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Media relations campaign. The Arab league

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Background The Arab League officially called the League of Arab States is a regional organization of Arab states of the Arabian Peninsula and the few Arabian nations of Northeast Africa. The organization was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six

members: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. The Arab League currently has 22 members and four observers. The main goal of the league is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries. (http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/picture_gallery/covenant2009.pdf) The US administration search for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the so called war on terror and the issue of weapons of mass destruction or WMD in Iraq have resulted in the death and injury of millions of innocent Arab civilians. However there was no prove of the existence of these weapons, notwithstanding the death of bin Laden should mark the end of the American presence in Afghanistan their troops are still there. The United States of America administration was invoking the existence of Bin Laden as a pretext to increase their military presence in the Middle East, however this claim is merely an umbrella to cover up their hidden agenda which is to occupy the oil rich nations of the middle east under the label war on terror or defending the Freedom of any oppressed nation. Preliminary research reviled shocking facts regarding the primary target public and main stakeholder at the same time Arab teens, 15 to 19 years old. Frightening statistics shows 87% of the total 3472 young inhabitants of the Arab world did not answer correctly when asked do you know what globalization is. (http://www.ankawa.com/sabah/importentinformation.pdf). As problematic this figure might seem it becomes a dilemma in contrast with the 100% of the 3472 youth living in urban areas that consumed American media product on daily bases. The average younger generation of Arab citizens are unaware of the negative impact of

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globalization . An interesting fact is the intense lobbying and pressure the US government used at all conservative Arab kings and sultans during the 1980s and 1990s to push for new media reforms that allowed foreign media ownership providing the leverage they required. In addition to all Arab citizens all government institutions are recognized as stake holders, to a wider extend grand children of the Red Indians, Grand children of African slaves and every individual affected by America s unjustified wars. This media campaign shall create awareness within Arab youth .The goals and objectives of this media campaign are in conjunction with the Arab League of States mission of advocating for human rights and preserving the peace of the world, this is the organizations first international initiative to advocate for justice. The United States army presence in the Arab world under the War on Terror umbrella is to facilitate schemes similar to those nearly exterminated native Red Indians a century ago. The American administration priority is protecting the interests of the Zionist nation of Israeli, and to abort any attempt of unity between the Arabian countries. These facts are unknown for the average Arabian citizens whom admiration to the administration stems from their nave believe to their fake claim of being the world freedom defenders. Although the call for a unified Arab state which unifies all 22 Arab nations seems attractive, the idea of a single Arab organization that brings together Arab countries only took shape during the Second World War giving birth to the Arab league of states which completed fifty-five years of its inception since its establishment on the 22nd of march 1945 with six members: Egypt , Iraq , Jordan , Lebanon , Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen joined as a member on may 5th 1945. The Arab League of states currently has twenty two members and four observers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Arab_States. One of the main objectives of this campaign is to promote nationalism within Arab citizens. in addition messages presenting the league as the best qualified organization to safe guard all Arab states independence and self governance ,notwithstanding bridging the gaps between member states by utilization various tactics such as coordinating successful collaboration between member states through institutions such as Arab League Educational, Cultural and

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Scientific Organization (ALECSO) which is a Tunis based institution that was established on 25th July 1970 to coordinate cultural and educational activities in the Arab world, beside the Council of Arab Economic Unity or (CAEU) which was established on 3 June 1957 with the ultimate goal of achieving complete economic unity among its member states. http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/arabic/details_ar.jsp?art_id=185&level_id=60. This campaign is targeting all Arabian people youth and adults females and males alike, aged between 15 to 39, is expected to achieve its primary goal of transforming the global financial and political landscape within a period of 12-24 month through persuading Arab citizens and political leaders to adopt the notion of Pan-Arabism which is an ideology espousing the unification of the peoples and countries of the Arab World http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PanArabism. The tactic employed to achieve this goal is similar to celebrity endorsement. It is proposed that Political leaders in each country promote the notion

Situational analysis/Problems and opportunities The League of Arab states which resembles the European Union and the African Union is faced by many challenges. One of the major challenges of this campaign is to achieve a level of message saturation equivalent to 100% across a territory of 14,000,000 sq km and straddles two continents: Africa and Asia, target audience are scattered transversely in an area expanding from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. Therefore getting the message across with respect to local time and media consumption habits is a major challenge for this campaign. Social media holds endless opportunities for the popularity it gained amongst Arab youth in recent years this form of relatively cheap media should be considered as the secondary medium for delivering the message of this campaign. This medium will offer great potential as a platform for discussions and social activism, consequently increasing awareness and facilitating the success of this new social movement which will be triggered by this campaign.

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Hence this media campaign is political in nature, issues of political and cultural influence are considered to be a serious challenge to the success of the objectives. Notwithstanding the issue of the never ending intervention of the United States of America administration regarding internal issues concerning members of the league, these interventions are manifested in many less beneficiary decisions and actions taken against members of the league, shaking the solidarity of the league members. Most of the decisions taken by the United Nations regarding issues concerning the League of Arab States are not in the best interest of its members due to the influence of the United States on the global organization. Few issues beside the influence of external powers that opposes the notion of Arab unity are directly affecting this organization. The next major issue affecting this union is the awakening and uprising of millions of Arab citizens across at least 6 countries demanding the immediate removal of governments these people where driven by the worsening economical conditions and diminishing civil rights and personal freedoms of citizens across the Arab World. The final obstacle towards a deeper integration of the league are the numerous feuds among Arab rulers which is due to individual decision making by the ruling elites in each state in a bid to preserve and maintain power. This decision making strategy is further adding to division among the millions of Arab citizens across the Arab world. The best opportunity for the success of this campaign would be the maximum utilization of Aljazeera overwhelming reach and influence it posses within the Arab world. According to a survey done by Aljazeera at least 40 million viewers in the Arab world are tuned in daily . http://www.allied-media.com/aljazeera/al_jazeera_viewers_demographics.html. Aljazeera will facilitate the transition to unity via acting as the unified platform for citizens meaningful dialogue and public debate, a crucial element for the existence of a democratic state as argued by Habermas in his theory of public sphere. Arabian people are marching towards a turning point in their history; these times of revolution are perfect times for laying the foundations for transnational reconciliation throughout the Arab World. The dispersed nature and large number of the target audience is one of the major challenges of this campaign. However these challenges will be dwarfed by Aljazeera ability to

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reach viewers in addition to the great influence they enjoy over Arabs opinions and their ability to create and shape the status quo.

Goals and objectives of the campaign The goals and objectives of the campaign must be easily measurable and realistic with the desired outcomes being timely and gauged freely by observing multiple statistical variables . Oxley (1987). Hence media plays a major role in our lives today; researchers will capitalize on new media technologies including social media to measure the impact of messages to determine the success of objectives. For example extend of the reach of the message will be easily measured by counting the number of people who liked the campaign online page on Face Book. Short term goals are expected to achieve the desired effect within 6 to 12 month: The dissemination of Arab culture and the preservation of Arab identity The Promotion of Arabic language as the most valuable heritage To influence Arabian public opinion by utilizing various media channels to set an anti-American agenda, through cooperation with the influential Aljazeera. Creating awareness regarding the ideology of Pan-Arabism within younger Arab citizens Promoting the ideology for Arab youth ultimately displaying the notion the most attractive Creating awareness within young Arab youth about the negative impact of foreign cultures and to highlight the issue of the increasing presence of American and western troops and war arsenal in Arab territories specially those of the Arabian Peninsula. Utilization of persuasive techniques for the purpose of creating a common public agenda, demonizing the United States of America

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Long term goals includes The establishing a new world order by announcing the birth of the United States of Arabia stretching 14,000,000 sq km expanding from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. Elimination of physical geographical boarders between all Arab countries The complete removal of all US, NATO, and EU troops off Arabian soil Reshaping the global market and economy through the implementation of new economical reforms such as the complete Rejection of US and European paper money in exchange for oil, instead replace it with another form of currency such as gold. Ultimately the objective of this campaign is to create a long lasting adjustment of attitude of Arab youth regarding the notion of Arab nationalism in addition to speeding the transition towards becoming a unified society. Furthermore this campaign will engage younger audience primarily 18 to 25 years old via new media technologies to enhance the visibility of the Arab League of States Strategies/Persuasive tactics and description of each tactic In order for this campaign achieve the desired results delivery of messages will be distributed evenly between controlled and uncontrolled media alike. In fact the use of uncontrolled social media is vital for this campaign hence the large number of target audience 200 million individuals, each and every single human being in the Arab world children men and women of all social backgrounds can only be reached through unconventional media. This public relations campaign tactics consists of strong rhetoric, slogans and symbols, the strategy of this campaign is based on affirmative action and direct interaction in conjunction with Xavier s structure, Johnston and Patel (2005). The expected change in public opinion and attitude will be the direct result of the action plan while the communication plan will sustain the action strategy by motivating and informing publics.

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The following strategies are proposed: Bureaucratic royal regimes in some Arabic countries might reject the notion of the unified nation and attempt to prevent messages from reaching publics, therefore the use of various online media such as Face Book, blogs and YouTube will deliver the message an extra mile. The collaboration between the Arab League of States and all media outlets across the Arab World especially Aljazeera channel to create awareness about the intention of the United States of America to dominate the world Exposing forgotten historical facts about the foundations of America and its genesis, this strategy employs documentary films as the tactic and medium of communication. This 30min film will focus on the extermination of the native Red Indians and American slave trade powerful rhetoric that highlights the Wild Wild west history of the country. 12 episodes of one hour documentaries covering all conflicts the USA fuelled around the world, the rhetoric defies American propaganda this tactic is highlighting the failure of the United States foreign policy to bring peace to the world. The Arab League of States sponsorship of a scheduled touring museum that tours the entire world starting with Arab countries, the museum will showcase Arabian cultural in addition to all historic Arabian inventions and artifacts. However one section of the museum will propagate Americans as Blood thirsty, basically to expose the true face of America. From showcasing materials and documentaries about slavery to pictures of victims of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Vietnam war victims and the victims of the War on Terror . This tactic is aimed at mobilizing public opinion, informing unaware publics and to hark back those who forgot. To use educational institutions across the Arab world to create awareness about the facts of this world we live in through organizing public speeches and debates at primary and higher education institutes. Key media messages to be communicated during this campaign

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The messages of this campaign are rhetoric in nature with strong appeal to logic. Various target publics are approached with different messages molded to suite different perspectives they occupy. Messages designed to target Arab publics will focus on the theme of Pan-Arabism creating awareness and educating younger population males and females 15 to 30 years old, of all social backgrounds, and to a lesser extend the rest of the world population. The campaign will employ slogans as a powerful communicative method, the slogan reads let us reject cultural imperialism, which implies that we are all colonized by foreign cultures. This message is designed to instantly create a seed of doubt ultimately leading to a guilt trip. The tactic of the touring Museum showcase might be considered the most powerful channel. The museum is designed to showcase visually striking photographs of various conflicts created by the United States of America around the world, from exterminated Red Indians to African slaves and the ku kluk klan (KKK), mushroom clouds, oil barrels, ect. Each photograph will tell a story and make a powerful statement to ensure the successful delivery of each message, the beauty of this tactic is the fact that even though the combination of photographs exhibited might seem random , they all share one simple message America kills the rhetoric is to produce immediate strong emotional response.

Facebook

The recent Tunisian jasmine revolution which acted as a highly interactive platform for discussion and coordination, the success of the Tunisian revolution is a testament to the strength of the medium

Twitter

The website will feature daily comprehensive updates informing the target publics of MMAH events and activities.

YouTube

Millions of distant un aware publics will have access to message with the availability of the documentary films produced by Aljazeera through this channel. The mere exposure to the documentary will result in demonising and tarnishing the image of America. Through this medium the message is available at any time anywhere in the world .

Blogs The League of

An instrument of Informal communication approach provided by new media technologies. The current Organisation comes only in Arabic language, it is proposed to develop a modified

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Arab States

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and enhanced multilingual website that is live chat enabled will be created in order to increase interactivity with target publics.

official website

Budget Activity/ Category Internal expenses Bills/salaries Touring Museum administrative and USD 5,000,000/ year Venue Cost

operational expenses Materials Research External expenses Short film production USD year Flyer distribution booth Public seminars Press Conference Shopping malls, University and college campus Shopping malls, University and college campus Hall room USD 190,000/ year USD 10,000,00/ year USD 7,000,000/ year 25,000,000/ The Arab League of states Headquarter N/A USD 10,000,000/year USD 900000/ year

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Publicity News Letter/ Press Release Brochures Local Print Media the Klang valley REGION AND JUST OUTSIDE Selangor Kuala Lumpur billboard advertisements LDP, NKVE, and The Sprint HWY USD 50,000,000/ year USD 30,000,000/ year USD 5,000,000/ year

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Internet advertising Total cost

The Arab League of States Head quarters

USD 11,750/ year USD 118,201,750

Evaluation The success of this Propaganda campaign is measured in terms of the total number of objectives achieved. According to Oxley (1987) the success of any campaign is reflected in the target public attitude change, and changes in the level of awareness regarding the issue or the organisation. The overall success of the campaign is evaluated monthly through opinion polls. Hence this campaign is addressing negative political and cultural influences affecting the target public quality of living, the objectives and goals of this campaign shall successfully be met in the structured period of time.

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Measuring the overall success of goals and objectives of this campaign will be done through gauging the level of message saturation in the desired segment of society. Scheduled every six month, this measurement shall aid in the accurate analysis of the impact, this schedule must be carried out accordingly hence it will aid communicators in identifying minor or major flaws in the communication plan. Notwithstanding, the success of this campaign will be measured using the Stewardship concept developed by Harrison (2003) the concept will allow researchers to gauge accurate measurements of objectives success in addition to providing necessary information for future proposals and reference. In relation to the unstable political and social climate of the middle east, in conjunction with the historic revolutions taking place across the Arab World, it is recommended that the first six month of the campaign focuses on the conditioning and mobilising public opinion towards considering endless benefits of unifying the entire Arab world , accordingly after the first evaluation, the second phase shall focus on propagating the military presence of the United States of America in the Middle east and the overall image of the nation.

(3101 words)

Musaab Mohamed adam Media relations MEDIA KITS FOR THE CAMPAIGN: Tactics 1- press release

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FOR IMMIDIATE RELEASE

No. 46000 Doha, QATAR

kingzaied,4/33,off,Othman,Road,

We shall say NO in one voice .. Arab League of States Secretary General Ammr Musa tells youth. The Arab League of states Secretary General Ammr Musa sincerely expressed his profound concern regarding the overwhelming influence western culture has over the 40 million child inhibitors of the Arab world. The appeal motion was presented in the Arab League of States headquarters in Amman, with the intention of creating awareness regarding the biggest challenge facing the notion of Arabism and the Arabian culture as a whole. The Secretary General spoke on the elements contributing to the decay and disappearance of our culture and elaborated by saying Perhaps the most important of these changes is the revolution in communication technologies creating new social trends mostly harmful to our ways of living in addition to newly developed web 2.0 applications that made access to foreign cultural products much convenient in contrast with few years ago . The Arab world is home to 40milion children below 17 years, described by Musa as the most vulnerable due to their lack of judgment in addition to the increasing number of alliance and outlandish trends they stumble upon every day popularized by the media Even though the debate regarding the ideology of Arabism is still between critical review and future prospects, the real challenge to the Arabian way of life in the twenty first century is the

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phenomenon of globalization which is the most essential element deployed by the United States of America in their bid to dominate other cultures. Musa Said. ..Therefore when considering prospects of Arabism we must keep in mind the fundamental change in the structure of global system brought by the phenomenon of globalization. We shall say no in one voice to cultural imperialism as we need to stand as one and fight for the rights of our marginalized children interests Dr.Musa said. It is the responsibility of parents to monitor the nature of cultural products allowed at home. he finally concluded his talk by saying we shall teach our children to reject their values and believes if we are to preserve

whatever is left of our culture and intercept the mass hypnosis of our way of life Our culture must rise and shine again . Contact: Musaab Mohamed Adam number 55 Othman road, 46050 Doha Qatar Musaab@alos.org tel : 03-77825499 / 03-77835432

Tactic 2- Fact sheet

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1- Features of the Arab League of States little known to the global community. 2- It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. The Arab League currently has four observers and 22 members. 3- The league was established to facilitate the communication between member states, notwithstanding drawing closer relations between member states in order to achieve maximum collaboration between various educational, financial and health institutions. 4- The League has served as a trustworthy legislative power and as a platform for formulating and concluding many landmark documents promoting economic integration. One example is the Joint Arab Economic Action Charter which sets out the principles for economic activities in the region. 5- The main objective of the league in 1945 were to strengthen and coordinate the political, cultural, economic, and social programs of its members, and to mediate disputes among them or between them and third parties. 6- The Arab League has and will continue playing a role in shaping school curricula, advancing the role of women in the Arab societies, promoting child welfare, encouraging youth and sports programs, preserving Arab cultural heritage, and fostering cultural exchanges between the member states. 7- The Charter of the League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland while respecting the sovereignty of the individual member states.

Tactic 3- FAQ

Musaab Mohamed adam Media relations 1-How is the league going to implement its plans to the whole Middle East?

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This will be achieved through help and support from the local governments and the society at large, therefore the involvement and cooperation of local governments is crucial if the goals and objectives of the league will be met accordingly. 2- How will you deal with the problems of the Arab youth and migration?

Arab youth are challenged by few obstacles such as the lack of financial support and recourses in most Arab states. However the most dangerous problems are considered to be the western cultural influence and the dilemma of unemployment, which lead for Migration in search of better opportunities. We are committed to funding few major development projects that will create thousands of

new job opportunities, the availability of more job opportunities is believed to impact the rate of immigration.

3- What role will the league play in stimulating cultural and intellectual renaissance? Members of the league are committed and will vigorously support an open and fair Arabic dialogue, the league will utilize educational institutions with the objective of dissemination Arabian cultural aspects and the preservation of Arabian culture and identity. Furthermore continue to promote Arabic language and what it stands for, it is a reminder of Arab values and principles. We will support the development of cultural discourse by utilizing new media technologies. The league is currently formulating a new school curriculum in order to increase the quality of education to provide the workforce with highly skilled intellectuals. There will also be special attention to talented young artists and Arab art in general the main reason behind this is to create meaningful dialog, and new communication venues such as art galleries therefore creating new communication channels between all members of the Arab people
4-How will the league contribute to resisting cultural imperialism? In this era of globalization our culture in under constant threat of being clouded by other cultures with stronger influence. The league will increase funding media outlets to contribute in the production of various cultural materials such as documentary films and cartoon shows the younger audience. At this point we will focus more on producing materials suitable for children hence they are at greater risk of being influenced by alien cultural values. Educational programs will create awareness within younger audience about the different aspects of Arabic culture. These productions will reduce the dominance of western programs in the media by creating an alternative choice for those with no choice but to watch American cartoons and media product.

Musaab Mohamed adam Media relations Reference list Oxley, H. 1987. The principles of public relations, Londres: Kogan Page.

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Xavier, R., Johnston, K. and A. Petal, 2005. Exploring strategy: What public relations strategy means in practise, In Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal 6:2.

Electronic References http://www.ankawa.com/sabah/importentinformation.pdf (accessed April 25th,2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Arab_States (accessed April 25th,2011) http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/picture_gallery/covenant2009.pdf (accessed April 25th,2011) http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/arabic/details_ar.jsp?art_id=185&level_id=60 (accessed April 25, 2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Arabism (Accessed May 1st, 2011) http://www.allied-media.com/aljazeera/al_jazeera_viewers_demographics.html (Accessed 2011) May 1st,