CULTURE: ‘Rough Row’ Breaks Out on Diversity

By Julio Godoy Reprint | | Print |

Julio Godoy

PARIS, Feb 17 2005 (IPS) - A "rough row" has broken out between the United States and a host of other countries on protection of cultural diversity.

Most European and developing countries want an international agreement that would in effect allow state subsidies for national cultural ‘products’ such as cinema, music and books. They also want the option to tax import of foreign films, music, and television programmes.

About 100 European, Latin American, African, and Asian countries supported these measures over the course of two weeks of talks at the offices of Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) from Jan.. 31. The United States backed by Japan, Mexico and India opposed such protectionist moves.

Unesco had been mandated in October 2003 to prepare the draft of a binding international treaty to protect "the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions." Far from agreement, the talks produced what a Caribbean participant called a "rough row".

At the heart of the dispute is the drafting of Article 19 of the proposed treaty. "This article means that if, for instance, the government of Haiti wants to subsidise an emerging local audiovisual sector, or a particular music or film production, it would have the right to do so, supported by Unesco and its international binding convention, regardless of what other international legislation says," Sasha Constanza-Chock, media expert with the network Communication Rights in the Information Society told IPS.

That would mean that such a Unesco agreement would override any other agreements before the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which has been trying to steer international trade legislation away from subsidies and forbidding tariffs. The Unesco treaty seeks in effect to turn cultural products into an exception from WTO rules.

A draft Unesco treaty also allows governments to ban foreign investment if it would "cause serious damage or threat to the diversity of cultural expressions."

France is leading the case for such protection, in the face of firm opposition from the United States.

"Unesco should not be involved in international trade policy, which remains the competence of the WTO," the U.S. delegation said in its written submission. The U.S. delegation has demanded that the word "protection" be defined within the Unesco convention to make sure it cannot lead to trade barriers as a part of a cultural policy.

"The aim of the U.S. government is that the convention rules do not diminish the U.S. entertainment industry’s domination of the world market," said Constanza-Chock.

The U.S. position has been largely inspired by the Motion Picture Association of America. Its new director Dan Glickman said recently that "protection of cultural diversity should not be used as excuse to raise new trade barriers."

Several countries fundamentally oppose the U.S. view. "It is obvious that for the U.S. government there cannot be a cultural policy," said a Latin American diplomat. "For Washington books, films, audiovisual products, music, are merchandise."

No one was surprised that two weeks of talks produced no agreement. Unesco was looking for a definitive text by March to present to its general assembly in October. Now another round of talks has been scheduled for late May.

Unesco had adopted a non-binding resolution in 2001 recognising cultural diversity as "a common heritage of humanity." The United States was not then a part of Unesco; it had quit in 1984 alleging that Unesco was mismanaging its resources. It returned to Unesco in 2003 just before the Unesco general assembly mandated director-general Koïchiro Matsuura to prepare a binding convention.

A draft treaty produced in July last year defined "publishing, printing and literature; music and performing arts; visual arts, craft, design, architecture, audiovisual and new media, and cultural heritage" as cultural goods that contributed to cultural diversity and therefore needed protection.

"Certain developing countries – say India, or Mexico – already have a strong cultural production, but most countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean do not," a Caribbean delegate told IPS. "For those countries, the need for the state to support film, music, audiovisual production is crucial."