Some Observations on Propaganda

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.

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