Connecting CultureThe Common Wealth Manifesto for

2012

Connecting…….• We could learn a lot from

crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors. But, they all fit nicely into the same box." 

• Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits -1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 27.

• While the social construction of cultures has taken on a full-fledged shape on various quotes, acts and manifestos, there is still an unprecedented power of connection unrealized by the civil society’s sense of ‘Common Wealth’ or well being at large. Therefore ‘Connecting Culture’ has taken its stance as an efficient tool in countering to the changes and disparities led down by social deficiencies and in restricting modern day slavery of cultural exploitation. The connection unscrambles the knots of cultural struggles within the distinctive entities of the ‘Common Wealth’. Bridging the cultural lag could unleash the dormant civilians’ medium of expression and knowledge and lead to ushering of the cultural pie in the most culture needy areas, act as voice for unjust social exclusions, xenophobia and stereotypes. Following this, the intermingling of the cultural issues and identities in ‘connection’ upholds mutual knowledge calling further for mutual understanding. A broad understanding of this event is opt to make possibly the best utilization of the assortment of cultural resources and creative think-tanks, actively support in building rich array of knowledge, tradition, value, balanced exchanges, associations and preserve history and diversity at the same time. This would lessen the impact of cultural impoverishment and acknowledge the culture in relation with its counterparts of diplomacy, politics, economy, law, environment and technology.

Defining • The connection can be well defined as a means

to incorporate cultural pluralism in core foundation of mindset in order to promote acceptance of good fundamentals on which trust can be established. This assimilation of identities for common good will result in eventual sustainability in setting goals, mitigating objectives which are essential for development. Bringing ‘Connecting Culture’ into the societal mainstream requires full integrations of the residents of ‘Common Wealth’ via creating access to same fundamentals in primacy of protecting individual perception of culture. Maintenance and renewal of these cultural relations is contingent to the commitment to uphold the strength in unity of ‘common wealth’ being, moving away from the past paradigm of short cultural terms. The history of culture has its contribution from numerous residents of the world, so the interpretation of connectivity should is subject to widespread means of humanizing social dimensions. Besides, the democratic life in the secular state should belong to a multi cultural setting with shared values for common good and sense of community and the best realization of this could be derived from ‘ connecting cultures’.

• These wide range of assertions of ‘Connecting Cultures’ can be presumed from antecedent concepts of culture; such as culture catastrophes where ‘hot button’ issues most pressing to conflict exist between two definable polarities. This is where cultural differences stems and ‘Connecting Cultures’ come into play its role. This cultural distinction is critical to the nation’s foundation of viewpoints and doctrines. It has been the public anti agenda of removing culture from the political debate but nonetheless connection of cultures to the civil society and responsive institutions can serve as the soft power in attaining goals through cooperation. Besides the conscious cultural borrowing or appropriation could enrich the recipient culture in constructing dominant ideology of upward leveling norms. Connection in itself is a cultural resource and brings about membership, networks, influence and support and is potential to be diverted to economic capital via tourism, trade fairs and alternatives assisting to connect cultures. The ‘Connection’ would too hold the principles of cultural imperialism and cultural hegemony void ‘Since the good intake of culture will be an exemplary medium to propose compound, potent and unequivocal share taken by the participants. Acculturation and voluntary embracing of foreign cultures could also complement to the final production of values and norms by the recipient culture, because now the culture would be aware of other cultures, have grounds for arguments and answers and account for world issues and equity at large.

• Furthermore, ‘Connecting Culture’ redefines the status of the marginalized issues detached from the social fabrics of the conventional decision making and regards of quantitative measurement of culture via surveying the changes in economy subject to the adoption of cultural practices comprised to be used for development and decision making. We stand on the cusp of a new epoch where social postures ready at hand materializes in several manifestos and ‘Connecting Cultures to Cultures’ is likely open up new horizons and provide legitimate contexts within which the scope for social goal mitigation is high. We live in a global hub where we bond the cultures of separate entity, show casing different ideologies and connecting these values as counterparts could be a good drive towards a modern ‘Utopia’. For the ‘Connecting Culture’ to appear sound the national performance framework has to support it by creating level playing field, prioritizing proactive cultural management via social cohesion, help in diffusion of tech know how in cultural aspects to ensure digital solidarity. Besides these, investments in cultural ventures could include trade fairs adding more to export baskets and letting know about the heritage and practices, tourism and photography resulting in boom of ancillary industries, festivals displaying indigenous artifacts and facts foreign to a culture with multi faith celebration. Training and workshops could be placed to integrate diverse individuals to sound in one voice. Exhibition of art forms in music, documentary and literary works with an easy get through and appealing to the youth. Museums, theatres, historical sites and scenic beauty could be promoted as a conveyor of history to safeguard heritage. Funding of creative industries (for instance jute, garments, crafts or theatres), cultural practitioners and provide collective identity to the social engineers to realize comparative edges and create capacity to get to productive potentials. Besides these, a coherent stance towards devising culture friendly policies and law would have to be in implementation by securing and making lucid immigration laws, realize the importance of Diasporas in retaining relation with another culture.

• Facilitate safe public discussions of diversity, add multi lingual education to schools and promote good satellite learning, utilize the mode of other rituals or practices to hold the level of cultural tolerance veritably exemplary. The removal of barrier between the mainstream and minority in the same society could also hold as bond between cultures of different groups in a same resident. Cultural awareness in the private sectors and public private partnerships initiatives towards ‘Connecting’ could also event in crafting a rich ‘Informative’ society. ‘Global Connection of Cultures’ could also be defined as global constellation embedded in the roots of common wealth. Connection of cultures could also enhance strategic partnerships between distinct nations and support diplomatic talks. This would overall serve to the marks laid down by the Millennium Development Goals of gender equality, health education and global partnership because connecting cultures would have knowledge transfers and acceptance of knowledge as its by product. The inflow and outflow of cultures contributes in associating the citizenship to be more responsive to cultural identity, where civilians reclaim a democratic ground where people can share. Following this the political advocacy in ‘ connecting culture’, mobility of exchange, connection between borders and its rational analysis, active construction of identities and the role of media has to be under concrete vision when bridging the gap.

• The sharing should not stop at the border since we are members of the global family, we struggle to share rather than divide. The vibrant democratic institutions play a significant role in practicing tolerance and acceptance in connection to its code of conduct prepared on certainties of ethical grounds. Its work is its role is to centralize the scope for dialogue, hold to the root cause and accentuate culturally innovative mechanism for problem solving, lead culturally receptive researches, mobilize domestic and international resources for development, provide technical assistance via embarking on cultural pilot initiatives, hold civil society consultation and encourage participation and enact laws to safeguard all key players of the ‘Connecting Cultures’.

• The cultural flight will be of retention and recovery of history and will be lending pace to multilateral utilities of skill transfer and create a more responsive budget to social impacts and problems. It widens the scope for cultural calculation and accounts for illicit cultural leakages if supervised by good governance. This global coalition would transform the conflict in facilitating a policy oriented debate between participants, a debate which is tangible and has relation to reality. Following this, it would be the propagation of participative spirits via upgrading of moral values. For instance, the organization of ‘Common Wealth Games’ depict thrive in skills, recognition for participation regardless of win or loss, every one is acknowledged. The ‘Common Wealth Games’ too is a channel for ‘Connecting Cultures’ since the very motivation of the feast rests in social mission of tolerance, acceptance and friendship. The application of cultural domination is put into effort by ‘Connecting Cultures’ in order to comprehend different social purposes of different cultures, so that it can enable the coalesce of cultures into a greater social mission attending immediate concerns. Moreover these multi cultural conglomerates can fuel into an effective engine withstanding all challenges by establishing the actors in a communicative situation. Thus empowering the context to be served to the realm of the culture.

• The manifesto of ‘Connecting Cultures’ is very much realistic because it has its practicability and inheritance from history. The cultural topography perceives a fundamental difference with regard to the framework in which the communication takes place and so’ Connecting Culture’ in itself can be referred to as active reference. This will work as leveling off activities to get the connection more responsive by letting the ‘Common Wealth’ residents know each other through group and culture dynamics. It also overcomes the lag between policy and practice by connecting them by getting in touch with the grass root levels and laddering up to the regional or international platform acting as a catalyst or matrix of motivation and actualization of needs. ‘ Connecting Cultures’ would be helpful in setting nonjudgmental disposition so as to get more out of any foreign culture and promotes active perceiving of norms rather than passive inheritance.

• As the ‘Common Wealth’ foundation recognizes the horizontal engagement of civil society and acknowledges that a civil society is a diverse and multi faceted entity; the 2007 ‘Common Wealth People’s Forum’ urges to make culture a central pillar of ‘Common Wealth’s mandate alongside development and democracy. The objectives possessed by ‘Connecting Cultures’ rightfully blends with the assertions and confirmations set by the ‘Common Wealth’. ‘Connecting cultures presumably aims to facilitate equitable representation among its participants, enhance plural participation in public sphere and leverage the strength to form networks in working out policies and setting feasible benchmarks. It also calls for budget allocation, international agreements, adoption of international instruments and space to create synergies where players of the pool with diverse interests and skills can enable themselves into fruitful implementations. The idea of this assimilation is destined to create a new cultural identity of multiculturalism with integrative force accounting of values placed by both major and minor players. Following these, the domains of culture- language, religion, art forms, moral values and so forth substantiate number of conclusions to be drawn depending on the variables of the learning culture.

• Moreover, this very concept has taken pragmatic approach towards the humanizing impacts of culture and connections. It has laid down the world aspects in such a way that individuals would take it as a means of their own empowerment and work towards it. ‘Connecting Culture’ suggests of collecting dissimilar problem from the various parts of the society and synthesizes them into one objective by articulating a compelling picture of the future towards the sense of ‘Common Wealth’

• Again the quote has its say on it

• "Tolerance, inter-cultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where peoples are becoming more and more closely interconnected."

• —Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations