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	Cultural Diversity, a new universal ethic in the cause of Development and Peace by UNESCO   Oct. 2005   "UNESCO endorses Cultural Protection", by Molly Moore. (Washington Post)   In a vote cast as a battle of global conformity vs. cultural diversity, delegates to UNESCO turned aside U.S. objections and overwhelmingly approved the first international treaty designed to protect movies, music and other cultural treasures from foreign competition.   The 148 to 2 vote at the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization emerged as a referendum on the world"s love-hate relationship with Hollywood, Big Macs and Coca-Cola.   "The American delegate doesn"t like to hear the word "protection," Joseph Yai Olabiyi Babalola, clad in the ornate gold robes of his tiny country, Benin, told UNESCO delegates. "Not all countries are equal - some need to be protected."   The measure passed at a time of growing fear in many countries that the world"s increasing economic interdependence, known as globalization, is bringing a surge of foreign products across their borders that could wipe out local cultural heritage. France, for instance, has long kept measures in place to protect its film industry against imports, notably Hollywood productions.   Called the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the document approved Thursday declares the rights of countries to "maintain, adopt and implement policies and measures that they deem appropriate for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions on their territory."   Cultural expressions are defined as including music, art, language and ideas as well as "cultural activities, goods and services."   The convention would go into effect if 30 countries ratify it, a step that U.S. officials say is inevitable.   Advocates of the Treaty say it will help small nations promote and distribute their cultural products on the world market. Supporters included some of America"s closest allies, such as Canada and Britain. British delegate Timothy Craddock called the document "clear, carefully balanced and consistent with the principles of international law and fundamental human rights."   The showdown came two years after the United States rejoined UNESCO following a two-decade boycott that began over objections to the organization"s media policy.   The vote came less than a month after delegates at a U.N.-organized summit in Geneva sided against the United States to try to remove technical control of the Internet from U.S. hands. Talks deadlocked after the European Union refused to support the United States, in a move that stunned American officials.   "In the battles over issues critical to shaping the globe in the 21st century," French sociologist Eric Fassin said, "each side is defending its own best interests." Most of the world, he said, is asking: "Is there only one way to look at things?"   Oct 2005 (UNESCO)   The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, adopted unanimously by the 185 Member States represented at the 31st session of the General Conference in 2001 in the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, is the founding act of a new ethic being promoted by UNESCO at the dawn of the 21st century. For the first time the international community is provided with a wide-ranging standard-setting instrument to underpin its conviction that respect for cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue is one of the surest guarantees of development and peace.   The last decade of the 20th century has seen the advent of so-called conflicts of "cultural origins". The beginning of a new millennium was not very successful in averting the mistrust that people feel towards "others". In fact, our Planet counts an endless number of peoples, each with its specific language, traditions, know-how and identity, which is a source of infinite creativity and as such should enrich our lives. In this era of globalization, can we go on rejecting or remaining ignorant of this wealth?   Cultural Diversity has been at the core of UNESCO’s concerns since the Organization came into being more than 50 years ago. The adoption of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2 November 2002) confirmed yet again the Organization’s commitment to promoting the "fruitful diversity of ... cultures" for a more open and creative world in the new 21st century context. Visit the related web page
	Mugabe"s Colonial Ghosts by International Herald Tribune Zimbabwe   20 Oct. 2005   President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe went to Rome for the meeting of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization this week. As he usually does whenever he manages to elude sanctions that restrict his travels to Europe and America, he let loose at George W. Bush and Tony Blair, likening them to Hitler and Mussolini and blaming them for all of Zimbabwe"s woes.   While he spoke, armed bandits back in Zimbabwe were raiding potato farms, and opposition leaders were drumming up support for a boycott of Senate elections next month. In addition, aid agencies say 4 million of Zimbabwe"s 11.5 million people are facing famine.   Mugabe"s response has been to raze squatter camps around Harare, driving hundreds of thousands of the destitute into greater misery. The United Nations has called that a "catastrophic injustice." Mugabe has called criticism of the destruction "blatant interference." Zimbabweans are not hungry, he said - they just can not eat their favorite foods.   Clearly, the Food and Agriculture Organization can allow anyone it wants to attend its World Food Day ceremony in Rome. The United Nations and its agencies must remain ecumenical and open. And the occasional appearance by Mugabe does help remind the world that the 81-year-old tyrant is still around, still blaming colonialists, neocolonialists, racists and everybody else for his country"s suffering, still fixing elections and hounding his opponents.   There was a time when Mugabe"s credentials as a fighter against white-minority rule earned him respect. That time is long gone. He is a millstone around the neck of one of Africa"s best endowed lands. Who says so? The South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has said Mugabe is a "caricature of an African dictator"; Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, who has called on Mugabe to stop "fighting colonialist ghosts"; the Nobel-Prize-winning writer Wole Soyinka, who has labeled Mugabe"s regime "a disgrace to the continent."   Mugabe has run Zimbabwe for a quarter of a century, crushing every attempt to dislodge him, so there is little point in urging him to heed his fellow Africans. But there is every reason to support the opposition in its brave efforts to oust Mugabe"s clique, and to assure the suffering people of Zimbabwe that the world has not forgotten them.
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