| Summary: |
In a planet diminished by mundialization, the voices of the excluded
people begin to be listened to. The participative will in the recognition
of the diverse identities is opposed to the passive cultural consumerism.
It seems that the corporate transnacionalization imposes, without
any other alternative, the unidirectional message by controlling the
information and the powerful cultural industries with the establishment
of life styles and the manipulation of the fertile creation of the
popular imagination. As a new expression of violence, the homogenizing
trend threatens to kill cultural
diversity and disappear the raison d’ être of all
nations and the different sectors coexisting in all of them.
However, the resistance begins to take shape. The autochthonous
peoples claim for their rights to preserve their languages and life
styles. The Afro-Descendants claim their identity profile and their
place in society. Women and homosexuals fight for the elimination
of discriminatory barriers. The effects of neoliberalism lead to
the recovery of a solidary neighboring spirit , while the South
is becoming part of the North with the uncontrollable power of migrations.
In those circumstances, culture becomes a reason for resistance
and participative will. This emerging reality requires study, debate,
analysis and reflection to set a diagnosis adjusted to the contemporaneous
needs. It is not a question of making another unique speech, but
to discover the real dynamics in the multiplicity of our voices
from different ambits, of contrasting and complementary practices:
from academic practice and experience of our precarious cultural
industries, from speeches of those excluded people, of those who
carry the autochthonous cultures and from the base organizations
of popular education. Today, defending cultural diversity is equivalent
to preserving the future of humankind.
The International Congress on Culture and Development to be held
from June 11 to 14, 2007 will offer the opportunity for this ineluctable
debate that will take place at the Havana International Conference
Center, Cuba.
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