CAIRO FOLLOW-UP: POSSIBLE PROJECTS IN SAO PAULO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAO PAULO 000433

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC,
NSC FOR ROSSELLO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINR PGOV PREL KIVP KPAO BR
SUBJECT: CAIRO FOLLOW-UP: POSSIBLE PROJECTS IN SAO PAULO

REF: A. SAO PAULO 421

B. STATE 71325

C. SAO PAULO 310

D. SAO PAULO 542 (08)


1. (U) Post has continued its Muslim engagement through a
series of consultations in the wake of President Obama's June
4 Cairo Speech (Ref A). While much remains to be done, we
have come up with a tentative road map of initiatives,
starting with the simplest and moving to more complex, to
increase engagement with Brazil's Muslim communities per
request Ref B in coordination with our broader outreach
program and diversity objectives.


2. (SBU) In preparing this cable, a range of Arab and Muslim
interlocutors were consulted (Ref A). From these and prior
discussions, we have developed a range of ideas. We see each
of these proposed programs as having appeal to non-Muslim as
well as Muslim audiences and intend, wherever possible, to
make our outreach efforts broad and designed for multiple
constituencies. Brief descriptions of our proposals follow.

Consular Open House/Companion Social Event


3. (SBU) There exists considerable anxiety about obtaining
U.S. non-immigrant visas within the Muslim community and,
according to Sheik Jihad Hammadeh, significant cynicism.
Muslims whose applications are denied tue to an inabilty to
voercome 2154(b) of the NIA or delayed tue to adminsitrative
processing often become convinced that their failure to get a
visa resulted from political considerations. To allay these
fears, build trust and to extend something of possible
concrete benefit to the Islamic Community, we are working on
setting up a Consular Open House, in which we would invite
Muslim representatives to tour the Consular Section, prepare
a presentation on the visa application process for them and
then invite them to a social event afterward. The Consular
Section is also eager to send out speakers to do information
outreach to Muslim audiences as it does for other special
interest groups, including business, universities and travel
agencies, further allaying anxieties and multiplying our
contacts in the Muslim community by providing useful,
practical information for travelers.

Obama Presentation for Muslim Youth


4. (U) For several months, post has employed an Obama
Outreach PowerPoint on the President,s life that has proven
highly popular with a wide range of general audiences (Ref
C). We have proposed to our Muslim interlocutors that we
could re-orient this presentation to emphasize the positive
contacts that the President has had with various Muslim
communities throughout his life. So far, the response has
been positive. Fundamentalist Sheik Hammadeh said that such
a presentation could work for other Sheiks (Ref A). Moderate
Sheik Al-Boustani who teaches a 70-person Arabic language and
Islam religious class responded enthusiastically, and offered
to have the presentation done for his students. This kind of
encounter would be an ideal way to grow our contacts with the
Muslim community at a person-to-person level and to expand
our reach into a sub-set of Brazilian youth, since many of
Boustaini's students are younger generation persons.


5. (U) Using materials we have at Post, we could also offer
a U.S. History-based presentation/panel discussion on
"American Spirituality" or "U.S. Faith Diversity" that would
talk about the wide variety of faiths represented in the U.S.
and their impact on the development of the U.S. Such an
event would be of interest to Muslims and non-Muslims,
including evangelical Christians and others. Such an event
would also have an integrating function, bringing together a
wide variety of contacts and ensuring that our Muslim
outreach had a multiplier effect with other groups. This
could be a lead-in event to inviting down a prominent scholar
of American Religion who could present on the same topic.
Publications


SAO PAULO 00000433 002 OF 002



6. (U) Muslim organizations in Brazil have some small-scale
publications. We plan to inventory the publications and then
consider programs to send editors and others to the U.S.
and/or look to them as possible outlets for interviews with
Mission personnel.

Greater Contact: Cyber and Personal


7. (U) Moderate representative Mohammed al-Zoghbi and Sheik
Al-Boustani suggested that we should look to send
representatives of the Muslim community to visit the United
States and meet with Muslims and non-Muslims. We would
propose sending such persons on visitor programs, who could
return to Brazil and give talks on Muslim life in the U.S.
Such presentations would counter myths and negative images
about the United States.


8. (SBU) Another theme that a variety of our religious
interlocutors emphasized, from fundamentalist to moderates,
was their dissatisfaction with the scholarly level of
Brazil's Muslims. They lamented the lack of Islamic learning
in Brazil and the language barriers that make scholarly
advance difficult (few knowledgeable Sheiks speak Portuguese
and few Brazilians speak Arabic). Both fundamentalists and
moderates saw the U.S. Muslim Community as more theologically
advanced than their own and wanted greater contact. During
his June 30 visit, SP Special Assistant Jared Cohen suggested
to Sheik Jihad Hammadeh that Washington could help create
cyber-spaces to facilitate communication with U.S. Muslims
(Ref A). Post is looking at various options, which could
include hosting webchats or linking Muslim communities here
to counterpart communities in the U.S. Hammadeh wanted those
contacts to be limited to Sheiks, though the cyber-forums
would lend themselves naturally to a more free-wheeling kind
of contact. To build sophisticated, flexible cyber-links
between Brazilian and U.S. Muslim communities, Post would
need Washington support.

A Strategic Visit by Religious Scholars


9. (SBU) As a longer-term project, we might also consider
inviting a U.S.-based renowned Muslim scholar to visit Brazil
along with other non-Muslim scholars and perhaps a younger
American Muslim accustomed to working the United States'
multi-religious atmosphere. Such persons could become the
focus of a conference or meeting aimed at Muslims and
non-Muslims to discuss religious diversity in the United
States, with a special breakout gathering for Muslims most
interested in advanced theology. This might be undertaken
first as an cyber meeting or as a multi-country program to
save on costs. As noted in Reftel A, non-Muslim Brazilians
regard our attempts our outreach favorably, so such an event
should be designed to appeal to both Muslim and non-Muslim
Brazilian publics.

POPP