Ministers and senior culture officials from member countries of the Group of 77+China met at Havana’s Convention Center last week to discuss the role of peoples’ arts and cultural heritage in affirming identities in national and universal dialogue. The closing session was attended by Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee and President of the Republic.
The traditions of a people are the heritage of all mankind. Photo: Alejandro Ernesto
It is not an adjective subject. In times of a veritable avalanche of products from the hegemonic centers of the so-called culture industry, the heritage of the people is a guarantee of sovereignty and an affirmation of essential values.
There is a strategy of imposition with clear mercantilist logic – and geopolitical dominance -; but it is important to understand culture as a global public good. For this it is necessary to articulate cooperation mechanisms and alternatives.
That was discussed in Havana. Other topics included the social and economic dimension of culture and the role of the creative and cultural industries in developing countries.
And within the framework of the International Congress of Cultural Heritage, which also took place in the Cuban capital until last Friday, the integral management of cultural heritage and the contribution of tourism dedicated to this area to sustainable development in the least developed countries were discussed.
The call was important as representatives from 57 states were in attendance, with 18 joining virtually.
The Minister of Culture of Cuba, Alpidio Alonso, pointed out that humanity is witnessing a panorama plagued by a multisystem crisis affecting all areas of social and economic life, including culture.
And he denounced that in Cuba the main obstacle to the development of the Caribbean nation is the economic, financial and commercial blockade that the United States has been maintaining for more than 60 years.
Promoting culture as a global public good and transcendent human right is a priority for Cuba.
UNESCO Deputy Director of Culture Ernesto Renato Ottone, in a recorded message for the meeting, called on the G77 + China to join the proposal to set a defined and structured goal for culture as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Prensa Latina agency also joined the intervention of the Director of the Center for Cultural Heritage, Lazare Assomo, who drew attention to the social and economic precarity left by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it is having on funding of the cultural sector.
The official also referred to the importance of creativity and encouraging artistic manifestations as sources of resilience and solidarity.
Homage to greats of culture
The International Heritage Congress paid tribute to key figures in Cuban culture, closely linked to the promotion of the nation’s heritage: the sculptor Marta Arjona Pérez, the painter Servando Cabrera Moreno and the geographer and caver Antonio Núñez Jiménez, celebrating them this year the centenary of her birth.
The event brought together exhibitors from Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, Chile, Angola and several countries in the Caribbean island region.
Various working sessions were organized at the National Museum of Fine Arts, the venue of the congress, which contributed to urgent demands and concrete achievements for the protection of monuments.
One idea was at the heart of the debates: cultural heritage is a heritage of all humanity, beyond the specifics of each nation. The need to articulate actions is then imposed, since the loss of monuments and traditions of a particular people is a loss for the whole world.