Organization Aims To Inform Americans About The Rest Of The World

Organization Aims To Inform Americans About The Rest Of The World

by Bernie Pearlstein
News Informant
2/28/2005

Seth Green was in the U.K. right after Sept. 11th and noticed that students from all over the world were showing sympathy for the United States. Not one to miss an opportunity, Mr. Green, who was attending Oxford University on a Marshall Scholarship back in 2001, worked to organize several forums on cross-cultural understanding.

He continued the effort but noticed that the sympathy began to ebb after President Bush delivered a speech on Iraq at the UN in Sept. 2002. “Although Americans viewed the speech as a diplomatic effort, many in the international community saw the speech as an attempt at intimidation.”

Realizing that Americans were often less informed about the rest of the world -- and how it views the U.S. -- than the rest of the world knew about the U.S., Mr. Green aimed to close the gap when he returned home in 2003. The result is a non-profit organization, called Americans for Informed Democracy.

The organization, of which Mr. Green is Executive Director, aims to educate U.S. college students about other countries and cultures around the world. Americans for Informed Democracy, a.k.a. AID, organizes events, primarily on college campuses in major cities around the country, such as one held last week at DePaul University in Chicago concerning U.S. foreign aid.

At this event, three prominent university instructors -- Prof. Ali Riaz of Illinois State University, Prof. William Schweiker of the University of Chicago and Assoc. Prof. Clement Adibe of DePaul University -- presented different views on U.S. foreign aid in light of the recent Indian Ocean tsunami. Dr. Riaz is an expert on the South Asian country of Bangladesh; Dr. Adibe is an expert on Africa; and Dr. Schweiker is an expert on theological views on morality.

This “town hall” discussion approach may surprise those who, since the time of the Vietnam War, have come to associate any student activism with loud demonstrations and radical politics. Instead, AID focuses on dialogue to foster better understanding. Mr. Green, now a student at Yale Law School (class of 2007), says that at some of these forums, white Americans expressed to Muslims in attendance that they are sometimes afraid to fly on planes with those dressed in traditional Muslim dress. But these heart-felt exchanges have not led to fighting or rancor. In this light, AID sponsored a series of forums in 2003 and 2004 called “Hope not Hate,” in order to improve U.S.-Islamic relations.

Mr. Green’s own opinion pieces, which have been published in such newspapers as The Christian Science Monitor, the Tallahassee Democrat, and The Miami Herald, is nuanced. Although he opposed the rush to war in Iraq, his analysis is far from a knee-jerk anti-war position.

Universities are no doubt oases of learning, but one of the reasons that AID attempts to reach students is its ability to teach a new generation about the world. The organization has a presence on 175 campuses in 10 countries, according to Mr. Green. And in addition to the on-campus forums, the organization also holds off-campus retreats.

One of the biggest problems that non-profit organizations of this type run into is the need for funding. AID does not require donations from “members” because it has received sufficient funding from foundations. It began with what Mr. Green modestly claims to be a bit of serendipity. Most foundations donate only to organizations that have already received money from respected sources. But the Rockefeller Brothers Fund found him -- and offered his organization money -- after seeing advertisements for AID back in Sept. 2003.

The organization continues to grow and to expand its efforts to inform young Americans, in a thoughtful, intelligent way, about issues of global concern. For those who believe that an educated people is best prepared to answer the call of democratic citizenship, AID helps to fill that large gap in Americans’ understanding of world affairs.