Prof. Tim Anderson to ST: Colonial media is very resistant to reasonable debate
The opportunities have arisen for anti-war voices to be more widely heard when a major advance in Syria’s war against terrorism has been made, according to the Australian political economist and author, Prof. Tim Anderson, who recently participated in a seminar held in Damascus on ‘Propaganda of Wars’.
The professor told the Syriatimes e-newspaper in response to question about the impact of his books, posts, reports and those of others (like Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley) on public opinion in the west: “I believe we influence small groups of people. But when there has been a major advance in Syria (the liberation of Palmyra, the Russian exposure of DAESH links to Turkey, the liberation of Aleppo, etc..) opportunities do arise for our voice to be more widely heard.
“At least we have created a body of work, in research and reports, which enables honest and curious people to find a quite independent account to that of the colonial media,” he added, pointing out that the colonial media, which he spoke of in a recent seminar at al-Assad Library in Damascus, is very resistant to reasonable debate.
“The colonial media, which is developed during colonial wars( such as those waged against Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Syria) , sticks to its main themes of normalizing war, maintaining the key war myths and attacking target states and dissident anti-war voices,” prof. Anderson clarified.
He underlined the importance of the seminar held in Damascus as it draws attention to and encourages discussion of the importance of propaganda in contemporary war, and the need to read it and to help mobilize people to oppose it.
Besides the topic of colonial media, Prof. Anderson, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban and Vanessa Beeley addressed – in the seminar-the questions of the psychological manipulations (for consent, and to weaken resistance) involved in many of the recent wars, and in particular in the dirty war on Syria.
“My presentation was mainly to do with the principles of reading propaganda. I also urged a stronger Syrian voice in the world, to speak first hand of the Syrian reality… I believe Syrian voices, during the crisis, were not strong in the wider world. Many in the Syrian media and research groups understand this, but progress to improve the situation has been slow. I believe there is some media collaboration with Iran, which is promising. Other international links would be good. More young Syrians on social media would also be good to see,” Prof. Anderson said.
Washington is responsible for the dirty war on Syria
He made it clear that the imperial pretenders in Washington direct all the eight Middle East wars, of the last two decades, as well as those on other continents, and especially in Latin America. “Their demands for the normalization of war and their myths of ‘humanitarian war’ and led by a colonial media, backed by a well-paid network of coopted and fake NGOs.”
Asked about his decision to defend Syria, the professor replied: “In March 2011 I sensed the corporate media was not telling the truth about the insurrection in Daraa, so I started to investigate. I knew about dirty wars in Latin America, which made use of terrorism and fake ‘human rights’ arguments. I had defended Cuba for a decade in face of similar propaganda, also from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. So I read up on the history of the sectarian Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi wahhabism, and their links to Syria, and I began to share this information with friends. I was quickly convinced that Washington was responsible for this dirty war, and that the various pretexts were fabricated. Nevertheless I continued to research the claims being made against Syria.”
In 2012, Prof Anderson joined with a number of Syrian-Australians to form a group called ‘Hands off Syria’. At first they took a strictly ‘hands off’ to foreigners approach; but within 2 or 3 months they decided on principle to back the Syrian Arab Army. Since then he began to write about the dirty war on Syria, leading to his book “The Dirty War on Syria”, which came out in January 2016. It is now published in 10 languages (English, Arabic, German, Swedish, Bosnian, Italian, Spanish, Icelandic, Greek and Farsi). His second book on the crisis ‘Countering War Propaganda of the Dirty War on Syria’ was published in Damascus by New Dalmoun Press in 2017.
Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour
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