Transcripts For CSPAN2 Farah Pandith How We Win 20240713 : v

CSPAN2 Farah Pandith How We Win July 13, 2024

Violent extremism and said talk to me about what you are doing. And she said im doing a lot and Hillary Clinton decided and then thats a person to create a brandnew job special representative to muslim communities around the world. With the National Security Council First time ever filled position at the state department but most important is very different when i was at the state department for what we Work Together on. But i was amazed. How incredibly smart she is. And has a way to say that you will understand. Very complex problems. When you talk about the violent extremist and went said to me i knew you wouldnt sleep at night. And knew that i could not think things are that would even come close so what we are doing is the ideological battle and it calls for a different kind of response. And it is very well detailed in the book. What seems to be the intractable problem. So there is a line in the book where you say this is a tractable that this is not countering violent extremism talking about what it means to have that power. First of all good morning i have been hearing about madison for a long time this is one of the best gifts that was ever given to me and to get to know her. You will get into those circumstances under which we met but one of the things that has puzzled me is that there are people out there that some in the audience have family members themselves with the difficult medical illness and those that are trying their best to figure out. Those that will take everything weve got for 200 years we can never figure it out or Climate Change and will go there another time but to look at the appeal of the ideology of us versus them that is not an intractable problem. You are not born hating you learn how to hate. So it seems to me after all the work ive been privileged to for our country so what do we need to do . It is incumbent to say strategically what we do in our daily lives and it makes a difference to the larger environment that is also important that the legislative branch in our government and the executive branch understand that population will not sit back. Thats not who we stand for is not just a problem over there like the Islamic State or al qaeda or boko haram and fortunately in 2019 dealing with all of those things with now white supremacist on the rise. You think there is not a collaboration with us versus them you ask the question of the impact ability thats not intractable and solutions are available right now second talk about one of the things i end the book with which is a particular diagnosis over how we solve problems in this book talks about the solution very critically government has a role to play but so do corporations that there is the assessment based on my time in government when you look at the tool in the toolbox so there is a way to do things the military executed in a way. And then to build machinery for future wars and have a whole system in place. The soft power and other parts of the government are not parts of the toolbox are super limited. And then to say dealing with ideology here are the buckets of things we can be doing to have a rise of technology with the demographic with generation z absorbing content in ways we are all reading about all the time and we know there is a surge of what could happen but i say you cant use h century tools for 21st century problem open power says that the amateur look at things differently so who do we need at that policy table to help us think . Government often goes outside to bring them in and have a roundtable and then we go on. Not for every problem but what i talk about i want to see anthropologist and see people who speak differently about culture to help us understand what is going on and now generation z that is absorbing this technology. She just came back from london. So the scale of what needs to happen to go into doable parts is the challenge at the highest of levels so we realize congress to appropriate money they want shortterm answers the program that they funded. How do we get that culture to decide every program of the appropriations bill . How do they do that . Because the state department did not when we were there. And our goals. And then to radically change the environment. Can push back against hate so Congress Needs to understand the way they are asking questions has to change you cannot ask questions like you would for the department of defense will that piece of equipment will work i think its important where certain circumstances and then with that number of troops that our excellent former colleagues and embassies around the world have the capacity to do something remarkable if they are given the tools and we are asking them to do things with one hand behind their back and the issue here is scale not just a program here or they are i cannot tell you how often tell me where the priority countries are. Because ideology has no borders or what happens in trinidad as we are appealing to young people everybody was shocked and surprised if you were paying attention to understand what is happening to the people is something very significant for this generation that is the issue the crisis of identity the people asking who am i . These are the questions we know they are asking. Not only nigeria or denmark but what is connected as digital natives. And to think how we can make sure to put their money where their mouth is. Dont tell me that ideology is important with every single policymaker has said that not do anything. Want you to tell the American Public lets go on her merry way to do Something Else dont put pennies into this problem when there are options for far less but one came out of this mission that was part of the Bipartisan Commission that did a survey of recommendations for leadership in government so what do we need you to do . It was the rise of neonazis and rise of antisemitism and its shocking to see the state we are in but one that holds a very important story we spent trillions of dollars in general. So specifically fighting the Islamic State spending billions of dollars what percentage of that money to fight the ideology zero. 01 percent so not calling for the eradication of the military aspect im just saying the strategy needs to be built that is sustainable all day every day 24 7 at the same scale we needs to be done that will allow us to do what we want to do so that it is manageable. So now we reduce it. If you ever met people who are coming from other countries that will bring culturally important to define that identity. And thats what they wrote a huge book on. That i think i didnt see many countries but in kazakhstan and what happens is you sit down and then you hold the seat and you are called upon and you read a statement by 45000 people. By the time you get it so staying with the ambassador to kazakhstan and we decided on something different. But before we met we had decided with a laser focus to focus on millennials because that is the population particularly and we invited some millennials to come. But what we decided to do together when we were called upon we would flip what we are saying. And not with anti semitism headlines do not make that the jew was condemning and that was as a shock to everyone but then much later with saudi arabia they were talking about to say the message is important but sometimes the messenger can increase the impact. So the millennials that are there they have these nice speeches. We get it. And as we fly back and then to decide we have to come up with an answer to that. The person can be from germany or uruguay or malaysia or whatever. That always have a call to action. So what do they decide . First and want to tell you im getting all nostalgic because she is a rabblerouser and when i think about this particular program it is up being one of the most important initiatives around fighting hate because it is very tangible. They dont have a lot of money but they do have time. And then to experience it in a different way we had day jobs and they are not listening. And then asking a young person to donate an hour or more of their time to somebody who does not look like them or pray or love or live like them. Just one hour. We that that was modest lets just see if we can get 2011 hours it turns out it went crazy. Kids all over the world doing things for each other at different communities that they never had the time to talk to or to find a way to connect. And a build so much momentum to say we really love this campaign we want to be a part of the london olympics so they did. And then turning out to be a partner and then taking on a life of its own because then we would go to where the olympics began so we went to greece. And then that logo that they dont give out very often so this is exactly the way the kind of thing it is universal we all have to do more. And it was a very successful program. I love hearing stories that did things different than they were whether Peanut Butter sandwiches on the other side of town or taking up class listening to something they have never imagined. Its inspiring and there is opportunity to think about that initiative because it is born from the millennials. And organic things of what we could do. We named the problem. Can it be about love or world peace and get along and we said no. We cant solve that issue unless we recognize the bad stuff that is happening. So it caught on all over the world. And they said to me if i knew you wouldnt sleep at night. And it is relevant today. That is at the epicenter of hatred. And that there are new found friends. And to talk about the epicenter of hatred is a country to realign yourself. So to be important to dissect the problem can be honest with adults and with each other and what we absorb. And then to go all over the world you begin to see patterns. And whether i am in cambodia or no way norway or sicily with these environments. And with any expectations what they are doing with that identity i spent a lot of time on to go into these communities but the patterns that i saw were really disturbing to me and as a diplomat theres only so far you can go but i was seeing a couple of things schools that were built and those that taught a specific brand of what islam is a very the Us Government to be a good christian or a bad christian thats not what we do. Lets be clear. But calling on violence in the name of religion there are things you have to be clear about. Whether textbooks or sermons and those that have been trained in a particular way those the quran that has been translated in a specific way not mainstream that is us versus them that now is distributed around the world for free including american prisons just to be clear about that you see patterns of how that affects the population. Number one the diversity of islam isnt the diversity of dealing with an educated audience here it is extremely diverse you all know america is the most diverse anywhere in the world so when you begin to bring diversity and make it monolithic this is what you must eat or who you must talk to it changes the entire character because of your eye identity and pushes away hundreds of years of heritage saudi arabia was the commonality and everything weather in bosnia and when i went there i remember hearing that the saudis are here and then to come in after the bosnian war any type of authentic islam with that arab infusion so we are changing food and language. And i thought that was interesting to say please come in and help build the mosque. They were bombed so they would erase everything from the past so imagine for a moment if the french or the british would re build their cathedrals in a brandnew way because we would never imagine that because that we would deliver these in the exact way. We were seeing that here and there but in the book there is a chapter that spells out to understand what i saw and why. You may say its over there. Who cares and im not making a statement of how you must pray that simply give you those data points of what significantly changed of the way people believe they are muslim is how they are connected to the way the extremists want you to believe there is only one way to be and i talk about what has been planted for decades billions of dollars over four decades and this goes to your point im not calling for america not to have a relationship with saudi arabia but what im saying the American Public is owed the truth and americans you cannot put them in uniform and asked them to go sleep somewhere sending their daughter and son abroad and then be honest with them about the relationship with saudi arabia and not asking for some changes. I dont think thats asking for too much. That is a Central Point for me not after the khashoggi murder or the coziness between President Trump and his administration of saudi arabia. Its something much bigger i believe the American Public needs to understand and very careful to document what i saw to make sure you can see what i have seen referring to kosovo and countries in south asia and africa that have changed who they are because of the impact of saudi arabia and i find it extremely disturbing thinking of the numbers this is why i get scared its every country that i visited and it only takes one generation if you want to change history but then that truth is what everybody believes that we have got to do something today there are 1 billion muslims right now under the age of 30 and one fourth of the planet is muslim. This will affect all of us. Please dont walk away thinking and talking about dress but food and language and all aspects and the need for diversity and the importance of diversity in islam spirit trying to get into a conversation with someone that i was trying to articulate and they said are you saying islam needs reparations cracks my answer is no. It is diversity in ways to be a christian as many ways to be a jew. But we are now up for questions and i have a lot of questions so always listen to people and what they are saying so if anyone has a question now is the time to come forward. You talked earlier about the need to give people an action of what they can do and my understanding of this but i have always heard there is such high unemployment in the islamic world that the need for young people to have something to do that are not employed is the cause of this and i thank you for that question. So framing you may recall that thesis is what everybody believed right after 9 11 the people that got on those planes certainly had to be not educated because you wouldnt do such a thing or they had to be poor. We have debunked those in the 18 years since 9 11 the one thing i can tell you is a lot of research has been done how people get radicalized and how they convince those people what is going on. It is not about how rich or poor you are if you are employed or not employed or education but it is about identity and the experience that happens when you feel about your place in the world that then its all day every day heightened expression of us versus them in ways that we know and feel and all these pockets not just in America Islam has been in the media every day since 9 11 but that increases the expression people think about me. How can i navigate through my identity is the first tier of the problem obviously we want young people to have jobs and spend time and energy how to make sure there are more reachable for young people but theres a difference between i have no job with the vast majority of cases around the world there are those cases to be fair that they do something that does happen but thats not what we were dealing with for example when all of these young people were radicalized by the Islamic State and lets talk about other types of extremism its not about money for option options. So considering the budget is being devoted to winning hearts and minds. Whenever the cia engages in operation and they say yes thats what they screwed up with you dont see those that dont make the headlines because they are done very quietly. So im wondering if there is a branch of government not part of the state department for lack of a better term called psychological warfare winning the hearts and minds through modern century techniques you prove the way with the tools we have in our toolbox because thats how we stop the people that is a different era in american history. But winning hearts and minds is Public Diplomacy to tell people who we are and push back to say this is who america is. We want to attract people to who we are for a lot of Different Reasons like democracy our values, i get that but in this particular thing to make sure your building resilience and communities to push back against those ideologies is not necessary if you convince a 17 yearold kid you want to make sure theyre not bringing a bomb on the day of the Boston Marathon so be angry or do whatever it is you have to do but the line is violence and it is the momentum from criminal things i dont use that terminology hearts and minds because i talk about the chapter of the boogie man because its important thing to understand about what it is we are doing if in fact whats important we didnt talk about corporations but from the government perspective every program that we built it is important we are transparent the money is clear to be the convener and intellectual partner with the idea here on the ground and the solutions are not topdown but bottomup from communities that say we want to build these programs and initiatives because that will build resilience with people longterm and we need to partner with those ngos to say we cant know what this part of madison needs to fight hate so we come to the locals. What do you think matters . Wider their programs online and offline cracks what do you need to connect you thats the stuff that government can do. What i also advocate the government has not understand the cultural norm for what it feels like in these communities because by the time you know you buy that pair of jeans or the sneakers the way that companies connect the data of who you are to slice and dice can be applied to the programs we put in front of him people to say to persuade you not to be attracted to the white supremacist. We want to put something in front of you the narrative of former extremist in front of you in a way that is organic and make sense. But this is all open. Its not behind the scenes secret stuff because it takes away our ability with the situation many ngos feel that what were trying to talk about is america doing the best job that its can dont listen to the ground level doing what we need to do with the ngos there are

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