Dr. James Zogby

In the News

At IPRA – Gulf Chapter (as delivered on March 22, 2007)

Posted on Monday March 26, 2007

For a number of interconnected regions: economic, strategic, and political – the importance of the Gulf region has grown in recent years.

The combination of factors that has defined the Gulf trajectory in the last decade includes:

* the dramatic increase in revenues, and with new investments, the growth in both the oil and non-oil sectors of the economy;
* the phenomenal growth of the region’s infrastructure, and with it, significant pressures for political and social change; and
* the conflicts that are raging in the region and the potential for new conflict.

Combined, these developments have increased the West’s attention on the Gulf as a region.

This much is clear.

But what is also clear is that despite expanded trade and investment, political cooperation and strategic importance, the West’s understanding of this region - its history, culture, and dramatic transformation, has not kept pace.

The result has been a growing gap.

Now this lack of understanding is not new, but as long as the Gulf remained on the periphery of consciousness, it was manageable. Polling from the 1990’s demonstrates that US attitudes towards this region were so remarkably soft that they would fluctuate more as a result of the general mood of the US than on any developments taking place in the Gulf or on any increased understanding.

And so, given the overall mood of well-being and conditions of relative world peace that developed during the later years of the Clinton administration, American’s positive attitude toward the rest of the world, including the Gulf, grew. By the end of the last century, Saudi Arabia’s favorable rating in US public opinion had grown from a low of 32% in the early 90’s to 58%. And the UAE, which in mid-decade had 17% favorable and 9% unfavorable, grew to a 32% favorable rating. (Still, almost one-half of the public remained unfamiliar and without an opinion of the UAE at all).

The attitude might have been positive, but it was fickle and unformed.

9/11 changed all this.

For too many Americans, 19 young faces came to define not only this region, but Arabs in general and Islam itself. It should be understood that it was not the event alone that was responsible for the increase in negative attitudes. In the climate of fear, shock and anger that followed this terrorist attack, the American public was asking questions about the region. And on both the right and the left, the changes in public opinion were fueled by a sustained, and rather hostile, campaign of misinformation launched to provide answers.

And these efforts were aided by a compliant media. Those who were all too frequently called on to discuss the region include:

* Commentators (who, at first, didn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shi’i Islam);
* analysts and “experts” (many of whom had a long history of anti-Arab bias); reporters (some of whom covered the region with no understanding of its history or culture); and
* politicians (some of whom exploited the public’s fear and anger to their own advantage).

In fact, any political figure or pundit who knew a few words in Arabic (like Shaheed, Jihad, Madressa, Wahabi) and could use two of them in a sentence, was passed off as an “expert”. The tragic result of all of this was that negative stereotypes were recycled as fact and conventional wisdom was presented as reality.

At one point, for example, on the right there were three best-selling books concerning Saudi Arabia written by individuals who had never been to the Kingdom. And, on the left, opinion was shaped by the film “Fahrenheit 9/11” which was, in part, a sophisticated piece of anti-Saudi agitprop

[An aside: During all this time, we Arab Americans were left largely alone. Facing death threats and challenges to our basic rights, and we responded vigorously and were able to define and defend ourselves. However, without a sustained Arab effort to deal with this challenge, we could not define and defend each individual Arab country, nor Arabs and Islam in general. Though the Arab League, among others, recognized the importance of such a campaign, and promised to launch one, none ever materialized.]

Without a coherent alternative, the floodgates of prejudice were opened and the anti-Arab campaign took its toll. The tragedy here is that ignorance was replaced by misinformation. People went from not knowing, to thinking that they did know, because they believed in what the media and Congress had informed them.

While public opinion of Arabs and Islam as a whole suffered from these developments, the most direct hits, of course, were taken by Saudi Arabia. Other countries in the region were safe only as long as they remained under the radar. But as last year’s Dubai Ports fiasco demonstrated, however, given the underlying negatives that are in place, and could be exploited at any time, no one is really safe. Like the game “whack a mole”, you are safe only as long as you remain hidden, with your head down.

Now, I do not mean to suggest that parties in this region did nothing. In fact, a number of governments did work to improve and reinforce their ties with the United States. Some countries hired consultants and lobbyists in addition to a number of rather costly advertising campaigns. But none of these efforts addressed critical issues or attacked the root causes of misunderstanding.

As our most recent polling numbers demonstrate, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE now have favorable ratings in the low 20’s, while both are viewed unfavorably by almost one-half of the public. And the public view of Muslims is now only 38% favorable as opposed to 36% unfavorable.

The problem with the approaches that have been taken are:

1) Government-to-government ties are important, but not sufficient, especially when a continuing effort is being made to negatively impact public opinion and erode the ground on which those ties must rest;

2) Too often advertising campaigns fail to address the issues that are on people’s minds. Americans, for example, are not asking if you are modern and growing your economy. They want to know YOU. You can’t win people’s hearts and minds unless you answer the questions they are asking. In all of our studies, we find that what moves opinion most is the idea of meeting you, especially young Arabs and Arab women.

That was the bad news, now for the good news. Change can come, but it will take commitment and hard work.

Although negatives have increased and some attitudes have hardened, 71% of the American people say they don’t know enough about the Arab world and Islam, and want to know more. And even in the most recent poll cited above, 30% of Americans said they were too unfamiliar with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Islam to give any opinion, favorable or unfavorable.

Here’s another example of where change can come. In a poll we did on Saudi Arabia one year ago, after assessing initial attitudes towards the Kingdom and getting a low 30% favorable and a mid 50% unfavorable, we then asked a series of what are called “projective questions”. These are questions that ask individuals to consider if they know certain facts about Saudis, their faith, values, and their attachment to their families.

In these projective questions, we provided information that humanized Saudis. Just fifteen minutes into this process, respondents were asked the same questions about their attitudes towards the Kingdom. This time, we got 53% favorable and 27% unfavorable. That’s how soft and based on received knowledge the current attitudes are!

I will close now with some lessons.

1) When assessing the problem, don’t fall back on clichés about a double-standard, or a conspiracy or control in Washington. The simple truth is, your side is losing because you are not playing. The game is lopsided because you are not in it.

2) When trying to sell a product, you need to know the market. A wise friend of mine, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, once said “We can’t help America to know us, until we know America first”. That means listening, testing, learning and taking the results seriously. The American people can change their attitudes, but you must talk to them, not at them, and you must talk to them in person, because they want to know you.

3) Don’t attempt to detach one country or this region from the broader Arab or Muslim context. They are inextricably linked. You not only shouldn’t, you can’t.

4) Government relations and consultants can’t do for you what you must and can do for yourself. As I said, people want to meet you, not see ads. And since I’m speaking to a group of public relations experts, let me suggest that you not rely on government at all.

The private sector here should feel empowered enough to engage in this effort. It’s not only good for business, its important for your business’s future.

5) An important side note is that our polling shows that people who know Arabs, or people who have traveled to the Arab world have higher favorable attitudes and firmer favorable attitudes for the region than those who do not know Arabs and have not been to the region. The point being, when people know you, they like you.

6) You have constituents in the West, you should see them assets and work with them. There are millions of Arab Americans who feel proud of their culture and heritage. There are hundreds of thousands of Americans who have worked in this region and feel affection towards it. And, there are hundreds of thousands of others who benefit from the relationship between this region and their jobs in America. These are constituents for a better understanding; you should work with them.

And finally, you should know your story and be confident that it is a good story, even with its flaws. It is a human story and a remarkable story that needs to be told. It’s a story about deep and abiding US-Arab partnership in trade, investment, cultural exchange and mutual defense.

* It’s a story about Arab civilization, and about progress and change currently taking place in Arab countries;
* It’s a story about Arabs as real people who share values and hopes for the future with their American friends;
* It’s a story about Islam as a religion and a way of life that creates value and inspires hundred of millions to lead lives with virtue and;
* It’s a story about the common threads of religion, history and culture that have shaped and continue to shape our common destiny;

It’s a story worth telling and you yourselves must be the ones to tell it.