| The protection of cultural diversity
from a political and economic point of view in fact became pressing with
globalization, which is characterized by the liberalization on a large scale of
economic and commercial exchange, and thus, what has been called the
commodification of culture. It has been noted, for instance, that over the past
20 years, trade in cultural goods has quadrupled and the new international rules
(WTO, OECD) on trade are increasingly removing State support and protection
measures in favour of national goods and services in the name of market freedom
and free trade. For those in favour of the promotion of cultural diversity, which includes Canada, France and the Group of 77 (group of developing countries), the aim is above all to obtain from the United States the guarantee that the “Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”, signed by UNESCO in November 2005, would not be subordinated to international trade instruments. Indeed, for the United States and other supporters of free trade, the convention is a had idea and the measures referred to above stem quite simply from an interventionist conception of the State which is not likely to favour the market. Subsidies to cultural enterprises, the imposition of broadcast quotas and restrictions on foreign ownership of the media would, for them, interfere with the natural development of the market. In addition, even though it is not official, the convention on cultural diversity is for many Americans an attempt to undermine the global supremacy of their audiovisual industries. If the general understanding of cultural diversity is based mainly on binary distinctions such as modern culture/local culture, the reality of cultural diversity is not binary, but stems from respect for and acceptance of differences, dialogue, and the quest for shared values, in order to leave behind the monologism that is a feature of the information society. In this setting, diversity is consequently a way of approaching the structure of how we live together, based on the acceptance of a plural vision of the world. We can see then that cultural diversity is perceived here as the integration, rather than the superposition or juxtaposition of cultures and that the information society in which it is expressed is above all a society of shared knowledge. |