Talk to U.S.

By Jacob Wheeler Utne Magazine
Published on November 1, 2004

ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO, tens of millions of people around the
world marched against the buildup to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Many
of their banners and chants accused the Bush administration and the
United States of militarism, greed, and ignorance of the world’s
real needs. But what do the people of the world have to say to
average, everyday Americans now, on the eve of our general
election, when we have the opportunity to change our leadership and
our policy? A new global online-video forum lets us find out by
giving people from around the world a chance to show us their faces
and voice their opinions.

Anyone who wants to speak directly to the American people — or
interview foreigners on their thoughts about the United States —
can send a 30-second digital video clip to
TalktoUS.org, a nonprofit
based in Seattle. The group encourages the foreign commentators to
address topics like culture, the environment, globalization,
health, human rights, peace, poverty, religion, war, trade, and
dreams for the future. Anything goes as long as the end result is
intelligible and tasteful. TalktoUS.org was started in March by
independent filmmaker and former journalist William Brent. ‘U.S.
policies affect the whole world, but non-Americans have few ways to
communicate directly with mainstream America,’ says Brent. ‘The
international voices Americans do hear often represent only the
extremes — not ordinary people from around the world.’

In many of the videos at www.talk toUS.org, these ordinary
people offer constructive criticism; others issue powerful personal
appeals. Standing on a sunny Serbian city street, Boriana tells us,
‘Try to help your own people at home . . . and don’t help around
the world if you are not asked for help.’ Brian, from Uganda,
pleads, ‘HIV-positive people . . . they need help.’ Another Brian,
from Canada, points out similarities between the North American
countries: ‘We have politicians who don’t understand the English
language, and so do the Americans.’ Pushing her dark hair out of
her eyes, Marisol, from Mexico, says, ‘I’m not sure I’d like to
live in a country that creates war for no reason,’ while Sayyara
from Uzbekistan has a brighter image of America and delivers it as
cars go by on a busy corner in the city of Bukhara: ‘Everyone in
the States smiles at each other,’ she says. ‘It shows they want to
live in peace and harmony.’

Brent is confident that Americans who visit the site will feel a
connection with the foreign contributors. Whether they live in
urban or rural areas, they ‘will see people not unlike themselves
from around the world in our videos, and relate to them as people
and not just as media stories,’ he says. Brent, who lived in China
for 16 years (where he and two others founded Shanghai Cinezoic, a
production company for theatrical films and documentaries), says
it’s obvious to anyone outside the United States that there’s a
huge disconnect between how Americans think they are perceived in
the world and how they actually are seen. He sees this as a
particularly important problem today because, as he puts it, ‘until
now people have largely differentiated between the American
government and its people, but that difference has eroded.’ He
hopes that TalktoUS will restore a healthy people-to-people
consciousness, one video at a time.

UTNE
UTNE
In-depth coverage of eye-opening issues that affect your life.