact of globalization on local cultures.
For more information, please contact: Rafael Segovia, INCD Steering Committee, redmxdiversidadcultural@yahoo.com.mx.
Future INCD regional meetings are being planned for Europe (tentatively November 2002, location to be set) and Asia (tentatively, February 2003 in India).
- The INCD in South Africa
Japan Mthembu, INCD Steering Committee member in South Africa, has been invited to address the Operateurs Culturels en Reseaux Encounters (OCRE) Cultural Conference in Durban on 23 September. OCRE was established to strengthen networks and information exchange between civil society cultural organisations in Africa. Leading African and South African cultural activists, festival directors and leaders of NGOs will be present, and Japan will address the conference on the issue of Cultural Diversity.
On Wednesday 25 September, a public forum will be held in Johannesburg under the banner of the INCD on the subject "Globalisation and its impact on arts and culture" where Japan will be a keynote speaker.
Both these forums are part of the ongoing strategy to raise public awareness of the forthcoming INCD Conference in Cape Town, and of the issues at hand.
For more information: incd@nlsa.ac.za .
VII Conference European Culture
University of Navarra
Pamplona SPAIN
10/23/02 -10/26/02
For more information: http://www.unav.es/cee/ingles2.html#Cultural
Citizens, Nations, and Cultures
Maastricht Center for Transatlantic Studies
Teikyo University
Maastricht Holland
10/16/02 -10/19/02