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Defining the Moderate Arab/Palestinian Voice
A serious and humorous look at Chicago and American politics

NAMED "Best of the Best" Presenters/Speakers by LACONI
(Library Administrators Conference of Northern Illinois, 2007)

MIDDLE EAST: Ray Hanania will hellp you restore your faith in hope and that peace is possible in the Middle East. Defining a moderate Palestinian-Arab voice, Hanania takes audiences through a presentation of up to two hours of humor, serious discussion and an informative question and answer session. Audiences leave encouraged about the future.

CHICAGO POLITICS, COMMUNICATIONS: Ray Hanania has spent more than 30 years as a political reporter, columnist, writer and political media consultant winning many journalism awards. He'll share his experiences and insights to help you achieve your goals or understand the complexities of today's political world.

INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED STANDUP COMEDIAN/HUMORIST: Ray Hanania has been using humor to break through the hatred and animosity between Arabs and Jews since Sept. 11, 2001, for audiences across the United States and in Canada, Ireland, England, Dubai, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. He's the perfect speaker to energize an audience. Mixing humor with an expertise in communications, Hanania can help audiences better understand politics, the Middle East conflict, and how to effectively communicate in any situation.

SPEAKING TOPICS

1 -Understanding and impacting the American political system. What does it take to change the political landscape and how to pursue principled and ethical goals in today's politics. Breaking through the cynicism caused by the negative news media.

2 - Perception is Reality in America: Changing Western and American perceptions of the Arab and Muslim World by crafting a strategic and professional communications plan. Americans are the most educated people in the world but the least educated about the world. Using effective and professional communications strategies such as: writing, speaking techniques, modern Internet-based technologies and social media including online networks (Facebook, Ping, etc), podcasting and video-casting, and traditional media including radio, book publishing, small newspaper publishing, placement of articles etc.

3 - The Power of Humor in Conflict situations: How to confront animosity using humor and statire strategies in American society. Americans and many in the West recognize the power of humor which whenand used effectively and strategically can change public perceptions. Includes comedy performance (no foul language or disrespectful humor jokes. All performances (up to 30 minutes) are suitable for general audiences.

(Ray Hanania can also offer a mix of the above under the umbrella topic of Mastering Western and American Communications, News Media and Public Relations Strategies to advance a positive image of Arabs and Muslims.)

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My presentations offer background on a variety of topics but explore issues that lead audiences to understand how Palestinians and Israelis, Arabs and Jews can come together in peace and compromise, the settlement of Arabs in America, Arab American literature and history, Arab American journalism, extremism and how to fight it, Arab Christians and more. As a longtime advocate of peaceful negotiations and compromise, I consistently speak against violence, offering alternative solutions that have fairly analyzed the actions of both Palestinians and Israelis. The presentations are based on my years of experience as a professional journalist and later as a political activist for Palestinian causes and support of the peace process. This includes serving as the National President of the Palestinian American Congress, an adviser both to President Clinton during the Oslo Peace Accords (participating in several meetings with the president in the 1990s) and as a media adviser both to President Yasir Arafat and to the Palestine Media Center headed by Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo in 2001. The media work I do is not intended as a consultant to develop issues, but to train individuals on how to correctly participate in the media system. For Arab and Muslim audiences, that means understanding mainstream American journalism and the media system, and for others, how to speak to the Arab American and Muslim American community through the existing ethnic media. Distributed by Creators Syndicate (2002-2005, 2010-present), Hanania's columns "define the moderate Palestinian and Arab voice." They are carried in newspapers in the Middle East including the Saudi Arabian Arab News, Jerusalem Post, and YnetNews (Yedioth Ahronoth), and on the Internet's most popular websites, PalestineNote.com and Arabisto.com. They can be found in the Dallas Morning News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Detroit News, the Houston Chronicle, the Arizona Republic, Newsday, The New York Daily News, the Oregonian, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Southwest News-Herald, and the Chicago regional Arlington Heights Daily Herald Newspaper. Hanania is a coordinator of the National Arab American Journalists Association, and the Asian American Journalists Association Media Watch Committee. Hanania has received four (4) Society of Professional Journalism Awards for Column Writing (Chicago Headline Lisagor Award) in 1985, 2003 and 2006, 2009. He is the 2010 recipient of the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Column writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. In November 2006, he was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New American Media Association. Contact Ray today if you are interested in scheduling a presentation. "We can't be afraid of peace. If we can laugh together, we can live together! If we can listen to each other, too, we can find a way to live together!"