Cultural Diplomacy

Israel has unveiled the latest weapon with which it hopes to win over the hearts and minds of people in the former Soviet Union: Interpretive dance. The Public Diplomacy Ministry is sending a group of Israeli artists, including dance troupe Vizavi, on a tour of Baltic countries aimed at improving the country's image in the region.

Israeli politicians joined criticism of Apple on Thursday over a new phone application of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious early-20th-century anti-Semitic forgery, recently made available on its iTunes store. Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein called on the electronics giant to ban the app, arguing it perpetuated the canard of a Jewish international conspiracy to take over the world.

Cultural diplomacy is not about whose army wins any more, said professor Joseph Nye of Harvard University to Will Gompertz on the Today programme this morning; it's whose story wins. He calls it "soft power" – the influence of information technology is now a powerful weapon of mass empathy.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chia-lung said yesterday in Shanghai that Taiwan and China should focus on exchanges in the area of soft power development and city governance experiences, without involving sensitive political issues.

At various times I have heard public diplomacy programs referred to as “public relations” or simply as “propaganda”. It is a common misunderstanding. Public diplomacy is supposed to be about informing others about your society and how things work in a truthful and unvarnished fashion. It is not supposed to be about presenting a pretty picture or covering-up warts.

The American Center in New Delhi organized an interactive session for a young group of professionals and students from India with Ms. Heather Smith, President of the American non-profit, Rock the Vote, a unique opportunity for the participants to learn about RTV’s “Democracy program” that uses music, popular culture, new technologies and grassroots mobilization to motivate young people to participate in election.

August 14, 2012

“Subsequently, I have been asked via the Cuban Embassy in South Africa – my initial contact in South Africa – whether I would be able to have a performance dedicated to the ANC centenary celebrations in Bloemfontein on September 24. I have been working with the embassy and DAC on producing this tour which ends with this performance.”

August 14, 2012

Recently, American Voices held its annual Youth Excellence on Stage (YES) Academy in the city of Duhok, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. American Voices, the nonprofit for which I am the Director of Communications, conducts cultural diplomacy to countries emerging from conflict or isolation.

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