Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 4 - 2005
Why are just America's Cultural Institutes out of style? by PHK 
Whirldview.com, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 Why are just America's Cultural Institutes out of style? By PHK Why has the U.S. government become so allergic to displays of soft power abroad when the British, French, German, Spanish, and now even Chinese are hard at work maintaining, expanding - or yes, developing - their own cultural centers, libraries and language training institutes across the globe? The U.S. used to be a master at the game. For years we taught hundreds of thousands of adults aged 16 on up to speak and read English. We also provided free access to the latest American magazines and books. We showed the best - although not necessarily the latest- American films and art works. We staged performances by American musicians, dancers, theater troupes and, in certain countries, mounted large, impressive exhibits of American life - exhibits that offered in the Soviet Union, for example, backdrops for and personal connections to young, vivacious American Russian speaking guides. During the 1980s when the downsizing of the U.S. Information Agency began in earnest and in the 1990s when the reductions turned into a torrent falling on the Agency like an executioner's blade, cultural centers, libraries and language programs were deemed too expensive. The rationale? History had ended, the U.S. had won the Cold War - and by the way - smaller, it was said, was better. It appeared as if all that was needed was a Press Attache to hold the Ambassador's hand when he - or on rarer occasion, she - held a press conference or granted an interview to the local media or to distribute the latest U S. Government policy statements to editors, foreign ministry and other government officials abroad. The U.S. may have won the Cold War, but that was nearly 15 years ago. In retrospect, this victory came about through a "war of ideas" not through CIA-inspired coups or preemptive military invasions. Regardless, history continues and not always to our liking. The binational cultural centers that provided Thai, Turks, Greeks, Spaniards, Brazilians and others with English language skills - addressed the needs of the people - not the privileged elites. These binational centers were also extremely cost effective. For the most part, U.S. Binational Centers paid their own way - not, as the nay-sayers claimed - the other way around. What is less well known is that our library collections too could have become nearly self-supporting had we been allowed to charge a small annual membership as the British Council had done for years. When I was Cultural Affairs Officer in the Philippines, for instance, I discovered that a membership fee of one dollar per person per annum along British Council lines would have covered the entire cost of all new materials for the 30,000 volume library we then sustained in the heart of Manila's business district. Instead, Congressional restrictions and inflexible bureaucratic interpretations - there was a legal way around - made this impossible. Today, of course, the library is closed, the cultural center is gone and what is left of the staff works on U.S. Embassy grounds safely locked away behind tall iron bars and separated from the general public by intrusive security guards. Filipino students, academics, journalists, politicians, business men and women go elsewhere for their information on the U.S. Fortunately at least, they don't need to come to us for an Internet connection - at least my staff helped a tri-university consortium get the country on-line spring 1994. Some countries, however, do have it right. I visited one such center recently in New Mexico's heart. It's called the Cervantes Institute and has Spanish Government ties. Co-located with the National Hispanic Cultural Center in an old Hispanic Albuquerque neighborhood, the Institute teaches Spanish to New Mexicans at various levels of proficiency. The Cultural Center also brings in top quality groups from Spain and Latin America and provides classy gallery space to visual artists from the Hispanic world. The art of Spain is not lost on Albuquerque's major art museum either. Next year, I've read, during the city's Tricentennial celebrations, two major Spanish art shows are scheduled to centerpiece this museum's fare. The Philippines, our former colony in Southeast Asia, is also a beneficiary of Spain's growing cultural reach. As the U.S. government closed its bases during the 1990s, it torpedoed its soft power attributes too - along the lines I described above. Almost simultaneously, the Spanish Government erected a Cervantes Institute in Manila's historic district not far from two major universities. As we were squeezed for funds, I watched this attractive building rise from foundation to finish. And as U.S. Cultural Attache, I attended the opening gala - a ballet by Manuel de Falla - at one of the largest and best auditoriums in the capital city. The ceremonies were graced by the presence of a Spanish princess who lent decorum, dignity and just the right touch to Spain's soft return to its former long-time Asian colony. Manila's Cervantes Institute, I'm told, is alive, well and active - a tribute to a modern European government that sees the importance of expanding its international influence through ideas, language courses and the arts - not the bore of a rifle. But the Spanish are not alone. A March 5 article in TheAge.com - an Australian publication related to the Sydney Herald - reports that the Chinese government has begun to emulate these older models. The Chinese equivalents are called Confucius Institutes. They are being established "with local counterpart bodies" with partial Chinese Government funding. Does that model sound familiar? Sure looks to me like a Chinese version of our own binational centers and the U.S. Peace Corps thrown in. But why now? The Chinese have figured out what the U.S. forgot. Hamish McDonald, The Age reporter who wrote the story "Confucius says: it's time to learn Mandarin" quoted Zhang Xinsheng, a Chinese Vice-Minister for Education, who explained: "The demand for a language represents the country's overall national power and image in the world. . . more importantly, it forecasts the country's future." Should the U.S. fear these new facets of Chinese or Spanish international behavior? Fear, no. But concerned, yes. It should foremost be a wake-up call. Why? Because as our popularity has sunk into the single digits from Jakarta to Istanbul, we will find it ever more difficult to win Asian and other leaders to our side. Like it or not, many countries in Asia are democracies and their publics do not support many Bush Administration policies. At least in the past when we had a soft-power infrastructure to draw upon, we had regular forums where we could engage many levels of society one-on-one. English language training, books, magazines and top quality American entertainment were powerful draws. This capability is long gone. We're told now that heightened security is the reason. This is a tragedy but also a canard. Why? Most centers and libraries had been closed well before 9-11. Besides, I worked in several countries during my USIA career where my own personal security was at risk because of my position at a binational or cultural center. That didn't seem to bother Embassy security at the time. In fact, post 9-11 security paranoia combined with continuing inadequate public diplomacy resources have taken away America's ability to engage with people - one on one or in small groups where dialogue - not one-way satellite delivered proclamations that too often infuriate - can prevail. But this will take a real commitment to all aspects of shoring up America's image - not just trying to promote the unwelcome words of a despised President abroad. Karen Hughes, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy-designate - has her work cut out for her. As Georgie Anne Geyer concluded her March 18, 2005 Chicago Tribune column entitled an "Open Letter to Karen Hughes," "Good luck, Karen and God bless you. You're starting from ground zero." |