From Mutual Observation To Propaganda War

The Arab spring, protest movements in the EU, Russia, Turkey or elsewhere, are often labeled as twitter-revolutions. A crucial role is attributed to the new media, coverage of events abroad and ensuing mutual reactions. With the dissemination of print, revolts in early-modern times faced the challenge of a similar media-revolution. This influenced the very face of the events that could become full-fledged propaganda wars once the insurgents had won access to the printing press. But it also had an impact on revolt-narratives. Governments severely persecuted dissident views in such delicate issues as revolts. Observers abroad had no such divided loyalties and were freer to reflect upon the events. Therefore, the book focuses mainly on representations of revolts across borders.

Focusing on freedom of speech, the book deals with the perennial problem of how a small country should react in the face of pressure threatening its sovereignty. Should it give way or resist? The author describes in detail how the Soviet Union operated both overtly and covertly in the propaganda war and discusses the reactions of the west - the United States, Great Britain, West Germany and Sweden.

Notes.

"When news is speed more important than content." So says the key PR adviser to the American government. The Americans brought these words into practice during the war in Iraq. It was widely made propaganda, so actually two wars were fought: on the battlefield and in the media. This book examines more than 1,000 news stories about the infamous war and comes with striking conclusions. Are the media in wartime still to be trusted? Boris van Zonneveld (1978) is a communication scientist and journalist. In 2003 he graduated from the University of Amsterdam on the role of the media in the war to Iraq. This book is a reflection of his doctoral thesis on this subject. He shows herein that the media are not always as objective as they pretend and are even frequently channeling propaganda.

The first in-depth analysis of how early modern people produced and consumed images of revolts and political violence, drawing on evidence from Russia, China, Hungary, Portugal, Germany, North America and other regions.

The culture of insurgents in early modern Europe was primarily an oral one; memories of social conflicts in the communities affected were passed on through oral forms such as songs and legends. This popular history continued to influence political choices and actions through and after the early modern period. The chapters in this book examine numerous examples from across Europe of how memories of revolt were perpetuated in oral cultures, and they analyse how traditions were used. From the German Peasants’ War of 1525 to the counter-revolutionary guerrillas of the 1790s, oral traditions can offer radically different interpretations of familiar events. This is a ‘history from below’, and a history from song, which challenges existing historiographies of early modern revolts.