A Draft International Cultural Constitution of Asia
Dear friends and colleagues,
ladies and gentlemen,
brothers and sisters!
Culture is a spirit of nations, states and governments (Middle and Far East and South East Asia).
Culture is a live basis for ecology (trans-boundary natural systems of the countries in Central Asia, Pacific and Indian regions).
Cultural law is a spiritual and scientifically metaphysical normative legal basis of rhythm consciousness, legal egregors and legal systems of the Orient.
Cultural law is a peaceful ecological basis for co-existence, co-development and creative co-evolution of ethnoses, nations, states and all subjects of international communities in a strategic historical perspective (space and time) of the planet and current mankind.
* * * *
New century and new millennium is a new time, a time for the efflorescence of Asia.
A man of the Orient respects the authorities, wisdom, nature and culture.
A man of the Orient honors God and respects his predecessors.
A man of the Orient is famous for his forbearance and deliberation – he never fusses and hurries because he knows – everything comes in its time and the time for every thing under the sun.
* * * *
The culture of the Orient is a fine diamond with numerous panes, each is unique and original, and, alongside with that, comprises unity in variety, reminds, directs and leads to the organic whole.
The cultural law of Asia, manifested and non-manifested, for centuries and millennia, predetermined and defined historical events of life of nations and states, rulers and citizens of the Orient.
Cultural law of the Orient, written and unwritten, predetermines, leads to and directs the evolution of international and domestic communities of Asia in the new century and millennium.
International cultural law for Asia is an international law of the Orient of the new century and new millennium.
A whole range of factors, primarily, of cultural, cultural legal and ecological character, have given us the grounds, on the basis of many long-tem and various preliminary works and professional activities, to prepare and propose for your attention
A Draft International Cultural Constitution of Asia (for peoples, cultural groups and communities, individuals and states) of the Orient,
which would give a possible response and effective reaction, represent real steps for reflecting, in the current legislation and international law, aims and tasks, interests of culture – a soul of peoples and their eternal values, for preventing a growing danger of global unification, including judicial and legal forms of cultural diversity, including heritage and patrimony and the reduction of socially determined, primarily, managing, ecological risks for culture and nature related to them.
The present legal draft in many ways has been designed to “open” the cultural law Orient to the West, and the Western (European in its basis) cultural law paradigm, to make, therefore, available for review, interchange and development in legal circles and normative communities of Asia.
Having prepared the present text, we would like to give an initial impulse for further explorations, broad discussions as well as possible and required discoveries of memory and knowledge, which the legal Orient carefully preserves in the depth of its heart and spiritual legal systems, opening hence new eternal values, legal meanings and paradigms for people and generations of the new century and new millennium, in Asia.
|
Happy New Year (according to the Oriental calendar), |
|
and happy discoveries of the world and yourself! |
|
Best regards, |
|
Author |
|
03.01.2008 |
Address of the Author
Address to young scholars, international lawyers
Dear reader,
By the end of the 20th century the manifested world saw objective formation of integral, poly-branch, multi-level international legal system of cultural law.
At the beginning of the 21st century non-manifested world, noosphere, saw subjective formation of scientific legal cultural paradigm of international law.
In culture and law, as in universal planetary phenomenon, everything is well-balanced, harmonious and interrelated; every previous developmental stage is inseparably and organically assimilated by consequent one which follows and is based upon the former stage, in space and time, even if the latter denies it subjectively.
Denial is possible only in civilization and civilized law which are arranged exclusively in space and, by their intrinsic essence, comprise just small and insufficient substantial part of international system of cultural law and public order.
Culture, in the broadest sense and universal understanding of the term, including legal culture, never denies law and order, both international, domestic and local, regional, but, in every possible way, supports, enlivens, spiritualizes and attaches true deep sense, aim and importance as well as informal meaning to frequently boring and dull statements of national legislations and international legal acts by “the letter of law”.
Cultural law and international cultural law are organically and scientifically interrelated – this is “the spirit of the law”, both national and international.
Culture between peoples and states is the spirit of international law which is implemented in the norms of international law.
Therefore, international law, as planetary and historical phenomenon, has its aims, meanings and justification only in culture and time, as their constituent part, organic and inseparable part of a single whole.
It is a happy moment that today you, for the first time, discover for yourself and before you vast expanses, very interesting reasonable world and infinite perspectives of cultural law in its international dimension, in time.
Now forget everything that you were taught before, for a moment, leave beside the threshold of your consciousness all those legal dogmas, doctrines and prejudices which our text-books contain and which people stick to for decades and centuries to “survive” in this mundane event-trigger world and simply to secure their future, caused by material past and present, in other words, their “today’s” life. All this is law of the past which will never disappear and will remain with (in) you.
International cultural law (of Asia) is the law of the Future
Everything you learned somewhere, sometime and somewhat about law will certainly be taken into account but it will not be useful for your further reasonable life, as conscious subjects and creators of international cultural law, creators of your (own) cultural rights and responsibilities, reasonable earthlings, citizens of the world and (your) their homeland.
But you need not make haste: do not hurry to stick to denial and to offhandedly put into practice what you shall later cognize, conceive and realize in integrity, in time – culturally and, therefore, by right.
On the other hand, all that you feel and realize in unity and integrity (cultural law as it is) shall be done in(to) your professional practice and "every day's" life. Then make your choice (truly and free) and follow your cultural identity and (ecological) self-determination, in international law!
|
I wish you happiness and
good luck in theoretical introduction, study and cognition of international law of cultural legal system - law of culture of our time - New time
|
|
Аuthor |
* * * *
INTERNATIONAL CULTURE AND LAW or the cultural bases of international and national public order
Jus cogens intergentes or generally recognized peremptory principles and norms of international law are supreme in the system
of international law and form, in a sense, “constitutional law” or “constitution” of
international community, deviation from which are regarded as
unacceptable and considered as infringements of
erga omnes, or aimed against the international community of nations in the
framework of international public law and order.
Constitutional norms and principles have the supreme legal power in the system of domestic law and form, in a sense, jus cogens or imperative fundamentals of domestic public order in state.
In the process of development of nations and states, trans-boundary ethnoses, groups and communities, international organizations as well as the international community of nations, in the historical evolution of the Earth civilization, there existed and then changed plenty of various, diverse and multi-perspective concepts, theories and paradigms of the current jurisdictions, legal systems and orders.
Meanwhile, both international and domestic law is inseparable constituent part of human culture, in the broadest sense.
In other words, true and absolute fundamentals of law, fundamentals of domestic and international jurisdiction, fundamentals of legal personality and legitimation of legal system, its original source, aim and outcome in time is (was, is and will be) CULTURE.
Cultural Law and Roerich Pact
April 15,
2005 saw 70th
anniversary of Roerich Pact adoption. This is the
first specific international legal act in the history of the
earth civilization, devoted to the issues of protection of cultural
heritage and mankind cultural worker.
The adoption of the international treaty by the member-states of the Pan-American Union (further: the Organization of American States), including the USA, is the first precedent of International Cultural Law, forming international legal order of cultural values and subjects of cultural activity for the member-states and having a key stabilizing influence on the whole system of international relations and legal consciousness of its subjects in the beginning of the 21st century.
Roerich Pact, to a great extent, in its legal technique and cultural meaning, in the highest and universal criteria of legal protection remains unsurpassed international act not only in America, it serves a living example for other continents, including Europe.
Despite the fact that it was Europe (Bruges, Belgium) that held preliminary conferences of the Pact, European countries on the verge of the WWII were unable to undertake the corresponding international obligations.
The situation around Roerich Pact nowadays is a direct warning from illusions of civilization which, in its numerous meanings, remains blind and deaf to true interests, aims and ideals of culture and law.
(For more details, see the materials for the international conference "70th anniversary of International Treaty on protection of Arts institutions and historical monuments (Roerich Pact)", St. Petersburg, 15 May 2005).
UNESCO Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible heritage – a key to the law of the culture in the 21st century
On
October 17, 2003 in Paris the
international convention was adopted,
key clauses
of which fundamentally broaden our usual conceptions, universal rights and
responsibilities of subjects in the sphere of culture.
It was the first time when on international interstate level the right and responsibility to respect, preserve, research, protect and popularize the intangible cultural heritage, as the basis of manifested culture, was affirmed.
The above-mentioned international treaty fundamentally broadens cultural legal toolbox on supranational level, offering countries to confirm the suggested cultural legal value model as a leading and supporting for the internal policy and rights of countries.
It was ratified by 30 states-parties and comes into effect on April 30, 2006. More...
Cultural Paradigm of International Law and International Law of Human Rights
International cultural law of human rights sounds both unusual for a specialist at the moment and epochal for a novice at the beginning of the 21st century.
Cultural
paradigm of international law (of human rights)
is something different, more clear and easy to understand,
though it is still an intriguingly little-known and exclusive,
even for narrowly focused specialists, notion for the topic
covered in this book and author's monograph.
The issue of human rights, cultural rights (of human rights) and their protection itself, in international law, is seen by me, as the author, and by all mentioned above as both new, untouched, up-to-date and traditional one.
One would think – what new can be said on both commonplace and ideally little-realised in real life subject-matter – human rights in a state and the world?
What new can be said after the theory of natural law jus naturale, after Aristotle and Plato, Plotin and the theory of legal positivism, overwhelming and deeply rooted in minds and brains of the majority in modern legal civilisation?
What new can be confirmed about human rights, cultural law of human rights in the world and state, especially, for the West and Western peoples which are considered to be their creators?
Meanwhile, on the other hand, under closer look it turns out that cultural paradigm and ecological nature of human rights, as culture itself, are both always new, limitless and inexhaustible and eternal in its development-involution in time. You do not believe, do you?
Open live pages of this monograph and prove it yourself!
Some details (in Russian language)...
On several problems and perspectives of development of international cultural law (2006)
In
2002 the author published a reviewing and generalising article
"International cultural law" (title: "International legal
co-operation in the sphere of culture") in the Moscow Magazine of
International Law (№4).
The article covered fundamentals of the concept of international
cultural law.
Since the publication, science and practice of international legal activity experienced an immense break-through, if you like it, lived through a chronal impulse or brainstorm and a real break-through in comprehension and development of those fundamental theoretical and practical statements, legal hypotheses and cultural concepts, preliminary sketches and legal hypotheses of which are underlined in that first, in a certain meaning, initial and fundamental article in the range of other up-to-date works and publications.
On the other hand, the academic field of international jurisprudence, dedicated to the issues of preservation and development of culture, lives through a certain calm, alert and even deliberate remoteness of orthodox domestic legal circles from this new, pioneer and, now we can surely say, new complex inter-system and inter-discipline scientific trend of development of jurisprudence (not only international legal) and up-to-date or, in more traditional interpretation, "young" legal branch.
UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity is adopted
On October 20, 2005
the General Conference of UNESCO,
meeting in Paris, has approved (148 votes for, two against, four
abstentions) the Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of
cultural expressions, an international normative instrument that will enter into
force three months after its ratification by 30 States. The result of a long
process of maturation and two years of intense negotiations, punctuated by
numerous meetings of independent and then governmental experts.
Convention includes a few new definitions and concepts of the international law such as cultural diversity, cultural activity, intercultural dialogue and some others.
(Deutscher Kulturrat Newsletter, 21.10. 2005, http://www.kulturrat.de)
Step by step a concept of international cultural relations goes into the international life
The Royal Institute Elcano (Spain) has published a report on international cultural relations: institutional framework in Spain. The document is available in Spanish on the e-address: http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/documentos/229.asp
(Cybercaris-Interarts Newsletter, №42, November 2005, http://www.interarts.net/)
One of the sign cultural law events of the year 2005 became the UNESCO world report "Towards knowledge societies"
Preparation and adoption by UNESCO of the first in kind world report "Towards knowledge societies" became a certain event of the year 2005, because this is for the first time when so wide such different and diverse the opinions, theories and notions about the transition from information societiy to society based on knowledge for common discussion were represented.
"As for knowledge societies, while there is general agreement on the appropriateness of the expression, the same cannot be said of the content. Which types of knowledge are we talking about? Do we have to endorse the hegemony of the techno-scientific model in defining legitimate and productive knowledge?.."
(From the preface of Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO to the world report, all the text see
Unique exhibition of sacred books of three world religions opened in London
ITAR-TASS:
A rare for Europe exhibition of sacred books of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam opened in London. It shows unique
exhibits from British library collection, one of the largest in
the world.
Among exhibited publications there is a great sacred object of the world's Christianity – The Sinai Code (Sinai Bible). This ancient book was exhibited for the general public for the first time in 20 years. Being discovered in an Orthodox monastery of Saint Katherine on Sinai, it was stored in Russian emperors' collection in Hermitage for a long time (28.04.2007, NEWSru.com).
