Programme Director
MEC Khawula
DG Stella Khumalo
Luthuli Museum Council Members
Esteemed delegates gathered with us
And those on virtual platforms
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We are here this morning to welcome you to this side event on behalf of the Culture Working Group of the G20 which in turn reports to the Sherpa Track.
We welcome the participation of speakers from a range of countries as well as local experts, activists and creative community.
The South African leadership of the Culture Working Group builds on the work done in previous culture working groups, at the foundational gathering in Saudi Arabia, and after that in Italy, India and last year in Brazil. Each new year the Culture group has built on the previous platforms. And we now have a rich repository of information, ideas, activities, statements and declarations coming out of the work of this group and a willingness to work together to achieve our goals.
This year’s activities have been influenced by the discussions in the meetings of the Culture Group and this side event comes specifically from the fact that the digital world is here with us and it is here to stay and we need to live with it and even in it yet maintain a humanity and human-centric approach to technological developments. More than ever before, we need to ensure that human values and a humanist approach guides the use of these technologies.
This is why it is also important to us that the South African G20 presidency is undergirded by the values and themes of “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability.” Striving towards these goals has been our mission not only in recent times, but during the years of resistance and even 70 years ago when under the leadership prowess of Chief Albert Luthuli, the Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955 and we still recall that “the doors of learning and culture shall be opened,” that the cultural treasures of humankind shall be open to all and that the government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life.”
Since then so much has changed, yet the battle continues for a country and a world free of racism, sexism, opppression and exploitation. Because such battles are not simply about changing laws and policies; they require a critical mass of individual countries, international organisations and activism and counter hegemonies take time to incubate, to grow and gain traction.
Today’s discussion is strategic, important and timely as we seek to address what we need to do together in the age of artificial intelligence and the rapid rise and rise of digital technologies.
The Zero Draft of the Declaration seeks to recognize “the transformative impact of digital technologies on economic growth, innovation and inclusive development through culture, … creation, promotion, dissemination and long-term transmission of culture and heritage.” And to do so while “driving the growth of cultural and creative sectors and industries, expanding audiences engagement and access, promoting cultural diversity, freedom of expression, inclusion, and fostering global cultural markets.”
The Zero draft attempts to recognise the opportunities and challenges of the digital environment but also pointing out the widespread impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It seeks to examine the implications for cultural and creative sectors, necessitating ongoing collaboration to build what the current draft refers to as “fair, diverse and sustainable digital cultural economies and ecosystems respectful of universal human rights.”
The Zero Draft foregrounds inclusion, social participation and accessibility, the full exercise of cultural rights and seeks to reaffirm the importance of fair payment for cultural professionals and creators, as well as the protection of intellectual property rights.
These paragraphs are still under discussion, and the Culture Working Group is still seeking to find common ground.
We hope that today’s side event will succeed in bringing into sharp focus the essential issues at hand and offer tangible ways in which through working together, we can find solutions, some hiding in plain sight and others yet to be revealed, through best practices still be shared.
We look forward to the results of today’s interactions and we hope that by this time next week we would have achieved our 2025 goals as the Culture Working Group under South Africa’s presidency, that there will have been consensus around the KwaDukuza Declaration and, with the benefit of your wise discussions here today we shall work hard to try to achieve this.
Thank you. Siyabonga kakhulu.
