‘They must either be informed or they will be cominformed’: Covert propaganda, political literacy, and cold war knowledge production in the Loyal African Brothers series
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract This article analyzes and narrates the history of a clandestine propaganda project known as the Loyal African Brothers series. At the height of the Cold War, African leaders of public opinion received unsolicited leaflets from a group styled the Freedom for Africa Movement (FFAM). Addressed to ‘our Loyal African Brothers,’ the leaflets decried Communist penetration of Africa by connecting topical regional and global events with local histories meant to resonate with an African readership. Unknown to the recipients was that the leaflets were in reality a fabrication of the British Foreign Office’s clandestine propaganda arm, the Information Research Department. Examining the content and distribution of the series, this article uses newly declassified documents to situate Loyal African Brothers within a global ecosystem of Cold War propaganda, decolonization, and print culture. In doing so, it positions Africa as a key battleground in the cultural front of the Global Cold War.
本文分析和叙述了一个秘密宣传项目的历史,被称为“忠诚的非洲兄弟”系列。在冷战最激烈的时候,非洲的舆论领袖收到了一个名为“非洲自由运动”(FFAM)的团体送来的未经请求的传单。这些传单写给“我们忠诚的非洲兄弟”,谴责共产党对非洲的渗透,将地区性和全球性时事与当地历史联系起来,意在引起非洲读者的共鸣。收信人不知道的是,这些传单实际上是英国外交部的秘密宣传部门——信息研究部(Information Research Department)编造的。本文检视该丛书的内容和发行,并使用最新解密的文件,将《忠诚的非洲兄弟》置于冷战宣传、非殖民化和印刷文化的全球生态系统中。在这样做的过程中,它将非洲定位为全球冷战文化前线的一个关键战场。
期刊介绍:
Journal of Global History addresses the main problems of global change over time, together with the diverse histories of globalization. It also examines counter-currents to globalization, including those that have structured other spatial units. The journal seeks to transcend the dichotomy between "the West and the rest", straddle traditional regional boundaries, relate material to cultural and political history, and overcome thematic fragmentation in historiography. The journal also acts as a forum for interdisciplinary conversations across a wide variety of social and natural sciences. Published for London School of Economics and Political Science