Connecting Culture aims to promote cultural pluralism and acceptance of diversity. It seeks to bridge cultural divides and leverage cultural connections to foster mutual understanding between different cultural groups. By facilitating cultural exchanges and promoting inclusion of marginalized cultural issues, Connecting Culture redefines culture's role in society and decision making to further social goals like development, democracy, and human rights.

1. Connecting Culture
The Common Wealth Manifesto for
2012

2. Connecting…….
• We could learn a lot from
crayons. Some are sharp,
some are pretty, some are
dull, some have weird
names, and all are different
colors. But, they all fit
nicely into the same box."
• Everyone has the right
freely to participate in the
cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the
arts and to share in
scientific advancement and
its benefits -1948 Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights, Article 27.

3. • While the social construction of cultures has taken on a full-fledged shape
on various quotes, acts and manifestos, there is still an unprecedented
power of connection unrealized by the civil society’s sense of ‘Common
Wealth’ or well being at large. Therefore ‘Connecting Culture’ has taken its
stance as an efficient tool in countering to the changes and disparities led
down by social deficiencies and in restricting modern day slavery of
cultural exploitation. The connection unscrambles the knots of cultural
struggles within the distinctive entities of the ‘Common Wealth’. Bridging
the cultural lag could unleash the dormant civilians’ medium of expression
and knowledge and lead to ushering of the cultural pie in the most culture
needy areas, act as voice for unjust social exclusions, xenophobia and
stereotypes. Following this, the intermingling of the cultural issues and
identities in ‘connection’ upholds mutual knowledge calling further for
mutual understanding. A broad understanding of this event is opt to make
possibly the best utilization of the assortment of cultural resources and
creative think-tanks, actively support in building rich array of knowledge,
tradition, value, balanced exchanges, associations and preserve history
and diversity at the same time. This would lessen the impact of cultural
impoverishment and acknowledge the culture in relation with its
counterparts of diplomacy, politics, economy, law, environment and
technology.

4. Defining
• The connection can be well defined as a means
to incorporate cultural pluralism in core
foundation of mindset in order to promote
acceptance of good fundamentals on which trust
can be established. This assimilation of identities
for common good will result in eventual
sustainability in setting goals, mitigating
objectives which are essential for development.
Bringing ‘Connecting Culture’ into the societal
mainstream requires full integrations of the
residents of ‘Common Wealth’ via creating
access to same fundamentals in primacy of
protecting individual perception of culture.
Maintenance and renewal of these cultural
relations is contingent to the commitment to
uphold the strength in unity of ‘common wealth’
being, moving away from the past paradigm of
short cultural terms. The history of culture has
its contribution from numerous residents of the
world, so the interpretation of connectivity should
is subject to widespread means of humanizing
social dimensions. Besides, the democratic life
in the secular state should belong to a multi
cultural setting with shared values for common
good and sense of community and the best
realization of this could be derived from ‘
connecting cultures’.

5. • These wide range of assertions of ‘Connecting Cultures’ can be
presumed from antecedent concepts of culture; such as culture
catastrophes where ‘hot button’ issues most pressing to
conflict exist between two definable polarities. This is where
cultural differences stems and ‘Connecting Cultures’ come into
play its role. This cultural distinction is critical to the nation’s
foundation of viewpoints and doctrines. It has been the public
anti agenda of removing culture from the political debate but
nonetheless connection of cultures to the civil society and
responsive institutions can serve as the soft power in attaining
goals through cooperation. Besides the conscious cultural
borrowing or appropriation could enrich the recipient culture in
constructing dominant ideology of upward leveling norms.
Connection in itself is a cultural resource and brings about
membership, networks, influence and support and is potential
to be diverted to economic capital via tourism, trade fairs and
alternatives assisting to connect cultures. The ‘Connection’
would too hold the principles of cultural imperialism and cultural
hegemony void ‘Since the good intake of culture will be an
exemplary medium to propose compound, potent and
unequivocal share taken by the participants. Acculturation and
voluntary embracing of foreign cultures could also complement
to the final production of values and norms by the recipient
culture, because now the culture would be aware of other
cultures, have grounds for arguments and answers and
account for world issues and equity at large.

6. • Furthermore, ‘Connecting Culture’ redefines the status of the marginalized issues detached
from the social fabrics of the conventional decision making and regards of quantitative
measurement of culture via surveying the changes in economy subject to the adoption of
cultural practices comprised to be used for development and decision making. We stand on the
cusp of a new epoch where social postures ready at hand materializes in several manifestos
and ‘Connecting Cultures to Cultures’ is likely open up new horizons and provide legitimate
contexts within which the scope for social goal mitigation is high. We live in a global hub where
we bond the cultures of separate entity, show casing different ideologies and connecting these
values as counterparts could be a good drive towards a modern ‘Utopia’. For the ‘Connecting
Culture’ to appear sound the national performance framework has to support it by creating level
playing field, prioritizing proactive cultural management via social cohesion, help in diffusion of
tech know how in cultural aspects to ensure digital solidarity. Besides these, investments in
cultural ventures could include trade fairs adding more to export baskets and letting know about
the heritage and practices, tourism and photography resulting in boom of ancillary industries,
festivals displaying indigenous artifacts and facts foreign to a culture with multi faith celebration.
Training and workshops could be placed to integrate diverse individuals to sound in one voice.
Exhibition of art forms in music, documentary and literary works with an easy get through and
appealing to the youth. Museums, theatres, historical sites and scenic beauty could be
promoted as a conveyor of history to safeguard heritage. Funding of creative industries (for
instance jute, garments, crafts or theatres), cultural practitioners and provide collective identity
to the social engineers to realize comparative edges and create capacity to get to productive
potentials. Besides these, a coherent stance towards devising culture friendly policies and law
would have to be in implementation by securing and making lucid immigration laws, realize the
importance of Diasporas in retaining relation with another culture.

8. • Facilitate safe public discussions of diversity, add multi lingual
education to schools and promote good satellite learning, utilize the
mode of other rituals or practices to hold the level of cultural tolerance
veritably exemplary. The removal of barrier between the mainstream
and minority in the same society could also hold as bond between
cultures of different groups in a same resident. Cultural awareness in
the private sectors and public private partnerships initiatives towards
‘Connecting’ could also event in crafting a rich ‘Informative’ society.
‘Global Connection of Cultures’ could also be defined as global
constellation embedded in the roots of common wealth. Connection of
cultures could also enhance strategic partnerships between distinct
nations and support diplomatic talks. This would overall serve to the
marks laid down by the Millennium Development Goals of gender
equality, health education and global partnership because connecting
cultures would have knowledge transfers and acceptance of
knowledge as its by product. The inflow and outflow of cultures
contributes in associating the citizenship to be more responsive to
cultural identity, where civilians reclaim a democratic ground where
people can share. Following this the political advocacy in ‘ connecting
culture’, mobility of exchange, connection between borders and its
rational analysis, active construction of identities and the role of media
has to be under concrete vision when bridging the gap.

9. • The sharing should not stop at the
border since we are members of the
global family, we struggle to share
rather than divide. The vibrant
democratic institutions play a
significant role in practicing tolerance
and acceptance in connection to its
code of conduct prepared on
certainties of ethical grounds. Its work
is its role is to centralize the scope for
dialogue, hold to the root cause and
accentuate culturally innovative
mechanism for problem solving, lead
culturally receptive researches,
mobilize domestic and international
resources for development, provide
technical assistance via embarking on
cultural pilot initiatives, hold civil
society consultation and encourage
participation and enact laws to
safeguard all key players of the
‘Connecting Cultures’.

10. • The cultural flight will be of retention and recovery of history and will be lending pace
to multilateral utilities of skill transfer and create a more responsive budget to social
impacts and problems. It widens the scope for cultural calculation and accounts for
illicit cultural leakages if supervised by good governance. This global coalition would
transform the conflict in facilitating a policy oriented debate between participants, a
debate which is tangible and has relation to reality. Following this, it would be the
propagation of participative spirits via upgrading of moral values. For instance, the
organization of ‘Common Wealth Games’ depict thrive in skills, recognition for
participation regardless of win or loss, every one is acknowledged. The ‘Common
Wealth Games’ too is a channel for ‘Connecting Cultures’ since the very motivation of
the feast rests in social mission of tolerance, acceptance and friendship. The
application of cultural domination is put into effort by ‘Connecting Cultures’ in order to
comprehend different social purposes of different cultures, so that it can enable the
coalesce of cultures into a greater social mission attending immediate concerns.
Moreover these multi cultural conglomerates can fuel into an effective engine
withstanding all challenges by establishing the actors in a communicative situation.
Thus empowering the context to be served to the realm of the culture.

11. • The manifesto of ‘Connecting Cultures’ is
very much realistic because it has its
practicability and inheritance from history.
The cultural topography perceives a
fundamental difference with regard to the
framework in which the communication
takes place and so’ Connecting Culture’ in
itself can be referred to as active
reference. This will work as leveling off
activities to get the connection more
responsive by letting the ‘Common Wealth’
residents know each other through group
and culture dynamics. It also overcomes
the lag between policy and practice by
connecting them by getting in touch with
the grass root levels and laddering up to
the regional or international platform acting
as a catalyst or matrix of motivation and
actualization of needs. ‘ Connecting
Cultures’ would be helpful in setting
nonjudgmental disposition so as to get
more out of any foreign culture and
promotes active perceiving of norms rather
than passive inheritance.

12. • As the ‘Common Wealth’ foundation
recognizes the horizontal engagement
of civil society and acknowledges that a
civil society is a diverse and multi
faceted entity; the 2007 ‘Common
Wealth People’s Forum’ urges to make
culture a central pillar of ‘Common
Wealth’s mandate alongside
development and democracy. The
objectives possessed by ‘Connecting
Cultures’ rightfully blends with the
assertions and confirmations set by the
‘Common Wealth’. ‘Connecting
cultures presumably aims to facilitate
equitable representation among its
participants, enhance plural
participation in public sphere and
leverage the strength to form networks
in working out policies and setting
feasible benchmarks. It also calls for
budget allocation, international
agreements, adoption of international
instruments and space to create
synergies where players of the pool
with diverse interests and skills can
enable themselves into fruitful
implementations. The idea of this
assimilation is destined to create a new
cultural identity of multiculturalism with
integrative force accounting of values
placed by both major and minor
players. Following these, the domains
of culture- language, religion, art forms,
moral values and so forth substantiate
number of conclusions to be drawn
depending on the variables of the
learning culture.

13. • Moreover, this very concept has taken pragmatic approach towards
the humanizing impacts of culture and connections. It has laid down
the world aspects in such a way that individuals would take it as a
means of their own empowerment and work towards it. ‘Connecting
Culture’ suggests of collecting dissimilar problem from the various
parts of the society and synthesizes them into one objective by
articulating a compelling picture of the future towards the sense of
‘Common Wealth’

14. • Again the quote has its
say on it
• "Tolerance, inter-cultural
dialogue and respect for
diversity are more
essential than ever in a
world where peoples are
becoming more and more
closely interconnected."
• —Kofi Annan, Former
Secretary-General of the
United Nations