Layalina: Changing Perceptions About America in the Arab World

For a nation that claims as its own "Hollywood" and "Madison Avenue" we certainly have taken a beating in the battle of ideas throughout the turbulent Middle East. Understandably, most of our travails throughout the Arab world can be traced right to the Oval Office, whose occupant and his hapless band of neo-warriors have single-handedly played into the hands of America's adversaries throughout the region. Need I go through the litany: The Iraq occupation indelibly defining America's Middle East democratic agenda; failure to support local democrats and human rights; the consequential rise of Shiite Iran, the proliferation of regional terrorism, the growth of Hezbollah and Hamas, abandonment of peacemaking between Israel and Palestine, etc., etc.

It has been virtually impossible to retrench and regain our balance in the hearts and minds of Arabs as debacle after debacle has steadily chipped away at our standing. Poll after poll confirms that from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, America's reputation has fallen through the basement floor. Of course, these failures will have to be reversed before anything in the way of success can be measured.

Why is it important to change adversarial Arab attitudes toward us, you ask? Well, for starters, it would facilitate an expedited withdrawal from Iraq, help incubate a new peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians, arrest perhaps the growing strength of Hamas and Hezbollah, and enable the region to better acclimate to the need to develop and reform...and this is just the top of the list.

One of the real challenges we face in reversing these adverse perceptions of America is to open up lines of communication and assure Arabs that help is on the way.

One way to begin the repair job is to reintroduce America, not necessarily Washington policies, to the Arab world through the medium of television. That is why, I along with a bipartisan group of American diplomats, businessmen and media experts formed Layalina Productions ("Layalina" means "Our Evenings" in Arabic).

Layalina has been developing American-style commercial programming for licensing to Arab satellite stations throughout the Middle East to replace the cultural retread reruns that Arab media outlets have been buying from American television studios that have sullied our reputation as well in the region, including reruns of syndicated shows, such as the Jerry Springer Show, Dallas, Baywatch and ancient game shows that collectively provide Arab viewers not the most favorable image of Americans and their national values and aspirations. Yeah, I know, we like watching this stuff, but must this trove of television shows define us at a time of such turbulence?

Layalina Productions is the first, not-for-profit American producer of commercial television programming addressing U.S. image challenges in the Middle East. Layalina Productions has achieved many breakthroughs since its inception (visit its website at www.layalina.tv).

The latest achievement is its partnership with Sundance Channel, which will begin airing in the U.S. Layalina's landmark reality series "On the Road in America" which has already been aired twice to wide acclaim throughout the Arab World on the region's largest media network -- MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center), which is based in Dubai. "On the Road in America" became the second highest rated series in Arab media market prime time.

Sundance Channel will air the first of 12 episodes on Wednesday, June 4 at 9:00PM.

Join four young people of Arab heritage as they take an unconventional road trip across America. Originally created to expose Middle Eastern audiences to the diverse culture of the United States, this 12-part documentary series follows Ali, Sanad, Mohamad and Lara as they explore differences and similarities between their worlds and the people and places they visit, from the Hamptons to downtown Los Angeles. The series is intentionally provocative and pulls no punches in addressing the gulf between Americans and Arabs.

In the opening episode, the quartet meets in Washington while war rages between Israel and Hezbollah. Jerome Gary (award winning producer from Hollywood) directs.

Layalina is currently producing four other television series in addition to its existing productions:

1. A second year of On the Road in America
2. A reverse reality series American Caravan that will bring U.S. young adults to the Middle East
3. A comedy series entitled How's Your Arabic?
4. A newsmagazine show entitled Al Saat (The Hour)

Layalina is totally privately funded, and its productions are jointly produced by a team of American and Arab producers, directors and writers.

I hope you will either watch and/or TIVO On the Road in America when it airs on Wednesday at 9PM.

Clearly, changing Arab attitudes toward the United States will take more than a bunch of quality television shows. It will take a new president with an open mind to intelligently engage our adversaries, provide inspiration to potential regional allies, and a policy that regains the trust and confidence of the vast swath of Arabs who once upon a time valued America's greatness. But until then, Layalina, along with other like-minded private sector ventures engaged in "private" public diplomacy, are part of the new "soft power" that will be needed to help a new president win the battle of hearts and minds in the Middle East.

On behalf of Laylina Productions, I hope you enjoy viewing On the Road in America.

Comments

[ArabianMonkey]

part 3 - When it comes to media creation for a better tomorrow, I believe in multicultural collaborations. Writers, producers, directors, crew and cast should be of diverse ethnicities, nationalities and backgrounds if they want to impact perception. Today it"s so easy to have cross cultural collaborations in creation " rather than one side make it their way for the others. Let"s get out of our comfy zones and take some creative risks. Let"s raise the bar in how we think so that what we collaborate on and what we create together has real impact. Let"s embrace the wisdom of the crowd and harness that positive energy and enlightened thought. Let"s help ourselves, each other, and our youth learn how to learn. And yes, all this can come in the form of audiovisual entertainment.

[ArabianMonkey]

part 2- I know about Layalina, but haven"t seen your shows. After this post and comments, I will make an effort to so as to make my own judgment as to whether or not this is working from where I stand.

I do however want to share what continues to shift my perception to the positive: The incredible people at TED sharing their stories and first hand accounts of their work. The amazing Americans talking at POP!Tech. The filmmakers on festival panels. The homeless guy in LA who upon finding out I"m Jordanian, tells me how he admires our queen. My American neighbor who tells me why she has fallen in love with our little Jordanian feature film, Captain Abu Raed, wants to own the DVD. Stories about brave, risking taking entrepreneurs. My favorite bloggers. The strangers and unknowns who comment on this blog and others. The strangers on Facebook and the common ground we explore together. And yes, I love the fabulous women in Sex And The City, and after the 2.5 hours I am very able to go back to my reality, and no I don"t want their lives, but I"m definitely entertained by their stories for that brief period of make believe.

Unfortunately, the Arab world in general has decided to identify with the worst of what is American (of course I"m generalizing and there are exceptions). But that is what has been forced down their systems for mass consumption.

[ArabianMonkey]

Long comm/Part 1: As an Arab creative worker, living in Amman, producing for multiplatform, with an international education within a predominantly US system, I consume and enjoy some American made entertainment. I"ve always admired the idea of America. I love discovering new US cities. I love my American friends in and outside of the US. I find my heart goes out to the sad American stories, not just 9/11, but even the very local or remote ones. I"ve learned quite a bit from American business. But there"s a lot I disagree with and dislike. And equally so about my own country and region, and other places in the world. I also do not watch television. Don"t subscribe to any network. Don"t own a TV. Don"t feel I"m missing anything in my home. And I am not less entertained nor less informed nor less engaged nor less worldly than anyone I know. For over 8 years now, I"ve chose to only pull my media -online, DVDs, cinema, mobile.

I agree with you about the efforts we must all put in to help shift the negative perception of America in the eyes of Arabs (and probably the rest of the world), but I also think Arabs should make a serious effort in improving our own image and how we are perceived in the eyes of Americans and the world. So far, we"ve failed to share the beautiful, positive, progressive, funny, interesting, cool, successful side of the Arab us.

[2bad]

I'm sure your intentions are good but, why don't we try something completely different. How about we mind our own damn business, concentrate on fixing the MANY problems we have right here, and strive to make America look good without having to export it!

[SamThornton]

What a great idea! The idea we can somehow talk our way out of our screwups with clever pieces of media, rather than do something concrete is so 20th century.

[appleknocker]

Amen, brother! The idea that Arab antipathy to the US is due to inadequate PR is so preposterous that I despair when I see people in responsible positions touting it. As long as the American ruling class insists on ruling the Middle East as well, no propaganda is going to win their respect.

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

I'm not sure anything can ever undo the damage of showing Jerry Springer's show.

Who was the brainiac behind bringing THAT slice of *ahem* Americana to the rest of the world?

[JScott]

It would be more accessable if it was on broadcast or over the air tv as well as on basic cable.

[JackMehoffer]

"...Arms inspections are a hoax, said Tariq Aziz, Iraq's deputy prime minister, in a forthright and chilling interview with ABC News last week. War is inevitable.

Aziz is the smartest, most credible member of President Saddam Hussein's otherwise sinister regime - my view after covering Iraq since 1976.

What the U.S. wants is not regime change in Iraq but rather region change, charged Aziz. He tersely summed up the Bush administration's reasons for war against Iraq: Oil and Israel.

Aziz's undiplomatic language underlines growing fears across the Mideast that U.S. President George Bush intends to use a manufactured war against Iraq to redraw the political map of the region, put it under permanent U.S. military control, and seize its vast oil resources. "

[Marlyn]

"Layalina has been developing American-style commercial programming"

I sure hope this doesn't mean that every 10 minutes there will be 5 minutes of disgusting commercial ads, because that is what we see here in America.

[JackMehoffer]

Lol, talk about out of touch, the Arabs know that oil is scarce and their lands have plenty of it, very naive article.

[wiltmellow]

Dear Marc,

This is a great idea.

I have some other suggestions of storylines selling American values.

"George and Martha": Discover the George and Martha's early years, as the young couple strives to keep their revolutionary ambitions hidden from King George and his troops all while trying to lead a normal life. You'll scream with laughter when Martha says "you threw a dollar across the Potomac"??? Are you crazy?" You'll howl as house slave Toby rolls his eyes behind their backs when George and Martha argue about the meaning of freedom.

"No Quarter": In this reality show, the camera follows the resentments and friction and ultimately love and acceptance that develops when British troops garrison themselves in a colonialist's home. in one episode a British soldier impregnates the Biddle's daughter; in another, her brother is persuaded to share the revolutionary ambitions of his best friend with British soldiers. Warm, human, and always poignant, "No Quarter" explores the many joys and challenges of colonial occupations.

"All in the Tribe": In this compelling comedy/drama about a fictional tribe of Indians living along the Ohio river, you'll get a glimpse of the internal stresses a tribe faces as they learn to adapt to early colonial expansion. From the hot-headed young Angry Mouse to the traditionalist Honey Bear, the viewer can begin to experience life from the savages point of view.

I have many more ideas, space prevents me from developing. Maybe your producers can email me.

Take care.

Milton

[Marlyn]

Milton, you good.

[VicPerry]

wiltmellow, I genuflect

[dadw5boys]

WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!!!!
American television to help them understand Americans????

How is CROTCH IN YOUR FACE ADVERTIZING going to help these people understand Americans.

The advertizers use so much sex to sell thier crap thesde poor people will be either insulted or made to feel like perverts or voyuers when watching advertizements.

Americans have bveen seduced into allowing this CROTCH SHOT salemanship so long they can not relate to the people who have kept their society away from a constant barrage of sexual thoughts and concentrated on learning and improving their minds when ever they can.

Why not just improve relation with them by keeping our noses out of their governments and thier lives?

[Oilygarch]

Why must we window-dress and tap-dance as our first order of action? By improving the way we behave as first and foremost, we will stand a better chance towards improving the way we are perceived.

If the behavior is good, I take no issue with image consultancy. But, when appearances are number one and do as I say not as I do, our face falls and we loose credibility.

Doesn't this seem logical?

[Chavez08]

Ambassador Ginsberg,

Do YOU think Neoliberalism is working?

[Marlyn]

What is "Neoliberalism"?

[Chavez08]

"Neoliberalism is a political movement that espouses economic liberalism as a means of promoting economic development and securing political liberty. The movement is sometimes described as an effort to revert to the economic policies of the 18th and 19th centuries classical liberalism.[1]"

This is the system Reagan introduced in the 80s. The underlying idea was that market liberalism always leads to political liberalism.

The WTO/IMF forces poor countries to pry open their markets and forfit their natural resources (energy) and eradicate labor/ecological and human rights laws that interfere with trade/commerce in order to get IMF loans to feed their people.

Colombia is even going as far as to assassinate unarmed labor organizers (2200+ to date) in order to appease the global banking institutions and Bush seems very satisfied with the results.

[Chavez08]

Human nature: Power lust, greed, fear, apathy will make certain this world will never be a peaceful place.

Question to Huffpo - do you think Neoliberalism is working?

[luziannagirl]

So they are trying to understand us better, and we certainly have been struggling in trying to understand them better. That's an improvement over kill Americans "because God said so".

The women's head covering thing is particularly troublesome to most of us. To us, requiring women to cover their hair and sometimes their faces as a practical matter so men won't get too aroused and perhaps attack them, might be the same as requiring men to wear some sort of chastity belt to assure women that they won't be violated at least until the man takes a few minutes to find the key and fumble with the lock and remove the belt.

I mean, they could fancy up their chastity belts (how about "Belt of Honor") with gold and silver and embellishments in the most important spots...

[Marlyn]

How about special underware?