A/76/178 and local communities’ innovations through patents” (A/70/279, para. 27). Many indigenous peoples have their own standards about how to share their cultures, standards that reflect their autonomy and resistance to histories of dispossessi on. 62 49. Moreover, some experts expressed concern to the Special Rapporteur about the role of the State in cultural appropriation, through the commercialization of aspects of culture, including for the purposes of tourism, or seeking UNESCO status without adequate consultation of groups closely connected to the heritage in question. These challenges must be addressed by considering the cultural rights of all, including related to cultural mixing and sharing, and other relevant human rights, including economic rights. Solutions must be sought through consultation with and participation of affected constituencies. 50. The equal participation of everyone, across many identities and ideologies, in artistic and cultural fields is a critically important cultural rights goal. Many voices are still excluded. Discrimination remains rampant in many cultural fields. Especially considering the underrepresentation of marginalized perspectives, thoughtful approaches must be taken when seeking to interact artistically with the experiences and histories of others. At the same time, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the potential impact on cultural rights of recent suggestions that only translators from the same racial group as the writer should be able to translate their work, or that artists should be prohibited from depicting the suffering of those of different identity groups. 63 She is convinced by the words of the Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou that “literature becomes greater because it crosses frontiers.” She is persuaded by the Cuban-American artist Coco Fusco that “the decolonization of art institutions … entails critical analysis of systemic racism coupled with a rigorous treatment of art history and visual culture,” but that at the same time “reasoned asses sment involves more nuanced evaluative criteria, ones that do not essentialize racial identity, [or] impute intent”. 64 Such complex moral issues must not be oversimplified. Those who sometimes seek to police their own imagined cultural borders often do not consult a diversity of cultural practitioners on the ground in relevant contexts who may have a variety of views. 51. While the struggles against discrimination in the field of cultural rights, and for the representation of diverse voices in the cultural fields, remain essential human rights struggles, without which cultural rights for everyone cannot be achieved, the Special Rapporteur also warns of the cultural rights consequences of narrowly constructed identity politics. According to the former Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, “recognizing and protecting multiple identities helps to resist and overcome political forces, in particular identity politics, which seek to deny any possibility of pluralism within self and society, as well as gender equality” (A/67/287, para. 13). The late Jamaican-British cultural theorist Stuart Hall reminded us of “the extraordinary diversity of subjective positions, social experiences and cultural identities” 65 within any group. __________________ 62 63 64 65 14/22 See, e.g., www8.nau.edu/hcpo-p/ResProto.pdf. Note also the advocacy for recognition of collective intellectual property rights by Mayan weavers in Guatemala: https://intercontinentalcry.org/ maya-weavers-propose-collective-intellectual-property-law/. Collective “intellectual property protection is a fundamental dimension of autonomy.” Coco Fusco, “Censorship, Not the Painting, Must Go: On Dana Schutz’s Image of Emmett Till”, in Hyperallergic (17 March, 2017). Available at https://hyperallergic.com/368290/censorshipnot-the-painting-must-go-on-dana-schutzs-image-of-emmett-till/. Fusco, “Censorship, Not the Painting, Must Go”. See www.worldcat.org/title/black-film-british-cinema/oclc/21912413. 21-10019