January 27, 2008

MAHMOOD Shaam’s book, Visiting America’s Mind reminds one of John Gunther’s ‘Inside’ series of socio-political books that were the rage during the 1940s. Gunther had travelled extensively, interviewed a wide cross-section of people, delved deep into facts, collated data and statistics then wrote about the people and events in the countries he had visited.

Shaam has done the same thing. He, too, like Gunther, is a seasoned journalist, with a gimlet eye, missing nothing that is worthy of note. His book therefore may as well be called Inside America Today. It is a chronicle of the author’s visit to the US as a member of an International Visitors’ Programme (IVP), in mid-2003. Other participants were from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India. The event-packed programme begun and ended in Washington, in between were visits to Cincinnati and Boston. The itinerary covered the departments of state, defence, homeland security, counter-terrorism, besides Senate and Congress committees, think tanks, Red Cross, a city government, a self-help model, Boston Port Authority, as well as newspaper and television offices, St Xavier University, the Pluralist Project at Harvard, Boston Islamic Centre and more. There was even an evening at the home of a private citizen where the visitors were invited to dinner.

They met not only with officials, diplomats, journalists, social workers and experts in diverse disciplines, but also with ex-servicemen and the imam at Boston’s Islamic Centre. All discussions were frank and free, which proves that ‘the purpose of the IVP was not to brainwash or influence the visitors but simply to open a window and sustain an international dialogue.’ If any question from the visitors was deemed too embarrassing, it was met with silence such as when Afghanistan’s Shokria Barakzai confronted Ambassador Hunter of the Rand Corporation. Only at the Pentagon when a questioner asked their interlocutor why America is universally hated, was the speaker haughtily countered.

While every encounter was an eye-opener, it is after the Pentagon visit that the author exclaims: ‘In the truest sense we found out what America thinks.’

The Homeland Security visit revealed that the difference between ‘these responsible, developed nations and us lies in the priority they give to basic problems and basic resources’ and ‘meeting the basic needs of their own citizens,’ before turning to ‘national and international politics’. The measures taken for security — from banning the import of candles, incense and incense sticks, to setting up an elaborate water testing laboratory and a centre to create ‘awareness about the importance of pure, clean water’ — are exemplary.

The tragedy of 9/11 has so penetrated the American psyche that it laces all administrative policies and discussions. Nevertheless, Shaam uses every opportunity to point to the flaw in stereotyping Muslims as terrorists, while Barakzai corrects the speakers’ lurid claims about the rosy picture of things in her country. India’s Tamal has only one grouse: ‘cross-border terrorism’ by Pakistan.

The detailed topography and history of each place and the minute description of the functions of each department and institution visited, supported by authentic data, provides a wealth of valuable information about the American thought process.

Equally educational is the peek into some of the exclusive features of the American way of life. For example, the average American is far less informed about current affairs than his/her Third World counterpart. Most of them ‘do not read beyond the headlines’. Scandals like the O.J. Simpson trial arouse great interest while ‘political programmes are rarely watched’. Young people are not taught current affairs until grade 12. Their ignorance, particularly about Muslims and Islam, is appalling,

‘Newspapers and television personnel examine and present matter from the American perspective only. Their source of information is the American government, — mostly the Pentagon and the State Department,’ says Bob Giles, the ‘experienced and highly respected’ curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

On the other hand, state governments are fully autonomous. Each state has its own penal code. ‘The federal government cannot question the state in redirecting or spending of federal grants on other projects.’

Americans are generally law-abiding. Even state department official, Juliana, who was escorting the IVP guests, submitted to the rigours of body search and removed her shoes at the airport before boarding their flight. The Patriot Act is another example. The severe curbs it has put on the civil liberties of private citizens have roused strong public resentment, yet ‘there have been no demonstrations, nor will there be any’, says Paul Rosenzweig, a research fellow at he Heritage Foundation, in answer to the visitors’ question.

How polls are conducted to assess public opinion and the history of think tanks — there are 1200 of them in the US ‘compared to 255 in the rest of the world’ — their functions and their efficacy, and the discussion about the performance of some of the top-notch ones is highly instructive. Also provided is list of the ‘most successful and effective’ think tanks in America with details about their origin and budget.

Among the postscripts included in the book is a well-researched essay titled ‘Islam and Muslims in America’. Another, titled ‘President Musharraf on 9/11’ is a sort of ‘scoop’, for it records deliberations at a meeting of editors of ‘major Pakistani newspapers and journals’ with Gen Musharraf on Sept 16, 2001. Here one gets first-hand insight into how Pakistan was sucked into the so-called ‘war on terror’.

In 2004 Shaam visited America again and sums up his experience in the essay ‘What does America think now?’ Also provided is a summary of his impressions, expressed in a series of articles in Urdu.

In Gunther’s day it was a common saying that with his Inside Europe (1936) under one’s arm, one had the confidence that s/he knew all about Europeans. Now with Shaam’s book under one’s arm, one can feel the same about Americans. For Pakistani readers though, its special value lies in the comparison between their way of managing affairs and ours; it is a comparison which provides much food for thought.
 

Visiting America’s Mind
By Mahmood Shaam
Sama Editorial & Publishing Services, Karachi
ISBN 969-8784-41-1
236pp. Rs595