*EPF305 02/26/2003
Al-Jazeera Broadcasts American, Iraqi Student Exchange via Satellite
(American and Iraqi students probe each other's assumptions) (770)

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 U.S. 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. Ryan-Silva's field of study is conflict resolution.

Coincidentally, a freelance journalist working in Iraq was exploring the same idea. Ryan-Silva 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 Web site.

"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)

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