Thanks to lobbying by a local organization, the Angolan government has finally promised that it will develop policy to protect the San, the first inhabitants of southern Africa. Their extremely poor living conditions will be discussed during a conference in Lubango in early April 2007.
Since peace resumed in 2002, carnival is once again Angola's people's celebration. If it is up to the Angolans, some day their carnival will rival the festivities in Rio de Janeiro.
The Latin American country along the bay of Honduras – the Maya name of which means “muddy water” – has a relatively well organised cultural policy that is institutionalised in the National Institute for Culture and History (NICH) in Belmopau.
Like in many Latin American countries, culture proved to be an excellent remedy for the traumas of the military dictatorship that oppressed collective memory and the freedom of expression for years in Argentina. Today the cultural policy balances between contributing to social development and promoting cultural industries.
Not cultural diversity but comical diversity was the theme of the fifth international clown conference Anjos do Picadeiro (Angels of the Ring) in Rio de Janeiro.
The government of El Salvador believes that culture is important. Even a national responsibility, because "the growth and the self confidence of a nation are so valuable", according to the country's cultural policy.
Mexico hosted the Unesco conference in 1982 that gave birth to international recognition for the importance of cultural policy. The country itself is primarily striving to stop the cultural influence from its neighbour to the north.
The festival was a showcase for all disciplines of art – including fashion, photography and film - from the ACP Group of countries, in which 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean participate.
The Surinam government completed its draft cultural policy in August 2006. The agenda for the next ten months will be filled with intensive consultation with cultural partners and artists. The premise for the definite policy to be distilled from the discussions is the wide cultural diversity.
The Pinochet dictatorship oppressed the right to free speech and every type of collective action for a long period of time. Today culture plays a major part in re-establishing unity and solidarity among the Chilean population. Creative Diversity is a key concept in this respect.
