Culture clash pits US against allies

The US today found itself isolated at the UN’s cultural agency, with even traditional ally Britain in the opposing camp over a proposed pact on cultural diversity that the US ambassador said could be used to erect trade barriers against cultural exports.

“This has been a very disappointing experience, both in terms of the process and the substance. This is not the way most negotiations go in multilateral international organisations,” US Ambassador to Unesco Louise Oliver said.

In a separate address to the Unesco assembly, she said the proposed text was “deeply flawed.”

She complained that the US, which only rejoined the organisation in 2003 after a 19-year absence, was not given a fair chance to discuss its proposed amendments.

“Under the provisions of the convention as drafted, any state, in the name of cultural diversity, might invoke the ambiguous provisions of this convention to try to assert a right to erect trade barriers to goods or services that are deemed to be cultural expressions,” the US representative said.

“That term – cultural expressions – has never been clearly defined and therefore is open to wide misinterpretation.”

The proposed convention aims to protect cultural diversity, promote ethnic traditions and minority languages, and protect local cultures from the negative impacts of globalization, Unesco says.

The majority of Unesco’s member states support the project, including Britain. British ambassador Timothy Craddock said the draft text was “clear, carefully balanced, consistent with the principles of international law and fundamental human rights.”

He also said the European Union believes that the convention was “frequently and thoroughly negotiated by all parties, most of whom have made several compromises during this process.”

He spoke on the EU’s behalf because Britain currently holds the 25-nation bloc’s rotating presidency.

The meeting of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation votes on the text on Thursday. It then needs to be ratified separately by 30 of the 191 member states to take effect.

French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres hailed the text as a recognition of France’s long-held contention that cultural activities should be given separate consideration in trade talks and are “not a merchandise like any other.”

“We are no longer the black sheep on this issue,” he said.

Paris has invoked what it calls the “cultural exception” to defend its subsidies for the film industry and quotas that limit how much foreign content can be broadcast on French television and radio.

The draft text says cultural goods and services have a ”distinctive nature” and that states have a right “to maintain, adopt, and implement policies and measures that they deem appropriate for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions on their territory.”

The US pulled out of Unesco in 1984, accusing the agency of anti-American bias and corruption. US first lady Laura Bush said that the decision to rejoin in the 2003 was a signal that her husband, US President George Bush, wants to work with other countries.

Asked if the US is again thinking of withdrawing from Unesco, Oliver said: “That’s not under discussion.”

She said US objections were not based on trying to ensure open markets for Hollywood movies.

“We are not looking at it in that kind of narrow perspective. We’re looking at it in terms of cultural liberty,” she said in an interview. “One would have expected an effort to listen to our concerns.”

She told the Unesco meeting that negotiations seemed to have been driven by “a desire for speed, rather than a demand for a quality consensus text.”

“The door to negotiations that might have led to consensus ... was slammed shut in the face of unresolved, legitimate and reasonable US concerns,” she said.