promoting cultural rights through intercultural dialogue

8/14/2019 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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