Official Propaganda Research Articles

АББАСИДЫ VS АЛИДЫ

the article is devoted to the analysis of the reasons and circumstances of the formation of the anti-Shiite policy of the Abbasids, pursued by them after the first representatives of this dynasty came to power. Having used the Shiʻite movement to their advantage at the stage of the anti-Umayyad uprising, the Abbasids were subsequently forced to break with it. This was expressed not only in the suppression of open anti-Abbasid Shiʻite uprisings, as was the case, for example, with the speech of Muhammad b. ʻAbd Allah an-Nafs az-Zakiyya, but also in the invention of official propaganda arguments testifying in favor of the legitimacy of the dynasty that came to power. At first, this argument was based on the legend of the “yellow scroll” containing secret knowledge, which was allegedly transmitted by the son of Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyi Abu Hashim to the great-grandson of al-ʻAbbas b. ʻAbd al-Muttalib Muhammad b. ʻAli. Later, during the reign of Caliph al-Mahdi (775–785), the thesis was formulated about the transition of the Imamate after the death of the Prophet not to Ali b. Abi Talib, but to Muhammad’s uncle al-ʻAbbas b. ʻAbd al-Muttalib. It is concluded that during the reign of the first Abbasids (from al-Saffah to al-Hadi), they carried out not only a final and, what is fundamentally important, ideologically justified break with the Shiʻite movement, but also a forced turn to the policy of the former Umayyad dynasty in relation to the Shiʻites.

A STUDY ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ANCIENT CHINESE PHILOSOPHY REGARDING MUSIC EDUCATION

The work reveals the features of ancient Chinese philosophy in the context of music education. The specific characteristics of the corresponding ancient Chinese concepts are considered. The theories of music education in the works of the followers of Confucianism and Taoism are described. The development and evolution of thought regarding teaching the art of music to the younger generation is presented in a historical perspective. The author analyses the educational function of music in Chinese culture, as well as elements of the state official propaganda in music education in Ancient China. The influence of the traditions of Chinese philosophy on modern philosophy of music and music pedagogy in the People's Republic of China is considered. It is concluded that the Chinese philosophy of music education is based on harmony and aesthetic pleasure from performing and listening to a piece of music, as well as on performing various rituals.

Cultural distance perceived by Chinese audiences in the Korean film Silenced: a study of cross-cultural receptions in film content elements

IntroductionIn the realm of cross-cultural film dissemination, cultural distance emerges as a pivotal factor influencing the reception of domestic audiences to foreign cinematic productions. Despite Korea's thriving film industry and China's vast film market, the cultural distance experienced by Korean films in China remains largely unexplored. This study focuses on the Korean film Silenced, renowned as a classic that champions justice in Korea.MethodBy employing qualitative survey and thematic analysis, this study investigates the cultural distance perceived by forty-four Chinese audiences when watching Silenced.ResultsThe findings revealed that various content elements, such as the film's setting, translation of verbal expression, non-verbal expression of film characters, and visuals/non-diegetic music did not exhibit cultural distance among Chinese audiences. Nevertheless, the plots of morally compromised characters with positive identities, theme exploration of societal darkness and human darkness, and tragic ending introduced a palpable sense of cultural distance perceived by Chinese audiences.DiscussionThis study scrutinizes the outcomes through the lenses of Korean film and Chinese audiences. While certain aspects of Korean cinema and Chinese audience preferences exhibit cultural proximity, mitigating barriers to appreciation in select content domains, Silenced adeptly employs the plots, themes, and ending to delve into the darkness of human nature and societal dynamics. However, under the influence of China's official propaganda and film censorship, Chinese participants evinced a constrained appreciation for cinematic portrayals of human and societal darkness. Concurrently, Chinese participants manifested expectations for films to provide a source of relaxation, a notion incongruent with the oppressive ambiance evoked by Silenced.

MÉCANISMES DE L’HUMOUR DANS LES BLAGUES ROUMAINES d’avant 1989

Under the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, humor served as a defense mechanism that allowed Romanians to cope with the regime's restrictions on freedom and the grim daily reality that blatantly contradicted official propaganda. The political j

(In)visible Actions – Disruptive Practices: Art and Philosophy in the ČSSR 1950–1980

It is not well known that in the context of the unofficial artistic and philosophical scene of the ČSSR there was an aesthetically refined and theoretically differentiated reflection on the different degrees and limits of visibility as well as a rethinking of participation – be it aesthetic, epistemic or political. In this paper I first investigate the relation between history and (in)visibility in its broadest sense: questions such as ‘whose history is present’ and ‘what visual memory building strategies are used’ were highly controversial and deeply politicised. For many artists and philosophers such as Zorka Ságlová or Jan Patočka the very act of remembering and the active, critical engagement with (visual) culture and history thus became an act of resistance. I then explore how artists subtly intervened in and transformed the monitored public space, and often tried to undermine given regimes of visibility. I demonstrate that these manifold ‘dissident’ practices engendered new aesthetic experiences and fostered powerful counter-narratives that deconstructed the official propaganda discourse of the communist regime.

The female jihadist narrative: a comparative analysis

The research analyses the representation that different jihadist organizations make of women through their official propaganda. The aim is to analyse the construction of the feminine ideal designed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra through their leading magazines and to identify if there are differences in their representation of women. A content analysis is carried out on the narrative in which females are portrayed by those organizations. The study is also supported by a quantitative analysis of three features, which provide data on prominence of women in jihadism: the number of times they are mentioned, the illustrations targeting females and the existence (or not) of a specific section for women in the magazines of these groups. The research shows that the portrayal of women as victims and weak individuals is recurrent but is not limited to this role. There are differences in the content and subject matter in the official discourse of the three groups, such as with regard to violence perpetrated by women. The strategic and political differences between AQAP, ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra affect the construction of female roles in their official propaganda.

ОБРАЗ НІМЕЦЬКОГО СОЛДАТА ТА ОБРАЗ ВОРОГА У ГРАФІЦІ АРТУРА КАМПФА (1914–1917)

The important role which visual media play in modern armed conflicts calls for studying the subject in its historical context. This article examines the construction of the image of the German soldier and that of the enemy during WWI through the example of graphic works by Arthur Kampf – one of the most prominent academic artists of the Wilhelmine period and an «official war artist». Contemporaneous printmaking techniques allowed for the creation and dissemination of a large number of artworks which represented various aspects of wartime experience, as well as reflecting changes in official propaganda and public sentiment. For that reason graphic works from WWI merit special attention on the part of scholars. The source materials include separate prints, reproductions of the artist’s other graphic works in the press, and his illustrations to the collection of sermons «Ein feste Burg» («A Strong Fortress»). The study draws on the concepts used in different fields of contemporary humanities (representation, substitution, image of the enemy) and methods of art history proposed by Erwin Panofsky. The author demonstrates that the subject works reflect the moral ideal of the German soldier rather than the actual experience of the participants in WWI. In Kampf’s pieces from 1914 German soldiers appear as physically and mentally strong superheroes. During and after his trip to the frontline in the winter and spring of 1915, the artist focused on creating individualised portraits of combatants, along with depicting the hardships of their daily life and the pain of being separated from their families. Although the pieces from this period are arguably more realistic, the artist overlooked the immediate experience of industrialised warfare or its traumatic impact on soldiers’ physical and mental health. Kampf represented the enemy as a complete opposite of the German soldier, an embodiment of unrestrained aggression and unprovoked violence. Due to their allegorical nature and references to established iconographic traditions the works depicting the enemy transcend the historical situation in which they were created. Kampf’s pieces reflect the major trends in the representation of WWI in German visual culture over the course of the conflict. Constantly appearing in visual media, such images – emotionally-charged and often devoid of internal contradictions – possessed an ability to shape the recipients’ perception of the nature and objectives of the war, which was portrayed as a clash of cultures. To some extent they were able to replace the first-hand traumatic experience of the combatants and their relatives.

Phantasmal Crusaders. Decaying Millenarianism and the Trauma of Colonial War in Twentieth-Century Portuguese Literature

The article focuses on the connection between the early-modern roots of Portuguese millenarian mythology and the literature dealing with the trauma of the colonial war that put an end to the Portuguese empire in 1975. The analyzed texts of José Martins Garcia, Manuel Alegre, João de Melo, António Lobo Antunes, and Almeida Faria de- construct the providential vision of Portuguese colonial empire ex- ploited by the official propaganda of Salazar. They transcribe the grandiose, mythicized image of the Portuguese past into the cate- gories of grotesque and phantasmal. Both soldiers and settlers trans- formed into refugees by the colonial war continue moving in the oneiric universe as traumatized subjects long after the end of the con- flict. The literary deconstruction of the national mythology con- ducted by the writers, many of whom were ex-combatants of the conflict, may thus be seen as a collective therapy postulated by Ed- uardo Lourenço, leading to the healing of the trauma.

ПРОПАГАНДИСТСКАЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ ГЕРМАНИИ НА ОККУПИРОВАННЫХ СОВЕТСКИХ ТЕРРИТОРИЯХ В ПЕРИОД ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЫ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ГАЗЕТЫ «РЕЧЬ»)

The purpose of the article is to study the Nazi propaganda machine in the occupied Soviet territories during the Great Patriotic War. In most cases, this activity was carried out by means of collaborationist publications, other printed materials, and film and radio propaganda. In addition, the Nazis could organize public events, show trials, etc. The author studies the occupation German newspaper «Rech» printed in Russian, which was published in Orel. The author examines the propaganda problems. The goal of propaganda was to create and maintain a perverted Nazi ideology about the Aryan race superiority and to destroy «unsuitable» elements. The collaborationist publications caused anxiety, fear and hatred. Ideographic, historical-genetic, retrospective and comparative-historical methodologies are used in the current research. They help to reveals the features of the Nazi propaganda development in the occupied territories. In this context, such archival materials as official orders, records management materials and times of occupation letters have the greatest importance. The contents of «Rech» fully reveal the official propaganda policy. As an addition, the author studies the information from posters, other newspapers and magazines of that period, revealing the propaganda methods. To understand the propaganda impact on mass consciousness, the author pays a great attention to official and private opinions, and stories of people who lived during that period of time. The goal of propaganda methods comparative analysis is to reveal regional characteristics of publications expanding. The work of the Russian journalist, writer and researcher V. Samarin (Sokolov) is considered in the study. He was one of the «Rech» editors. New archival data are used to examine V. Samarin’s propaganda work. A special attention is paid to his active collaboration with the Nazis in Orel, and his work in emigrant press in Germany and Yale University in the USA. As a result, the author concludes that the Nazi propaganda facilitates genocide and human rights violations in the occupied Soviet territories. The Orel collaborationist publications analysis contributes to the restoration of the tragic events fuller picture in the occupied town during the Great Patriotic War.

ОБРАЗ ЖІНКИ-ТРУДІВНИЦІ НА СТОРІНКАХ РАДЯНСЬКОЇ ЖІНОЧОЇ ПЕРІОДИКИ (1950-ТІ – 1980-ТІ РОКИ)

The article critically analyzes the idealized portrayal of the woman worker in the Soviet public sphere from the 1950s to the 1980s. One of the primary instruments shaping women's images within the official discourse of the Soviet state was womenʼs periodicals. These publications mirrored stereotypical perceptions of women and diverse expectations concerning their social roles, encompassing their professional engagements. Drawing upon materials sourced from prominent women’s magazines such as “Rabotnitsa,” “Sovetskaya Zhenshchina,” and “Radianska Zhinka,” the article endeavors to reconstruct the representation of a woman worker in the USSR. This representation amalgamated womenʼs activity, industriousness, selflessness, and a heightened level of motivation. Official propaganda consistently emphasized women’s emancipation in the USSR and advocated for gender equality, facilitated by the opportunity for women to work in traditionally "male-dominated" fields, including various sectors of heavy industry. The persistent promotion of this idealized image aimed to stimulate greater female involvement in production. Additionally, the positive portrayal of the woman worker was actively leveraged in propaganda rhetoric to showcase the purported "achievements" of the Soviet government in addressing the "woman question," attaining gender equality, and highlighting the "advantages" of living in a socialist state. However, the propagated image, upon closer examination, diverged significantly from reality. In their professional pursuits, women consistently encountered discrimination, exclusion from highly skilled professions, limitations in opportunities to assume leadership roles, and numerous stereotypes regarding women's competence in professional spheres.

Analysis of Discrepancies Between Destination Image and Tourists' Perceived Image: Taking Fuzhou as a Case

Taking Fuzhou as a case study, this research analyzes tourist network travel notes, online comments, and official website reports of the tourism bureau, and uses the word frequency statistical function of semantic analysis software to extract high-frequency words of tourist perception and official website projection of tourism image, and constructs social relations and semantic networks to compare and analyze tourist perception and official website dissemination of tourism image. The research results show that the Fuzhou tourism image perceived by tourists can be summarized into four dimensions: tourist attractions, tourism environment atmosphere, tourism facilities and services, and tourism experience. Tourists perception of tourist attractions is consistent with the official projection, and Sanfang Qixiang and hot springs have become representative resources of Fuzhou. The key points of official propaganda are inconsistent with the focus of tourist perception. The Fuzhou Tourism Bureau should pay more attention to tourism hotspots such as historical buildings in the city and Pingtan Island scenery, and actively create an ecological leisure city, focusing on parent-child study tours and rural revitalization. Tourists prefer historical buildings in the city and Pingtan Island scenery. Finally, based on the research conclusions, targeted suggestions are proposed for Fuzhous tourism promotion.

Entrepreneurs as saviours of socialism? The complicated relationship between East German state socialism and entrepreneurship

The economic policy agenda of the SED has often been described as extremely orthodox in nature and—with the exception of a short period in the 1960s—hostile to reform. It is often overlooked that the GDR entertained the largest private sector of any of the CMEA economies up till the early 1980s. Besides the official propaganda, the SED leadership at no point abolished private entrepreneurship completely in the GDR. In this article, I analyze the ambiguous relationship between the state party and private entrepreneurship. I focus particularly on the late 1980s and the role private entrepreneurs were supposed to play in reforming and saving socialism in East Germany.

The Nationalization of Patriotism in Russian Literature during the Crimean War: Institutions, Everyday Nationalism, and Images of Peasants

AbstractThis article explores the issue of Russian imperial nationalism in the early phase of its formation, namely the nationalization of patriotism in literature during the Crimean War, 1853–56. Using historical studies and theories of nationalism, the author shows how and why an acute discourse of a nationalistic experience of community uniting the elite with the common people arose in St. Petersburg society, theater, and literature. Drawing on many published and archival materials, the article describes the institutions of escalating nationalism (thick journals, newspapers, the Maritime Ministry, theater, salons, and circles), everyday rituals (wearing “Russian” clothes), and the images of peasants, who in the fiction of Aleksei Potekhin, Aleksei Pisemskii, Ivan Gorbunov, Ivan Turgenev, and Dmitrii Grigorovich acted as bearers of authentic “Russianness.” The growing popularity of these writers’ texts can be explained by the fact that they demonstratively linked the psychology and subjectivity of peasant characters with their ethnic identity. Contrary to official propaganda that portrayed peasants as loyal to the tsar, faith, and Fatherland, the new representation satisfied the demand of the elite and socially diverse theater audience for images of unity within a single national community and compensated for the disappointment of defeats at the front.

To the ontology of war: why warfare but not peaceful negotiations

The article is aimed at a philosophical study of the foundations/causes of war. Its background is a definition of the Russian-Ukrainian full-scale warfare as an irreconcilable existential conflict of the "Russian world" between the "Russian world" and the national world of Ukraine. Methodological specific of the article is reliance on the everydayness of a boundary situation of war to define the cultural world, as well as cultural identity as concepts that get existential meaning. Philosophy potential is used to clarify the key question for today's war discourse about why the parties to the conflict are determined to take military actions, but not to resolve the conflict through peace negotiations. The answer is sought by comparing two ontologies of the world that there are in Habermas' communicative theory of action and Heidegger's fundamental ontology. Each of them provides an alternative concept of understanding and, accordingly, different foundations for its truth theory. This also provides a perspective, firstly, to distinguish two alternative positions of participants in the discourse of war – "internal" one as "being in a culture at war" and another of an "external" observer. Secondly, this distinction helps to explain why war as a conflict of cultural worlds could be considered from different philosophical points of view, namely from the position of the philosophy of communicative action, as well as in the context of existential analysis of being. Examination of the explanatory potential of both approaches is carried out on the basis of a comparison of different concepts of the world, fundamental to each of philosophers. It is done by clarifications of basics of two ontologies of understanding and, accordingly, of their theories of truth. The article indicates that the theory of truth in communicative philosophy is based on the regulative idea of the unity of the objective world. Instead, with reference to examples from Charles Taylor and Jean-Luc Nancy, the author claims that the fundamental ontology can be reinterpreted in terms of the plurality of being-in-common of people in sovereign cultural worlds. Accordingly, the interaction of representatives of different cultural identities under certain political conditions, i.e., official propaganda can turn into a radical disagreement of different existential understandings of the meaning of being, into a war of cultural worlds that cannot be overcome by just negotiations at the level of competent communication. The article ends with an open question about searching for ways to unify the mentioned ontological approaches.

EVOLUTION OF THE CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONSHIP IN PAKISTAN IN THE POST-COVID ERA

Pakistan has been ruled by military regimes for almost half of its history. Since the first coup in 1958, the military has experimented with a variety of political strategies and models of civil-military relations, including purely military rule and various forms of hybrid regimes. The military's attitude toward Islam has also evolved over time. Since 1947, the military has recognized the role of religion as the basis of national identity and has sought to integrate it into official propaganda despite the diversity of conceptions. The nature of the relationship between political parties and the military underlies recent political evolution. The 2018 general elections saw Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) prevail in large part due to the support it received from the military establishment. The military chose to support PTI as an alternative to the two main national parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), with which the military has been at odds for nearly two decades. However, the 2018 elections showed that the military's ability to control the political scene is limited. Indeed, the PML-N and PPP have maintained their traditional strongholds in Punjab and Sind. Despite the support of the military, the PTI only managed to prevail in the elections with a slight majority. The crisis of Imran Khan's government between 2020 and 2022 was due to three main factors: divisions between the parties in the ruling coalition; mismanagement of the emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic; and the PTI and military's differing view of economic cooperation with Beijing and particularly the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. This situation led to a conflict between PTI and the military and the no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022 that ousted Imran Khan from power.

Artistic Originality of the Novel “Farewell to Arms!” by E. Hemingway

Indifference of authorities was a main symbol of the time preceded creation of the novel Farewell to Arms!. To save democracy it was reflected in the propaganda of war. The calls were especially persistent in May 1918. At this moment, the elderly felt the apathy of the strong and did not want to participate in this wrong war, young men (such as eighteen-year-old Hemingway) did not understand anything and went to the front. Most of them were destined to die. The fate loved Ernest: it saved him from joining the army several times. Later, when the young man could no longer wait, it saved him from direct participation in hostilities. In vain, because the war engages even Red Cross employees in physical and moral battles: it raises many unsolvable questions, makes them doubt the honesty of what is happening and tries to devalue the highest feelings. Many decisive measures were to be taken to preserve the soul. Many artistic devices would come in need to describe the experience. The study of these mediums is the subject of this research, the proof of their artistic power is the goal. The research was carried out on the materials of the English and Russian versions of the novel, critical articles by researchers of the writer's work. The comprehensive method of literary analysis was used. We revealed high thematic saturation in the novel because of our research effords. The author raised many problems: an intellectual in war, people's attitude to war, religion and war, morality and war, the fall of man in war, the influence of official propaganda on people; showed originality of the use of synthesis and montage (combination of pictures of different quality and meaning), sophisticated contrast; confirmed validity of the breach of the chronological principle.

Propaganda and Manipulation in Mexico: A Programmed, Coordinated and Manipulative “Pink” Campaign

Thanks to digital media communication, customers can receive targeted communications. Political actors increasingly engage in political marketing on social media in order to strengthen and propagate propaganda. There is enough evidence of a coordinated effort to spread official propaganda and imitate digital support with the aim of influencing and manipulating social media users, as well as the public opinion, primarily through official Twitter accounts and influencers on TikTok, using the Salario Rosa (Pink Salary) social program as cover. Through data mining and visualization tools, we gathered information about Tweets and TikTok videos containing the hashtag #SalarioRosa, and a variety of correlated hashtags, which is the main goal of this analysis. Our research indicates that traditional “brute force” astroturfing campaigns and a novel “mimicking conversation” tactic were employed to promote and raise awareness about political figures as well as to improve their reputation by manipulating the public opinion on social media platforms, without taking into account the negative impact on the current reality of women living in the State of Mexico, as stated in the Pink Salary for Vulnerability program.

Instrumentalizing gender: from interwar fascism to the Alt Right in Greece

ABSTRACT This article examines the far-right discourses on gender in Greece focusing on two historical moments, namely the period between 1936 and 1941 when Greece was governed by the authoritarian regime of general Ioannis Metaxas, and the period between 2010 and 2022 which was defined by the Greek-government debt crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2021-2022 global energy crisis. It aims to demonstrate the instrumental logic lurking behind the gender rhetoric employed by the Far Right and bring to the fore both points of convergence and divergence. With regards to the Metaxas regime the article discusses the contradictions marking the official propaganda on women which seems to oscillate between deeply rooted conservative ideas on women’s role on the one hand, and the promotion of new ideals of femininity on the other hand. Fast-forward to today, the article examines the ways gender issues are manipulated by the emerging Alt Right in Greece. Via the theoretical lens of femonationalism and homonationalism, the article brings to the fore the contradictions between the breakthroughs with regards to feminist and LGBTQI demands on the one hand, and the systematic attempts to reintroduce an ultra-conservative agenda with regards to gender issues in Greece on the other hand.

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., Olimpismo

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., <i>Olimpismo</i>

Sites of Book Memory: Czech Home Libraries under the Communist Regime (1948–1989)

ABSTRACT The study explores the social and political role of Czech home libraries during the communist era (1948–1989). Analyses of qualitative data from existing oral history reading projects and methodological impulses of memory studies serve as grounds for multiple interpretations of this specific role. Home libraries can be considered as a counterreaction to the official propaganda and to regular purges of politically unsuitable books from public libraries; a reflection of building up alternatives to the centrally controlled public sphere; and perhaps even as a form of book consumers’ need for hoarding as a reaction to the shortage of desirable volumes on the state-operated book market. However, we argue that the persistent position of Czech home libraries as the depository of social and cultural capital can be traced in the enduring, nearly cultic veneration of the book and reading in the Czech book owners’ book memory.