The interface between culture and sustainable development has been the focus of much international discourse in recent years. Here on the African continent we are faced with the challenge of furthering the social and economic development of Africa. Ours is the second largest continent on earth, spanning a vast expanse the earth’s territory from the Mediterranean in the north to Cape Augulhas in the south, from Cape Verde in the West to Madagascar in the East. That the continent is culturally diverse is readily recognized. Indeed the cultural diversity of our continent has, until very recently, been used as one amongst numerous means of domination.

Both in South Africa and Namibia, the apartheid regime employed cultural discourse as one of its key instruments for the oppression and exploitation of peoples of our two countries. In virtually every country of this region the cultural diversity of the African people was the excuse proffered by colonial and racist regime for withholding rights, for stimulating and inciting conflicts, for politicizing differences and to thwart efforts to build national unity.

Consequently, one of the matters we have to be seized with is exploring the role that culture can play in nurturing social cohesion, conflict prevention and promoting human security. Culture occupies an important place in the developmental agenda of the continent.

Culture is at the heart of contemporary debates about identity, social cohesion and the development of a knowledge-based economy. It assumes diverse forms. UNESCO defines Culture as: “The set of distinctive spiritual, material and emotional features of a society or a social group and encompasses in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs”. Culture is “socially transmitted behaviour” and consequently is eminently transferable - from one geographic location to another, from one group of people to another, from one person to another, from one environment to another. This suggests that culture is not coded in the genes, is not transmitted genetically and is extremely dynamic, is always in motion and is never static.

This human family of ours has over the ages built up a huge fund of knowledge and experiences that have been shared amongst us in a myriad of ways. No section or portion of the human family can therefore claim to be the exclusive repository of wisdom, knowledge, valid experience and worth. We all have something to teach to others; we all have learnt from others; we all have been enriched by such inter-action with others; and, what is more, it is precisely that capacity to teach, to learn and to be enriched by such exchanges that makes us human.

Every human being has the right to culture, including the right to enjoy and develop cultural life and identity. But nowhere are cultural rights regarded as unlimited. Generally, we subordinate all rights to a national Constitution, which supreme law sets out the parameters within which the rights citizens enjoy can be exercised. Cultural rights may not infringe on the Constitution. Cultural rights are further limited at the point where they infringe on other human rights or on the rights of fellow citizens. In general terms no right may be used at the expense or destruction of another. It is in this area in particular that tensions arise between cultural rights claimed or asserted by groups and the over-arching constitutional framework. In South Africa at present we are dealing with the very sensitive issue of a particular group’s cultural practice of virginity testing, which many law makers feel violates the rights, the dignity and the privacy of young women. While the constitution is very clear of the rights of the individual, it is less clear about the claims of cultural groups who wish to exercise practices handed down over centuries as measures to promote social probity.

There is the even more disturbing instance of culture being employed as a means of perpetuating racist practices. At the commencement of this school year a school in the Western Cape province sought to exclude a large number of learners, pleading that it was an Afrikaans medium school, and in the exercise of their cultural rights, the Afrikaans-speakers would not accept those who used another first language. It was presented as “purely coincidental” that the majority of learners so excluded are Africans! The tension between “cultural rights” and the wider social good of a just, non-racist, non-sexist and democratic society that government is pursuing is readily evident. Yet, thus far the lower courts have ruled in favour of the school – construing the claimed cultural right as taking precedence over the aims proclaimed in the Constitution.
In accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, other international instruments of human rights and international law, all States are obliged to promote and respect human rights, regardless of particular cultural perspectives. No State is exempt from this obligation. The legal obligation for all States to promote "universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all" is unambiguous. It requires not selective, or relative, but universal respect, observance and protection of fundamental human rights. Thus, though the spirit and letter of these international instruments have been honoured more often in breach than in their observance, the universal declaration of human rights proceeds from the assumption that there is a hierarchy of rights, among which cultural rights are a sub-set, important, but subordinate to others.
The international community is in the midst of a global transition that has brought with it new problems. Previously isolated peoples are being brought together voluntarily and involuntary by the increasing integration of markets, the emergence of new regional political alliances, and remarkable advances in telecommunications, bio-technology and transportation. Unprecedented demographic shifts are proceeding as people from the developing countries migrate to developed countries in pursuit of opportunities. Developed countries have also not been slow in leeching the trained, skilled and talented personnel from the developing countries to address their own shortages in certain skills and to perform jobs their native populations find too low-paid or otherwise unattractive. This climate of change raises new challenges to our ongoing pursuit of universal human rights.

Host countries expect, sometimes require, but always encourage immigrant communities to adapt to or to embrace their cultural practices. The integration and success of immigrants is reliant on such adaptation, which often finds expression in the manner second or third generation immigrant groups conduct themselves in their new country. The conflict potential between the cultural claims of the new arrivals and the native population’s expectations are at the heart of numerous tensions in western Europe.

African countries in this region and beyond are experiencing similar difficulties. The question arises: at what point does the doctrine of cultural diversity have to submit to the demands of constitutionality, the doctrine of universal rights and the norms of a host country? As people drawn from different cultures interact with others, their cultural identity itself undergoes transformation. While cultural change is enriching, it can also be disorienting. The uncertainties of change cause anxiety amongst those who would prefer the familiar. There are instances where this has resulted in alarming backlashes with the stand-patters marshalling the emotional appeal of longevity and the ancestral lineage to thwart change. This has been particularly the case when resisting the demands of women and youth. “According to our traditions” is an often heard refrain when reasoned argument fails.

The development of a sound, forward-looking cultural policy for Africa necessarily must take account of the cross-cutting character of culture, affecting all spheres of government activity from finance, trade, environment, tourism, communication, education and recreation. Culture is central to development because:

Culture can be a tool for strengthening social cohesion
Cultural diversity is a factor in human security / peace and stability
Cultural industries are based on synergies created among the various sectors of government (finance, trade, environment, tourism, communication, education.)

How then does and can culture promote and foster social cohesion? All of us in this region come from culturally, ethnically, linguistically and racially diverse societies. Yet we all aspire to nationhood, a single shared national identity and cohesive societies that live in harmony.

The answer to this question was found not in books of political theory or in the tomes of philosophers of old, but in the actual political practice of this region. Despite the territorial divisions imposed from outside; despite the concerted efforts of colonialist and racist policy-makers, the people of this region invented and discovered the ways of working together and struggling together against a common foe. SADC, with all its weaknesses and shortcomings, is one of the outcomes produced by that common struggle. No country in Southern Africa has not been the victim of aggression, overt and covert, from the colonialist and racist regimes that once dominated this region. Zambians, Angolans, Botswanas, Swazis, Sothos, Tanzanians, Zimbaweans, Mozambicans, Malawians, Namibians and South Africans for three decades occupied the same trenches in the struggle to liberate our continent, specifically this region, from colonial domination. The unity forged in the adversity of struggle and sealed with the blood of martyrs from all these countries has stood the test of time. The united action pursued by the countries of the region collectively was born of the recognition that no country, acting on its own, could succeed.

In the present our region and our continent face old and new enemies, which pose as dangerous a threat to our survival as those of the past. These enemies are poverty and under-development.

As we gird our loins to tackle these challenges, we should cast our eyes back to the recall and revive the spirit of solidarity that animated the thirty years of liberation wars in our region. Recognition and appreciation of particular cultural contexts should serve to facilitate, rather than constrain, respect for human rights and their observance. We argue that the future should be built, above all, on human rights, non-discrimination, and cultural pluralism, we are therefore obliged to negotiate these reefs with a sensitivity that does not threaten the cultural rights of nations, communities and groups. Mutual respect, appreciation and confidence amongst the nations of this region is the product of shared adversity, common trials and tribulations. As we struggle against our new enemies we should appreciate that our unity of purpose and action was what secured us victory.

Social cohesion refers to the degree of harmony, cooperation and mutual confidence that exists within any given society. It is easily undermined by a number of factors such lack of employment, mal-distribution of skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime rates, ill-health, the break-down of family life, discrimination based on race, creed, colour or gender.

At the opposite pole, inclusion, through a more equitable distribution of skills, the benefits of economic activity, and access to appropriate opportunities in education and employment enhances social cohesion by encouraging cooperation and stimulating mutual confidence that could be undermined various forms of exclusion.

Five main areas, access to:
 social welfare,
 housing,
 employment,
 healthcare and
 education,
have been identified as crucial to the well-being of any individual. Providing every citizen with equal access to these fives reduces the space for estrangement among members of the same society by creating an environment in which no one will feel or experience exclusion. The Millenium Development goals have the same objectives. At core these goals are intended to promote social justice, social development and to reduce the disparities that divide people within and amongst different societies.

The inauguration of the African Union, the Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, The Pan African Parliament all share this common aim: the acceleration of the process of integration of the continent to enable it to play its rightful role in the global political-economy while addressing the multifaceted social, economic and political problems
on the African continent.

There is no doubt that many of these are compounded by some of the negative aspects of globalisation which threatens to further marginalise Africa. But these negative features can be tackled only through collective action by the developing countries. Huge social disparities can undermine the unity of a country and contribute to its fragmentation into competing ethnic, tribal, linguistic and regional groups fighting for control over what are perceived to be scarce resources.

Addressing the challenges of endemic poverty, poor provision of health care, absence of educational facilities and opportunities for work, directly impacts on the degree of cohesion within a society. By making a collective commitment to do this we can bind our individual societies while at the same time building on the firm foundations for collective action laid by SADC. Social cohesion will be attained precisely by the pursuance of social justice.

Z. Pallo Jordan.
Cape Town.
August 2005.

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