Why The Friendship Caravan?

During this worldwide period of unrest, there is pervasive mutual distrust between the mainstream populations in America and the Arab / Muslim World. This distrust has become severely exacerbated in the aftermath the terrorist acts of 9-11-01, and does not reflect true feelings between people who in fact have many shared interests and aspirations. The Friendship Caravan works in positive ways to rebuild optimism and trust, by giving people the opportunity to know one another in an atmosphere void of political overtones.

In fact, we believe that most Arabs do not hate Americans; and most Americans do not hate Arabs.

As an important part of making our world safer for future generations, America needs to be careful to let the people of the Arab world know that we want to remain friendly to them. Otherwise we run the risk of alienating over a billion people who otherwise want to be our friends. On the other hand, Arabs also need to build bridges of friendship to Westerners, giving them the opportunity to appreciate the richness of Islamic and Arab culture without political overtones. This corresponds to our first principle:
The Friendship Caravan seeks to remind all people of our common humanity and the need for mutual respect and caring.

People must first look at and learn to appreciate each other; only then will political needs be heard.

Within this context, major media events are needed that present an accessible, friendly and human image of Arabs to non-Arabs and vice-versa. These events need to attract a widespread audience and continue over time -- breaking away from the sound-bite mentality -- in order to engender a people-to-people approach that reaches out to Arabs worldwide and shows them that non-Arab people desire to be their friends. This helps highlight our second principle:

Friendly people-to-people communication must become an integral component of international relations.

In the past, cultural exchange has taken place principally in academia and through tourism. The latter does not necessarily encourage reciprocal respect, while the former tends to be too arcane for the public at large.

Employing time-honored icons such as music festivals and town meetings, the Friendship Caravan addresses today's needs and lays the groundwork for further action. Contrary to caravans of old, this one will be fully equipped with 21st-century communication systems. Drawing upon local and worldwide media resources the Friendship Caravan intends to be a living model of conflict resolution and mutual tolerance for the creation of a safer and more rewarding world by promoting the third founding principle:

New models for cross-cultural discourse are needed in which religious, educational, and service organizations, and the mass media, play essential roles.

In building a strong foundation to ensure that our message endures over the coming years, The Friendship Caravan will be working in partnership with many other organizations. Already we are cooperating with the American evangelical community, Rotary International and other service organizations, Arab-American organizations, and the network of former Peace Corps Volunteers in developing relationships with cities and communities. Among others, future partners will include business councils; teachers' associations; national, state and local governments; youth and student organizations; arts and folklore associations; and community organizations of various kinds:

Cooperation towards mutual goals helps foster understanding, respect, and peace.

Updated: August 18, 2004