This developmental strategy of the UN and UNESCO has helped create the necessary institutional conditions for the systematic cultivation of a philosophy of cultural unity through diversity and for the promotion of a platform of unity of cultural differences and multiplicity within this unity.

On the basis of this universal and international platform of UNESCO, a crucial systemic breakthrough has been achieved in the prevailing worldview—a shift from the notion of globalization to the notion of protection of cultural diversity. This revision of developmental priorities in favour of the promotion of the cultural diversity of the world at a universal level is one of the most important global cultural policies in force at the beginning of the 21st century. The policy of cultural diversity has introduced a new centre, a new perspective from which to observe the contemporary world—a perspective whose purpose does not aim at dethroning the centre of globalization, but rather at demonstrating that human civilization is immanently diverse in its cultural textures. Valuing cultural diversity exerts a countervailing influence against those who would perceive the world as a global space in which smaller languages, identities and cultures die out quickly and unstoppably as the world becomes dominated by a single linguistic and cultural matrix.

The first decade of the 21st century has proven that cultural development cannot turn against its own inherent interests, especially not against its natural interest in preserving cultural and collective memory, in learning the language of cultural and linguistic memory, in protecting inherited identities and traditions, and in cultivating a dialogue among diverse cultural entities. It is only on the basis of such a platform for the protection of inherited cultural values that another interest of the contemporary world can be achieved—that of developing the world in an atmosphere of unimpeded and shared global information and communication.

Policies of cultural diversity and globalization, while seemingly contradictory at first sight, in fact intersect at many points and do not exclude one other: at a universal level, the world is a complex system of linguistic, traditional and cultural diversities which call for mutual communication and the sharing of universal values of the contemporary world in the areas of information, communication, technology and science; while at separate levels of development of recognizable cultural identities, these values should be cultivated and constitute a developmental priority at both a local and international level.


Developmental strategies propounded by international institutions, as well as the strategies of each and every state, are at present inconceivable without the adoption of a policy of cultural diversity as a means of protecting the heritage of spiritual and material wealth and as a means of promoting developmental tolerance. At this point, a certain finesse in the interpretation of cultural diversity should be highlighted: namely, to the same extent to which international and regional patterns (of the UN, EU, etc) give priority to cultural diversity globally, measures should be taken at local state level to further the systematic promotion of cultural identities and, within this context, the civilized treatment of inherited native linguistic and cultural features. The global interests of the states should integrate the interests of minority cultural entities and identities in accordance with established international standards.

International PEN has expressed its strategic interest in employing the platform of cultural diversity by organizing numerous conferences, literary festivals, journals and publications. In this context, the Diversity collection of International PEN, whose seat is in Skopje in the Republic of Macedonia, is one of the strategic priorities of International PEN. This collection projects the awareness of writers throughout the world of the need for the affirmation of indigenous but less widely distributed—or ‘minor’—languages, as well as minority languages, literatures and cultures, through translation into world languages and through other means of communication and reception.

This year, the pages of Diversity (www.diversity.org.mk) include numerous works by important figures in world literature translated into Macedonian. These works will subsequently be translated into both lesser-spoken and more widely-spoken  languages, while important literary works by Macedonian writers will be translated and published in other languages.

The greatness of a language does not depend upon the extent of its distribution, but rather on its greatness of thought, aesthetics, style and semantics. Literature is the measure of a language.

For this reason, I understand 21st May, the Day of Cultural Diversity, as a day which reminds all writers and intellectuals, as well as all institutions of power, that power lies in language, in art, in culture!


Academician Katica Kulavkova
Vice President of the International PEN
editor in chief of the PEN collection Diversity