Based on the intervention of the Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abelardo Moreno at the High Level Meeting on Cultural Diversity and Human Rights of the Non-Aligned Movement, held at the United Nations headquarters in 2017 we can synthesize the most important aspects of what cultural diversity represents in Cuba through some key questions.
How is the right over culture and cultural diversity viewed in Cuba?
For Cuba, the culture of a country is a collective right for the enjoyment of all, as is respect for the right of each State to preserve its cultural heritage and diversity and to implement its own cultural policies.
How is cultural diversity valued in Cuba as the common heritage of humanity?
Cultural diversity as a common heritage of humanity must be valued and preserved for the benefit of all, being the duty and right of humanity to promote and respect each culture, history, religions and particularities of each nation.
How does Cuba see the relationship between cultural diversity and sovereignty?
Cultural diversity is an essential component of sovereignty, so its maintenance, development and preservation is of vital urgency in an increasingly globalized world, in which there is an attempt to impose a single cultural model, which constitutes a limitation to the right to cultural identity as individuals and as nations. He added that the people who forget their culture, their roots and their history are increasingly vulnerable to the aggression of the mass media belonging to those who pursue universal domination.
In Cuba’s opinion, how can cultural diversity be saved?
Cuba calls on the member states of the Movement to oppose uniculturalism, to continue fostering dialogue among religions, cultures and civilizations on the basis of equality and respect for dignity through initiatives of international scope and the promotion of respect for diversity, the culture of peace and interfaith dialogue. By doing so, he said, a valuable contribution will be made to peace, security and development, as was done by promoting culture and cultural diversity as transcendent elements in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
What about cultural diversity in Cuba?
Cuba is committed to the values of cultural diversity and favors an authentically emancipatory cultural climate, where the protagonism, creativity and active participation of communities, spaces for communication and information and the development and strengthening of artistic and literary creation prevail.
A final consideration
Defending cultural diversity today is tantamount to defending our right to preserve the future of humanity. In this, as in other battles to vindicate the aspirations of the peoples of the South, the Non-Aligned Movement can count on Cuba.