Lazar Dzamic’s Post

How to Win an Information War: We have a choice. We can either play the role prescribed by propagandists – which makes us dependent on them. Or we can invent media that welcome people into a relationship where they become active players.

Effective strategic communication is always a useful mechanism to understand and fight peculiarities of propaganda. There are 4 techniques employed in the production and dissemination of government propaganda. 1. Appeal to authority 2. Appeal to patriotism 3. Appeal to 'us' versus 'them' 4. Appeal to simple slogans and images This article tries to explain the relevance of propaganda today. Read more: https://lnkd.in/esjTPi2S

On the designs and plots of the genocidal, anti-Jewish-masked -as- “merely” -anti-Zionist propaganda machine…

Comparative headlines section at the end of the article speaks for itself. https://lnkd.in/g39P8gR2

I come across so many articles about online disinformation, and many of them are worthy and thought-provoking. But they rarely leave me feeling like there is a tangible solution to overcoming this problem. This article (which is taken from a fantastic new book) is an exception, despite being about a person who worked decades before the rise the Internet - or, indeed, the computer. It discusses the way Sefton Delmer sought to counteract Nazi propaganda during World War II. He understood clearly that... "...how people think and act can be just as important as what they think when undermining the most malign propaganda. People are most susceptible to conspiracy theories, for example, when they don’t feel they have any agency or influence over their lives and rely on conspiracies to explain the world. Many are drawn to “strongmen” when they feel they can’t take back control over their lives. The real antidote to this is not plying them with facts. It’s helping to fix the underlying lack of agency." We'll be using this as the basis of one of our TOK and ACT mini-lessons, which will be out at the end of the week. Sign up for the free newsletter here - https://lnkd.in/eUy65_WG #toknewsletter #authenticcriticalthinking #tokintherealworld

Foreign disinformation is real, but the hype machine often can overstate its impact. This article offers a timely reminder that overblown claims can actually help our adversaries. It's a call for more careful analysis and skepticism when assessing the influence of foreign actors. Let's focus on facts, not fear-mongering. #disinformation #misinformation #politics #media https://lnkd.in/g5AGmD7j?

What's unfolding in Georgia these days is truly unprecedented. I can't recall such massive protests in the history of independent Georgia. Students from at least 30 universities are on strike, and tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the main streets of Tbilisi in protest over the past couple of days. Their demand? Immediate withdrawal of the Russian-style foreign agent law, which poses a grave threat to civil society, press freedom, and civil liberties in the country. In the midst of this turmoil, there have been widespread crackdowns and repression against journalists and activists. Hundreds of critics of the foreign agent law have received threatening calls, several activists have been beaten, and over 20 journalists have been subjected to physical and verbal assaults. Today, despite the ongoing protests outside of the parliament, the legal committee approved the bill. You can find more information about what's happening here: https://buff.ly/3WDqk6T and here: https://bit.ly/3QKtmTf Also, you can read a joint letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Georgia, signed by 18 press freedom and human rights organizations, including International Press Institute (IPI) which explains why the bill threatens viability of independent media here: https://bit.ly/3UAw7Yx Finally, several independent media organizations, including OC Media, have launched a GoFundMe campaign to support Georgia's independent journalism. According to them, "Georgia’s young democracy and free media are under siege, facing an unprecedented existential threat." If you wish to help them out, you can donate here: https://bit.ly/3yfsJut

The story of the British man who took on Hitler’s information machine offers valuable insights into the fight against the rise of authoritarianism Peter Pomerantsev Peter Pomerantsev Sat 2 Mar 2024 09.00 GMT Share Thirty percent of Americans claim, despite all evidence to the ­contrary, that the last presidential elections were “rigged”. Millions are sure that the “deep state” is plotting to import immigrants to vote against “real ­Americans” in the future. Meanwhile in Russia, the majority of people claim that the Kremlin is the innocent party in its brutal invasion of Ukraine. When Ukrainians call their relatives in Russia to tell them about the atrocities, all too often they hear their own kin parrot the Kremlin’s propaganda lines: the atrocities are faked, or false flags, or necessary in order to impose Russia’s greatness. Across the world we see the growth of propaganda that promotes an alternative reality where black is white and white is black, and where truth is cast away in favour of a sense of superiority and ever more murderous paranoia. How can we defeat it? It’s easy to despair when fact checking is rejected by the millions who don’t want to hear the truth in the first place; when worthy journalism that preaches the virtues of “democracy” crumples in the face of suspicion, seeded purposefully for decades, that the media are actually “enemies of the people”. We are not, however, the first generation to confront the challenge of authoritarian propaganda. And as I looked for past experiences to inform our own, I discovered a British second world war media operation that managed to engage huge audiences who had been loyal to the Nazis and undermine their faith in Hitler’s regime. If we think reaching people in “echo chambers” today is tough, think about how hard it was to persuade Germans to trust the people who were literally trying to kill them. https://lnkd.in/dWmMEwKS

KernowDamo: "If you've been wondering why the UK acts as it does towards Israel, wonder no more & ask why you didn't know about this already. Right, so despite everything the Israeli regime have done, it seems there’s no low in this ongoing genocide that will apparently prompt the UK government to do the right thing and take some proactive approaches to dealing with the scale of destruction and loss of life happening in Gaza, but now it seems there might actually be an explanation for that, because frankly I don’t know which is the more unbelievable issue here, what this Tory government actually did months before the events of October 7th that are now seemingly tying their hands, or the fact that the mainstream media have utterly ignored it, leaving it to be unveiled by independent media outlet Declassified UK and their excellent journalism because thank God there are some people in this country still capable of actual journalism, because we should have known about this over a year ago and they sure as hell didn’t do this in our name or our interests if they’ve kept it so damn quiet. Right, so what have the Tories done Damo, what is it that explains their consistent acquiescence to Netanyahu’s regime? Well it’s not news to say that Israel is considered an ally by the UK, we did have a hand in creating the now genocidal pariah state, but the extent of that alliance goes further than just warm words and the memorandum of understanding that was signed between the UK and Israel back in 2021, itself an appalling act, Israel was behaving then no better towards the Palestinian people and their lands that it occupies then as it does now, but last March, the Tories beefed that memorandum of understanding up to an Accord and everything we’ve witnessed since has been in line with that new Bilateral Agreement, that policy, named the 2030 roadmap for UK-Israel bilateral relations, published on the government website on the 23rd March last year, the same day it was signed by the Foreign Office and the Foreign Ministry of Israel and apparently nobody has ever noticed it and it is properly vomit inducing in light of everything we’ve witnessed over the last 6 months, but now we know it is this roadmap being put into practice that we’ve actually seen reflected in the actions of our government. Here’s an excerpt of the intro: ‘The bilateral relationship has never been stronger. Our 2 countries complement each other’s strengths. As freedom-loving, innovative and thriving democracies, Israel and the UK are proud of our deep and historic partnership. We are firm friends and natural allies. In November 2021, the British government and the Israeli government, signed a Memorandum of Understanding elevating the UK-Israel bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership. This represented a signal of intent for both countries to cohere, deepen and expand cooperation across our mutual priorities for our mutual benefit."

🇺🇸 🇪🇺 Joint statement from U.S. Ambassador to the EU Mark Gitenstein and Vice-President of the European Commission Věra Jourová on #WorldPressFreedomDay 👇 This World Press Freedom Day we honor courageous journalists who face incredible hardship – and sometimes incredible personal danger—to inform citizens. We also honor those who volunteer in classrooms, teach media literacy, and foster critical thinking among us all. Around the world, journalists have been killed in ongoing conflicts or remain unlawfully imprisoned by autocratic regimes. This is true for journalists like Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich, wrongfully detained in Russia, and Andrzej Poczobut, held in isolation in Belarus. Together the United States, Europe, and our many partners will keep working every day to reunite these brave journalists with their families and to hold those responsible to account. As we celebrate the importance of press freedom, we look not just at the injustice for individual journalists but the critical danger faced by media in our democracies. Both sides of the Atlantic are in an existential struggle for democracy. Free and independent media, once the lifeblood of our civil discourse, is under direct threat from malign authoritarian regimes. Authoritarians seek to capture and dominate media to turn this tool of freedom into a tool of propaganda, weaponizing information to spread disinformation, deepen polarization, and undermine trust in democratic institutions. No country is immune to the danger of authoritarianism, to leaders who pressure the media to stifle their investigations, to leaders who channel foreign malign influence into party politics.  Together democracies must protect the press and ensure the health of the media landscape or face the consequences. Read more 👇 https://lnkd.in/e-PdWu2y