{"id":255614,"date":"2024-02-26T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=255614"},"modified":"2024-02-24T05:24:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T05:24:42","slug":"elite-fear-of-the-public-ukraine-gaza-and-assange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/02\/elite-fear-of-the-public-ukraine-gaza-and-assange\/","title":{"rendered":"Elite Fear of the Public: Ukraine, Gaza and Assange"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_255615\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Julian-Assange-mural-678x381-1.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-255615\" class=\"wp-image-255615\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Julian-Assange-mural-678x381-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Julian-Assange-mural-678x381-1.png 678w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Julian-Assange-mural-678x381-1-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-255615\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Media Lens<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>22 Feb 2024<\/em> &#8211; It is a historical fact that powerful elites do not wish to be diverted from pursuing their selfish interests by the public. Minimal, unthreatening expressions of dissent may be tolerated in ostensible \u2018democracies\u2019. But public opinion needs to be managed, manipulated or, if necessary, simply ignored&#8211;or suppressed.<\/p>\n<p>After all, as Noam Chomsky has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/chomsky.info\/03132017\/\" >said<\/a>, real \u2018democracy is a threat to any power system\u2019. He noted that Edward Bernays, one of the founders and leading figures of the huge public relations industry:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018reminded his colleagues that with \u201cuniversal suffrage and universal schooling\u2026 even the bourgeoisie stood in fear of the common people. For the masses promised to become king.\u201d That unfortunate tendency could be contained and reversed, he urged, by new methods of \u201cpropaganda\u201d that could be used by \u201cintelligent minorities\u201d to \u201c[regiment] the public mind every bit as much as an army regiments the bodies of its soldiers.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n<p>(Preface to \u2018The Myth of the Liberal Media\u2019, Edward S. Herman, Peter Lang Publishing, 1999, pp. x-xi)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Elite shaping of public opinion is not 100 per cent foolproof, of course, but it is often highly effective. As Peter Beattie, an assistant professor in political economy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, observed:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018While the media is far from a brainwashing \u201cinfluencing machine\u201d or a hypodermic needle capable of injecting ideas into our minds, it is nonetheless the greatest influence on public opinion, as it is the conduit through which the building blocks of public opinion are transported.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>(Beattie, \u2018<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.springer.com\/gp\/book\/9783030028008\" >Social Evolution, Political Psychology, and the Media in Democracy<\/a>: The Invisible Hand in the U.S. Marketplace of Ideas\u2019, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, p. 8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In fact, one could argue that the media <em>is<\/em> \u2018a brainwashing \u201cinfluencing machine\u201d\u2019, as demonstrated, for example, by the power and success of the propaganda blitz against Jeremy Corbyn, and the deliberate conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism in establishment attempts to smear critics of Israel. However, if public opinion remains stubbornly immune from establishment pressure, it can simply be rejected or overridden.<\/p>\n<p>Consider a YouGov poll last October <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/yougov.co.uk\/topics\/consumer\/trackers\/support-for-bringing-energy-companies-back-into-public-ownership\" >showing<\/a> that 66 per cent of the British public support reinstating public ownership of energy companies. Likewise, a 2022 survey by campaign group We Own It <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/morningstaronline.co.uk\/article\/b\/most-people-support-public-ownership-of-utilities-even-tory-voters-poll-finds\" >revealed<\/a> that a majority want to see public ownership of utilities such as energy and water.<\/p>\n<p>We Own It director Cat Hobbs said:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Privatisation has failed for nearly 40 years. Politicians can\u2019t ignore the truth any longer: these monopolies are a cash cow for shareholders and we need to take them back.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We need energy companies that don\u2019t rip us off, public transport that works for passengers and water companies that don\u2019t pour sewage into our rivers.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The poll also showed very strong support for public ownership of buses, the railways, the National Health Service and Royal Mail. These findings were echoed in an <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ipsos.com\/en-uk\/3-in-5-britons-would-prefer-utilities-to-be-publicly-owned-and-operated\" >Ipsos poll<\/a> last August.<\/p>\n<p>None of these popular policies are consistent with the extremist, corporate agenda of the Tory government or the \u2018opposition\u2019 Labour party. Nor do they feature much in \u2018mainstream\u2019 media reporting and commentary. This sums up the reality of British \u2018democracy\u2019: a state that suppresses the wishes of the majority and is run for the benefit of a very rich minority.<\/p>\n<p>None of this is unique to the UK; it is an endemic feature of capitalist societies. Justin Lewis, professor of communication at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture, wrote that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Majorities [in the US and other western countries] consistently support increased government spending in traditionally \u201cliberal\u201d areas such as healthcare, education, environmental protection, and even \u2013 when the word \u201cwelfare\u201d is not used \u2013 programs for assisting the poor. This has been well documented in a number of comprehensive studies. And yet the media\u2019s interpretative frameworks tend to suppress the leftist leanings of opinion poll responses, creating a picture of a moderate to conservative citizenry that matches a moderate to conservative political elite.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>(Lewis, \u2018Constructing Public Opinion: How Political Elites Do What They Like And Why We Seem To Go Along With It\u2019, Columbia University Press, 2001, p. 44)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Of course, the notion that power is held to account by a \u2018free press\u2019 in a modern \u2018democracy\u2019 is a discredited myth. Patrick Lawrence, formerly a foreign correspondent for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2021\/10\/05\/patrick-lawrence-instead-of-a-free-press\/\" >noted<\/a> that the US:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018does not have a press by any serious definition of the term. It has a government that, over the course of many decades, has turned the press into an appendage responsible for the manipulation of public opinion.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For instance, US political journalist Glenn Greenwald <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/greenwald.substack.com\/p\/war-propaganda-about-ukraine-becoming?utm_source=url\" >observed<\/a> of Ukraine war coverage:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Every word broadcast on CNN or printed in The New York Times about the conflict perfectly aligns with the CIA and Pentagon\u2019s messaging.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Journalists with successful careers in the major Western news media would never dare make such a cogent remark in public. Instead, attention has to be directed towards the propaganda operations of whoever the current \u2018Official Enemy\u2019 happens to be. To give just one example: on 27 February 2022, Steve Rosenberg, the BBC\u2019s Moscow correspondent, stood outside the Kremlin and declaimed live on BBC News that evening:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In Russia, television remains the key tool for shaping public opinion. So, if you control TV, as the Kremlin does, you control the messaging. But not 100 per cent, because today many Russians do get their news and information online. And there they see a very different picture.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Likewise, a BBC \u2018Live\u2019 webpage about the Ukraine war on 24 February last year included a supposed <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/live\/world-europe-64750118\/page\/2\" >analysis<\/a> by Francis Scarr of BBC Monitoring titled, \u2018The evolution of Russian propaganda at home\u2019. It began:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018A year since the invasion of Ukraine, coverage of the war on Russia\u2019s state-controlled TV channels has shifted as the Kremlin attempts to shape public opinion at home.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Scarr continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Two-thirds of Russians receive most of their information from TV, where the messaging is under tight Kremlin control.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What about the \u2018tight control\u2019 of government \u2018messaging\u2019 via BBC News? It does not necessarily require direct instructions from Whitehall or Downing Street. But senior BBC managers and editors have certainly risen to their positions by thinking the right thoughts and saying the right things.<\/p>\n<p>You will therefore struggle to find a BBC journalist pointing to the disparity between state-mandated BBC News \u2018messaging\u2019 and informed sources challenging establishment ideology via non-corporate media. A vanishingly rare exception is Rami Ruhayem, a BBC Arabic and BBC World Service journalist and producer since 2005, who was scathing about the BBC\u2019s coverage of the current phase of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (see our recent <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2023\/are-hamas-a-terror-group-are-they-a-terror-group-answer-the-question\/\" >alert<\/a>). Ruhayem has essentially been \u2018disappeared\u2019 with no public response from the BBC and virtually zero coverage in state-corporate media.<\/p>\n<p>Nor will BBC News inform its audiences that government policy is largely determined by the wishes of business elites, as independent studies have shown. Chomsky referred to one of these studies in his 2010 book, \u2018Hopes and Prospects\u2019:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018In a rare and unusually careful analysis of the domestic influences on U.S. foreign policy, Lawrence Jacobs and Benjamin Page find, unsurprisingly, that the major influence on policy is \u201cinternationally oriented business corporations,\u201d though there is also a secondary effect of \u201cexperts,\u201d who, they point out \u201cmay themselves be influenced by business.\u201d Public opinion, in contrast, has \u201clittle or no significant effect on government officials,\u201d they find.\u2019 (p. 47)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For example, opinion polling in Germany and France <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com\/p\/us-nato-responsible-ukraine-war-poll\" >revealed<\/a> that most people there blame the United States and\/or NATO for the war in Ukraine. US political analyst Ben Norton <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com\/p\/us-nato-responsible-ukraine-war-poll\" >commented<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018These results suggest that many average Europeans can see clearly that the conflict in Ukraine is not merely a battle between Kiev and Moscow, but rather a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/geopoliticaleconomy.com\/2022\/06\/26\/cia-special-ops-ukraine-proxy-war-russia\/\" >proxy war<\/a> that the NATO military alliance, led by the United States, is <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/geopoliticaleconomy.com\/2022\/06\/23\/us-government-decolonize-russia\/\" >waging against Russia<\/a>.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Such unacceptable public opinions are dismissed routinely by political leaders. Germany\u2019s hawkish Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/geopoliticaleconomy.com\/2022\/09\/02\/support-ukraine-german-voters-baerbock\/\" >insisted<\/a> NATO must \u2018stand with Ukraine as long as they need us\u2019, pledging military support \u2018no matter what my German voters think\u2019.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Israel\u2019s Claims against UNRWA: \u2018No Evidence\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, the massive public opposition to Israel\u2019s genocidal attack on Gaza is generating concern at senior levels in western capitals. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NateB_Panic\/status\/1749844441886601576\" >reportedly<\/a> even asked the country\u2019s legal affairs ministry:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018What can we say to make it look like Israel is not committing war crimes?\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here in the UK, a recent YouGov opinion poll starkly <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/declassifiedUK\/status\/1758129553212629145\" >highlighted<\/a> just how out of step both the Tory government and Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s Labour party are with British public opinion on Israel and Palestine. 66 per cent of Britons believe Israel should stop attacking Gaza and agree to an immediate ceasefire. Only 13 per cent of Britons think Israel should continue with its \u2018military action\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>On 20 February, with the death toll in Gaza at almost 30,000, and more than four months after the Israeli carnage began, Labour finally <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-politics-68346129\" >called<\/a> for \u2018an immediate humanitarian ceasefire\u2019, under parliamentary pressure from a Scottish National Party (SNP) motion. However, in the end, a formal vote on a ceasefire did not take place with the Commons debate <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-politics-68366512\" >descending into chaos<\/a>. There were accusations that the House of Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and Starmer had colluded to block Parliament voting on the SNP motion, thus avoiding a mutiny among Labour MPs who have been demanding a less <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5HQYfsUAf3s\" >barbaric stance<\/a> from the Labour leader. SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-politics-68362405\" >said<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018This should have been the chance for the UK Parliament to do the right thing and vote for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel \u2013 instead it turned into a Westminster circus.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Much of the public, as well as legal experts and informed commentators, regard Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza as genocidal; not least the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/1\/26\/what-has-the-icj-ordered-israel-to-do-on-gaza-war-and-whats-next\" >majority of judges<\/a> who heard the recent <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/uns-top-court-orders-israel-to-prevent-genocide-in-gaza-but-fails-to-call-for-immediate-ceasefire-222080\" >South African case against Israel<\/a> at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<p>The cynical and premeditated response of Israel to the ICJ ruling was to make unsubstantiated claims that Unrwa employees, the UN agency which provides relief for six million Palestinian refugees, were involved in the Hamas attacks of 7 October last year. News media, notably including BBC News, gave the claims wall-to-wall coverage. The staff \u2013 12 people out of 13,000 employees \u2013 named by Israel were summarily dismissed, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/english.almayadeen.net\/news\/politics\/unrwa-chief-admits-to-terminating-staff-without-probing-isra\" >without an investigation<\/a>, by Unrwa. This did not prevent many countries, including the US and the UK, suspending vital humanitarian contributions to the relief agency.<\/p>\n<p>To its credit, Channel 4 News investigated Israel\u2019s allegations and broadcast a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.channel4.com\/news\/israels-evidence-of-unrwa-hamas-allegations-examined\" >report<\/a> showing that Israel had provided \u2018no evidence\u2019 of its claims against the Unrwa staff, other than details identifying the employees alleged to have been involved. As Peter Oborne <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/opinion\/defunding-unrwa-britain-cameron-falls-israel-dodgy-dossier-again\" >observed<\/a>, it appears that, in immediately suspending aid, Britain\u2019s foreign secretary David Cameron had:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018jumped to attention solely based on claims made by a government which has long had a strong interest in discrediting Unrwa.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Oborne expanded:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018As Israeli television has reported, based on a \u201chigh-level classified foreign ministry report\u201d, Israel plans to push Unrwa out of the Gaza Strip.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The plan involves three stages: the publication of a report alleging Unrwa cooperation with Hamas; followed by the promotion of alternative organisations to provide welfare services; and finally, the removal of Unrwa from Gaza altogether.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018It\u2019s not as if Israel deserves to be automatically believed. The Israeli military has repeatedly been caught out making false and fabricated statements about events in Gaza and elsewhere. This means that every claim emanating from Israel should be treated sceptically. (The same applies, of course, to Hamas.)\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Compare this with the UK government\u2019s response to the evidence-based ICJ judgment that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Cameron trashed the court even before it had reached its judgment, and have continued to do so since.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018By contrast, Britain responded at once to allegations regarding Unrwa produced by Israel and suspended funds to the one agency capable of delivering aid in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.972mag.com\/uk-protests-palestine-london-gaza\/\" >huge public protests<\/a> in the UK, and around the world, highlight the great divide between the public and governments on Israel and Palestine, and wider foreign policy. This has been the case historically.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Establishment Alarm at Public Protest<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In February 2003, when a massive global movement attempting to stop the impending Iraq war took to the streets, the New York Times <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240117071703\/https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/02\/17\/world\/threats-and-responses-news-analysis-a-new-power-in-the-streets.html\" >wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The huge anti-war demonstrations around the world this weekend are reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A similar phenomenon is occurring now, with international grassroots pressure demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. But coverage in the state-corporate media does not reflect the power or importance of public protest. As Des Freedman, a professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/the-bbc-is-not-providing-a-public-service-over-gaza\/\" >observed<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Mainstream [sic] media like the BBC will not represent this movement nor hold to account those governments who are complicit in the destruction of Gaza because they are overwhelmingly tied to an imperial world view.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Instead, the BBC and other news media endlessly <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2023\/genocide-the-gaze-from-the-abyss\/\" >platform<\/a> Israeli propaganda, notably the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/campaigns\/2022\/02\/israels-system-of-apartheid\/\" >apartheid<\/a> state\u2019s repeated claims to be \u2018defending itself\u2019 in \u2018responding\u2019 to the Hamas attacks of 7 October last year.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to emphasise, however, that elite power is not invulnerable to public opinion. In the years following the Iraq war, much of the public came to realise it had been deceived. The US-led invasion-occupation was not about disarming Saddam of mythical \u2018weapons of mass destruction\u2019 or about bringing \u2018democracy\u2019 to Iraq. It was about oil and western hegemony in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, a huge 71 per cent of Americans <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/storyline\/iraq-turmoil\/not-worth-it-huge-majority-regret-iraq-war-exclusive-poll-n139686\" >said<\/a> that the war in Iraq \u2018wasn\u2019t worth it\u2019. Likewise, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/18097\/iraq-versus-vietnam-comparison-public-opinion.aspx\" >three opinion polls<\/a> conducted from 1990-2000 found that about 7 in 10 Americans believed that the US war against Vietnam was a \u2018mistake\u2019. Many no doubt would have said that the Vietnam war, like the Iraq war, was an international war crime, not merely a \u2018mistake\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>On the 20<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the invasion of Iraq last February, journalist Ian Sinclair published an important <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/morningstaronline.co.uk\/article\/f\/second-superpower-february-15-2003\" >analysis<\/a> in the Morning Star. He pointed out that, although the enormous Stop the War marches did not prevent the war going ahead, or the UK\u2019s participation in it, the anti-war movement did have significant impacts. It helped to inform public opinion and mobilise public action that challenged British foreign policy. Sinclair wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018As a politician, Blair was fatally wounded over Iraq, with a 2010 ComRes poll finding 37 per cent of respondents thought he should be put on trial for the invasion.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He added:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018The anti-war public mood was also likely a constraining influence on British forces in Iraq. In a 2016 RUSI Journal article, Major General Christopher Elliott noted there was \u201ca cap on numbers, driven by political constraints rather than military necessity.\u201d\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Milan Rai, editor of Peace News, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/peacenews.info\/node\/7015\/wobbly-tuesday\" >argued<\/a> that the UK anti-war movement came close to derailing Britain\u2019s involvement in the Iraq war:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Wobbly Tuesday is one of the great secrets of the Iraq war, kept secret not by state censorship and repression, but by media and academic self-censorship.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u2018Wobbly Tuesday\u2019 was Tuesday, 11 March 2003, the date when the British government began to panic that it might lose a parliamentary vote on the war, given the massive public protests. The Sunday Telegraph <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/middleeast\/iraq\/1424775\/Blair-stands-firm-after-Wobbly-Tuesday.html\" >reported<\/a> that on that day, Geoff Hoon, the Minister of Defence, was \u2018frantically preparing contingency plans to \u201cdisconnect\u201d British troops entirely from the military invasion of Iraq, demoting their role to subsequent phases of the campaign and peacekeeping.\u2019 In the end, the government won the Commons vote and the UK shamefully took part in the invasion-occupation of Iraq which led to the deaths of around <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2015\/03\/26\/body-count-report-reveals-least-13-million-lives-lost-us-led-war-terror\" >one million Iraqis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A 2019 YouGov survey showed that 52 per cent of respondents now oppose British military interventions overseas. This new reality was already evident in August 2013 when MPs voted against a government motion to support planned US air strikes on Syria. Public opinion had been <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/peacenews.info\/node\/9648\/more-power-we-know\" >strongly opposed<\/a> to military action, with a YouGov poll just before the vote showing opposition at 51 per cent, and support at just 22 per cent. This was the first time a British prime minister had lost a vote on war since 1782.<\/p>\n<p>Sinclair <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/morningstaronline.co.uk\/article\/f\/second-superpower-february-15-2003\" >observed<\/a> that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018This defeat generated significant alarm within the Establishment. Speaking two years later, Sir Nick Houghton, Britain\u2019s chief of defence staff, worried \u201cwe are experiencing ever greater constraints on our freedom to use force\u201d due to a lack of \u201csocietal support, parliamentary consent and ever greater legal challenge.\u201d\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Julian Assange: Persecuted for Reporting the Truth<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>One of the biggest establishment campaigns in recent times to manipulate public opinion has been the attempted smearing of WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, as we have repeatedly highlighted in media alerts (for example, see <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2012\/incinerating-assange-the-liberal-media-go-to-work-sp-1707777774\/\" >here<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2019\/the-shaving-kit-manufacturing-the-julian-assange-witch-hunt\/\" >here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The latest stage of this campaign has been the final High Court hearing in London this week to decide whether Assange will be sent to trial in the US under the 1917 Espionage Act, a first for the prosecution for any journalist or publisher. And all for the supposed \u2018offence\u2019 of publishing the truth about US war crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Nina Cross, an investigative reporter for The Indicter website, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theindicter.com\/new-foi-responses-confirm-the-british-governments-media-campaign-against-julian-assange\/\" >noted<\/a> that \u2018the defamation of Assange\u2019s character by the British government is institutional\u2019 and that \u2018only through the complicity of the corporate media has this abuse been possible.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>She added:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Without its sustained collusion and servility, the powerful would not have impunity; they would not dare attempt what appears to be the slow assassination of a journalist in full public view for exposing their crimes.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Noam Chomsky and Alice Walker <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/voices\/julian-assange-trial-us-trump-chelsea-manning-chomsky-walker-b420930.html\" >pointed out<\/a> how the media bowed down to the US government\u2019s dictate that they focus on Assange\u2019s personality, and not on the principles of the case:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Assange is not on trial for skateboarding in the Ecuadorian embassy, for tweeting, for calling Hillary Clinton a war hawk, or for having an unkempt beard as he was dragged into detention by British police. Assange faces extradition to the United States because he published incontrovertible proof of war crimes and abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan, embarrassing the most powerful nation on Earth. Assange published hard evidence of \u201cthe ways in which the first world exploits the third\u201d, according to whistleblower Chelsea Manning, the source of that evidence. Assange is on trial for his journalism, for his principles, not his personality.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>They added:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018By drawing attention away from the principles of the case, the obsession with personality pushes out the significance of WikiLeaks\u2019 revelations and the extent to which governments have concealed misconduct from their own citizens. It pushes out how Assange\u2019s 2010 publications exposed 15,000 previously uncounted civilian casualties in Iraq, casualties that the US Army would have buried. It pushes out the fact that the United States is attempting to accomplish what repressive regimes can only dream of: deciding what journalists around the globe can and cannot write. It pushes out the fact that all whistleblowers and journalism itself, not just Assange, is on trial here.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whatever the outcome of this week\u2019s High Court hearings, the valiant example of Assange and WikiLeaks in exposing power serves as inspiration for what can be achieved through the power of truth, humanity and compassion.<\/p>\n<p>Elite power may, at times, seem overwhelming, bordering on invincible. It is an oft-quoted line, but a vital truth that: \u2018We are many and they are few\u2019. At root, elite interests <em>fear<\/em> public power. Therein lies hope.<\/p>\n<p>The writer Maria Popova <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2020\/05\/14\/one-fine-day-david-byrne-brooklyn-youth-chorus-national-sawdust\/\" >highlighted<\/a> David Byrne, former frontman of Talking Heads, as:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018one of the last standing idealists in our world \u2014 a countercultural force of lucid and luminous optimism, kindred to Walt Whitman, who wrote so passionately about <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2018\/07\/26\/walt-whitman-specimen-days-democracy\/\" >optimism as a mighty force of resistance and a pillar of democracy<\/a>.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JvlT5fBIi4U\" >\u2018One Fine Day\u2019<\/a>, co-written with Brian Eno, Byrne sings a \u2018buoyant hymn of optimism [that] ripples against the current of our time as a mighty countercultural anthem of resistance and resilience.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The song observes movingly:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Shouts and battle cries, from every part<br \/>\nI can see those tears, every one is true\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It concludes on an uplifting note:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u2018Then a peace of mind fell over me \u2014<br \/>\nIn these troubled times, I still can see<br \/>\nWe can use the stars, to guide the way<br \/>\nIt is not that far, the one fine \u2014<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u2018One fine day\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That one fine day is still within our reach.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo.jpeg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-121823 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/media-lens-logo.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a> Media Lens <em>is a UK-based media watchdog group headed by David Edwards and David Cromwell. In 2007,<\/em> Media Lens <em>was awarded the <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/gandhifoundation.org\/2007\/12\/02\/2007-peace-award-media-lens\/\" ><em>Gandhi Foundation International Peace Prize<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0We have written three co-authored books<\/em>:\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.medialens.org\/index.php\/bookshop\/8-bookshop\/bookshop\/146-guardians-of-power.html\" >Guardians of Power-The Myth of the Liberal Media <\/a><em>(Pluto Press, 2006),<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.medialens.org\/index.php\/bookshop\/newspeak.html\" >Newspeak-In the 21st Century<\/a> <em>(Pluto Press, 2009), and<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.plutobooks.com\/9780745338118\/propaganda-blitz\/\" > Propaganda Blitz<\/a> <em>(Pluto Press, 2018)<\/em>. <em>Contacts: David Edwards: <\/em><a href=\"mailto:editor@medialens.org\"><em>editor@medialens.org<\/em><\/a><em> &#8211; David Cromwell: <\/em><a href=\"mailto:editor@medialens.org\"><em>editor@medialens.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2024\/elite-fear-of-the-public-ukraine-gaza-and-assange\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 medialens.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>22 Feb 2024 &#8211; It is a historical fact that powerful elites do not wish to be diverted from pursuing their selfish interests by the public. Minimal, unthreatening expressions of dissent may be tolerated. But public opinion needs to be managed, manipulated or, if necessary, simply ignored&#8211;or suppressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":255615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[3143,2642,918,555,87,865,88,651,715,234,2571,961,3243,124],"class_list":["post-255614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-anti-hegemony","tag-anti-imperialism","tag-assange","tag-elites","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-justice","tag-massacre","tag-media","tag-official-lies-and-narratives","tag-ukraine","tag-un-relief-and-works-agency-unrwa","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255614"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255618,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255614\/revisions\/255618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}