Black propaganda
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220339092
2008-06-19T11:14:00Z
Kizor
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/* Racist black propaganda */ linked scandal's own article
'''Black propaganda''' is false material where the source is disguised. It is [[propaganda]] that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy.<ref> {{cite journal|title=Goebbels' Principles of Nazi Propaganda|journal=The Public Opinion Quarterly|date=1950-09-13|first=Leonard|last=Doob|coauthors=|volume=3|issue=Vol. 14, No. 3|pages=419–442|id= |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-362X(195023)14%3A3%3C419%3AGPOP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23|format=|accessdate=2008-03-06 }}</ref>
It contrasts with [[grey propaganda]], the source of which is not identified, and [[white propaganda]], in which the real source is declared. The term is also sometimes used as a synonym for particularly malicious wartime propaganda or falsification of information that is captured by an enemy.
Black propaganda may also be used on one's own side, generated by altering genuine enemy propaganda in such a way as to distort its message. This is a particularly powerful tool if the target audience has a poor understanding of the language of the enemy, and is often used to insult the intended recipients, leading to a rallying effect.
== Black propaganda in World War II ==
=== British ===
In [[United Kingdom|Britain]], the [[Political Warfare Executive]] operated a number of black propaganda radio stations. [[Gustav Siegfried Eins]] (GS1) was one of the first such stations — purporting to be a clandestine German station. The speaker, 'Der Chef' purported to be a Nazi extremist, accusing Hitler and his henchmen of going soft. The station focused on alleged corruption and sexual improprieties of Nazi Party members.
Another example was the British radio station ''[[Soldatensender Calais]]'', which purported to be a radio station for the German military. Under the direction of [[Sefton Delmer]], a British journalist who spoke perfect Berliner German, Soldatensender Calais and its associated shortwave station, ''[[Kurzwellesender Atlantik]]'', broadcast music, up-to-date sports scores, speeches of [[Adolf Hitler]] for "cover", and subtle propaganda.
There were British black propaganda radio stations in most of the languages of occupied Europe as well as German and Italian.<ref>The Bletchley Park Reports: Report No. 17 Black Propaganda, John Pether, Bletchley Park Trust 1998</ref>. Most of these were based in the area around Woburn Abbey.
[[David Hare]]'s play ''[[Licking Hitler]]'' provides a fictionalised account based on the British black propaganda efforts in World War II.
=== German ===
German black propaganda usually took advantage of European [[racism]] and [[anti-Communism]]. For example, on the night of [[April 27]], [[1944]] German aircraft under cover of darkness (and possibly carrying fake [[Royal Air Force]] markings) dropped propaganda leaflets on occupied [[Denmark]]. These leaflets used the title of ''Frihedsposten'', a genuine Danish underground newspaper, and claimed that the "hour of liberation" was approaching. They instructed Danes to accept "occupation by Russian or specially trained American Negro soldiers" until the first disorders resulting from military operations is over.
The German [[Büro Concordia]] organisation operated several black propaganda radio stations (many of which pretended to broadcast illegally from within the countries they targeted). [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2584/is_n2_v14/ai_15588719/pg_1]
=== Japanese ===
The ''[[Tanaka Memorial]]'', a document describing a Japanese plan for [[world conquest]], beginning with the conquest of China, is now believed by most historians to be a forgery.
The following message was distributed in black propaganda leaflets dropped by the Japanese over the [[Philippines]] in World War II. It was designed to turn Filipinos against the [[United States]]:
:'''Guard Against Venereal Diseases'''
:''Lately there has been a great increase in the number of venereal diseases among our officers and men owing to prolific contacts with Filipino women of dubious character.''
:''Due to hard times and stricken conditions brought about by the Japanese occupation of the islands, Filipino women were willing to offer themselves for a small amount of foodstuffs. It is advisable in such cases to take full protective measures by use of condoms, protective medicines, etc.; better still to hold intercourse only with wives, virgins, or women of respective character''.
:''Furthermore, in view of the increase in pro-American leanings, many Filipino women are more than willing to offer themselves to American soldiers, and because Filipinos have no knowledge of hygiene, disease carriers are rampant and due care must be taken.''
:''US Army''
==Black propaganda in domestic politics==
===Racist black propaganda===
*The ''[[Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'' claimed to be the secret protocols of a vast Jewish conspiracy, and was often used as "evidence" by [[conspiracy theorists]] and anti-Semitic groups. It is now proven to be a forgery produced by the ''[[Okhrana]]'', the [[Imperial Russia|Tsarist Russian]] [[secret police]].<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/hoax.html A Hoax of Hate]</ref>
*Another example of anti-Semitic black propaganda was [[Eustace Mullins]]'s book ''[[A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century]]'', which purported to be proof of a Jewish/Communist plot against White Americans.
*In [[Dreux]], [[France]] in [[1982]] the [[National Front (France)|National Front]] distributed [[Mon cher Mustapha letter|anonymous fake letters]], supposedly from an [[Algeria]]n living in France to a brother living in Algeria. These fake letters, which described immigration as a method of conquering France without war, were instrumental in the National Front victory in the 1983 local council elections in Dreux.
*In the run-up to the [[Australian federal election, 2007|2007 federal election in Australia]], [[Lindsay pamphlet scandal|flyers were circulated]] around Sydney under the name of a fake organisation called the Islamic Australia Federation. The flyers thanked the [[Australian Labor Party]] for supporting terrorism, Islamic fundamentalists, and the [[2002 Bali bombings|Bali bombing]] suspects. A group of Sydney-based [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]] members were implicated in the incident.<ref>[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=1501680&objectid=10477730]</ref><ref>[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=1501680&objectid=10477835]</ref><ref>[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=1501680&objectid=10477867]</ref>
===British media===
*In November 1995 a ''[[Sunday Telegraph]]'' newspaper article alleged Libya's [[Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi|Saif Qaddafi]] ([[Muammar al-Gaddafi|Colonel Gaddafi’s]] son) was connected to a currency counterfeiting plan. The article was written by [[Con Coughlin]], the paper's chief foreign correspondent and it was falsely attributed to a "British banking official". In fact, it had been given to him by officers of [[MI6]], who, it transpired, had been supplying Coughlin with material for years<ref name='Tinker'>{{cite news | first=David | last=Leigh | coauthors= | title=Tinker, tailor, soldier, journalist | date= | publisher= | url =http://www.guardian.co.uk/shayler/article/0,2763,339990,00.html | work =The Guardian | pages = | accessdate = 2007-06-16 | language = }}</ref>.
*The [[Zinoviev letter]] was a fake letter published in the [[right-wing]] British newspaper, the ''[[Daily Mail]]''. It claimed to be a letter from the [[Comintern]] president [[Grigori Zinoviev]] to the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]]. It called on Communists to mobilise "sympathetic forces" in the Labour Party and talked of creating dissent in the armed forces. The Zinoviev letter was instrumental in the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] victory in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1924|1924 general election]].
===United States media===
* During the [[U.S. presidential election, 1972|1972 U.S. presidential election]], [[Donald H. Segretti]], a political operative for President [[Richard Nixon]]'s [[Committee to Re-elect the President|reelection campaign]], released a faked letter, on [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[Edmund Muskie]]'s letterhead, falsely alleging that Senator [[Henry M. Jackson|Henry "Scoop" Jackson]], against whom Muskie was running for the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s nomination, had had an illegitimate child with a seventeen-year-old. Muskie, who had been considered the frontrunner, lost the nomination to [[George McGovern]], and Nixon was reelected. The letter was part of a campaign of so-called "[[dirty tricks]]", directed by Segretti, and uncovered as part of the [[Watergate Scandal]]. Segretti went to prison in 1974 after pleading guilty to three [[misdemeanor]] counts of distributing illegal campaign literature.
===Other black propaganda examples===
*''The [[Dossiers Secrets]]'' is a collection of forged documents purporting dating back to the time of Christ, which were created and compiled by [[Pierre Plantard]] and [[Philippe de Cherisey]]. Originally intended to authenticate Plantard's claims of his [[Merovingian]] heredity, they were subsequently used in the book [[Holy Blood Holy Grail]] as authentic sources of history, and as therefore demonstrating a plot by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] to hide the alleged fact that [[Jesus]] fathered children with [[Mary Magdalene]].
== See also ==
* [[False flag]]
* [[White propaganda]]
* [[Grey propaganda]]
* [[Information warfare]]
* [[Push polling]]
* [[Astroturfing]]
* [[Joe job]]
==External links==
* [http://www.seftondelmer.co.uk Sefton Delmer -Black Boomerang]: Sefton Delmer was head of British Black Propaganda during WWII. His book Black Boomerang tells the story of his work.
* [http://www.psywar.org PsyWar.Org - Black Propaganda and propaganda leaflets database]: A website with various articles on black propaganda and psychological warfare. The site has an extensive library of propaganda leaflets from WWI to the present day.
* [http://members.home.nl/ww2propaganda/slid31a.htm WW2 propaganda leaflets]: A website about airdropped, shelled or rocket fired propaganda leaflets. Has slideshow with many black propaganda leaflets of WW2.
* [http://nymas.org/radioproppaper.htm Gray and Black Radio Propaganda against Nazi Germany] Extensively illustrated paper describing the Allied effort in WW II to undermine Germany through unidentified or misidentified radio broadcasts.
== References ==
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