15 - 21 November 2001
Issue No.560
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 15 - 21 November 2001 Issue No.560 |
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Propaganda between friends
Education or politics? Rania Khallaf wonders if mixing the two is fair
What is the lesson today's children will take away from 11 September? Most agree that the silver lining to recent tragic events would be a culture of understanding within the international community. Few, however, are optimistic that current political maneuvers are acting to bring about this goal.
Since the September attacks and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, the US has been insisting that Islam is not under attack. A new programme, in cooperation with governments in the Middle, Near and Far East, is aimed at driving home this point by enlisting children in the cause.
The new initiative launched by the American government is actually an old idea: fostering links between communities by encouraging children to develop international "pen pals" -- although the medium of exchange has been updated to the Internet. The programme, "Friendship through Education", will link American schools across the country to schools in predominantly Muslim countries like Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and even Afghan refugee camps. The first three American schools to participate in the programme are located in the communities most directly affected by the 11 September attacks.
Critics see the project as an unmistakable attempt to employ children as part of the propaganda war aimed at winning over Islamic countries to support the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan and the so-called war against terrorism.
"It is very important for us to combat evil with understanding," US President George W Bush told school-children at Thurgood Marshal Elementary School in Washington, DC, on 25 October. "It is very important for us to re-enforce our message in all ways possible to the people in the Islamic world that we do not hold [them] accountable for what took place [on September 11]," he said.
The schoolchildren enlisted for the friendship programme were not spared the US administration's war rhetoric. "We are fighting evil people," Bush told the students. "And one way of fighting evil with good is through you. You can help by writing letters to boys and girls your age. You can tell boys and girls what your dreams are and ask them about theirs, too. We are here talking about how we can best conduct a war against evil. And you can play a part."
With 25 schools participating in the initiative, Egypt is the US's largest partner in the "Friendship through Education" strategy. Last Wednesday, the American Embassy in Cairo launched the programme through the International Education and Resource Network, the umbrella organisation supervised directly by the Ministry of Education under which the new initiative will be implemented. The Resource Network, which conducts its operations in English, was implemented in 13 schools throughout Egypt in the academic year 2000-2001. Teams from these schools participated in a project entitled "Laws of Life", in which Egyptian students contributed essays about peace, friendship, love, tolerance and the role of women in the development of society.
The initiative will continue throughout the 2001-2002 academic year with 10 more schools. In the winning essay of the Resource Network's writing competition last year, 16-year-old Heba Youssef wrote: "I wonder why the world is struggling? Is it because of land, power or wealth? None of these deserves the spilling of blood of innocent children that are being killed every day."
Will a programme like "Friendship through Education" offer the likes of Heba adequate answers? Ali Fahmi, a sociologist, is not generous with his assessment. He recalls a similar project run some 20 years ago targeting the inhabitants of poor areas and linking them with American funding associations. "The aim was clear: to create a loyalty to America among poor and ill-educated people," Fahmi said. "It is insane to open connections between American and Muslim students, while the basic human rights of Palestinian and Iraqi children are being violated every day."
Said Ismail, a professor of education at Ain Shams University, argues that the US initiative reveals a deep-rooted contradiction in American society. "I cannot understand the idea behind this initiative, when every day the American media is obviously against Arabs and Muslims, and Arabs are continually being attacked and insulted in the US and Europe," Ismail said.
Robert Lindsey, regional English-language officer at the American Embassy in Cairo, disagrees. The US president, he said, "hopes to give our children, and your children, the chance, through the free flow of information, to explore issues. In the end, it is up to them to decide the significance and meaning of any historical event."
Reno Harnich, deputy chief of the new project, was in Cairo last week for the launch. "It is an appropriate time to launch this programme," Harnich told Al-Ahram Weekly. "In the wake of the death and destruction in Washington and New York, we should struggle to build bridges between our countries." He added: "With the new Friendship through Education initiative, we are determined to build ties of trust among people all over the world, and particularly with children in the Islamic world."
But with the starvation of children in Iraq, shooting of children in Palestine and bombing of yet more in Afghanistan many remain skeptical.
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