[WSIS CS-Plenary] Coalition for Cultural Diversity (CCD)
Sasha Costanza-Chock
schock at riseup.net
Mon Jan 5 18:48:07 GMT 2004
I think this is a quite important development. The CCD seems to be
catching fire with new countries joining every few months. We should
make efforts to support the Convention on Cultural Diversity and any
other mechanisms to keep culture (which includes media sectors) out of
so-called free trade agreements.
sc
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CCD Coalition Currents 5th issue - Dec 2003
CCD
Date 26.Dec.2003
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File Attach 2003.12 5th issue.htm 67.3857421875Kb
Highlights:
.As UNESCO Starts Work on the Cultural Diversity Convention, the
Challenge Will be to Hold the Line on Culture in Trade Talks
.Breaking News: Four Central American Countries Reach Tentative Free
Trade Deal With U.S.; Large-Scale Liberation Commitments Seen for
Cultural Sector
.Australia: Mobilizing to Meet the Challenge to Culture in FTA
.Korea’s Screen Quota Remains in the Cross-Hairs of Investment Treaty
Talks With U.S.
.Organizations of professionals from the Moroccan cultural milieu poised
to form a coalition for cultural diversity to demand culture be excluded
from the United States-Morocco free trade agreement
.Creation in Burkina Faso of the 10th coalition for cultural diversity
.Towards the Convention on Cultural Diversity: UNESCO Director General
Convenes First Meeting of Experts Committee
.Culture Ministers Network Continues Work In Support of Convention on
Cultural Diversity with December Meeting in Paris
.La Francophonie Secretary General Abdou Diouf meets with delegation of
representatives of coalitions for cultural diversity
.Coalition Representatives Take Part in Guadalajara Conference on
Cultural Diversity
.Brazilian Cinema Sector Turns Its Attention to the Cultural Diversity
Movement; Supports Convention on Cultural Diversity at UNESCO
.Franco-German roundtable on cultural diversity - Sarrebruck, November
20 and 21, 2003
.The Dakar International Book Fair Unfolds Under the Theme of Cultural
Diversity - Representatives of the Senegalese, Chilean and Canadian
Coalitions Take Part
* Vol. 1, No. 5, December 2003
As UNESCO Starts Work on the Cultural Diversity Convention, the
Challenge Will be to Hold the Line
on Culture in Trade Talks
In this final issue of Coalition Currents for 2003, we shift our
attention back to one of the major threats to cultural
diversity—the growing pressure on countries to give in during
trade negotiations and give up their right to have cultural policies.
UNESCO’s decision this past October to take on the development of an
international convention on cultural diversity was a major victory for
the cultural diversity movement. The UNESCO decision holds out hope that
within two years a genuine international convention—a
treaty—could be developed and adopted that would serve as a
counterweight to international trade agreements by providing a legal
foundation in international law for the sovereign right of countries to
develop, implement and maintain their own cultural policies.
In the months ahead there will be much work for organizations
representing cultural professionals in countries around the world to
ensure their country supports the convention—and to push to ensure
that the end result is a true convention equal in weight to trade
agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
But while the treaty is being developed it will be critical that the
organizations representing artists and all cultural professionals
mobilize to ensure that the battle is not lost in the meantime at the
trade bargaining table.
Because it is clear that in pursuit of its ultimate goal of achieving a
completely liberalized cultural sector—of having cultural goods
and services treated in exactly the same way as lumber, or auto
parts—the United States has been following a clear strategy of
proliferating bilateral and smaller-scale regional trade or investment
negotiations.
In all, the United States has such trade talks underway or announced
with more than 20 countries.
In the past year, the United States has concluded agreements with Chile
and Singapore, and has reached the late stages of negotiations for Free
Trade Agreements (FTA) with Australia, Morocco and the Central America
Free Trade Area (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
Nicaragua), and for a Bilateral Investment Treaty with Korea. FTA
negotiations are also in advanced stages with the Southern African
Customs Union (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland).
In light of the WTO Doha Round impasse at Cancun in September and the
negligible progress in the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations,
the U.S. has responded by increasing its emphasis on bilateral agreements.
On November 18, the U.S. announced talksfor bilateral FTAs with the
Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, followed three
days later by the announcement of plans for a Bilateral Investment
Treaty with Uruguay. Intentions to undertake an FTA with Thailand and
Bahrain have also been announced.
With the ‘entertainment’ sector of film, television, books and music
being the single largest exporter in its economy, the United States
views cultural production in strictly economic terms. Accordingly, it is
aggressively seeking to conclude agreements in which its trading
partners accede to demands that the sector be liberalized—meaning
they forego the right to have culture policies designed to ensure a
space for domestic production, including measures to support the
development of national cultural industries.
This is a battle to see that countries do not mortgage their future by
giving up the right to introduce new cultural policies or adjust
existing ones in response to changing circumstances. Protecting this
capacity to introduce new policies in the future is a critical issue for
all countries, but in particular for developing countries which in many
cases do not yet have a comprehensive set of cultural policies in place
but aspire to do so.
With the WTO talks all but stalled, the clear objective of the U.S. is
to establish enough bilateral precedents—10, 15 or more—in
which countries agree to liberalize their cultural sectors, and then
attempt to impose this model as a fait accompli when broader WTO talks
and larger regional negotiations eventually resume.
For this reason, each bilateral negotiation takes on relevance as a
potential precedent other countries will have to contend with at the
bargaining table. With this in mind, in the articles that follow we look
at three negotiations entering the home stretch, how culture has come
under pressure in these talks, and what the organizations representing
artists and other cultural professionals in each country have been doing
to meet this challenge.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Breaking News: Four Central American Countries Reach
Tentative Free Trade Deal With U.S.; Large-Scale
Liberation Commitments Seen for Cultural Sector
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua appear to have made
significant liberalization commitments pertaining to the audiovisual
sector and new digital media in Free Trade Agreement tentatively reached
with the United States on December 17.
A United States Trade Representative news release stated that the
"Central American countries will accord substantial market access across
their entire services regime, offering new access in sectors such as
telecommunications (…) audiovisual and entertainment."
With respect to digital media, the USTR said that "non-discriminatory
treatment" will be provided for digital products such as music, text and
videos.
Full details of the tentative agreement, which will have to be formally
ratified by the legislatures of the signatory countries, were not yet
available.
Five countries originally began the regional negotiation with the United
States. Costa Rica was the only country to stand back from the deal for
the time being.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia: Mobilizing to Meet the Challenge
to Culture in FTA
When the 2003 AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards were televised on
national television this past November, actors and filmmakers
–from Toni Collette (Japanese Story, Muriel’s Wedding) to director
George Miller (Babe, Mad Max) to Geoffrey Rush (Shine)—took the
opportunity to warn Australians about the negative consequences if their
government gives up its right to have cultural policies during its
current round of trade talks.
"I think we’re heading for a disaster. I think we’ll look back on in 10
years and say my God, how could we have been so gullible", said George
Miller.
Best actor winner David Winham told the audience that he felt "extremely
privileged to accept this award for playing a character with an
Australian accent, in an Australian setting, in an Australian film. And
I do hope, I do hope Australian culture has been championed in the
current negotiations with the U.S., so that our voices, our characters,
and our unique stories will continue to be heard and seen on screens
large and small for all generations to come. And the only way that
that’s going to be achieved is if culture, culture, the thing that
defines us as being Australians is taken off the negotiation table."
The orchestration of a televised awards evening as a platform for
getting the word out about risk to culture from the trade negotiations
was simply the most publicly visible element of a broad-based campaign
that was put in motion a year ago when 17 organizations representing
artists and cultural professionals from all major sectors of Australian
culture—books, music, theatre, film, television and new
media—joined together to establish the Australian Coalition for
Cultural Diversity (ACCD).
The mobilization of Australia’s cultural sector to establish the ACCD
and to undertake a campaign to defend their country’s right to maintain
cultural policies began almost exactly a year ago at almost the precise
moment talks were launched between Australia and the United States for a
Free Trade Agreement.
Faced with a government seemingly single-minded in its desire to secure
greater access to the American market for its agricultural products and
in the process prepared to contemplate concessions on culture--in
particular, prepared to entertain "standstill" commitments whereby it
would renounce its prerogative to introduce policies covering new media
of the future—the member organizations of the ACCD have carried
out an exemplary campaign to build political, media and public awareness
and support for the position that culture should be exempted outright
from the FTA. Their campaign has included:
Regular meetings with the Australia’s trade negotiators as well as with
officials in the country’s trade and culture ministries.
Presentations and written briefs to Senate committees and other
legislative bodies reviewing the Australian position in the negotiations
Presentations and written briefs to Senate committees and other
legislative bodies reviewing the Australian position in the negotiations
Letters to and meetings with members of Parliament, opposition leaders
and key figures in the Australian government including Trade Minister
Mark Vaile and Prime Minister John Howard.
Membership communication campaigns designed to make individual artists
and cultural professionals aware of the issues and to mobilize them to
raise the issue with their local politicians and media.
Media communications drawing on the profile of respected artists such as
actors Brian Brown and Geoffrey Rush and director Gillian Armstrong to
build broad public awareness regarding what is at stake in the trade
negotiations.
Initiatives to obtain support from cultural professionals around the
world, including declarations obtained from the international
affiliations representing directors and screenwriters, as well as
individual letters of support from actors, writers and broad coalitions
of artists and cultural professionals from Canada, Chile, the United
Kingdom and many other countries around the world.
At the time of this writing, the talks had not yet been concluded and
the final outcome for culture remains unclear. While the talks had been
placed on a fast track negotiators for the two countries were unable to
meet their objective of concluding an agreement during talks in early
December. As a result, an additional round of talks has been scheduled
for mid-January in Washington.
As with several other bilateral negotiations involving the United
States, the longer the talks continue the greater the likelihood they
could get caught up in the run-up to the U.S. elections next fall and
postponed until 2005 as a result.
In the meantime, Australia’s cultural organizations remain on high
alert, hoping they will ultimately be successful in persuading the
Howard government of the importance of preserving Australia's capacity
to adjust or introduce new cultural policies in the future to ensure
there is a domestic space for Australian stories. Victory is by no means
assured, by there is no denying that they have succeeded in placing the
issue of cultural policies front and center in public, media and
political discussions concerning the FTA. Only a few months into the
campaign, a poll found that more than 70% of Australians would oppose
the FTA if it meant that fewer Australian films and televisions programs
were seen on their screens.
For more information on the ACCD campaign (and to access communications
materials they have prepared), consult the following websites of three
coalition member organizations:
- Australian Writers' Guild
- The Australian Society of Authors
- The Australian Screen Directors Association
Alternatively, go to Google News Australia and once connected to this
site do a search using the keywords Australia U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Korea’s Screen Quota Remains in the Cross-Hairs
of Investment Treaty Talks With U.S.
Will Korea be able to resist pressure from the United States to commit
to cutting its screen quota for domestic films? This question remains
unanswered and while statements by President of Korea indicate there
will be no immediate unilateral change, the Korean cultural film
community is treating the latest debate as the most serious threat yet
to the quota.
American insistence that Korea cut and ultimately eliminate its 40%
screen quota for domestic films has been a major stumbling block to the
two countries concluding a Bilateral Investment Treaty—a
negotiation that has been underway since 1998 and which Korea has sought
to revitalize its ailing economy by laying the groundwork for a Free
Trade Agreement with the U.S.
In recent months, American negotiators and government officials have
stepped up the pressure on Korea to seriously scale back or eliminate
the quota outright, and public statements in late October by an advisor
to President Moo Hyun Roh that the government was prepared to consider
easing the quota triggered alarm within Korea’s cultural sector.
On November 19, representatives of the Korean film community met with
President Roh for three hours to urge him to retain the quota. President
Roh reportedly expressed his
belief that the film industry could achieve sustainable development
without depending on the quota but stated that if the film industry
strongly opposed changes then these would not be imposed unilaterally.
With Korea’s Centre for Diversity in Moving Images front and centre, the
major organizations representing the Korean film community have moved to
join the broader alliance of the "Committee Preventing Korea-U.S. BIT
and to Protect Screen Quota" and are cooperating with civil groups from
other sectors for joint activities.
The Committee has also sought to engage representatives of the Motion
Picture Association of America in a discussion regarding the quota, and
why it is so important to the Korean film industry, but the MPAA has
consistently declined such overtures.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Organizations of professionals from the Moroccan cultural milieu poised
to form a coalition for cultural diversity to demand culture be excluded
from the United States-Morocco free trade agreement
With free trade negotiations between the United States and Morocco
nearing an end, the leading professional organizations from all cultural
sectors were calling for an emergency meeting to be held during the week
of December 15th.
At the top of this meeting's agenda was to be the creation of a Moroccan
Coalition for Cultural Diversity, whose main mission would be to launch
a major campaign calling for the exclusion of culture from the terms of
the U.S.-Morocco trade deal, so as to ensure the preservation of
Morocco's fundamental right to maintain its existing cultural policies
and implement new policies that may prove necessary in the future.
The meeting was to include the directors of the following associations:
the Groupement des auteurs, réalisateurs et producteurs, the
Syndicat national des professionnels du théâtre, the Union
des écrivains du Maroc, the Syndicat libre des musiciens
marocains, the Syndicat national des artistes peintres et plasticiens,
the Association marocaine des professionnels du livre, the Chambre
marocaine des producteurs de films and the Association des
réalisateurs de la télévision marocaine.
The negotiation of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Morocco and the
United States was launched last January and normally should have wrapped
up with the sixth round of talks held in Washington this past December
1st to 8th. However, the Moroccan press report that it became clear by
the conclusion of the sixth round that there still remained a number of
differences of opinion between the Moroccan and U.S. negotiators,
particularly on issues concerning agriculture and generic drugs. It
appeared inevitable that a seventh round of negotiations will be held in
January 2004 to settle these matters.
The professional organizations within the Moroccan Coalition plan to use
this delay to implement a two-pronged action plan: first, to hold a
series of meetings with political officials to obtain more information
on the status of culture in the ongoing negotiations while expressing
the position of professionals from the milieu that culture must be
excluded from the deal; and, second, to carry out a media awareness
campaign.
The professional organizations are hoping to meet with Communication
Minister Nabil Benabdallah and Cultural Affairs Minister Mohammed
Achaari, as well as with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and
Co-operation, Taïeb Fassi Fihri, who heads Morocco's negotiating team.
During a visit to Casablanca from December 11th to 13th, Robert Pilon,
Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Coalition for Cultural
Diversity, met with several of the directors of the Moroccan
professional organizations and assured them of the full support of the
International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity in
their fight.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Creation in Burkina Faso of the 10th coalition
for cultural diversity
More than 20 organizations representing professionals from all of the
cultural sectors in Burkina Faso gathered in Ouagadougo December 1st and
2nd to found the Burkinabe Coalition for Cultural Diversity.
The Burkinabe Coalition is the 10th such coalition of professional
organizations from the cultural milieu to be established world-wide, and
the second in Africa. It joins Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile,
France, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand and Senegal on the International
Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity.
The official founding of the Burkinabe Coalition took place during the
"Information workshop and establishment of a national coalition for
cultural diversity", attended by nearly 100 representatives of
professional associations from the cultural milieu and the government
agencies concerned. The founding members of the coalition include the
Association des Editeurs du Faso, the Syndicat national des Artistes
Musiciens, the Union Nationale des Cinéastes du Burkina, the
Fédération des festivals et Manifestations Culturelles du
Burkina Faso, the Syndicat National Autonome des Comédiens du
Burkina, and the Association Nationale des Professionnels des Arts
Plastiques.
The professional organizations adopted the statutes of the Burkinabe
Coalition, which stipulate among other things that the coalition is an
association of organizations (of legal entities and not individuals)
representing all categories of professionals (authors, artists,
producers, promoters, broadcasters, distributors, etc.) from every
cultural sector in Burkina Faso (music, visual and living arts,
cinematography, audio-visual, cybernetics, literature, festivals and
cultural events, etc.).
The Coalition's statutes also set out the following international
objectives: "To affirm the right of States to take the necessary
measures to safeguard and promote their culture; to refuse that cultural
products be treated as mere commodities; to mobilize support for the
adoption of the International Convention on Cultural Diversity by
UNESCO; (…) to work to ensure that bilateral and multilateral cultural
co-operation agreements take into account the specific needs of
developing countries, particularly as concerns strengthening human,
technical and financial capacity."
The organizations present at the workshop also elected the members of
the Coalition's Executive Committee. Rasmané Ouédraogo,
head of the Syndicat National Autonome des comédiens du Burkina,
was elected Chairman of the new Executive. A locally- and
internationally-recognized film actor, he starred in Burkinabe filmmaker
Idrissa Ouédraogo's most recent film, La Colère des dieux
(2003), and served as a member of the jury of the Festival International
du Film francophone de Namur (Belgium) this past October.
The opening ceremony of this workshop was presided by Burkina Faso's
Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Mr. Mahamoudou Ouédraogo.
In his speech, Minister Ouédraogo affirmed that "every State has
the right and the duty to implement the cultural policy of its choice,
without external constraints and in the full respect of human rights and
freedom of expression." (our translation) He noted his active
involvement in the International Network on Cultural Policy (a network
that brings together more than 50 ministers of culture from around the
world) and his country's support of the International Convention on
Cultural Diversity in the process of being developed at UNESCO.
Robert Pilon, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Coalition for
Cultural Diversity, was invited as a representative of the International
Liaison Committee of coalitions to deliver a talk on "Cultural
Diversity: battlegrounds, stakes and actions to be taken". He informed
the participants of the latest developments concerning the draft
convention at UNESCO and ongoing trade negotiations, and stressed the
inherent danger of allowing culture to be included in bilateral trade
agreements. Robert Pilon was also able to meet with the minister of
Culture, Mahamoudou Ouédraogo.
Burkina Faso, a key West-African country with more than 12 million
inhabitants, will play host to the next Summit of Heads of State and of
Government of La Francophonie from November 23-27, 2004.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Towards the Convention on Cultural Diversity:
UNESCO Director General Convenes First Meeting of Experts Committee
In the wake of the UNESCO General Conference decision mandating him to
develop a convention on diversity of cultural content and artistic
expression, Director General Koïchiro Matsuura has initiated this
process by appointing an experts committee that began its work in Paris
with a four-day meeting starting December 17.
The names of the experts have not been formally announced but the
committee is believed to number 15 experts from around the world, and
according to the Montreal daily newspaper
Le Devoir the committee includes professor Ivan Bernier, a Quebec City
(Canada)-based expert in international law who has been one of the
leading thinkers in articulating possible legal frameworks for an
eventual convention.
In opening the experts meeting, Director General Matsuura stated that
their initial work will concentrate on defining the aims and scope of
the international convention, as well as exploring its potential
relationship to other international instruments, including the WTO’s
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), as well
as mechanisms for cooperation and international assistance.
In a press release regarding the meeting, Matsuura is quoted as saying
that the next phase, once authorized by UNESCO’s Executive Board, would
be "an inter-governmental discussion where all member states would be
invited to bring their views and participate in the actual drafting of
the preliminary text of the convention."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Culture Ministers Network Continues Work In Support
of Convention on Cultural Diversity with December Meeting in Paris
Officials representing 15 member countries of the International Network
on Cultural Policy (INCP)gathered December 11-12 in Paris to take part
in an informal meeting of the INCP's Working Group on Cultural Diversity
and Globalization.
The goal of the meeting was to consider appropriate activities for the
year ahead consistent with the mandate set out by the culture ministers
during their annual meeting in Opatija, Croatia, this past
October--notably as set out in the statement issued by the ministers at
the conclusion of the meeting.
Characterized as a brainstorming session, the Paris meeting set the
stage for a more formal meeting set for late January 2004 and hosted in
Switzerland by the Swiss Ministry of Culture to finalize the 2004 work
plan leading up to the 7th Annual Ministerial Meeting, to be hosted by
China next fall.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
La Francophonie Secretary General Abdou Diouf meets
with delegation of representatives
of coalitions for cultural diversity
A delegation of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for
Cultural Diversity consisting of eight representatives of the French,
Canadian and Senegalese coalitions met with the Secretary General of the
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Abdou Diouf, at
the organization's headquarters in Paris on November 26, 2003.
The purpose of the meeting, which proved to be highly fruitful, was to
discuss the evolution of the culture/international trade issue in the
wake of last October's decision by the UNESCO General Conference to
proceed with the development of an international convention on cultural
diversity.
The OIF, with its 56 French-speaking member nations, has played a
decisive role in the outstanding progress made in recent years in the
cultural diversity file. In this regard, it is particularly important to
note that the final declarations of the last two summits of Francophonie
heads of state and of government, the first held in Moncton, Canada, in
September 1999 and the subsequent one in Beirut, Lebanon, in October
2002, strongly endorsed the creation of a new binding international
instrument on cultural diversity and issued an urgent call to all member
states to refrain from making any liberalization commitments on culture
within the framework of international trade negotiations. The next
Francophonie Summit will be held in Burkina Faso, in Africa, from
November 23 to 27, 2004.
Mr. Diouf, who as served as President of Senegal from 1981 to 2000, took
over as Secretary General of the OIF in 2002. Through his many speeches
to international forums and his meetings with the political officials of
OIF member states, Mr. Diouf was instrumental in persuading a large
number of countries last October to support the resolution to involve
UNESCO in the development of the convention on cultural diversity.
During his meeting with the Liaison Committee representatives, the
Secretary General was apprised of the three main priorities they intend
to pursue between now and the next UNESCO General Conference in fall
2005: to promote to UNESCO the position of organizations representing
professionals from the cultural milieu on the content of the future
convention; to actively work to rally the support, through every
relevant forum, of the two-thirds majority of UNESCO member states
needed to adopt the convention; and, finally, to systematically pursue
efforts to persuade countries engaged in trade negotiations to refrain
from making any liberalization commitments on culture.
For his part, Secretary General Diouf expressed his pleasure at the fact
that 10 coalitions for cultural diversity have already been created and
urged the Liaison Committee representatives to encourage the creation of
similar coalitions in the greatest possible number of countries. The
Secretary General also implored the coalitions to be even more vigorous
in their efforts to promote the position of professionals from the
cultural milieu with respect to the content of the convention. Lastly,
he urged them to be especially vigilant regarding liberalization
commitments on culture in ongoing and upcoming trade negotiations.
France's Comité de Vigilance pour la diversité culturelle
was represented by Olivier Carmet, Executive Director of the SACD,
Gilles Katz of the French producers' union, Jean-Pierre Moreux of
France's actors' union, Catherine Blache of the national publishers'
union, and Débora Abramowicz, the SADC's Director of
International Affairs; Canada's Coalition for Cultural Diversity was
represented by Pierre Curzi, President of l’Union des Artistes and the
coalition's Co-Chair, and Robert Pilon, Executive Vice-President of the
Coalition; the Senegalese Coalition for Cultural Diversity was
represented by its Secretary General, Ndiar Mboup of Senegal's
Association des métiers de la musique.
For the OIF, Secretary General Abdou Diouf was accompanied by Roger
Dehaybe, Chief Executive of the Intergovernmental Agency of La
Francophonie (the main operating agency of the OIF), Catherine Tasca,
Special State Advisor, as well as Bernard Petterson, Director of Culture
and Heritage, Patrice Burel, Special Advisor and Christopher Malone,
Co-operation Advisor in the office of Secretary General Diouf.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coalition Representatives Take Part in Guadalajara
Conference on Cultural Diversity
Representatives of coalitions for cultural diversity in Argentina,
Chile, Mexico and Canada featured prominently in a two-day conference on
cultural diversity held November 30-December 1 in Guadalajara, Mexico,
as part of that city’s International Book Fair, the largest in Latin
America.
The conference was hosted by the book fair and the government of Quebec
(Quebec was the featured guest at this year’s book fair).
Quebec’s Minister of Culture and Communications, Line Beauchamp, spoke
at the conference’s closing ceremonies and used the occasion to
emphasize that it was important "to ask countries engaged in trade
negotiations to be vigilant and preserve their capacity to intervene in
support of culture, while we await the adoption of a convention by
UNESCO by 2005." (our translation)
Coalition representatives taking part in panel discussions on the
cultural diversity campaign and the role of cultural professional
organizations in the debate included Gabriel Larrea Richerand of Mexico,
Julio Raffo of Argentina, Juan Carlos Saez Contreras of Chile, and
Quebec publisher Gilles Pellerin and Pierre Curzi, co-chair of the
Coalition for Cultural Diversity (Canada).
In their statements, the coalition representatives emphasized the
following points:
The importance of securing a strong international convention on cultural
diversity through UNESCO that is a true convention having a proper
articulation with other existing international agreements, such as WTO
trade agreements.
The need for organizations representing artists and all cultural
professionals to be fully consulted in the process of developing the treaty.
The critical importance that countries refrain from making commitments
on culture in trade agreements while the convention is being developed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Brazilian Cinema Sector Turns Its Attention
to the Cultural Diversity Movement;
Supports Convention on Cultural Diversity at UNESCO
Brazil’s role in the cultural diversity debate was one of the key themes
of the Fifth Congress of Brazilian Cinema, held in Fortaleza on the
northern coast of Brazil November30 - December 3.
The Congress, which brings together more than 40 professional
organizations from Brazil’s cinema industry, is held every two years and
this year brought together approximately 100 industry professionals
along with key industry officials and representatives from the country’s
culture ministry.
On December 1, the Congress held a seminar focused on the process now
underway to develop a convention on cultural diversity at UNESCO, the
ongoing pressures on the audiovisual sector arising from trade
negotiations, and the implications for Brazilian cinema.
Edgard Telles Ribeiro, director of the ministry of external relations’s
culture directorate, and Leopoldo Nunes, chief of staff for culture
minister Gilberto Gil, took part in the panel on behalf of the Brazilian
government. They were joined by Jom Tom Azulay, superintendent of
strategic planning with the Brazilian state film agency Ancine, Marcio
Guimaraes of France’s consulate, and independent producer Debora Peters,
all members of the CBC’s working group on cultural diversity. Jim McKee
of the Canadian Coalition also took part, speaking on behalf of the
International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity.
Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil also spoke during the closing
ceremonies of the Congress, and reiterated his strong support for the
cultural diversity movement.
Led by Gil, Brazil was a strong supporter of the convention for cultural
diversity during the debate on this question during last October’s
UNESCO General Conference, and by virtue of its position as a leader
within both South America and the developing world can be expected to
play a key role in the coming debate.
This is all the more the case given that Brazil is a major producer of
audiovisual works—notably of television but recently its cinema
has been in the ascendancy as well.
In its closing declaration, the CBC emphasized the importance of the
question in the following terms:
"Considering the necessity of Brasil to align definitively with the
policy supported by the European Union, the iberoamerican countries and
others such as Canada, in regards to the defense of Cultural Diversity
in multilateral commerce forums such as the WTO and the negotiations
underway for the FTAA, the Fifth Congress of Brazilian Cinema reafirms
the necessity of actions of the Ministry of Culture together with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order for Brazil to consolidate its
position of abstention of market access offers, as well as of demands
for opening up of other markets, until the International Treaty on
Cultural Diversity at UNESCO is concluded, as those countries are
requesting."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Franco-German roundtable on cultural diversity
Sarrebruck, November 20 and 21, 2003
On the 40th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty celebrating
French and German co-operation, the governments of the two countries
have decided to work in close conjunction on the development of an
international convention on cultural diversity within UNESCO. With a
goal to advancing the joint reflection process, promoting Franco-German
positions and bringing political representatives and members of the
civil society in both countries together, the French and German
governments co-organized a roundtable on cultural diversity on November
20 and 21, 2003, in Sarrebruck. The event, attended by Christina Weiss,
the German Minister of State for Culture and the Media, and Jean-Jacques
Aillagon, French Minister of Culture and Communications, featured three
thematic workshops:
- Cultural diversity and cultural heritage, chaired by Mounir
Bouchenaki, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Culture;
- Cultural diversity and European integration, chaired by Nele Hertling,
President of the Franco-German High Council for Cultural Affairs;
- Cultural diversity and mastering globalization, chaired by Jean
Musitelli, State Advisor and former permanent delegate of France to UNESCO.
In the presence of the 100 or so participants, rich and fruitful
discussion extolled Franco-German co-operation in this area.
Hans-Heinrich Wrede, Germany's permanent delegate to UNESCO and the new
Chairman of the organization's Executive Board, assured both governments
that he will closely monitor the development of the convention on
cultural diversity to ensure that it is ready for adoption by the
General Conference in 2005.
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The Dakar International Book Fair
Unfolds Under the Theme of Cultural Diversity
- Representatives of the Senegalese,
Chilean and Canadian Coalitions Take Part
The 9th Foire internationale du livre et du matériel didactique
de Dakar (FILDAK) took place December 4th to 9th under the theme of
"Literature of Nations and Cultural Diversity".
The official opening of FILDAK, one of Africa's largest book fairs, was
presided by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. Government ministers,
among them Senegal's Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheik Tijane Gadio and
Culture Minister Safiatou Ndiaye Diop, chaired a number of the event's
forums and round tables.
At the invitation of event organizers, three representatives of national
coalitions for cultural diversity, including Sawalo Cissé,
President of the Senegal Coalition, Paulo Slachevsky, President of the
Chilean Association of Independent Publishers and of the Chilean
Coalition, and Robert Pilon, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian
Coalition, took part in an international round table on December 5th.
Two other representatives of the Senegalese Coalition's member
associations, Alioune Badara Bèye, President of the Association
des Ecrivains sénégalais, and Madieyna Ndiaye, President
of The Association sénégalaise des Editeurs, participated
in another round-table discussion on "Publishing, co-publishing and
distribution".
During his stay in Dakar, Robert Pilon, representing the International
Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, also met with,
among others, Culture Minister Safiatou Ndiaye Diop, the Minister's
Technical Advisor Moustapha Tambadou, Abdou Aziz Dieng, President of the
Association des Métiers de la Musique du Sénégal,
Clarence Delgado of the organization Cinéastes
Sénégalais associés, and Ndiawar Mboup, Secretary
General of Senegal's National Coalition for Cultural Diversity, to
discuss the evolution of the cultural diversity file.
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