Remarks of Dr. John Brademas

REMARKS OF DR. JOHN BRADEMAS

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, our distinguished former colleague in the House of Representatives, now president emeritus of New York University, Dr. John Brademas, delivered an address last month in Rabat, Morocco, at a conference on "The Dialogue of Cultures."

The conference, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Morocco, focused on the relationships between the West and the
Arab world.

John Brademas served in Congress, from the State of Indiana, for 22 years-1959-1981-the last 4 as House majority whip. He established a particular reputation for his leadership in writing legislation to support schools, colleges and universities, libraries and museums, the arts and humanities, and to provide services for children, the elderly, and the disabled.

A graduate of Harvard University, Dr. Brademas was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University where he earned a Ph.D. Last year, Oxford University awarded Dr. Brademas the honorary degree of doctor of civil law, with a citation that described him as "a man of varied talents and extraordinary energy, the most practical of academics, the most scholarly men of action."

On leaving Congress, Dr. Brademas became president of New York University, a position he served from 1981 until 1992, when he became president emeritus, the position he now holds.

Mr. President, in light of the great importance of developments between the United States and Islamic countries, I believe my colleagues will read with interest Dr. Brademas's thoughtful address in Morocco, and I ask unanimous consent to have his remarks printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

REMARKS OF DR. JOHN BRADEMAS ON "EDUCATION AND CULTURE: FORCES FOR PEACE IN A TROUBLED WORLD"

I am for several reasons honored to have been invited by the distinguished Minister of Culture of the Kingdom of Morocco, His Excellency, Mohamed Achaari, to take part in this conference on the theme, "Is the Dialogue Between Cultures Possible?"

This is the first time I have been in Morocco, and my wife and I have immensely enjoyed visiting the famed cities of Casablanca, Fès and Marrakech and seeing some of the wonders of this beautiful country.

I have to thank my friend, a brilliant and energetic Moroccan, Karim Errouaki, for having suggested I join you even as I am pleased to see here other friends such as Dr. Federico Mayor, the former Director General of UNESCO; Professors Edward Nell of the New School University, Bernard Lewis of Princeton and my New York University colleague, Noah Feldman.

And I greatly value the opportunity to meet the distinguished former Prime Minister of France, Michel Rocard, and so many other eminent political leaders, scholars and writers gathered this weekend at the Kingdom's Royal Academy.

As an American, I am well aware that Morocco was the first country, in 1777, to extend diplomatic recognition to the United States, and our two nations have enjoyed friendly and cordial relations now for over 200 years. Secretary of State
Colin Powell spoke of this friendship only a few days ago in Marrakech.

In light of 9/11, the war in Iraq, the ongoing strife in Afghanistan, the continuing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the attacks in Istanbul and elsewhere, there could not be a more appropriate subject to bring us together than "The Dialogue of Cultures".

My own modest offering today will focus on the contributions to a more peaceful world of the institutions and activities of education and culture.

So that you will understand my perspective, please allow me some words of personal background.

A native of Midwest America, I am the son of a Greek immigrant father and an Indiana schoolteacher mother. A graduate of Harvard University, I spent three years at Oxford University where I wrote a doctoral dissertation on the anarchist movement in Spain.

First elected to the Congress of the United States in 1958, I was ten times reelected, serving, therefore, for 22 years and during the Administrations of six President: three Republicans-Eisenhower, Nixon and Ford; and three Democrats-Kennedy, Johnson and Carter.

In Congress I served on the Committee on Education and Labor, where I helped write all the laws enacted between 1959 and 1981 to assist schools, colleges and universities; libraries and museums; the arts and the humanities; and to provide
services for children, the elderly, the disabled.

In my last four years on Capitol Hill, I was Majority Whip, third-ranking member of the Leadership of the House of Representatives.

A Democrat, I was defeated in Ronald Reagan's landslide victory over President Carter in 1980. Shortly thereafter I was invited to become president of New York University, now the world's largest private university, a position in which I served until 1992 when I became president emeritus.

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

In Congress I was author of the International Education Act of 1966, to provide grants to colleges and universities in the United States for study of other countries. On arriving at New York University or, as we call it, NYU, I continued my interest in international education.

We established during my presidency the Center for Japan-U.S. Business & Economic Studies in our School of Business; an Onassis Program of Hellenic Studies; the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies; a Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo; and the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center for the study of the economics, history and politics of modern Spain.

Beyond such centers at NYU-and I have not named all of them-we have also, for example, the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, a leading center in the United States for teaching and research about the Arab world; as well as centers in Florence, London, Madrid, Paris and Prague, and we hope to set up others in Africa and Latin America.

I add that 4,400 students from the countries are on our campus this year while nearly 2,000 from NYU are studying abroad.

In my judgement, the need for us in the United States to invest in knowledge of other countries and peoples takes on added urgency after the war in Iraq.

It is no secret to any of you that the actions of the United States in Iraq have met-and continue to meet-strong opposition in many countries, as President Bush personally observed during his visit to London a few days ago.

Here I could cite the report last summer issued by The Pew Research Center, Views of a Changing World. Based on a respected survey, the Pew Report found that ". . . [I]n most countries, opinions of the U.S. are markedly lower than they were a year ago."

The report continued, ". . . [T]he war has widened the rift between Americans and Western Europeans, further inflamed the Muslim world, softened support for the war on terrorism and significantly weakened global public support for the pillars of the post-World War II era-the UN and the North Atlantic alliance."

In the United States and Europe, scholars, journalists and public leaders have engaged in all manner of symposia on the tensions between the United States and Europe as well as the sharpened hostility toward America in the Islamic world.

Nor, as you are aware, is public opinion in the United States overwhelmingly supportive of President Bush's policies toward Iraq, especially in light of the killing of American and British soldiers and the failure of the Bush Administration to plan effectively for the aftermath of the war.

My own view-and I believe that I reflect the opinions of scholars, journalists and many political leaders in our own country and abroad-is that in the war on terrorism and in meeting the other challenges to civil and democratic societies, military power, even when exercised by the strongest nation in history, is not enough.

"SOFT POWER" VS. "HARD POWER"

Not only does the United States require partners in post-war Iraq as well as in other places of danger but we must also give far more attention to investing in what my friend, Joseph Nye, Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, has called, in contrast to hard power, "soft power".

"U.S. military power is essential to global stability and is a critical part of the response to terrorism", Nye agrees. But it is not enough, he adds: "Soft power rises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideas and policies".

Nye's words were echoed recently by a powerful essay published last October in Madrid's El País by Fedrico Mayor, who declared, "The force of Europe is not the Europe of force . . . [but] the force of the spirit, of creative powers . . . of democratic values . . . of education and culture . . . of conciliation . . . friendship and solidarity among peoples, of openness, of a culture of peace. . . ."

In view of what I have already said, you will understand why I was so pleased to have been invited to Rabat for this conference on the relationship between the West and the Arab world.

Let me here recall that last year, in New York City, speaking to a group of Ambassadors from Islamic countries assigned to the United Nations, I observed that most Americans had never met a Muslim and that most of us were quite ignorant of the traditions of Islam.

Accordingly, I told the Ambassadors, unless you want Americans to think that Islam is represented by Osama Bin Laden, you must give more attention to teaching the best in your religious faith while, on the other hand, those of us who are not
Muslims have a similar obligation to listen and to learn.

RISING INTEREST IN U.S. IN ISLAM

In fact, one now finds a burgeoning interest in Islam in the United States. One cannot go into a serious bookshop in New York City without seeing new volumes on Islam.

I think, by way of example, of the book Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith by the distinguished president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Vartan Gregorian, and of After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy by Noah Feldman, a brilliant young scholar on the faculty of the NYU Law School, from whom you will hear shortly.

And in my country there have appeared in recent months several significant reports dealing with the subject of relations between the West and Arab societies. For example, the Center for the Study of Presidency in Washington, DC last July published An Initiative: Strengthening U.S.-Muslim Communications, focusing on failures on the part of the United States in conducting cultural diplomacy in the Muslim world after 9/11.

Only last month, an advisory group chaired by a former U.S. Ambassador, Edward P. Djerejian, submitted to Secretary of State Colin Powell and our Congress a report entitled Changing Minds, Winning Peace: A New Strategic Direction for U.S. Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World.

I cite two other relevant reports: Arts and Minds: Cultural Diplomacy amid Global Tensions, based on a conference held last April at Columbia University and a Council on Foreign Relations statement, Finding America's Voice: A Strategy for Reinvigorating U.S. Public Diplomacy, prepared by a task force chaired by a highly respected business leader, Peter G. Peterson.

I must, however, draw your particular attention among this blizzard of reports to one, published only last October by the United Nations Development Program, the Arab Human Development Report 2003: Building a Knowledge Society.

This document was written not by Americans or Europeans but by a group of distinguished Arab scholars and opinion leaders.

The report, say its authors, is "once descriptive and prescriptive, with bold recommendations for change and detailed analyses of the current state of education, scientific research, the media, the publishing industry, culture encompassing religion, intellectual heritage and the Arabic language, and other building blocks of a 'knowledge society' in the Arab world."

AN "ARAB KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY"

The report speaks of the "five pillars" of an "Arab knowledge society", including:

Guaranteeing the key freedoms of opinion, speech and assembly;

The full dissemination of high quality education;

Indigenizing science, investing in research and joining the Information Revolution; and

Developing an authentic, broadminded and enlightened Arab mode of knowledge.

The terrible attacks of recent weeks and months-in Jerusalem, Baghdad, Istanbul and Riyadh-dramatically demonstrate the need for radical change in the Arab world if Arab countries are to look to an era of peaceful development and progress and if we in the non-Islamic world are to live without the omnipresent threat of terrorist activities.

Allow me then to assert my conviction that it is imperative that we in the West, and especially in the United States, learn more about countries other than our own but especially, after 9/11, about the Islamic world even as we must encourage Arab societies to take steps to implement the recommendations in the Arab development report of which I have just spoken.

For further and immediate context for these several reports, let me cite the eloquent words of His Majesty, King Mohammed VI, two months ago, on October 10, at the opening of the Fall session of the Parliament of Morocco. Speaking of his determination "to set the democratic process on the right track", His Majesty declared, "[T]here can be no democracy where there are no democrats. Democracy is a long, arduous exercise, not some sort of battlefield on which to wage a war for positions. Democracy implies a keen sense of commitment to the notion of citizenship.

"Consolidation of democracy requires that the culture of responsible citizenship be fostered and enhances, a task incumbent upon political parties and civil society. . . ."

KING MOHAMMED IV ON "THE DIGNITY OF WOMEN"

In the same address, King Mohammed drew particular attention to the need for steps to respect, in his words, "the dignity of women as human beings", and recalled his own remarks four years earlier: ". . . [H]ow can society achieve progress",
His Majesty asked, "while women, who represent half the nation, see their rights violated and suffer as a result of injustice, violence and marginalization, not withstanding the dignity and justice granted them by our glorious religion?"
In his statement of December 3, following his meeting with His Majesty, Secretary Powell congratulated the King on the steps Morocco has taken to strengthen democracy such as elections at the regional and parliamentary level and "bold reforms. . . for the family code."

And as I am quoting the King of the Moroccan people, I note also his words of October 16th this year, in Malaysia, at the 10th Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, when His Majesty said: ". . . [I]n Morocco . . . we have relied on our strong commitment to democracy and our people's unanimous condemnation of terrorism, a phenomenon which is clearly alien to our culture. It is also inconsistent with the tolerant aims of our religion, which forbids the shedding of innocent blood, advocates peaceful coexistence and upholds human dignity. . . ."

This statement of the King of Morocco is in harmony, I believe, with a comment, also last October, in Amman, Jordan, of His Royal Highness, Prince El Hassan bin Talal, President of the Club of Rome and President of the Arab Thought Forum, who said then: ". . . [L]et us not forget that we are in a region inhabited by the so-called 'people of the Book/ahl al-kitab'-Christians, Jews and Muslims-and whether we pick up the Bible, the Torah or the Qur'an, we will find all of us are taught to practice and promote peace. . . ."

PRINCE HASSAN OF JORDAN OPPOSES TERRORISM

Indeed, only weeks ago, on November 18th, speaking on behalf of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, of which he is Moderator, Prince Hassan declared:

"The despicable attacks this week against two synagogues in Turkey are brutal acts condemned by all people of faith-Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. . . .

"No religious tradition can or will tolerate these acts. We are united in rejecting terror, the intentional killing of innocent people, whether by individuals or states. . . .

"Muslims, Christians and Jews share a common history. . . .

"In the face of terrorism, all people of faith must redouble their efforts to work together for peace."

Now everyone here knows that a key question being asked in the West is this: Is it possible for a country where the dominant culture is Islamic to have a genuine democracy?

Most of you will be aware of the speech that President George Bush delivered in Washington, D.C. last month, on November 6, to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the National Endowment for Democracy, an organization that makes grants to private groups, including some in Morocco, that are working for democracy.

I was, I should tell you, for seven years chairman of the Endowment.

In his speech, President Bush asserted, "It should be clear to all that Islam-the faith of one-fifth of humanity-is consistent with democratic rule", and the President went on to quote the words of King Mohammed to the Parliament of Morocco calling for extending rights to women.

But President Bush also cited the recent report, of which I have told you, in which Arab scholars warned that the global wave of democracy has "barely reached the Arab states".

What then is to be done?

STEPS THE UNITED STATES SHOULD TAKE

Even as I urge Arab leaders to act to build an "Arab Knowledge Society," there are several steps that, I believe, we in the United States should take.

Let me speak of some.

First, we must strengthen the programs of educational exchanges between the United States and the Middle East.

A year and a half ago, at a conference on the 50th anniversary of AMIDEAST in Marrakech, our Assistant Secretary of State Patricia Harrison observed how many alumni of these exchanges are heads of state or government or have held other important positions of leadership in countries of the Middle East.

Secretary Harrison said that the State Department is expanding the number of Fulbright scholarships and fellowships to people from the Middle East to study in the United States and for Americans to study in the Middle East.

As we meet in Rabat, let me note that the U.S./Morocco Fulbright program includes faculty and students from both our countries and that the budget is shared by the two sides.

Moroccan Fulbright students focus on courses in the U.S. to assist them in their country's economic development.

The U.S. scholars who come here are professors, whose experience will strengthen their university teaching back home.

Morocco's Fulbright program, by the way, is a leader in a new initiative in the Islamic world, Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants: young people training to become teachers in Morocco are teaching the Arabic language and Arab culture at colleges and universities in the United States-an exchange positive for both sides.

The Moroccan instructors not only teach in American schools but also give talks about Islam and North Africa to other audiences in the United States.

The U.S. Department of State also supports citizen exchanges of various kinds-to build leadership in sports, women's and other non-governmental organizations, in journalism and the media, legal reform, the environment, democracy and human rights.

Let me add that I think it fortunate that the newly appointed Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy is the distinguished former United States Ambassador to Morocco, Margaret Tutwiler.

Certainly we in the U.S. must substantially increase our investment in study of the Arab world.

AN NYU CENTER FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND DIALOGUE

Even as I have mentioned the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU, I am very glad to say that New York University has only weeks ago responded to the call of the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World in its report, Changing Minds/Winning Peace, by proposing to create, in consultation with the U.S. State Department, a Center for Public Diplomacy and Dialogue, a center my colleagues at NYU believe will be "an unprecedented effort to launch a serious and ongoing exchange with the Arab and Muslim world".

Let me tell you what the authors of the proposal hope to do. The Center will offer three approaches.

First, there will be three kinds of conferences. An annual conference will bring together Arab and Muslim leaders from the fields of government, business and religion to discuss such topics as civil society, the rule of law, religion, media, democratic institutions and human rights.

Second, there will be conferences where U.S., Arab and Muslim professionals such as health officials, scientists, educators, and leaders of non-governmental organizations-can meet for three one-week sessions.

Then we hope to have "Leaders of Tomorrow" conferences, where young individuals, rising as the next generation of leaders in both the Arab/Muslim world and the United States can get together twice a year.

A second approach under the Center's sponsorship: fellowships to bring annually 100 college-age students from Muslim countries to study at NYU, concentrating on law, public service, education, journalism, business and science. Grants of approximately $50,000 per fellow would cover costs.

New York University hopes eventually to establish a residential presence on campus-to be called "Dialogue House"-for some of NYU's finest students and faculty from all fields, who would live with the exchange students from Muslim countries.

Because we believe cultural and arts programs are vital to this public diplomacy initiative, we plan exchange programs to bring artists and filmmakers from Arab and Muslim societies to work with their American counterparts. NYU's Tisch School of the Arts already hosts the world's only International Student Film Festival.

We want also, in addition to college-age students, to arrange brief exchange visits from high schoolers from Muslim countries to be exposed to an American university and to visit museums, see plays and tour business firms.

The third approach we hope to create under this proposal is four-fold.

We want to organize, in cooperation with other research libraries in New York City, a Comprehensive Public Diplomacy Resource Center, focusing on the Middle East and open to scholars, students and U.S. government officials, in effect, a clearing house for information on the Arab and Muslim world.

We plan, too, a program to preserve and digitize unique books and texts from the Muslim world as well as explore making U.S. texts available in translation for Muslim and Arab countries.

We also intend to coordinate teacher-training programs with faculty from other colleges and universities as well as high school teachers to inject components of Arab and Muslim understanding into their courses.

Finally, NYU will continue to offer foreign language training in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, Hindi and Urdu.

I hasten to say that NYU is not the only university in the United States that seeks to enhance knowledge of Arab and Muslim societies but I have obviously spoken of the institution I know best.

TO IMPROVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN U.S. AND MUSLIM WORLD

Nor have I begun to exhaust the kinds of activities that can be undertaken in the educational and cultural fields to build understanding between the Arab/Muslim world and the West.

Only last summer, at a "Partners in Humanity" conference, in Amman, under the leadership of Prince Hassan, 60 leaders convened to produce an action plan to improve the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world.

Here I should like to make a point I believe it important for U.S. policymakers to understand. It is not only the words with which we describe our policy but the substance of the policy itself, that is to say, the deeds as well as the message, that will have an impact in the Arab world.

Marc Lynch, a scholar at Williams College, in an essay, "Taking Arabs Seriously", in the journal Foreign Affairs (September/October 2003), calls for "a fundamentally different approach to the United States' interaction with [this] region-one that speaks with Arabs rather than at them and tries to engage rather than manipulate".

Lynch added, "The goal should be to establish the United States, through words and deeds, as an ally of the Arab public in its own demands for liberal reform, rather than making such reform an external imposition."

Among the several recommendations from the October conference in Amman was to bring together "Christian and Muslim faith-based development and aid professionals and religious leaders to discuss issues of 'meeting human needs' ".

WORLD CONFERENCE OF RELIGIONS FOR PEACE

I may say in respect of this proposal for inter-faith cooperation that next week I shall be in Rome for a meeting of the International Council of Trustees, of whom I am one, of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, or WCRP, at the Vatican, under the co-chairmanship of Prince Hassan.

The other co-chair is Richard Blum, husband of United States Senator Diane Feinstein of California.

I add that another trustee of the WCRP is a distinguished Moroccan diplomat, my friend, Ambassador Mokhtar Lamani, Permanent Observer of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to the United Nations.

We shall meet in Rome-Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians as well as Jews, Muslims and Buddhists to discuss the Geneva Accord and the search for peace in the Middle East.

There is one other recommendation form Amman that I applaud, which calls for bringing together "Presidents of American colleges and universities that are developing or strengthening Islamic studies programs with their counterparts in predominantly Muslim countries who are developing American studies programs."

Ladies and gentlemen, I have not, I realize, begun to touch on all the ways in which the forces of learning and culture, of education and the arts, can contribute to building peace in a troubled world.

But I trust that what I have had to say offers some rays of hope at a time when we are surrounded by too much darkness.

The distinguished Minister of Culture, Mohamed Achaari, in inviting us all to Morocco, posed the question: "Is a dialogue between cultures possible?"

That we meet here this week in Rabat demonstrates that the answer to the Minister's question is "Yes!"

So let the dialogue deepen . . . and continue!