Selling a Vision of Hope: A Strategy for Success in the Middle East
October 29th, 2007Hello,
Thank you for allowing me to post on your wonderful website. It is indeed an honor.
First, a little about myself. My name is Nissim Dahan, and I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1952. I guess I don’t really qualify as a “youth” in the technical sense. But I do think of myself as young in spirit. Luckily, the soul doesn’t seem to grow old.
My family in Israel goes back over 200 years, way before the state came into being. In fact, the parents of my grandmother were one of the first 60 families to found the city of Tel Aviv, and there is an iconic photograph on the sand dunes which bears witness to that event. When I was seven years old, my dad, ever in search of new opportunities, moved my mother, brother, and me to America, the land of opportunity. I enjoyed my studies, became a lawyer, but have not practiced law. Instead, for the past 30 years, I worked with my dad as a custom home builder, and I personally designed, sold, and built some 1200 custom homes in the Baltimore metropolitan area, where I now live, with my lovely wife, Mira, who was born in Cairo, Egypt. Recently, my dad decided to pull out of the building business, so I found myself in a semi-retirement situation. The good news, however, is that I finally have the time to devote myself to something a little bit out there, which I will now describe.
Over the past two years, my wife and I founded a project called Selling a Vision of Hope. We like to think of it as a strategy for success in the Middle East, and as a way of promoting peace there. The basic approach includes: Selling a Vision of Hope, Sustaining a Vision of Hope, and when necessary, Fighting for a Vision of Hope.
It goes something like this:
Ideology: We begin with a new ideology, what we call, An Ideology of Common Sense. An ideology is a belief system; so An Ideology of Common Sense is believing in what makes sense. We take basic notions of common sense and raise them to ideological status. We use common sense as a new framework for rational discourse. We speak to one another with common sense, and with a sense of personal dignity. Common sense may well be the only thing we were given to bring order to this world. It could well be argued that in our fractured world, common sense is the common denominator. Just for the heck of it, try defining “common sense” in one sentence. What if our survival as a species depended on it?
Investment: We invest in one another. We create an International Fund for Economic Development in the Middle East, under the banner: “We stand ready to invest in you if you are ready to invest in yourselves.” Let’s face it; if the West if good at anything it is making and investing money. Why not use this strength as part of our strategic arsenal to defeat the ideological extremists, and to promote the peace. We invest in projects which resonate with hope, which create jobs, and which protect the environment. The extremists will not be able to capture the public imagination, once people begin to imagine a better life for themselves.
Hope: We use An Ideology of Common Sense along with some well placed Investment Dollars to Sell a Vision of Hope—a Vision of Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom—on the Arab street, in the Muslim world, and in the world as a whole. Albert Einstein came up with E=mc2. Thankfully, the formula for peace in the Middle East is a lot simpler: Ideology plus Investment equals Hope.
Support: After Selling a Vision of Hope, we sustain the vision by launching a series of Public Diplomacy Programs which are designed to prop a Vision of Hope up, and to carry it forward, including: a Media Campaign, a program to Empower Women, a Student Exchange, a Cultural Exchange, an expanded version of the Peace Corps, and a series of International Conferences.
Take, for example, the Program to Empower Women by investing in female entrepreneurs and promoting women’s rights. If you empower Muslim women in ways that they deem appropriate, you will have changed the face of the Middle East. Who are women? They are the givers of life, and the caretakers of life, and as such are uniquely qualified to reconstitute their societies consistent with a Vision of Hope.
Fight: When absolutely necessary, we may have no choice but to fight ideological extremism, wherever it is found. But we should position the fight within a Vision of Hope. We should raise the fight on the ground to a higher moral plain by giving the fight a moral clarity of purpose. We should also do everything we can do beat the ideological extremists at their own game, by doing what they do, only better, and by marginalizing them in the eyes of their own people. For example, if they are ideological about Jihad, we should be ideological about Common Sense. If they invest in charitable social programs, we should invest in jobs. If they inspire hope for paradise or martyrdom, we should inspire hope for Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom. And if they use terror to drive their point home, we may have to confront that militarily, but only within the greater context of a Vision of Hope.
That, more or less, is a thumbnail sketch of Selling a Vision of Hope. The basic game plan, at this point, is to get the word out, and then, God willing, to implement the vision. To that end, your feedback, good or bad, would be invaluable to me. I would be happy to personally respond to your questions, comments, and opinions, and most of all, to learn from them, so that the vision could take into account your concerns.
You are also welcome to visit my website at www.sellingavisionofhope.org, where you will find additional information, and where your comments would also be greatly appreciated. I don’t have all the answers. I remain open to suggestion. And I know that some of my ideas may seem, at first blush, to be a bit over the top. But as I say in my book Selling a Vision of Hope: A Refreshing Alternative to Armageddon; “This may well be the time, before time runs out, to dream the impossible, and to make the impossible come true.”
Thank you for your kind indulgence,
Nissim
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Nissim:
many people tried to propose some ideas, either new or reviewed old ones, to solve the problems now underway in mideast, as well as to avoid the upcoming disasters.
but good intention is something, practicality is another. for example, few months ago a nun was reported who used to offer catholic prayers in the morning, and muslim prayers in the evening (maybe timings were different, but the whole case was something like this), and claimed to be a Catholic Muslim… she wants to do a good to humanity, but has misunderstood the core problem.
how can we find out whether a new idea is practical or not? just ask of the Road Map it suggests. as long as theory does not turn into practice, at least it would have no good effect… and the worst case happens when theory makes some bad effects in practice, though you dont want such a thing to happen.
*****
the core idea of your plan is true, and almost the only truth: Bring Hope to The People. I admire it!
but I feel that the ideal situation you portray here is somehow based on a Globalized understanding of the world in general, and this region in particluar. if we (here in the mideast) were the members of a global village, your plan would be pretty effective. but unfortunately we are not, and we are less likely to become such a thing in near future. Common Sense of Arabs tells something, Common Sense of Jews tells another, Common Sense of Iranians tells a third thing, and Common Sense of Bush administration tells nonsense (they are not mideasterns, but they changed the mideast dramatically, though much of their initial plan didnt happen in this region). you may add to this list many other common senses which dont seem to be converging at all. if the common sense was a consensus amongst all involved parties, there would be no problem, and this region would be called a sample globalized village.
apply your model on a smaller community, for example current Iraq, and you will see all these problems again.
then, understanding all the problems you have, if you are serious to develop a Road Map for your plan…I will pray for you!
KEEP HOPE ALIVE
Hi
My first book, KEEP HOPE ALIVE resulted after my first of five journeys into Israel Palestine and is a 100% fund raiser for the USA non-profit Olive Trees Foundation for Peace which is dedicated to raising awareness and funds to purchase one million fruit bearing trees for the Holy Land as our way of literally extending the olive branch with hope to heal, mend and transform the Holy Land and help replace the trees destroyed by Israel’s Apartheid Wall and Military Occupation.
KEEP HOPE ALIVE is a fictionalized retelling of the well remembered memoirs of a 1948 refugee from the Upper Galilee who made his way to the USA and realized the American dream. After a lucrative career in the Defense Industry during the Cold War and THAT DAY we call 9/11, Khaled Diab brought together American Jews, Christians and Muslims to respond to evil with good by founding the 501 3-c Olive Trees Foundation for Peace.
“Keep Hope Alive” tells his story and is an historical chronology with connections to antiquity, and hope for the future.
“Keep Hope Alive” is also my spiritual journey told with humor through six fictional characters who represent six ways to intuit God.
—————————————
Book Reviewer from http://www.midwestbookreview.com:
“At first I thought this had something to do with the famous line of Jessie Jackson. I’m delighted to say it is much, much more. The author shows that there are many people from all over the world who are moving in the right direction to establish peace in the Middle East. The organization Olive Trees Foundation for Peace/OTFFP is Arabs, Jews, and Christians who have formed a non profit non political group who have one goal; to have Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace.
“These are people from all walks of life who are committed to changing the area into a peaceful region. Social movements like this grow until finally government jumps on-board. This is so counter to the policies of the Bush administration. As dialogue continues to grow on this subject government will be forced to rethink its approach to the region. This is a book that should be read by anyone does not believe there can be peace in the Middle East. It should also be included in schools and on the college level to help focus on how the area can move toward peace.” – Gary Roen
In Solidarity “we have it in our power to begin the world again.”-Tom Paine-who was the most radical of America’s Founding Fathers and he also penned:
“Soon after I had published the pamphlet “Common Sense” [on Feb. 14, 1776] in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion… The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.“-Tom Paine
On with THAT Revolution!
Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor
Http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory”
Producer “30 Minutes With Vanunu.”
Eileen, your negative language, common soundbytes, and one-sided politically-motivated activism aren’t going to keep hope alive, just your agenda.
Mohammad,
Thank you for commenting on my article.
You bring up two excellent points: How do we know that Selling a Vision of Hope will work? and, What if common sense is not universal?
Let’s take the second question first. A lot of people think that notions of common sense are highly subjective. It is easy to draw that inference from the often cruel way that we behave toward one another. But the more I think about it, the more I come to conclusion that common sense is universal, and that the cruelty we see all around us is a reflection of our inclination to ignore what we know to be true.
What is common sense? For me, common sense is the intuitive wisdom to conform our thoughts and actions to universally shared truths and values. The “intuitive wisdom” is the wisdom that comes from within. It’s inside you. “Thoughts and actions,” because it’s not enough to think straight, you have to act on what you know to be true. “Truths and values:” “truths” are the realities we perceive, “values” are the realities we aspire to. And why are these truths and values “universal?” Certain principles are so fundamental, so logical, and so self-evident, that they are universally perceived as true, and therefore, universally accepted.
Let’s look at three such universal values, and see how they point toward Selling a Vision of Hope: The Golden Rule, The Golden Mean, and The Greatest Good. I call them the
3-G’s for short.
The Golden Rule: “Treat others as you would have them treat you,” is written into every religion on earth. Why? Because it makes sense, that’s why. I would suggest that we treat each other well by Investing in one another.
The Golden Mean: “The truth is somewhere in the middle between two extremes,” was developed by Aristotle, Maimonides, and Muhammad. I would suggest that The Golden Mean would have us think straight by moderating our views and using Common Sense as our Ideology.
Finally, The Greatest Good is Jeremy Bentham’s idea to “Bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number.” I would suggest that The Greatest Good would have us maximize justice by organizing ourselves around a Vision of Hope.
Putting it all together: Ideology plus Investment equals Hope.
So for me, common sense is no different than mathematical theorems which are always there, waiting in the wings, for us to use to bring order to our world. We can choose to turn away, by killing one another. But the truth is still there staring us in the face.
Now, to your second point: Will it work? I don’t really know. I’ll be surprised as hell if it does. Selling a Vision of Hope seems to make sense, but I can’t write it in blood that it will actually work. It’s as close to impossible as you can get, but considering the alternative, what choice do we really have? I guess that if it begins to make sense to enough people, then eventually, people with wealth and power could become inspired to makes something happen along these lines. That’s where you come in. You posted your comment, and I noticed that you referenced your comment on your own website, and then linked to mine. Well, you’re getting the word out, and that may well be the first step on a very long journey.
You also said that you may be willing to pray for me. Well, that, in and of itself, may make all the difference in the world.
Nissim
Welcome aboard:-)
Thanks Blue. I find myself in good company.
This all seems incredibly vague. Two questions:
1) How does the “Vision of Hope” keep foreign powers like the United States from interfering?
2) How does the “Vision of Hope” work to elimiate dictators? Or does it ignore the issue?
gary
Hi Gary,
Two excellent questions.
How do you stop U.S. interference?
You’re not going to stop U.S. interference, but you can make the interference a lot more constructive. The U.S. is a superpower, with a whole host of strategic interests all around the world. The U.S. burps and someone feels it somewhere far away. But there are many instances when the U.S. acts against its own interests and against the interests of others, and ends up alienating people who could otherwise be friends. What Selling a Vision of Hope would do is to focus U.S. involvement in a more positive manner.
If the U.S. decides to Sell a Vision of Hope, it would do the following:
1. Speak to the world with common sense and with a sense of personal dignity.
2. Invest in projects which resonate with hope and which revitalize Middle Eastern economies.
3. Use Ideology and Investment to sell a Vision of Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom on the Arab street, in the Muslim world, and in the world as a whole.
4. Sustain the hope with Public Diplomacy Programs which are more than sound bites.
5. Marginalize the extremists by beating them at their own game, and by raising the fight to a higher moral plain by giving the fight a moral clarity of purpose.
These steps; if backed up by U.S. foreign policy, and by American moneyed interests, both public and private, will go a long way to reconfigure U.S. action, and to transform that action from “interference,” to constructive involvement and engagement. In this way, we could expect not only to solidify consensus here at home, but to win the support of most of the world, including Muslim moderates.
How do you stop dictators?
In the short run, you’re not going to eliminate dictators. But Selling a Vision of Hope is not a short run project. It is a project which will require several generations to pull off, and probably one trillion dollars of investment. However, in the long run, Selling a Vision of Hope could help Middle Eastern countries to transition from dictatorships to democracies by empowering people ideologically and economically.
An Ideology of Common Sense will empower the man on the street to break the downward spiral of hate. Economic investment will produce good paying jobs. Eventually, such empowerment will result in people demanding their rights, and their freedoms. Under such circumstances, even dictators will be forced to relinquish at least some of their power. The will of the people will not be deterred. Give the man on the street a sense of hope, and he will give you back his heart in return. Selling a Vision of Hope is a way of consolidating and focusing the will of the people in a direction that could eventually point to the possibility of freedom and peace.
Thanks for your questions, and by all means, keep them coming in.
Nissim,
I think your intentions are good, but this is still much too vague. Take dictators for instance. They like being in power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. You almost always need to force them out. All the good will and visions of hope in the world aren’t going to convince them to step down. And as for US interference, I completely agree with you – more often that not the US works against it’s own interests, not for (assuming you define the US as it’s citizens and not wealth oil executives). But again, I just don’t see the engine behind your proposed change.
My own take is that the common people can be persuaded to support good policies, but until thos same people get a better handle on their own governments, the change in course you suggest isn’t going to happen. Personally I pin my hopes on democratic reform to make these changes.
“Every generation needs a new revolution.”
— Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence. 1762-1826
My translation: Throw the bums out. Dictators and failed presidents.
gary
Gary,
I understand and even appreciate, believe it or not, your skepticism. Selling a vision of Hope would be a big shift in American foreign policy, and therefore, it must be able to stand up to even the most intense scrutiny.
It bothers you that the idea is somewhat “vague.” Well, we’re talking about a game plan here, a strategy for success, not a prediction of exactly how things will play out. We’re already investing blood and treasure in the Middle East, and getting nowhere fast. We need a new approach, one that is likely to produce good results, even if we don’t know exactly how that will happen.
Let’s look at several examples from history as to how various strategies eventually produced good results. In World War II we decimated the enemy militarily, and then invested in them via the Marshall Plan. The ultimate result was the emergence of vibrant democracies and economies in Germany and Japan. Notice how a burgeoning economy interrelates well with freedom and democracy.
During the Cold War, we outspent the Soviet Empire militarily. We also used ideological propaganda, culminating in the “Evil Empire” speech of Ronald Regan. We fought peripheral wars indirectly. And finally, when the Berlin Wall came down, we left the door wide open for countries like China, Russia, and India, to join the world economy. Has democracy and freedom triumphed? Not as yet, but the level of ideological rhetoric has been toned down considerably. There is a direct correlation between economic growth and democratic reform.
And now we are called upon to strategize a game plan for dealing with fundamental ideological extremism. Selling a Vision of Hope looks to a combination of: Ideology, Investment, Hope, Diplomacy, and Fighting, as the answer. But I don’t really know how this will play out in exact terms. I suspect that the scenarios will be different, in different countries, depending on the circumstances at hand. But I can’t help but believe that an approach of this kind is preferable to the haphazard policies we have been pursuing to date.
And by the way, to address your point, we’re not “convincing” the dictators of the world to step down. We’re creating facts on the ground which speak louder than words, and which will diminish their power as they attempt to reconcile themselves to new realities, including the inescapable reality of common sense.
Nissim
Hope
Persian : Arezoo
Hebrew : Tikva
Arabic : Amal
Kurdish : Hiwa
Doesn’t matter how differently we pronounce the word. It exists among the lexical items of all our languages, and we highly value it earnestly. Isn’t that enough common ground for investment?
Interesting question, Elinor. I think the answer is probably no. We all value hope, it’s true. In fact, I would guess that in the final analysis we all value pretty much the same things. And yet, with all this in common, we’re still at each others’ throats half the time. So what is the answer for world peace?
I think we have to sell one another on a Vision of Hope, and to implement that vision using 5 things: Ideology, Investment, Spirituality (Hope), Diplomacy, and the willingness to Fight. Within that type of framework you could give expression to what you rightly recognize as the universal need for Hope. If you don’t do it this way, you could give expression to a lot of other universal traits, such as jealousy, possessiveness, excessive pride, aggresstion, etc.
Elinor, the world is getting smaller. We can’t get away with the nonsense we got away with before. If the world is getting smaller technologically, and economically, you have no choice but to bring the world together ideologically, with an Ideology of Common Sense, based on the proposition that there are certain truths that we can all relate to. In this way, it will become evident, that it is in our mutual self interest to:
Talk to one another Common Sense and with a sense of personal dignity.
To Invest in one another, and to give everyone on earth a place at the table, a stake in his or her future.
To use Ideology and Investment to sell one another on a Vision of Hope.
To sustain the hope with Public Diplomacy, including empowering women.
And when necessary, to fight for a Vision of Hope, and to marginalize the extremists in the eyes of their own people.
So, to answer your question, it will take more than just Hope. It will take a whole rethinking of our political, economic, and spiritual strategies within an ideological framework that seeks to make sense of this crazy world. But I remain open to any suggestion you may have, and I thank you for your thoughts.