I enjoyed the candor of Richard Arndt's "The Hush Hush Debate," and his ideas on how one would set up shop as a cultural diplomat in a new country. Arndt says one would start by assessing: "1) relations that are flowing well and need no intervention other than awareness, back-pats and social interaction; 2) relations which have been established but which are not working as well as they should, requiring delicate reshaping and deepening over time; and 3) relations which are not yet in place, yet important enough to warrant pump-priming and jump-starting efforts to start things moving—a perfect example, five decades ago, might have been a genuine and widespread dialogue on Islam and its relationship to other religions, political systems and ideologies (it is not too late, by the way)."
Although our group work will focus on Pakistan-U.S. relations since the U.S. is such a major donor to Pakistan, several ideas come to mind, some of which concern Pakistani-U.S. relations, some of which don't, but all can be cosidered in trying to improve, encourage, or establish cultural exchanges that would enhance Pakistan's PD.
One of the ideas that came out in our group discussions, and something that Joseph Nye also advocates, was giving a voice to the Pakistani diaspora in the U.S.--it's probably the easiest way to have exchanges with elites and decision-makers, and it would be with people who could talk about Pakistani culture in way that would help Americans understand it better.
Another U.S.-focused initiative could be cultural performances and exhibitions, something along the lines of the series of events recently held at the Kennedy Center in DC to celebrate Indian culture, dance, music, film, and other trditional arts.
In addition, educational exchanges would be great, in particular bringing Pakistani university students and other leaders would promote better dialogue and understanding across cultures. Even military exchanges would be great, and might help promote trust where it is now clearly lacking.
The other direction where Pakistan could benefit from cultural exchanges is in its dealings with India. Here, Pakistan could work to strengthen and legitimize the cultural and educational exchanges that are already taking place. There is still an elitist attitude toward such people-to-people exchanges as not influencing country relations, but that is erroneous, and could be corrected with some historic knowledge of other exchanges that helped ease tensions between countries such as the twin cities and other cultural and educational exchanges that happened between France and Germany shortly after World War II.
Cultural exchanges that promote the arts, music and dance are also now being used in post-conflict environments to promote understanding as well as psycho-social healing, and to diffuse tensions. This might apply in Kashmir and in some of the border areas between Pakistan and India where tensions are high.
In addition, creating forums for religious dialogues that promote tolerance and greater understanding between Muslims, Hindus, Christians and people of other faiths would also help the India-Pakistan relationship, as Arndt also suggests. Such exchanges might have to take place in a third country, and in a well-structured and moderated context.
However, in our group discussions, we shot down almost every one of our own proposals because we concluded that the ideas would not be prioritized since internal security concerns take the upper hand in Pakistan right now, and people-to-people exchanges are poo-pooed by the elite as something the "common classes" might do, but that all of that isn't much connected to elites and their politics. I think though that we are being a bit defeatist. There are such divisions that these ideas might be a place to start, and to do, as Arndt suggests, some "pump-priming and jump-starting" to begin exchanges that are peaceful and constructive, and that humanize the "other" and promote greater understanding across cultures.
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