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English Projects "HUMAN RIGHTS, DIVERSITY AND PEACE" (2009-03-02)"DIVERSITY AS RESOURCE: NUTRITION, KNOWLEDGE, COMMUNICATION, RIGHT" (2004-04-24) "RED TRIUMPH OVER THE EXPERT" Racism and the West: the Theory of Inferiority (2001/09/07) |
"DIVERSITY AS RESOURCE: NUTRITION, KNOWLEDGE, COMMUNICATION, RIGHT"A project towards an International Convention to Protect Cultural DiversityDate: 2004-04-24Author: Gherush92 With the international project “Diversity as a Resource” we propose to offer a new understanding of cultural diversity, meant as “the instrument, the means and the technique of existence with which humanity enters in relation with biological and environmental diversity, perceives it, knows it, manages it, conserves it and increases it”. Cultural diversity is an intrinsic quality that cannot be set aside by humanity. It is a metahistorical quality characterizing human groups in their environmental, social and productive relationships. The ancient nature of peoples and ethnic groups that have reached our times through a strenuous defense of their own cultural identity, is proof of the scientific validity of cultural diversity in the general context of the economy of life. There are the same number of components or entities of cultural diversity as there are existential options for humanity, successful experiments for living in all ecological environments, even ones with extreme conditions. These bear witness to the success and elevation of the degree of diversity. On the contrary, the loss of cultural diversity corresponds to the narrowing of life possibilities for all species, including humans. Cultural well-being is associated with the practice of cultural diversity. Cultural well-being is the condition in which a people or a local community engages in full enjoyment of their own identity from which they draw the skills, specializations, kinds of knowledge and experiences to guarantee their own existence. The problem of cultural diversity is present today in different aspects and formulations in almost all of the most important negotiations, treatises and activities of international agencies working in the area of environment, population and development such as: World Health Organization, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Agenda 21, Sustainable Development Convention, Mediterranean Plan of Action, FAO. Cultural diversity is the subject of scientific and cultural programs of UNESCO and the European Commission and is also a question taken up in the activities of the UN High Commission on Human Rights. The Diversity as a “Resource Project” is proposed as a system of comprehensive comparative consideration of cultural diversity, bringing under one umbrella the fragments of the problem that are currently spread out into different areas. It addresses governments and civil society, public institutions, the scientific community, cultural institutions, international organizations, industries, media for the purpose of increasing sensitivity as to benefits that can derive from valorizing and considering cultural diversity as a foundational resource of sustainable society and of harmonious living based on the recognition and respect for human rights. The Diversity as a “Resource Project” is proposed as a system of comprehensive comparative consideration of cultural diversity, bringing under one umbrella the fragments of the problem that are currently spread out into different areas. It addresses governments and civil society, public institutions, the scientific community, cultural institutions, international organizations, industries, media for the purpose of increasing sensitivity as to benefits that can derive from valorizing and considering cultural diversity as a foundational resource of sustainable society and of harmonious living based on the recognition and respect for human rights. One of the effects hoped for in this new legal code is the possibility for indigenous peoples to obtain a form of self-representation at the UN. It needs to be pointed out that the proposal of this new convention is not aimed at activating a mechanism for protecting the so-called cultural minorities, even if it certainly includes in its orientation this purpose as well. The objective is to obtain the scientific, political and legal recognition of the crucial role played by Cultural Diversity both in industrialized nations and in emerging nations. Cultural Diversity is the key to attaining cultural well-being from which environmental and economic well-being are derived. The result will have to be the creation of a code of conduct that governments, industries, scientific organizations will be obliged to abide by in order to preserve cultural diversity in local, regional, national, and international situations. There exists a recognized tie between the tendency to homogenize cultures and make them uniform and the negative phenomena for the ecology of the planet, such as climatic change, the reduction of species, the greenhouse effect, the reduction in forested land, desertification, the increase in endemic diseases and environmental migrations. All these phenomena can be related to general process of reduction of diversity, of the levelling of ecological differences. Among these, the reduction of cultural diversity must give rise to greater alarm and attention since it signifies loss of forms of knowledge, techniques and technologies of age-old forms of spirituality, all fundamental elements for the preservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. To oppose this process it is necessary to consider the intrinsic relation between cultural diversity and environmental diversity. It represents a new kind of study, research and planning where different disciplines, social sectors and culturals enter in to communication. Biotechnologies and genetic engineering that study and treat living organisms as separate from their own ecosystem run the risk of impoverishing the intellectual articulation of their scientific content if there is the triumph of a discipline-bound schematic vision of reality that does not take environmental complexity into consideration and that does not engage in dialogue with other peoples and cultures. Full-fledged intellectual exchange with peoples who have traditional knowledge represents a key condition of testing, security and cultural fertility. To open new scientific alternatives the project proposes to make a comparison between formalised science and traditional knowledge which belongs to indigenous, aborigines, nomadic peoples and local communities. If one abandons the prejudice, which has divided the world into uncultured and highly-civilized people, one can see traditional knowledge as a cognitive and technical system, which is an alternative to the formalised world, supported by an interpretation and a holistic vision, which allows to know and increase environmental diversity. This comparison can take place if it relies upon equal conditions and on full and legal recognition of indigenous peoples’ ancestral rights and upon the creation of suitable protection systems of traditional knowledge. In the development of the project particular attention is paid to the diffusion of the meaning and positive values of cultural diversity in the educational system. This is seen as a preventative measure against racism, ethic and social discrimination, xenophobia and relative scientific implications. The technological world has to acquire cultural diversity as a positive value, as a resource for itself, recover its function within its developing process, rediscover it in its territory and in its cultural and spiritual tradition. Only in this way it will be able to recognise the value of others’ diversity. Others who have preserved their cultural diversity even at the cost of suffering very serious conflicts and by which, today, also modernity benefits. |
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