US embassy cable - 04AMMAN2072

UNCLAS AMMAN 002072 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/PPD QUINN 
NEA FOR LAROCCO 
NEA/PI FOR AROMANOWSKI 
ECA FOR HARRISON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, SCUL, KPAO, XF, JO 
SUBJECT:  Jordanian Youth Respond Enthusiastically to Youth 
Outreach 
 
 
1.   Summary.   Over the last month, the Mission mounted a 
number of initiatives aimed at broadening our outreach to 
Jordanian youth.  Among this population, animosity and 
distrust of the U.S. run high in the wake of the Israeli- 
Palestinian crisis and the overwhelmingly negative coverage 
in the local and regional media of U.S. engagement in Iraq. 
However, university and high school students from a wide 
array of social and regional backgrounds proved very 
responsive to contact with both official and private 
Americans.  Though they never failed to express their 
opposition to U.S. policy in the region, the students were 
eager to have more exchanges with Americans, both to express 
their own views and to learn more about American society and 
culture -preferably first-hand.  Following are some of our 
encounters with youth over the last month.  End Summary. 
 
2.   Responding to a demand from about 40 student grantees 
who visited the U.S. under the Young Leaders and the Young 
Ambassadors' programs last year, the PAO held a gathering at 
his house on March 2 which included the Ambassador and six 
American Fulbright students plus Embassy officers from the 
political and economic sections.  The student leaders gave 
presentations on their experiences in each others' 
countries, particularly the misperceptions they were able to 
clear up, both among the young people they met and in their 
own minds.  One female student from Jordan University's 
Science Department gave a power-point demonstration 
featuring digital photos of her visits to U.S. campuses. 
Iraq, the Palestinian issue, and cultural differences 
between Islamic society and the West were all the subject of 
frank, sometimes heated discussion.  But by the end of the 
evening, the students had exchanged e-mail addresses, and we 
have heard from an American Fulbrighter that they have 
formed a chat group. 
 
3.    The next week, the PAO and Information officer spoke 
in Arabic to students and faculty of the journalism and 
political science departments of Yarmouk University in 
Irbid, Jordan's second largest city.  Again, there was an 
enthusiastic response from the young academics, who 
underlined the importance of dialogue during this period of 
strong differences over policy.  Students and faculty wanted 
to know more about the Greater Middle East Initiative.  Was 
it a ploy to extract more concessions from Arab regimes, or 
a real chance to cooperate with Americans interested in 
strengthening democratic trends in the region? 
Subsequently, faculty members have asked for more public 
affairs programming, including a request to support a local 
group of citizens from the surrounding region who want to 
learn more about grass roots organization and the role of 
NGOs. 
 
4.   Post encountered a similar desire to engage during some 
recent youth-oriented cultural and economic public affairs 
programs.  In late February about 60 students from five 
different high schools attended a digital videoconference at 
the Embassy and showered a historian of African-American 
music with questions about the social and ethnic origins of 
hip-hop, a popular genre among local youth.  A week later a 
similar group of high school students crowded the auditorium 
to engage in a lecture-discussion of slavery and the civil 
rights movement, delivered by an American Fulbright scholar. 
And young dancers and journalists asked questions about the 
globalization and culture during a digital videoconference 
with the Battery Dance Company of New York, in advance of 
their performances here March 23-27.   On March 17, we will 
also hold a seminar on USAID-backed micro finance for an 
audience of students from local Economics and Commerce 
faculties. 
 
5.   What we found in the course of these encounters with 
Jordanian young people, most of whom came from non-affluent, 
middle class backgrounds with little direct exposure to 
Americans, was a strong desire to make up their own minds 
about U.S. society and culture.   Equally strong was the 
demand for an opportunity to convey their own views to 
American audiences, and to correct what they believe is a 
distorted picture of Arabs and Islam.  Jordanian youth who 
participated in the summer arts exchanges, the high school 
youth exchanges and similar visits to the U.S. praised the 
interactive parts of their programs where they got to inform 
American youth about their culture and society.  Through P4L 
and MEPI programs, we hope to sustain this dialogue and 
encourage direct and self- sustaining contact through youth- 
oriented programs such as GLOBE and IEARN, which build 
enduring links via Internet. #GNEHM