This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 001892 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR ECA DINA POWELL, NEA/PPD (CWHITTLESEY) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PREL PGOV SCUL BA OESC BILAT
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: REINVIGORATING PUBLIC DIPLOMACY THROUGH 
CULTURAL AND SPORTS PROGRAMS 
 
Ref: SECSTATE 222516 
 
¶1.  Summary: Cultural and sports programs have great 
potential to support mission goals, but the dearth of such 
programs and the resources available to pursue them has 
resulted in many missed opportunities.  On numerous 
occasions, we face a hostile public audience to U.S. foreign 
policy.  From a cultural standpoint however, there is a deep 
appreciation for American society and culture.  Cultural 
programming allows us to reach much broader audiences, from 
artists and intellectuals to university and high school age 
students, and show them the United States in all its 
dimensions, its diversity and openness, its creativity and 
innovation.  Sports programs, although used only recently in 
Bahrain, have enormous potential for increasing our access 
and interaction with youth audiences. A larger investment in 
cultural and sports programs will give more depth to our 
efforts to engage and have greater resonance across a broad 
range of audiences. 
 
¶2.  An Arab-nationalist editor-in-chief switches gears from 
a diatribe on U.S.-sponsored coups, to describe the founders 
of the American republic as "intellectual and revolutionary 
forbearers" of Arab-nationalism.  An often anti-American 
columnist is writing a book on the similarities between 
American and Arab folk music, and is fascinated by Elvis 
Presley and the 1950s Beat Generation.  A cleric is 
profoundly affected by the freedom, openness, and diversity 
in American society he witnesses during an International 
Visitor program on "Interfaith Dialogue" and opens an 
interfaith dialogue in Bahrain. 
 
¶3.  At almost every turn, one discovers an eagerness to 
explore the "real America" within, even when there is 
criticism of America as a "culturally hegemonic superpower." 
We are missing valuable opportunities to advance mission 
priorities in the field of cultural and sports programs. 
From visual arts to Formula-One racing, these programs can 
form the bridge across a gaping divide between the America 
and the Middle East of the 21st century.  The following are 
responses to questions posed in paragraph four of reftel: 
 
¶A.  Cultural programs can cut across a number of mission 
goals.  Key to this success is facilitating people-to-people 
connections in non-political environments. 
 
 - A recent visit by American Muslim Imam Yahya Hendi is an 
excellent example of how a program can have a multiplier 
effect and touch on a number of policy priorities, such as 
democracy, counter terrorism, and mutual understanding. 
Hendi engaged with youth, intellectuals, press, religious, 
and political leaders.  Engaging an audience that is often 
difficult and sensitive for Americans to reach, religious 
scholars, Hendi brought together Shia and Sunni clerics in 
prayer and dialogue.  In commentary, public appearances, and 
various interaction captured by the press, "Imam Yahya" sent 
a message on the importance of interfaith dialogue, 
solidarity against extremism, and the state of Islam in 
America.  The messages reverberated through commentary and 
in the words of those he encountered, generating immense 
public interest and in the process advanced mission goals of 
amplifying voices of tolerance, isolating extremism, and 
engaging Muslim youth.  Although this is not a cultural 
program in a strict sense, U.S. Speakers remain a powerful 
tool to engage foreign cultures. 
 
 - An earlier Citizen Ambassador visit by two top American 
Educators illustrates how such programs can broaden exposure 
to American ideals among target youth audiences.  With 
messages of youth and women's empowerment, the Citizen 
Ambassadors were allowed nearly unfettered access to public 
schools to meet with student leaders, high achievers, and 
ordinary kids in groups large and small.  This unprecedented 
American presence in Bahrain's public schools helped forge 
new relationships for the Embassy with school administrators 
and classroom teachers resulting in multiple spin-off 
programs and continued Embassy involvement in schools. 
 
 - Sports programs can offer an opportunity for the media to 
refocus attention on to positive images of American 
celebrities and heroes.  Last year, post hosted a successful 
Cultural Envoy program when Georgetown Basketball Players 
Omari Faulkner and Courtland Freeman visited post.  As in 
the U.S., basketball and soccer are enjoyed by huge numbers 
of non-elite youth in Bahrain, bringing resonance to 
Faulkner and Freeman's messages of American values in 
teamwork, diversity, and perseverance. 
 
 - Similarly, exchange programs that highlight cultural 
connections have significant short and long-term impact, as 
described above in the Summer 2005 IV program on interfaith 
dialogue. 
 
¶B.  For maximum impact, cultural and sports programs must be 
crafted to be as visually engaging as possible and 
incorporate American-Bahraini interaction.  These two 
elements ensure high interest with our audiences and 
encourage robust media coverage.  For this reason, 
performances are better than paper shows, visits by visual 
artist and sports envoys are preferable to films about them 
alone.  Some examples: 
 
 - More programs on basketball and soccer will give us 
deeper access to youth audiences we might not otherwise 
reach.  Bahrain is home to a Disabled Sports Society with an 
extremely active wheelchair basketball program.  A visit by 
prominent disabled American athletes would be a chance to 
show American diversity, ingenuity and appreciation for 
people with disabilities, and build a lasting relationship 
with local civil society. 
 
 - A visit or series of visits by an American theater 
director or film producer could foster Bahraini independent 
media in creative ways.  The theater and independent film 
communities produce some of the most interesting and sharp 
social criticism in Bahrain.  However, both are hamstrung in 
their reach for mass appeal because of their lack of 
technical proficiency.  Such a visit, culminating in a 
public performance or viewing, could simultaneously help to 
build the production capacity of these groups while drawing 
public attention to their work. 
 
 - A visual artist could hold an exhibit and conduct master 
classes.  NOTE:  Post has requested an American Cultural 
Specialist in Calligraphy to answer substantial interest in 
that art form.  There are significant artistic societies in 
Manama we have limited access to. 
 
 - A folk musician could engage with traditional Arab folk 
artists and with students in masters classes; an American 
band director could rehearse American band classics with the 
Bahrain Defense Force and Public Security Bands and conduct 
them in a festival concert; Native American musicians could 
perform at an opening of a paper show exhibit on Native 
American Voices.  Similarly, a Native American or African 
American cultural figure could give life to the story of 
Native American or Black History month. 
 
¶C. Thankfully, there is a wide degree of operational 
latitude for post to levy cultural programs in the kind of 
people-to-people diplomacy that can win hearts and minds. 
Budget limitations are the single largest barrier to 
marshalling cultural programs in useful ways since the 
highest impact programs often require substantial money for 
travel and accommodations. 
 
Another constraint is program flexibility in meeting the 
diverse needs of public diplomacy in culturally, socially, 
economically, and politically disparate contexts.  For 
example, it could be valuable to draw upon input from PAOs 
in the field and in ECA for regional events like "American 
Music Abroad", so we are selecting the right artists for the 
most culturally appropriate audiences.  Sometimes we end up 
trying to put a square peg in a round hole. 
 
¶4.  COMMENT:  In short, post welcomes the effort by ECA to 
reinvigorate public diplomacy through cultural and sports 
programs.  We believe there is tremendous potential in this 
area to "change the subject" when it comes to engaging an 
often skeptical foreign policy audience, one that remains 
appreciative and open to understanding the American 
experience.  We look forward to hearing more about the 
future of this vital area of public diplomacy. 
 
MONROE