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Common Ground Newsletter

“Do you know what astonished me the most in this world?  The inability of force to create anything.  In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the spirit.” – Napoléon Bonaparte

“When people set aside their differences to work in common effort toward a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another – all things are possible.” – Barack Obama

Former Search-USA Director Rob Fersh speaking at a briefing for ambassadors from Muslim countries about the report on new directions for relations with the Muslim world – (sitting from left) CBI Director David Fairman, Madeleine Albright, former Congressman Vin Weber (R-MN), and Sayyid Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America.  For a copy of the report, please click here.  To see a short documentary about the project, please click here

US-MUSLIM ENGAGEMENT PROJECT For the last two years, we have convened with the Consensus Building Institute a group of 34 distinguished Americans to make recommendations to the incoming US administration on how to improve relations with the Muslim world.  In a TV interview on MSNBC, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a participant in our process, summed up what was accomplished:

“We gave some very strong advice to the next President, whoever that person was going to be, and it really sounds as though President Obama is exactly on track.  We hoped that the next President would mention something about respect for Islam in the Inaugural address, and certainly President Obama did that.  And [the US] would also in fact have a relationship that would explain the importance of US-Muslim relations, not that [the US is] at war with Islam, and President Obama has made that clear.... We are very, very pleased about how this report is being received.”

To see a music video clip from Kilna Bil Hayy, please click here.

Conflict Resolution in the Schools The TV series is only the first step in a larger initiative to educate the youth of Lebanon in conflict resolution and, ultimately, to shift the culture toward non-adversarial behavior.  We have an agreement with the Lebanese Ministry of Education to train teachers and to introduce mediation, active listening, and problem-solving in over 80 Lebanese schools, and we are using DVDs and other material connected to the series to make the lessons come alive.

CGNEWS Our Common Ground News Service recently scored a breakthrough when the McClatchy-Tribune News Service agreed to circulate it to 450 additional newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Charlotte Observer, and the Baltimore Sun.  CGNews is currently distributing ten articles a week in six languages to newspapers and websites around the world and has had more than 14,000 articles reprinted.  To see the latest edition of CGNews or to receive your own free subscription, please click here.

THE TEAM In 12 separate countries, we are producing TV and radio series, called The Team. Each production uses drama – soap opera with positive themes – to tell stories of young people from different ethnic and religious groups playing soccer.  In every country, the scripts are written by local writers who reflect the diversity of their homeland.  And everywhere, the core metaphor is the same:  If characters do not cooperate, they will not score goals.  The mega-message is that citizens of each country need to work together as a Team, not as a collection of individuals or groups, if their country is going to meet the challenges that it faces.      

Kenya The Kenyan Team has 26 episodes.  It premièred in May in primetime on Citizen TV, the country’s most watched network.  To take advantage of its popularity and the celebrity of the cast and the sports stars involved, we are working with our Nairobi-based partners, Media Focus on Africa and the Sports for Social Change Network, to launch a mass campaign to prevent ethnic violence; to promote national unity; and to support Kenyans in having their primary allegiance be to nation, not to tribe.  This campaign includes distributing DVDs and CDs around the country and sponsoring showings in remote rural areas, video parlors, and in buses and taxis (which we call roadcasting).

[This is] “the first time that tribal stereotypes and conflicts are dealt with on Kenyan television, using a popular entertainment format.” – Nairobi Star

“I long for a Kenya in which we are all going to be proud of our ethnicity and, instead of using it negatively, use our diversity to realize more progress.” – Mburugu Gikunda, Kenyan Director, Media Focus on Africa & Executive Producer, The Team

Left: PBS Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa at mobile cinema showing in Navaisha, Kenya for filming of Now show about The Team. Right: Scene from the Kenyan Team — to see a short video clip, please click here.

Côte d’Ivoire The Ivoirien version of The Team (L’Equipe in French) is a 31-episode series in which the characters struggle to resolve issues of regional and ethnic violence, land tenure, and national identity.  The series began airing weekly in July on RTI, the national TV and radio network.  Canal France International (CFI), the satellite broadcaster, has agreed to air the series across all of francophone Africa.

The Team in Côte d’Ivoire (to see a short video clip, please click here)

HILLARY CLINTON When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, we and our Congolese partner, Collectif des Jeunes Solidaires du Congo Kinshasa (COJESKI), hosted her at a town hall meeting for 140 university students.  She was joined by NBA basketball great, Dikembe Mutombo.  In her remarks, Secretary Clinton highlighted the collaboration between Search for Common Ground and COJESKI in implementing a USAID-funded project that promotes good governance by organizing town hall meetings.  And it was in front of our logo that the Secretary famously declared, “My husband is not Secretary of State, I am….  I am not going to be channeling my husband."  (Please click here to see the Secretary’s remarks on YouTube.) 

PLEASE INVEST Our work is made possible because people like you are behind us.  Please understand how grateful my colleagues and I are.  While economic times are clearly difficult, we hope you will agree that our work is more needed than ever.  We ask that you reach deep to support our programs and make a substantial contribution – whatever that may represent for you.