Can Bloggers Drive Peaceful Dialogue in the Middle East?

Our Johns Hopkins graduate class is doing a project with the group Seeds of Peace. They are trying to bring peace to the Middle East by hosting leadership programs for the next generation of Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Their model involves very immersive dialogue through camp experiences and a sustained conversation between people whose politics or culture stresses suspicion, hatred and intolerance. They belong in social media. Can they bring their sober approach to promoting discussion to the global blogs and social networks or is that such an uncontrolled environment that their careful and thoughtful approach won't work?

I am no political expert. No expert on world peace or on Mideast culture or politics. I am a citizen of the US, aspiring citizen of the world, blogger and marketing and communications expert. So understand that is my POV in my comments (which do not reflect the POVs of any of my affiliations or employers).

I remember watching the WeMedia conference from London in 2006. An Iranian blogger joined the session via satellite feed and spoke of tens of thousands of Iranian bloggers. I loved the idea that so many people within what we, in the West, always considerd a repressive regime, could be finding a way to express their personal opinions online. Having met many bloggers from around the world, I have a naive belief that having so many individuals talking and meeting online will, in its own way, contribute to peace. I love reading Global Voices Online for all the variety of people blogging around the world.

Iranian BlogFather, Hoder, Arrested

Hossein Derakhshan (aka Hoder), an Iranian blogger, has apparently been arrested by the Iranian government and been accused of spying on behalf of Israel. You can sample the various stores about this event below (it would be a step in the right direction if Iranian news source Jahan News had an English-language version as I would like to understand their POV - couldn't find stories in Aljazeera either):

Now Hoder has been supportive of the Iranian government (specific people and maybe not some others) and is not the traditional critic gone too far (okay, maybe he criticized the wrong person but he is reported to be a patriot for Iran). He traveled to Israel. He posted POVs that humanized Israelis bucking the dogma that demonized them in many pro-Iranian publications. He remained super-critical of the US government's attempt to hurt Iran.

I cannot know what Hoder did or did not do. But it makes me think about the role that social media can play in terms of promoting discussion across cultures and borders. Hoder has two blogs - one in English and one in Persian. He is making an effort to communicate beyond his borders. To my knowledge, he is not inciting violence even while he voices provocative ideas.

While Seeds of Peace brings young leaders-to-be together to confront their bias and learn compassion and understanding, can this be extended by hosting or supporting sustained conversations online via blogs and social networks? Those same people who come to the Seeds experience are best equipped to have those conversations with bloggers from Iran, Iraq, Israel - you name it. Or is the blogosphere too wild a place to have sane discussions about such heartfelt and passionate issues? Just as Seeds uses a tremendous amount of expertise to have safe and rational conversations in the camp experience, is there any way to have the same online?

The first step is to not persecute bloggers - if that is what is happening to Hoder.