Promoting Cultural Rights through Intercultural Dialogue
Transcript of Promoting Cultural Rights through Intercultural Dialogue
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PROMOTING CULTURAL RIGHTS
THROUGH INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE
Its Conditions and Elements
Introduction
We live in a multicultural world - a world of different ethnic cultures. People are
different but all are aspiring together to greater unity amidst differences, and asserting
their desire to active participation in the life of the society where they live. Natural law
designs such aspiration to greater unity of humanity and thus, acceptable to everybody.
The world is characterized by the rapid growing interaction among people and
communities. This heightened interconnectedness brings people closer to each other,
diminishes differences but at the same time heightens awareness of our differences and
enhances self-knowledge. However, at times it creates conflict in which cultural
differences lead to division and polarization of populations. Sometimes it even results toviolence, hate-campaigns and ghettoization. How do we then confront such situation?
How do we uphold our ideal goals for greater unity and active participation?
The great aspiration for unity and active participation in the society necessitates a
move from multiculturality to interculturality. It is a movement from a mere adaptation of
one's differences to living and valuing with our differences.1 And that movement can be
made possible through intercultural dialogue, a way of promoting and protecting our
cultural rights. Yo-yo Ma, the founder of Silk Road Project (a musical ensemble) said
once: Everytime I open a newspaper, I am reminded that we live in a world where we
can no longer afford not to know our neighbors.2 The aspiration of Silk Road project is
one of the best practices of intercultural dialogue that is recognized by UNESCO. Thisaspiration is essential because by its absence conflict is ready to reign over. One of the
ways to get to know better our neighbors is intercultural dialogue or a dialogue of
cultures. This paper will focus on identifying and understanding the elements of
intercultural dialogue in relation to its immediate goal of promoting cultural rights and
projecting its vision of global unity. First, it will describe the objective circumstances that
necessitates intercultural dialogue. Second, it will describe the essential concepts and
conditions of understanding intercultural dialogue.
Establishing the Premise for Intercultural Dialogue
The human being by nature is a cultural being which means he/she is in his/her
culture and culture in turn subsists in him/her. That culture defines his/her original
historical situation. His/her exercise of freedom to interact and communicate is culturally
conditioned but not restrictive of his/her praxis of freedom.3 This freedom is guaranteed
by the free exercise of his/her cultural rights and thus with all other fundamental human
1 cf. DIACO, E.,Il Progetto Culturale CEI in Rapporto con le Culture, in Servizio Migranti, XVIII,
1/08, p. 22
2 Yo-yo Ma is the director of The Silk Road Project a musical ensemble, inspired by the cultural
traditions of the historical Silk Road, aims as a catalyst, promoting innovation and learning through the
arts. Its vision is to connect the worlds neighborhoods by bringing together artists and audiences
around the globe., in http://www.silkroadproject.org/.
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rights because of their interdependency and indivisibility. This free exercise of his/her
cultural rights is not aimed only at defending one's culture of origin but in searching and
discovering together (as a community of persons) new forms of human solidarity that will
counteract situation of misery and social exclusion through dialogue, active participation
and harmonious co-existence.
Cultural rights are human rights [] which are an expression of and a pre-
requisite for human dignity. (Preamble)4 It is a practical principle as Jacques Maritain
would put it, common in the various traditions and schools of thought. They should be
seen not as 'supernumerary rights' but rather as capacities of capacities, as they have been
called, in so far as they contribute to the effective exercise of other human rights, at the
heart of which lies our sense of dignity. 5 Through the exercise of these rights, human
dignity is recognized and protected. Human beings are be able to fully participate in
freedom and harness their goal for integral human development. These guarantee
participation and freedom in the cultural life of the community which is essential to
human dignity. The full exercise of these rights must be guaranteed also by the State by
providing access to the economic and political resources available and removing barriersof equal participation of the individuals or group of individuals in the territory. Thus,
each one is called to protect and promote these rights that guarantee opportunities to
choose a fuller, more valuable and valued existence. And this could be possible through
intercultural dialogue.
Objective Circumstances that Necessitates Intercultural Dialogue
Following the wake of the two World Wars, the world leaders, and its constituents
awakened by the great humanitarian crises of the moment, expressed their desire to repair
the damage and prevent a future one by investing more on endeavors that will promote
international cooperations and peace as its outcome. It was on this context, that
international bodies like the United Nations and the succeeding organizations like
UNESCO, ILO, etc., were instituted with a clear vision of promoting lasting peace
through development in the world. What motivates them to aspire such dream is the
discovery of the fact that ignorance to human fundamental differences and diversities
brings about war. This reality is clearly enunciated in the preamble of UNESCO's
Constitution which is a declaration of State parties which states:
That since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must
be constructed; That ignorance of each others ways and lives has been a common cause,
throughout the history of mankind, of that suspicion and mistrust between the peoples of the world
through which their differences have all too often broken into war; That the great and terrible warwhich has now ended was a war made possible by the denial of the democratic principles of the
3 cf. BETANCOURT, R. F.,Philosophical Presupposition of Intercultural Dialogue, in Forum for
Intercultural Philosophy 1 (2000), in http://them.polylog.org/1/ffr-en.htm.
4 Fribourg Declaration, (7 May 2007),Preamble. The text was presented by the Observatory of Diversity
and Cultural Rights (which headquarters are at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Ethnics and Human
Rights at the Fribourg University) together with the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and
UNESCO. , in www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/Fribourg%20Declaration.pdf.
5 UNESCO, World Report,Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue , UNESCO
Publishing, France 2009, p. 230.
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voluntary or a free choice migration.10 In the process of migration, the transmigration of
culture takes place unconsciously. As Hon. Lamberto Dini (2000), says when
individuals move, they preserve their roots, their specificity and their experience, even
when they come into contact with societies different from their own.11 When culture
meets with another culture, changes in various degrees are effected. How does this
relationship affect the diffusion, mutation or, dissolution of certain cultures? What impactdoes it has in the post-modern society?
Globalization is a very complex phenomenon that it is viewed in various context
and different perspectives which sometimes is simplistically categorized under a pro or
an anti stance. Debates on globalization especially in the field of economics and politics
are intensifying. For the sake of argument, I will subscribe to optimistic perspectives of
globalization. Jan Nederveen Pieterse (2009) defines globalization as an objective,
empirical process of increasing economic and political connectivity, a subjective process
unfolding in consciousness as the collective awareness of growing global
interconnectedness, and a host of specific globalizing projects that seek to shape global
conditions.12 He describes globalization as a complex multidimensional set of processes(objective, subjective, vision) which is long and dialectical that is continually evolving in
history aiming towards human integration which is erroneously thought of as creating a
global village.13 He looks at migration as part of this complex process of human
integration. But what harnesses the various facets of this process is the fact of its
interconnectedness. With the boom of science and technology, the network of
interconnectedness and interdependences is rapidly developing.
The development of this interconnectedness takes place within a specific culture
and so, culture is affected and its protagonists. Since the process is arduous and
dialectical, conflicts are inevitable. John Tomlinson (2006) describes that:
Culture simply does not transfer in this unilinear way. Movement between cultural/ geographical
areas always involves interpretation, translation, mutation, adaptation, and 'indigenization' as the
receiving culture brings its own cultural resources to bear in dialectical fashion, upon 'cultural
imports'.14
An encounter between two or more different cultures brought about by migration brings
tension. In the process of globalization, this encounter amounts to the
deterretorialization of culture that is the lifting out of its traditional anchoring in
particular localities.15 Thus cultures have to enter into dialogue in order to arrive at its
10 cf. European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research, (ERICarts), Sharing Diversity : National
Approaches to Intercultural Dialogue in Europe, March 2008, in
http://www.interculturaldialogue.eu/web/icd-project-report.php.
11 This is an excerpt from the speech delivered by Hon. Lamberto Dini, a former Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Italy, during the 55 th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, 13 September
2000, in http://www.un.org/ga/webcast/statements/italyE.htm.
12 PIETERSE, J. N.,Globalization and Culture: Global Mlange, (2nd ed), Rowman & Littlefield, USA2009, p. 17.
13 cf.Ibid., p. 26.
14 TOMLINSON, J., Globalisation and Culture, in www.nottingham.edu.cn/resources/documents/A1OGZAVA.pdf.
15 Ibid.
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ultimate goal which is human integration and to avoid a compromise or a total dissolution
of that particular culture.
Understanding Intercultural Dialogue (ICD)16
The two objective conditions of cultural diversity, and globalization and migrationrequire intercultural dialogue in order to assure the exercise of one's cultural rights and
the attainment of peace as a constitutive condition for integral human development.
Intercultural dialogue is understood as an open and respectful exchange of views
between individuals, groups with different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic
backgrounds and heritage on the basis of mutual understanding and respect.17
Here, intercultural dialogue implies two things: as an ethical precept and as an
instrument. As an ethical precept, it refers to special ethical quality which is grounded in
respect of the other as an equal subject with dignity and rights whether as an individual or
as a group of individuals.18 This presupposes certain anthropological principles and
theoretical assumptions. Any forms of dialogue requires recognition of human beingsequal dignity and fundamental rights. It requires freedom of the individual to express
oneself as well as to listen to the views of others, and the freedom to make choices or
decisions. Moreover, intercultural dialogue must be based on the premise that all
cultures are and have always been in continual evolution [].19 Cultures are brought
about by multiple influences althroughout its development. It is a dynamic reality which
is rooted in its enduring values. Its forms oftentimes change but its significance remains.
As an instrument, it refers to a strategy to overcome barriers to integral human
development. The White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue produced by the Council of
Europe considers ICD as an instrument of mediation and reconciliation [] which
addresses real concerns about social fragmentation and insecurity, [] strengthening
democratic stability and the fight against prejudice and stereotypes, and [] the
managing of multiple cultural affiliations.20
Constitutive Elements
There are three constitutive elements of intercultural dialogue that qualify it as an
ethical quality, and as an instrument for integral human development. These elements are:
culture, dialogue and interculturality. These three interact in any forms and best practices
of intercultural dialogue that need to be defined.
The Observatory of Diversity and Cultural Rights, whose seat is in Fribourgdefines culture in its document called the Fribourg Declaration of 2007 as those values,
beliefs, convictions, languages, knowledge and the arts, traditions, institutions and ways
of life through which a person or a group expresses their humanity and the meanings that
16 ICD is an abbreviation of intercultural dialogue as used by the European Institute for Comparative
Cultural Research.
17 COUNCIL OF EUROPE, White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue Living Together as Equal in Dignity
(Strasbourg, 7 May 2008), p. 10., in
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/intercultural/Source/Pub_White_Paper/White%20Paper_final_revised_EN.pdf.
18 cf. BETANCOURT, R.F., Philosophical Presupposition 19 UNESCO, World Report 2009 , p. 54.
20 Ibid., pp. 17-18.
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they give to their existence and to their development. (Art. 2.a)21 The interrelation of all
these contents of culture makes up culture. Raimon Pannikar (2009) puts it in this way,
that every culture is not a 'weltanschauung' (world vision) but a world in itself that
presents and not only represents the real world in which we live.22 It is a complex world
which is intrinsically link to human existence. Man exists and develops within a
particular culture and at the same time conscious of the fact that, that culture co-exist withother cultures. Culture also is one that differentiates the person or group of persons from
the rests. It set ups their unique identity, and integrity as an individual or as a community.
According to Munir Fasheh (2007), as quoted by the UNESCO's World Report of
2009: Culture is like a river, flowing through vast areas giving life to people. It changes
all the time, although we go on referring to it as if it were the same river. 23 It is ever-
changing by taking on diverse forms across time and space which is always embodied in
the unique experiences and history of the people. Persons bring in them their unique
culture that makes up their identity. It develops in manner that is not unilinear which
means it intersperse with other distinct cultures and has the capacity to reconfigures itself
according to circumstances.24 Though its form changes according to its social context andtime, it always reverberate back to its root (values and significance). Thus, culture needs
to be protected and promoted.
Another essential element of intercultural dialogue is the fact of interculturality.
It refers to the existence and equitable interaction of diverse cultures and the possibility
of generating shared cultural expressions through dialogue and mutual respect. (Art.
4.8)25 When cultures meet with other cultures, tensions are inevitable because of certain
elements that seem to be unfamiliar in its other culture. The interculturality promotes a
way to persons to be able to live with these differences or diversities by discovering,
affirming and valuing the differences in itself. It goes beyond mere accommodations of
differences but of generating shared meanings amidst diversities necessary to confront
common problems and challenges in the community where they live.26 It requires
openness to the truth of other cultures for no single culture nor a group of persons has the
monopoly of universal truths. It is then, allowing ones life to be penetrated and be
transformed by the other culture without losing the value of one's original culture for the
sake of the vision of humanity for peace and development. In simple terms, it means
learning from each other's cultures for being able to live life to its fullest.
Interculturality is also an attitude of trusting each other, the other who does not
think the way I think but who is also a human being like me. This trust does not need any
third party to mediate in order to persist but only needs a dialogue for us to continue to
21 Fribourg Declaration ...
22 cf. Ogni cultura non e' una weltanschauung, una cosmovisione, un modo di vedere il mondo: ogni
singola cultura e' un mondo; non e' una visione del mondo o sul mondo: ogni cultura ci presenta (e non
solo rappresenta) un mondo nel quale viviamo realmente []. cf. PANNIKAR, R.,Pluralismo e
Interculturalita', Culture e Religioni in Dialogo, Jaca Book, Milano 2009, p. 192.23 UNESCO, World Report 2009 , p. 20.
24 cf. MARKS, S. and A. CLAPHAM,Lessico dei Diritti Umani (trad.), Vita Pensiero, Milano 2009, p. 99.25 UNESCO, Convention on the Protection , III, Art. 4.8.
26 cf. BONANATE, L. e R. PAPINI, (eds.),Dialogo Interculturale e Diritti Umani, la Dichiarazione
Universali dei Diritti Umani, Genesi, evoluzione e problemi odierni (1948-2008), Mulino, Bologna
2008, p. 24.
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co-exist in searching for the truth. Pannikar calls it pluralism (which is not plurality)
which refers to a fundamental human attitude that holds the possibility of proliferation of
truths (aspirations for harmony) which are irreducible into a single truth. 27 Pluralism rests
on the idea that no single group has the monopoly of truth of the universal spectrum of
human experience. It believes that there are diverse centers of intelligibility in this world.
Thus, each one must be aware and accept this reality. Though this idea of pluralism heapplies it primarily to interreligious dialogue, it holds true as well in intercultural
dialogue.
The fact that culture presents itself in diverse forms and subsists althroughout the
dynamics of the human experience; its development happens in the various centers of
intelligibility in this world that requires pluralism, the remaining task that is left behind is
to develop a common language for understanding and respecting these diversities without
sacrificing its essential values and its goal of arriving at a common, shared conviction of
truths. The common language that I'm referring here is no other than the third element of
intercultural dialogue which is dialogue.
In the UNESCO's World Report 2009, it defines dialogue as fundamentally
opening myself to another so that he might speak and reveal my myth that I cannot know
myself because it is transparent to me, self-evident.28 It is like meeting the other openly,
that is, allowing the other to engage and disentangle my own viewpoints that are hidden
and undeveloped. It is bringing into consciousness the potentials that are untapped from
within through a process that begins from within and thus transform it into a shared
conviction. Pannikar calls this dialogue as dialogic dialogue.29 The key to dialogue is
interaction that involves creative abilities to transform insights and challenges into
innovations of life. It is a tedious process that makes one feel uncomfortable because it
goes beyond the process of mere tolerance and acceptance of the other. It is lifting oneself
from the center of the stage and deconstructing ones absolute position.
Dialogic dialogue (dialogo dialogale, Ital.) is not a mere dialogue of ideas like
dialectical dialogue but a dialogue of persons. It is not entering into the arena to struggle
with our ideas but encountering in the spiritual agora where we share, listen and hope forharmony (truth).30 In the pursuit of harmony, both persons in dialogue should free
themselves from their particular interests and absolute convictions. It requires an attitude
of pluralism, an attitude that knows how to confront and communicate antagonisms if
ever existed in an intelligible way. Openness is an imperative of dialogue in order to
allow one to re-evaluate and reflect ones position and condition. Not to engage in
dialogue risks in developing stereotypical perception of the other, that is, a demarcationof the other person or group of persons as something inferior to mine or ours. This creates
illusions and insecurities that will lead to building of walls between us.31 Thus, it violates
the human beings exercise of his/her cultural rights and hampers the process towards
integration and development.
27 cf. PANNIKAR, R.,Pluralismo , pp. 55-56.
28 UNESCO, World Report 2009 , p. 46.29 cf. PANNIKAR, R.,Pluralismo , p. 264.
30 Ibid. Pannikar prefers to call truth as harmony because truth is not only limited to the objective realm(the realm of ideas) but also to its subjective realm (the realm of persons).
31 cf. COUNCIL OF EUROPE, White Paper, p. 41.
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Conclusion
Intercultural dialogue serves as the vehicle towards the attainment of the goals of
all human societies integration, integral development, unity, and peace. It awakens the
consciousness of the people to their ignorance of the value of their differences and the
diversities of culture which are essential their existence. It overcomes the utopia ofcreating a one big world, a global village where uniformity is the rule and material
development as the sole vehicle. Its main resources comes from within the person,
expressed through cultures in time and space and communicated by the aid of external
resources.
Certainly, it demands the courage to dispose ones vulnerability by allowing
ourselves to doubt certain convictions withheld for quite a long time; and at times even to
the point of dismantling ones absolute stance not simply in order to accommodate the
new things or submit to ones inferiority but in order to discover, learn and construct
together new shared vision in life. In this way, dialogue is the way. It is a way that is
intercultural (conscious of the existence and equitable interaction of diverse cultures),dialogic (aims toward a real encounter of persons equal in dignity and conscious of their
rights), and cultural (express freely in manifold and creative ways conscious of the
necessity of active participation of others). Therefore, the common language that could
described is intercultural dialogue the place and vehicle for the promotion of cultural
rights.
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B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Betancourt, Raul Fornet, Philosophical Presupposition of Intercultural Dialogue, in
Forum for Intercultural Philosophy 1(2000), in
http://them.polylog.org/1/ffr-en.htm.
Bonanate, L. and R. Panini, Dialogo Interculturale e Diritti Umani, la Dichiarazione
Universali dei Diritti Umani, Genesi, evoluzione e problemi odierni (1948-2008),
Mulino, Bologna 2008.
Council of Europe, White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue Living Together as Equal in
Dignity (Strasbourg, 7 May 2008), in
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/intercultural/Source/Pub White_Paper/White
%20Paper_final_revised_EN.pdf
Diaco, Ernesto Il Progetto Culturale CEI in Rapporto con le Culture, in ServizioMigranti XVIII, 1/08, pp. 21-26.
European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research, (ERICarts), Sharing Diversity :
National Approaches to Intercultural Dialogue in Europe , March 2008, in
http://www.interculturaldialogue.eu/web/icd-project-report.php
Fribourg Declaration (7 May 2007), in
www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/Fribourg%20Declaration.pdf.
Marks, Susan and A. Clapham, Lessico dei Diritti Umani (trad.), Vita Pensiero, Milano
2009.
Pannikar, Raimon, Pluralismo e Interculturalita, Culture e Religioni in Dialogo Tomo 1,
Jaca Book, Milano 2009.
Pieterse, Jan Nederveen, Globalization and Culture: Global Mlange, (2nd ed), Rowman &
Littlefield, USA 2009.
Tomlinson, John Globalisation and Culture, in
www.nottingham.edu.cn/resources/documents/A1OGZAVA.pdf
UNESCO, Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions (20 October 2005), in
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001429/142919e.pdf
UNESCO, Our Creative Diversity: Report of the World Commission on Culture and
Development (summary version), July 1996, in
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001055/105586e.pdf
UNESCO, World Report Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue,
UNESCO Publishing, France 2009.
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