Cultural Diversity, a Past Story?
Cultural diversity is obviously, by definition, an enduring and central feature of the United Nations' system in general and, more particularly of UNESCO, which is entrusted with the mandate to ensure the preservation and "promotion of the fruitful diversity of cultures".
Diversity and dialogue are mutually interrelated. Cultural diversity, far from being divisive, unites individuals, societies and peoples, enabling them to share in a fund made up of the heritage of bygone ages, the experience of the present and the promise of the future. This shared fund, with ail parties being both contributors and beneficiaries, is what underpins the sustainability of development for ail.
But culture in general, and cultural diversity in particular, face three new challenges: (a) globalization, in its powerful expansion of market principles, has created new forms of inequality which seem to foster cultural conflict rather than pluralism; (b) states, which were able to handle the demands of culture and education, are increasingly unable to handle on their own the cross-border flow of ideas, images and resources which affect cultural development; and (c) the growing divides in literacy (digital and conventional), have made the renewal of cultural debates and resources an increasingly elite monopoly, divorced from the capabilities and interests of more than half the world's population, who are now in danger of cultural as well as financial exclusion.
UNESCO: Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, September 2002
Cultural diversity is obviously, by definition, an enduring and central feature of the United Nations' system in general and, more particularly of UNESCO, which is entrusted with the mandate to ensure the preservation and "promotion of the fruitful diversity of cultures".
Diversity and dialogue are mutually interrelated. Cultural diversity, far from being divisive, unites individuals, societies and peoples, enabling them to share in a fund made up of the heritage of bygone ages, the experience of the present and the promise of the future. This shared fund, with ail parties being both contributors and beneficiaries, is what underpins the sustainability of development for ail.
But culture in general, and cultural diversity in particular, face three new challenges: (a) globalization, in its powerful expansion of market principles, has created new forms of inequality which seem to foster cultural conflict rather than pluralism; (b) states, which were able to handle the demands of culture and education, are increasingly unable to handle on their own the cross-border flow of ideas, images and resources which affect cultural development; and (c) the growing divides in literacy (digital and conventional), have made the renewal of cultural debates and resources an increasingly elite monopoly, divorced from the capabilities and interests of more than half the world's population, who are now in danger of cultural as well as financial exclusion.
UNESCO: Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, September 2002