SOME OBSERVATIONS ON PROPAGANDA

With special reference to "Current Affairs" by JOYCE HARRIS (-4 member of Transvaal Regional GVUHCU of the Black Sash)

PROPAGANDA has a double aspect. When when the further assumption is made that the considering its aims and objects, its suc­ Government is South Africa, when the identity of the state itself is submerged in that of the cur­ cesses and failures, it is necessary to remember rently ruling party. Then criticism becomes "un- that there are two sides to the coin — that of South African", unpatriotic, traitorous. So the second assumption is that the Government is the the propagandist and that of the person or per­ country. A third assumption, and a natural ad­ sons at whom the propaganda is aimed. dendum to the two preceding ones, is that not only is the Government always right at home, it For propaganda to succeed it is essential that is always right in its assessment of events else­ the propagandist conduct his campaign with ab­ where and in its diplomatic relationships with solute conviction, admitting of no doubts in his other counti'ies. It can, in fact, do no wrong. objectives, which are clearly defined in his own mind. He will not admit the existence or valid­ These fundamental assumptions then become ity of any other point of view, and the material the essential objectives of its propaganda mach­ he presents will always be in terms of his own ine. It brings all its guns to bear upon building convictions, with selection in presentation a na­ up its own particular brand of patriotism, and tural seqnitur* the superiority of South Africa in all respects. There is never any self-questioning, only self- His easy victim will be one who has no very justification, and events everywhere are inter­ clear convictions of his own. The less convinced preted from this" basic premise in order always he is, the more muddled his thinking, the easier to confirm and consolidate it. he will be to break down. Conversely, a person with strong convictions of his own will put up a resistance to propaganda. However, it can and One-sidedness and smear techniques does have an insidious, repetitive effect which gradually undermines convictions, and does so To achieve these objectives certain techniques more effectively if the convictions lack clarity of are used. In his accusations against some sec­ thought. tions of the Press, Ivor Benson gave a very clear definition of the technique of onc-sidedness, ob­ An individual will naturally respond to propa­ viously used, too, by all propagandists. He said, ganda in terms of his own particular bias with "All that is missing is some portion of the news. his own built-in values and patterns of reaction, The editor of a newspaper, when he decides what and in trying to evaluate propaganda techniques is to be published and what is to be left out, au­ and effectiveness it is essential to recognize this. tomatically operates his own system of news Propaganda begins to succeed when the indivi­ censorship*'. This is the automatic censorship of dual begins to doubt and question his own bias propaganda, and the accusation fits the accuser and his own values, and it is most successful when as aptly as it does the accused. it manages to break down this bias and to con­ vert. The only effective defensive weapon with He defined for us, too, the smear campaign. .It which an individual can be armed is a conviction is interesting to note that he was attacking those and a clarity as strong and as sustained as that who oppose the Government, but these same of the propagandist. Those who live in this coun­ techniques are clearly in operation in Govern­ try, who do not agree with the Government but ment propaganda. He said, "When you cannot who have been bombarded with Government pro­ deal effectively with your opponent's statements, paganda over the years, must realize the truth there is only one remedy — and that is to iden­ of this. tify him with someone or something disgraceful — in other words, to smear him". There are many other techniques of smearing — by insinu­ Fundamental Assumptions ation, by drawing false analogies, by implication Government propagandists appear to start off — for instance, in the reaction to the award of with certain fundamental assumptions. The basic a Gold Medal to the editor of the Rand Daily one is that the Government is always right, that Mail, where the award was seen as "a part of a it can do no wrong, and, as a necessary corollary world-wide effort to discredit South African poli­ of this, that no criticism is valid and that all cies and have them changed," and where Mr. criticism is nonsense. It becomes worse than non­ Gandar was associated with other leaders who sense, in fact it becomes distinctly subversive. "seem so often to have had shifty feet".

The Black Sashr August/October, 1965 H Die Swart Serps Augustus/Oktoberf 1965 Another aspect of the smear campaign has been there is no hesitation in misrepresenting the situ­ the establishment of false premises, the plugging ation in South Africa if it can be made to fit neat­ of these premises as incontrovertible fact, and ly into the context. "In South Africa . . . there then the use of them as undesirable labels, ''Com­ has been a firm belief in the possibility of steady munist" has been equated with "Liberal", also progress, at any rate for the Bantu people . , . with "Capitalist Press", and "freedom" with For this it is held that two conditions are neces­ "licence". "Liberalism" and "humanism" are sary. One is political advancement of the Bantu words which have been tainted and are now fre­ and the other is economic inter-dependence with quently used as weapons of criticism. Our de­ the white man which will keep the mm continuing fences have been breached- We tend to forget touch with Western standards, methods and tech­ that these words have been given false meanings. nology.'' We are anti-Communist. When someone is label­ led a communist we tend to condemn, and when There is no embarrassment about inconsistency someone has once been smeared it is easy to inti­ when there is capital to be gained—for instance, midate him and difficult for him to refute as all court rulings are quoted to prove a point regard­ definitions are so vague. ing the naming of co-conspirators during the Sa­ botage Trials, and this despite the fact that re­ The English Press is smeared and discredited cent legislation does not hesitate to by-pass the by accusations of Communist penetration. "There courts. They can be inconsistent in other ways too has been Communist penetration of the Press. —other countries may not voice their criticism of But in many cases the Press unconsciously, again South Africa by introducing sanctions, but South like other sections of the community, carries the Africa is perfectly justified in introducing them Communist ball for them." herself, for example against K.L.M. and the Ford Works. They are unswerving in their ends but not particularly fussy about the means employed. Differences in emphasis Difference in emphasis under the guise of facts is another propaganda technique, for example Sanctimonious and self-righteous the differences in the descriptions given of Mr. Johnson and Mv. Goldwater during the American South Africa herself is built up by diminishing Presidential election campaign, when it was quite other achievements elsewhere in relation to what clear that the propagandists favoured Mr. Gold- is achieved here — for instance mining achieve­ water, though this was not actually said in so ments are compared with Space developments. many words. The presentation of half-truths and Concrete examples are constantly quoted of what of only one side of the picture is another aspect the Government is doing about such matters as of this technique, such as in the review of U.N.O., housing or the economy, LD.C., the aircraft indus­ and of activities of Equity, of the "Independence" try, Safmarine, oil output etc. The main difficulty incident, of the donation by Holland to the De­ within the country itself at present would appear fence and Aid Fund. The truth is told, but not to be the economy, and the public is constantly the whole truth, and only one point of view is being exhorted to save. There is also much con­ offered. The implication is one of contempt for sternation about road safety. any other point of view, cither by failing to men­ tion it at all or by failing to enlarge upon it. "World Affairs" are always presented with In discussing the labour shortage the possible orientation towards the importance of South Af­ contribution of non-White labour is ignored except rica, such as with the Simonstown issue or the in terms of thtfir contribution to their own com­ production of gold in relation to world monetary munities. Government policy is presented as the difficulties, or South Africa's solution to its diffi­ only possible one, with no reasons given or need­ culties in relation to the growing race problems ed. It is simply stated as incontrovertible fact, in Britain. South Africa is shown as well-off and often in such a way that job reservation, for relative to the rest of the world and better able instance, begins to look attractive to the African, to cope, abltf, in fact, to teach the rest of the world and show- them the way. Kven an article on Churchill is used to imply that South African leaders fall into the same superior category. The Events in Africa propaganda is sanctimonious, pious and self- Events in Africa are used to emphasize the righteous, and numerous examples are quoted of Tightness of Government policy, as in the presen­ the unfair treatment of South Africa by all and tation of the Congo situation. The logical deduc­ sundry, such as in the matter of the price of tions are difficult to refute, but the analogies are gold. She remains, however, long-suffering. often incomplete. Events in Tanganyika, the Protectorate elections, developments in the Trans- There are endless quotations from journals and kei are used in the same way. So is the Indian articles that confirm the South African point of question — where India's motives are questioned view, sometimes in such a way that a completely but this Government's actions towards the local different emphasis is given in order to alter the Indians are not mentioned. Events in other parts implication of what was said and make it look of the world and signs of rethinking on certain favourable to rather than against South Africa. issues there are given the same treatment, and An example of this is the use made of an article

The Black Sash, AnfjUfitfOctohert 1985 12 Die Strttrt Serpt AngtutuB/Oktober. 1905 Propaganda on tap is the fundamental objective of all these techni­ ques, and probably many others as well, but there are other trends too. The propaganda is anti-English Press. It is anti-U.N.O., anti- the United States and anti- Great Britain, probably in that order. There would appear to be a growing campaign against the United States. All these countries and org­ anizations are controlled by the African States and need to return to sanity. It is anti- the Af­ rican States and plays up every difficulty there. It is anti-Communist all the way through, but often muddled in its definition of Communism, just as it is anti-liberal and anti-humanism and muddled here in the same way. It is very con­ scious of the "Swart Gevaar."

It is obviously pro all Government policy which it plugs consistently. It is in favour of conser­ vatism wherever it can find it. It is pro-France and de Gaulle, perhaps because he favours the gold standard and is antagonistic to the U.S.A. It is pro-Rhodesian independence. Rand Daily MaiL The importance of South Africa in the eyes of the Western world is built up and emphasized. in The Economist called 'The Year of Verwoerd." She is important for her stability, economic and It is interesting: to note here, in passing and in political, as a bulwark against Communism, as a all fairness, that this misrepresentation could strategic base, the implication here being that she have been quite unconscious and merely the result need not worry herself unduly about criticism, of the propagandist's own bias when he read the because fundamentally she matters too much, and article — an interesting example of how an indi­ in the long run will be proven right and the rest vidual takes what seems significant to him out of of the world wrong. Even though she has been what he sees and hears. ignored and ill-treated, she will come out on top. Useful knowledge and information about events World politics are viewed broadly as a confron­ and conditions in other parts of the world is tation between the U.S.A. and China, with Africa given, though always with reference to the South as one of the prizes. South Africa generally ap­ African context, such as the comparison between pears as a disinterested observer, but events are Formosa and South Africa. This makes it more always interpreted in her favour. easily digestible through familiarity, but also lays it open to abuse. Highly complicated world prob­ lems are also simplified for easy consumption, for Need to be vigilant example Vietnam* In all fairness one is obliged to admit that the build-up of the South African image by the South Africa "always right" South African Government is justifiable, but the When local events are critically used to expose interpretation of numerous events both here and the weaknesses of Government policy by those elsewhere in order to achieve this is questionable. who oppose it, the techniques of criticism are Whether propaganda is justified in building up analyzed, answered and refuted by throwing the South African Government as perfection is them back upon themselves, as was done when another matter. The propaganda machine is un­ Sewgolum won a golf tournament. doubtedly achieving results, and from this point The validity of criticism is discounted simply of view must be regarded as good propaganda. because it comes from persons known to be critics Whether or not you consider it good will depend of the Government, the assumption being that upon what you yourself consider to be good, right this logically makes it invalid. Often such per­ and just. It will depend upon what your con­ sons have previously been "smeared". No at- victions were when you first began to be subject­ tempt whatsoever is made to deal with the cri­ ed to it, and what has happened to them. But ticism as such, for instance the criticisms from no-one is ever safe from propaganda, though the British Council of Churches, or, more recent­ those who are in happy agreement will not regard ly, the prisons exposure. it as an antagonist. For those who do, for those who still place some value on their right to think Propaganda in South Africa is symbolized by for themselves, judge for themselves and reach the mailed fist in the velvet glove. It is long- their own conclusions, it would be well to remem­ suffering and gently chastising, as in its criti­ ber that there is no limit to the insidious power cism of the "Un-South African Sta^\ South of the spoken and the written word. There is an Africa is always right, no-one can harm her, and ever-present need to be vigilant. even sanctions turn out to her advantage. This

Tit* Black Sa*hf Aug tut /October, 1995 13 Die Swart Serpf AuffUsUts/Oktober, 19':*)