Jared Cohen, author of Children of Jihad, on Muslim youth culture

At the ripe old age of 26, Jared Cohen is on the radar screen of big business, politics, and Hollywood. Last month he joined such names as California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sumner Redstone, and Steve Wynn to speak at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills (also referred to as Davos West). A few days later, Cohen flew to New York to be a judge at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Cohen's day job is at the State Department, working with Condoleezza Rice on issues in the Middle East. Before landing at the State Department, the Oxford Rhodes Scholar decided to write a book, Children of Jihad, about Muslim youth in the Middle East. He found they weren't so different from American youth. In a world where Internet cafes are like daytime discos—and underground party scenes thrive—Cohen explores the various ways these "children of jihad" manage to subvert the often strict rules of their various cultures. Recently, Cohen sat down with Radar to discuss America's pop culture influences on the Middle East, the ins and outs of creating nightlife in teetotaling regimes, and the role of technology in shaping the social lives of young Muslims.

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Radar: During the Milken Global Conference last month, you spoke on a panel about the changing demographics of the Middle East and the ways people get around the government. You said there was a sort of wild social scene in all of these countries.
Cohen: They're all wild in their own way. Lebanon has the most open party scene. Lebanon has the most sort of free culture in terms of young people being able to do what they want. Iran is the most closed, but has the craziest underground.

I'd catch Hezbollah guys out in Christian nightclubs pretending they were something else. Even though they would never want to get caught doing this, they're still just young men What do you mean by underground?
Young people will find ways to rebel and put aside their political, ethnic, national, and religious identities and just behave as young people. On the sort of more superficial side, they had these wild and crazy parties in alleyways and private homes, where they make alcohol in bathtubs and sinks.

Obviously they aren't allowed to drink.
No, it's illegal to drink there. The interesting thing is they use technology to organize and do things they aren't suppose to do. Initially it's wild and crazy parties, but after they learn to do that, you talk to them more and you find that they use the same methods to organize underground book clubs, underground poetry clubs, underground political groups, underground discussion groups, underground bands, and underground battle of the band competitions—underground everything.

How did they do it?
Well, this is what is so interesting. You're at these parties and you start asking these kids: How do you organize these things? You live in the Islamic Republic of Iran! They start telling you how they walk around alleyways with their Bluetooth activated on their mobile phone and they start text messaging random people, telling them where to go and what time.

Text messaging people they don't even know?
Yes, people they don't even know. Bluetooth is not just a creepy piece that you see people walking around talking to themselves with. It allows you to call and text message random strangers, as long as they also have Bluetooth. They also use online social networks and Internet platforms using certain codes. It's almost like a youth language.

What do they wear? I always hear when some of the women aren't in public, the look drastically changes.
I went to nightclubs in Syria where, when girls got in there, they took off their head scarves and chucked them in the corner as if it was a coat. That's not a hundred percent, but a segment of the population.

Was it ever controversial, say, when one women would be wearing the head scarf and she'd watch another woman just throw it down?
Maybe if it happened during the day, yes. There's a chapter in my book called "Democracy After Dark." I argue that the darker it is outside, the less names, religion, and politics matter. All of that is overshadowed by a common desire to act like a young person. Depending on where you are and what community you're in, people rebel in different kinds of ways. Every now and then I'd catch Hezbollah guys out in Christian nightclubs pretending they were something else. Even though they're Hezbollah and would never want to get caught doing this, they're still just young men.

Were drugs prevalent?
In Iran, drugs are a real problem. Like the United States, you have elite populations and more impoverished populations using drugs.

What kind of drugs?
Lots of hallucinogenic drugs, lots of opium. In some of the more impoverished parts you have a lot of heroin. Iran has a serious, serious drug problem. They're using it as an escape and it's really unfortunate.

Did they discuss sex?
More than you would think. In Lebanon, one-night stands are handled in a unique way. People are more reluctant to engage in that sort of activity within their own community, because reputation matters so much. At least in Lebanon a lot of the deviation takes place outside one's community. Also, in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East, you hear of women actually paying money to have reconstructive surgery so that when they get married their husband doesn't know they've had premarital sex.

You said plastic facial surgery can actually be a status symbol in certain parts.
It's a very funny story. I was in the southern part of Iran and driving around with some friends of mine, and I kept seeing all these girls with bandages on their noses, and I said, "Does everyone in this country get nose jobs?" She said, "No, they're fake." I said, "I know, that's why I'm asking." She said, "No, for every 28 girls you see wearing bandages, only one of them got a nose job. The rest do it because it's fashionable."

Do they love American pop culture?
They want to know about pop culture in America. They love Beyoncé, Ryan Seacrest, Jay-Z, 50 Cent. That doesn't mean they're going to like our policies or buy into democracy, but what it means is that there are certain common areas where our youth can, and do, appeal to their youth.

What were their feelings about Americans?
Iran is the most pro-American population I've met in the entire region. Young people distinguish between governments, people, and religion. So, a lot of them will say they are opposed to U.S. policy, but they have no problems with Americans. They have no problem with Jewish people, but they don't like the Israeli government. This is really important, because it means that on a personal level there is an opening to these youth.

For the first time, these young people have a place to dabble around in where the adults aren't as tech savvy. The regime tries to block things, but young people get around itYou are a big believer that technology offers opportunities to change perceptions in the Middle East.
Just look at what technology has done—satellite TV, mobile phones, and Internet. Before the advent of these technologies, young people identified themselves as, "I'm either Shiite, or I'm Kurdish. I'm this party or that party, this group or that group." That is the identity that gave young people belonging, status, a way to associate themselves. What technology has done is begun to break down those identities that have usurped youth identities. It has basically created a platform where they can embrace the youth identity. More and more young people today are getting to experience what it's like to be young, because for the first time they have a place to dabble around in where the adults aren't as tech savvy. The regime tries to block things, but young people get around it.

What are the Internet cafes like?
Internet cafes are the daytime discos. Young kids will gather around and watch other kids use it. They'll play video games; they'll gather around and look at websites together. What the digital space has done is created an opportunity for young people, a space where they can basically pursue digital freedoms in a digitally democratic world. It's an escape from their society. It's a place that gives them civil liberties that they don't otherwise have. It's a place that allows them to expand their social networks and connect with people who live in countries, a place where they can get visas or afford to go visit. It completely changes their world.

So, like American youth, they're obsessed with technology?
Young people find creative ways to get around their government. It's interesting—I mentioned Bluetooth, text messaging, online social networking.

This isn't something that is embraced in these countries.
They are not supposed to be doing it since a lot of it is not accepted in mainstream society. A lot of their cell phones are tapped in Iran so they use Skype, Google Chat, and MSN Messenger. First of all, the reception is better. Secondly, it's free, and third, the government isn't tracing it. You know, the interesting part of all of this is that this current generation of young people—I call them digital natives—is the first generation socialized with a high prevalence of TV, mobile phones, and the Internet.

You wanted to show a different side to these youth. Do many of them secretly—or not so secretly—embrace democracy?
They claim they don't like democracy or buy into democracy. I would go into all these Internet cafes and ask young people, "What do you think about democracy?" and they'd say, "America needs to stay out of our business." I'd say, "What are you doing online?" and they would tell me about their five or six online social networks. We had this whole conversation about freedom of assembly. And then I'd ask, "What kind of chatting services are you on?" and they told me about their AOL Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger. We had this whole conversation about freedom of speech. I'd ask them what their favorite TV show was, and it was the spin-off of American Idol. Why did they like it? Because they could call in and vote. These kids are actually experiencing an emancipation that no youth generation has experienced before. Prior to the advent of these technologies, if a young person wanted an alternative they had to get it from their government or their community; now all they have to do is go to an Internet cafe. They can be anyone and say anything they want. They can operate above the grid of a police state apparatus.

You found they embrace television and find creative ways to get it.
Here is my favorite example from Syria. When I was there I came across a Bedouin community in the middle of nowhere—no electricity or anything. Still, I saw this giant satellite dish popping out of the sand. I introduced myself, said hello. All the kids were watching TV. They had a wire going through the dish to the TV and another going to the generator. With satellite TV, they can get thousands of channels, including Fox News. Even The O.C. off of Italian satellite. When they move camp they throw it all on a mule.

In Iraq they do they same thing. Urban slums, refugee camps, they all have Internet cafes. Oftentimes the kids will have to walk several kilometers to get to the Internet cafes, but between satellite TV, mobile phones, and the Internet, almost every single young person in the Middle East is reachable.

FOREIGN GOODS Star Academy, an American Idol–inspired talent contest, is one of the hottest shows in the Muslim world

I understand that American Idol spin-offs are huge.
Yes, they love the American Idol spin-off. It's a show called Star Academy, which is like American Idol except the contestants live together. It is broadcast out of Lebanon and has become one of the biggest shows in the Middle East. Take Afghanistan. In 2001, the country had no TVs or mobile phones, and women only wore burkas. Today, in 2008, 10.5 million Afghans have mobile phone subscriptions, 60 percent of the country has access to satellite television, and you know what the number one show is? Afghan Idol.

Traveling to these countries as a Jew and an American must have been challenging. I can't imagine you got the warmest reception.
In Iran the intelligence services followed me around everywhere. The Revolutionary Guards used to intimidate me. It's funny—I initially went to Iran to interview opposition leaders, reformists, and journalists, and the government made it so difficult for me to do that in Iran that I began walking around universities looking for some friends to vent to. I met these young people that took me to see a whole different side of Iran that I never imagined.

In researching your book, did anything you discovered surprise you?
What was interesting was the more I got to know these young people, they didn't want to talk about politics, they didn't want to talk about religion, they wanted to talk about what young people in America do. What they do as young people in Iran. They were very excited to tell me all the different ways they get around the regime. It became very clear to me that I had actually gone to that country to study the wrong opposition, that the real opposition is the 67 percent under the age of 30.