[Ecommerce] Times online on cultural shock (UNESCO)

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Culture shock for Hollywood
By Charles Bremner

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1834119,00.html

Global treaty aims to curb domination of American films and music
THE French campaign against the global tide of American entertainment
will take a big stride forward today when almost every nation backs
the first world convention on protecting culture.

Most of the 191 members of Unesco, the United Nations=92 cultural
agency, are expected to vote for a =93convention on cultural
diversity=94, which enshrines on a global level France=92s longstanding
policy of subsidising its arts and imposing quotas on American films
and music. The vote will be a big defeat for the United States, which
held out against the plan with partial backing from Israel, Australia
and Japan.

The convention could now be cited by any country to justify
protecting its entertainment industry with measures similar to those
used by France if they are contested at the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) as barriers to free trade.

France spends tens of millions of pounds every year to subsidise its
film industry, theatre and opera. It also protects music and
television production with strict quotas on the level of non-French
songs and programmes that may be broadcast on radio and television.

The convention has no real legal teeth and must be ratified by at
least 30 Unesco members. Paris insists, however, that it endorses the
French stand for the past 13 years against the inclusion of
entertainment products in negotiations at the WTO. The question is on
the table again at the next WTO session, opening in Hong Kong in
December. France believes that it has scored a triumph by extending
to the world its policy of =93cultural exception=94, the term for the
defence of French language and culture against the US ascendancy.

Britain, the holder of the EU presidency, led the rest of the
European Union in supporting the agreement, arguing that it did not
justify American fears that it promoted trade barriers or could be
used by repressive regimes to stifle dissent. Timothy Craddock, the
British representative to Unesco, said that the text was =93clear,
carefully balanced, consistent with the principles of international
law and fundamental human rights=94.

There are still big differences in interpretation. The Americans and
British say that the convention text makes clear that it does not
take precedence over existing law. The French say that it creates law
in a hitherto undefined area and gives legal backing to countries
that refuse American pressure to open their entertainment industry to
foreign imports.

=93We are no longer the black sheep on this issue,=94 Renaud Donnedieu de
Vabres, the Culture Minister, said. =93Europe is united on this. It
shares the values that we have defended.=94 Staving off alien culture
was essential for the fight against international terrorism, he
added. Russia, China and other nations support this view.

Washington says that the text could be wilfully misinterpreted as a
basis for impermissible new barriers to trade. The definition of
culture is open to abuse, they say. For example, the French
Parliament declared this week that foie gras was officially part of
the protected French cultural heritage. It could also be used, for
example, to justify banning Colombian coffee from Brazil, or vice
versa, the Americans say.

The convention=92s notion of reinforcing national culture could be used
to repress ethnic minorities or to cut off news on satellite
television or discussion on the internet, they add.

M Donnedieu de Vabres said that nations had a right to subsidise
artistic output and set quotas when 85 per cent of the world=92s
spending on cinema tickets went to Hollywood.

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Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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