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26 February 2003

Al-Jazeera Broadcasts American, Iraqi Student Exchange via Satellite

(American and Iraqi students probe each other's assumptions) (760)
By Alicia Langley
Washington File Writer
Washington -- Julie Ryan-Silva, a graduate student at George Mason
University in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Virginia, came back
from Baghdad in January with an idea.
Why not arrange a town hall meeting via satellite between American
university students and university students in Iraq? The purpose of
the dialogue would be to offer a constructive and respectful exchange
between the American and Iraqi students.
Coincidentally, a freelance journalist working in Iraq was exploring
the same idea. Julie got in touch with May Ying Welsch, and their
collaboration led to making the idea a reality. They caught the
interest of Al-Jazeera, the 24-hour cable news network based in Qatar
whose Arabic broadcasts reach millions of viewers in the Middle East.
An email notice went out on February 19, soliciting GMU students to
volunteer as participants. A diverse group of 22 students were
selected and they submitted their questions in advance. Seventy-two
hours later, on Saturday, February 22, those students gathered at
George Mason University's Harris Theater along with approximately 180
other members of the community, where a production crew was assembled
and a large screen allowed the participants to see the Iraqi students
as they watched the program, complete with commercial breaks, airing
live on Al-Jazeera.
Al-Jazeera's Ghassan Bin-Jeddo, the host of a live monthly television
program called Open Dialogue, joined the Iraqi students in Baghdad
where he served as moderator.
Although most comments began with students sending regards and wishes
for peace to their counterparts, the discussion included accusations
and pleas from both sides. The Iraqi students asked the Americans to
be more critical of their own government and not allow a war.
The Iraqis wanted to know what American students would like to say to
President Bush, and the American students asked what Iraqis would say
to Saddam Hussein if given the chance. Students in both countries
pondered whether the conflict was about weapons of mass destruction or
a matter of their leaders' personal relationship. Some of the students
in Iraq questioned whether their U.S. counterparts were well-informed.
"Are you really paying attention to what is going on in Palestine? You
follow wars that happened decades ago but don't pay attention to what
is going on now," said one female student in Baghdad.
Students at George Mason were equally concerned about misconceptions.
"Since 9-11, there has been a great interest among Americans to learn
about Islam and the Muslim world," one American reminded the Iraqi
students.
Many of the Americans wondered whether the Iraqi students were really
free to speak their minds.
Yehuda Lukacs, director for the Center for Global Education at George
Mason, said that while planning the event, they "of course understood,
sort of lamented the fact that the Iraqis couldn't really speak their
minds."
"They could not criticize the government like some of our participants
did," said Lukacs. "But that was understood from the start, it wasn't
that we presented it as if it was going to be 100 percent open
dialogue. We put the dialogue in place, understanding the constraints
that the Iraqi students are facing, and despite those constraints, we
decided to proceed because we believe having a dialogue is better than
no dialogue."
The Iraqi students denied that their speech was curtailed and said
that proponents of an attack on Iraq have ulterior motives.
"If the U.N. agrees to war, it will be because of U.S. pressure. The
Iraqi people will hold the U.S. responsible," said another female
student in Baghdad.
"Americans live in fear of terrorism, but Iraqi people live in fear of
a U.S. attack," Bin-Jeddo commented from Baghdad.
Alan Merten, president of George Mason University, praised the
experiment and said he hopes it is just the beginning of a
continuation of this type of open exchange to develop cultural
awareness for students both in the United States and abroad.
The university plans to re-broadcast the program repeatedly on its
cable television channel and also make it available on its website.
"I think it was a positive experience," said Lukacs. "It highlighted
the need to maintain dialogue on an ongoing basis with Iraqis, with
North Koreans, with everybody. That experience, I think, highlighted
the shortcomings of the current ... American foreign policy at the
moment. Namely, there's a lot of government-to-government connections,
but very little people-to-people contact."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)