ENDING HOLLYWODD´S HEGEMONY: UNESCO TO THE RESCUE

"What can countries do to support their cultural industries? How can countries protect their right to address the problems of the threat to independent film from big commerical blockbusters? These aren’t new questions, but in this era of globalisation, they are becoming increasingly problematic.

In October 2005 Unesco approved the adoption of a new convention on protecting and promoting cultural diversity. The need for the convention sprung from a simple point, namely, the pressure from our American friends to extend the free trade regime of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to cultural products. Their argument was that cultural products are really no different than ordinary commodities and that a free market would give everyone more choice and more wealth".