It included a shift in focus and emphasis – toward the war of ideas. Shortly after I was sworn in, I came here to New America to lay out our strategy for public diplomacy. I’ll get back to Colombia, but first some background.

The group, called One Million Voices Against the FARC, put 12 million people in the streets in a single day in 190 cities around the world - just two months after it was set up. Instead, a young unemployed computer technician named Oscar Morales spontaneously started a Facebook group that grew quickly to more than 400,000 members. The origins of the new force were not in government or civil society. Once frozen in fear and apathy, Colombians today are fed up with the wanton violence that and are standing up.Ī powerful counter-movement has emerged that has demoralized the remaining terrorist group, the FARC. But just as important, the environment that forms the backdrop for terrorism has changed. So is an ambitious program to demobilize extremists and then reintegrate them into society. Military and intelligence operations are working. For more than 40 years, Colombia had been in a state of siege from violent extremists of both the left and right, but now it is winning. Since 2002, Colombia has reduced terrorist attacks by more than three-fourths. I’ll begin in a surprising place: Colombia. Thank you, Steve Clemons and the New American Foundation, for giving me this opportunity to tell you about Public Diplomacy 2.0. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Public Diplomacy 2.0: A New Approach to Global Engagement James K.

Cult animosity shows no letting up