By Pedro de la Hoz

From one end of the Earth to the other, in the beginning of this new millennium, it seems to be a general opinion about the importance of the cultural heritage, its preservation, management and promotion as fundamental elements of peoples' identity.

At least the countries members of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization formulated in Mexico, during a forum that took place in 1982, a definition that goes "The Cultural Heritage of a people includes the works of its artists, architects, musicians, writers and wise people, as well as the anonymous creations, emerged from the popular soul and the group of values that give life a sense, that is to say, the material and non material works that express the creativity of that people, their language, their rites, their beliefs, their historical  places and monuments , their literature, their works of art and their archives and libraries".

Cultural Heritage is, therefore, the heritage or legacy the different societies have created and transmitted from generation to generation throughout the centuries and includes the material and spiritual productions created by men, which are related to their very human condition.

An overwhelming majority of the countries members of UNESCO also approved on October 20, 2005 in principle ?later would take place the process of ratification by the different national legislative bodies? the International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Cultural Expressions' Diversity.

Reality, however, points towards another direction: with regard to heritage protection, it becomes evident in many cases a deep division between the theoretical postulate and taking practical decisions, and the concept of diversity is being threatened by the present course of globalization.

We should not forget that the United States government did all in its power to sabotage the Convention on Diversity sending letters signed by ineffable Condoleezza Rice to the ministers of foreign affairs of every country, asking them to vote against and insinuating that the United States might leave UNESCO again.

The defense of the cultural diversity against the hegemonic visions, the prevalence of ethical and aesthetic values against commercial approaches, the safeguard of our identity and the connections of culture with the preservation of the human species are issues we must urgently deal with in the debate of ideas of our times.

That is why it is not only necessary but also urgent to encourage opinion exchanges like the one this forum promotes: The diversity of the World Cultural Heritage ?an expression of the cultural treasure of peoples is an statement that should be turned into a program, a collective consciousness, a political compass, a legal instrument and a consistent and daily practice.

There is a long list of violations, oblivions, transgressions and attacks against the cultural heritage and diversity: plundering of archeological sites, oddities robbery, mutilations, black market make up a serious repertoire in which the most horrible crimes, however, try to pass unnoticed through a manipulation of the media, as in the case of the aggression wars and the ethnical genocides from the last decades, from the times of the Third Reich to the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions.

Deep inside, and sometimes even on the very surface, you can notice the cutting contradictions between the blind market laws, the search for huge profits at all costs and the desire to impose a single domination model that guarantees the privileges of a few people at the expense of the degradation of the majority for one thing and for the other at the expense of their intelligence, rationality, sensibility, their spiritual growth and their culture.

To illustrate this, a recent example will be enough: the operation designed to select the so-called new Seven Wonders of the World.

With this apparently noble aim, a private organization called New Open World Corporation (NOWC) launched since 1999 a call to replace the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, since most of them, except for the pyramid of Giza, in Egypt, have not survived until modern times.

Even when their promoters, headed by Swiss Bernard Weber, sworn the profit motive was not their inspiration, the truth  is that under the pretext of defraying their campaign, they employed marketing techniques to sell all sort of objects and souvenirs and assured profitable bonus resultant from their negotiations with the news media.

Proclaimed in Lisbon on July 7 of this year, during a huge show in which the star system was fully deployed, nobody argues about the intrinsic value of the new wonders: the city of Chichen Itza (Mexico), Macchu Picchu (Peru), the Statue of Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), the Taj Mahal (India), the City of Petra (Jordan), the Great Wall (China), and the Coliseum of Rome (Italy), with an honorary place to the pyramid of Giza.

But nobody can deny either that exacerbating the media competition, in the fashion of the race towards the Oscar or the election of Miss Universe, in a subject as serious and difficult as it is the cultural heritage is an aberrant conduct only understandable in terms of the amount of profits in a colossal business.

UNESCO itself remained away from the show, emphasizing that the NOWC campaign only expresses the opinion of the still exiguous part of the world with access to Internet (the net through which the votes were sent) and that the scientific, educational and social efforts linked to the promotion of the World Heritage are diametrically opposed to the advertising methods used by the organizers of the event. At the end, the NOWC will not contribute (not that this was one of its real intentions) in a significant and lasting way to the preservation of the selected places.

If we admit that there is an interconnected weave of similarities and differences among cultures, the really consistent thing to do would be surprise ourselves of the wonderful diversity in human creation and of the need to preserve the values of such an extraordinary heritage.

One of the possible and real ways to get it has to do with promoting intercultural dialog in terms of equality and respect, putting aside any kind of hegemonic pretensions.

The defense of the peoples' identities, the communities and every single human being calls us as part of the battle to change the world and save our species.

17-09-2007