November 8

"[T]he more time I spend with the tail end of Generation Facebook (in the shape of my students) the more convinced I become that some of the software currently shaping their generation is unworthy of them. They are more interesting than it is. They deserve better."

--Zadie Smith, New York Review of Books; image from

VIDEOS

Video Gallery of Old Propaganda Films. Includes "Campus on the March": This short film, produced by the Office of War Information (1942-45), depicts college campuses gearing up for the war effort.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Foto’s Blog: Photo Diplomacy & Public Diplomacy in Mumbai as Obama visits India - dogmeetsworld.org: "Chinmoy Majumdar said he took this picture as part of his second experience with the Dog Meets World project, this time at Snehasadan (A home for homeless street children in Mumbai).


He and his colleagues 'teach English language to these kids for securing there job in future. And this is the project Michelle Obama is supposed to explore this week while President Obama conducts his diplomatic visit to India'." Image from article: Phodographer Chinmoy Majumdar in Mumbai, India, November

An Aside: Helpful Context for Sunday’s NY Times Lead From India - Adam Clayton Powell III, Newswire – CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "To understand the lead sentence of yesterday's NY Times p.1 lead on Obama's visit to India, you need more background on US public diplomacy there.


The Times correctly reports that the US embassy in India printed post cards of Obama and Gandhi, but the report doesn't explain why: it was a huge public diplomacy initiative tied to a major anniversary, as I reported here at the time in a dispatch from New Delhi. The Times report fails to include or link to the image. To understand its power, see the photo that accompanies my report. 'Do you think this resonates with people here?' asked Larry Schwartz, who then was Counselor at the US Embassy in New Delhi.'" Image from

Dr. Al Nuaimi Receives Judith A. McHale‎ - Bahrain News Agency: "Education Minister Dr. Majed bin Ali Al Nuaimi received here today the US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale who is currently visiting the kingdom. During the meeting, Dr.Al Nuaimi briefed Judith McHale on the ministry's on-going development projects conducted within the national education and training development project, highlighting the importance of such initiatives in enhancing the performance of schools in order to upgrade the quality of educational input so as to match the needs of the labour market. He also updated the US envoy on the improvements made in the schools nationwide following the spread of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's Schools of the Future Project such as the digitalisation of many curricular and the use of the interactive smart board.


The two sides also focused on ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation, especially concerning training on using new educational technological systems in schools. US Ambassador to Bahrain Joseph Adam Ereli and High Educational Council Accreditation and Licensing Director Dr Mohammed Ibrahim Al Assiri were present." See also "Deputy King receives US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Affairs," Bahrain News Agency and "US relations hailed," Gulf Daily News. Image from

RFE/RL extends lease on its Washington office, will help it compete with archrival VOA - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Media, Root of All Evil - The Pakistani Spectator: "Propaganda and Free Press Dr. Nancy Snow, an assistant professor of political science describes one of her previous jobs as being a 'propagandist' for the U.S. Information Agency.


In an interview, she also describes how Americans and the rest of the world often view the American media: Public diplomacy is a euphemism for propaganda. In the United States, we don’t think of ourselves as a country that propagandizes, even though to the rest of the world we are seen as really the most propagandistic nation in terms of our advertising, in terms of our global reach, our public relations industry—we have more public relations professionals and consultants in the United States than we do news reporters. So there’s an entire history of advertising, promoting, and getting across the message of America both within and also outside of the United States. -- Dr. Nancy Snow, Propaganda Inc.: 'Behind the curtain at the U.S.I.A., an Interview with Guerilla News Network'" Image from

symbiosis; The Bandung Conference - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "Today, I wandered back downtown to the museum of the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung. The museum about the conference was quite interesting. The conference was significant as it was the first real forum that the de-colonizing world came together to discuss their own interests and the need to work for further de-colonization. The conference was organized by Indonesia, India, Burma, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Pakistan, and brought together some 29 countries from Asia and Africa. Such luminaries attending the conference were Zhou En Lai, Jawaharlal Neru, Gamal Abdel Nasser and others.


The US did not send official representation via State, but US Congressman Adam Clayton Powell attended as did later USIA chief Carl Rowan. There was a moving clip of Powell's remarks, but unfortunately I can't find it." Image from

India-Nepal Relations: A Perspective from Nepal - New Spotlight: "An Indian national with longstanding ties with Nepal recently remarked 'Indian policy in Nepal appears as if oceans separate the two countries. For a country that aspires to be a world power and a Security Council member, its public diplomacy and relationship capabilities remain infantile and its behaviour towards smaller neighbors juvenile.' These sentiments resonate with Nepalese."

In Haiti, French international channels fight yet another tragedy: the loss of French - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

China's Rise into Trouble Multiple Times - exba.net: "Good use of strategic adversary of the internal contradictions, and cultivate cooperation with China to send, send inhibition to contain China. Major expansion of public diplomacy, closer to the target country nationals feelings. Foreign media attention, do our best to let the world know the real China.


Really understand China's national interests to encourage experts and scholars and more vocal in order to correctly guide public opinion. To education for all, to guard against the rise of extreme nationalism put an end to national opportunities." Image from

Statesman of the year - Ihsan Dagi: Comments on Turkish Politics: "Chatham House, the pioneering British think tank founded in 1920, is tomorrow giving its 2010 prize to the president of Turkey, Abdullah Gül. ... The Chatham House statement refers to Gül’s contribution to Turkey’s EU accession process. In fact, as the minister of foreign affairs from 2003 to 2007 he was the architect and engineer of the process that resulted in the accession negotiations that started in 2005. Now as the president he is still an important actor who pushes for EU accession. If EU membership is Turkey’s 'state policy,' as some describe the dynamics behind the EU process, then President Gül as the head of the state has a greater role to play. His high-level diplomacy in Europe along with the government’s efforts is absolutely essential. He is expected to be more visible in the arena of European public diplomacy."

RELATED ITEMS

A new battleground: Beset by problems at home, Obama may look for gains in foreign policy - Doyle McManus, latimes.com: Here's one thing last week's congressional election wasn't about: foreign policy. The campaign was long, loud and polarized, but somehow the fact that the United States is at war in Afghanistan and Iraq — and carrying out bombings in Pakistan and Yemen — went almost unmentioned.


That's because voters were preoccupied by the economy, of course. But it's also because foreign policy has been a zone of relative bipartisanship in Washington, an oasis of civility compared with the battlegrounds of economic policy and healthcare. That's about to end. Image from

Cu Huy Ha Vu arrested for anti-State propaganda - VOVNews.vn: The Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Agency arrested Cu Huy Ha Vu on November 5 under the warrant from the Supreme People’s Court to investigate his activities related to spreading anti-state propaganda. On the afternoon of November 6, Deputy Minister of Public Security Lieutenant General, To Lam and Head of the Investigation Agency Lieutenant General, Hoang Kong Tu, held a press briefing to provide details of Cu Huy Ha Vu’s illegal actions against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, under Article 88 of the Criminal Code. Evidence and documents seized by relevant agencies proved that Vu has produced propaganda containing distorted information and libeling the people’s administration, calling for the overthrow of the regime and promoting pluralism, multiple party rule and foreign intervention which runs counter to the nation’s interest.

How Political Was Picasso? - John Richardson, New York Review of Books: Picasso’s work abounds in paradox, as did his religious and political beliefs, not to mention his love life. All the more reason to look skeptically at the exhibition “Picasso: Peace and Freedom,” which started out at the Tate Gallery’s Liverpool branch, is currently at the Albertina in Vienna, and will end up at the Louisiana Museum in Denmark.


Lynda Morris, who has masterminded the show, makes much of the period following World War II when Picasso, who had joined the Communist Party in 1944, painted works that reflected Party propaganda. But as the art historian Gertje Utley has shown, many of the works in the exhibition, such as The Rape of the Sabines, are not “programmatic statements,” as the exhibition catalog claims, but testify to Picasso’s “life-long fear and horror of armed conflict.” Image from

Nazi calling cards: propaganda leaflets warning of wayward wives to be sold: Nazis dropped propaganda leaflets on British soldiers telling them their wives were sleeping with Americans - complete with cartoons depicting their inidelity - it has emerged - telegraph.co.uk: The German propaganda material was dropped above the British lines in Europe during the Second World War in a last ditch attempt to get the Allies to surrender.


The documents stated: "You are fighting and dying far away from your country while the Yanks ... have got loads of money and loads of time to chase after your women." The postcards have emerged after 70 years along with other leaflets which claimed the Nazis stood up for human rights – while they were killing six million Jews in the Holocaust. The Germans boasted of observing the Geneva Convention and claimed British POWs would be held in luxury surroundings. The leaflets were printed and dropped over France after the D-Day invasion of June 1944. The propaganda, which has been consigned by private collectors, is being sold on November 18. Image from article

Soviet Paradise: An Exhibition of the Nazi Propaganda Office - Eric Brothers, suite101.com: After Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June of 1941, Hitler needed public opinion to support the German war effort. The Central Propaganda Office created a massive anti-Soviet traveling exhibition called Soviet Paradise.


In addition to its anti-Bolshevik bias, it was also scathingly anti-Semitic. The Nazi party’s anti-Semitism and anti-communist stance were well-known to the German people, so the concepts behind Soviet Paradise were easily accepted by a majority of the population. Image from article

Propaganda Poster: Protecting their Daughter's Precious Sexual Purity - Austin's Atheism Blog: Library of Congress Religious conservatives are pushing to have fathers take charge of their daughters' sexuality and 'sexual purity.'


In the past, men effectively owned their kids and controlled daughters' sexuality. They are assuming authority over their daughters' sexuality as if it were a fetish -- as if that sexuality belonged to them, not to their daughters. The fact that the same isn't being expected of sons demonstrates that the program is misogynistic: it's not about reigning in premarital sex generally but about controlling the choices of women. Women's sexuality needs to be controlled because women need to be controlled. Image from article

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ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Of the postwar presidents who lived long enough to assemble their autobiographies, not a single one produced a book of any real merit."

--Book critic Jonathan Yardley