The First Word War! Palestine Think Tank and Tlaxcala declare war against Disinformation

[mary <humdrum2 at libero.it>]

Palestine Think Tank and Tlaxcala today launch our most
recent editorial initiative. Our contributors, affiliates, associates,
friends and readers are invited to participate with their own efforts to
deconstruct the hasbara and Normative Western Dominant narrative, to
reclaim the meaning of words from the masters of disinformation,
stripping off the propagandistic baggage attached to them, and to more
effectively read and interpret the media we are subject to and involved
in. We need to move from being "passive" subjects and consumers
of information/propaganda and assume a more "active" role. All
of this starts by declaring our liberation from control and resisting the
indoctrination, and with this goal, our members are committed to creating
new instruments of analysis and a new lexicon of freedom. 

Palestine Think Tank and Tlaxcala will publish in groups of essays, a
series of interventions in an international initiative that is like
nothing that has come before it. Our essays come to us in various
languages and from many places around the globe (Tlaxcala itself has
several dozen languages it works with) and will be translated and
disseminated on a global basis through Palestine Think Tank, Tlaxcala and
many other sources. We encourage you to read our first series and to
participate ACTIVELY, as a foot soldier in the First Word War. 

Today on

www.palestinethinktank.com and
www.tlaxcala.es
you can find the first group in English, Spanish and French. A brief
excerpt follows below. We encourage you to contribute, repost, link, send
to your list serves.

http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/10/02/the-first-word-war-palestine-think-tank-and-tlaxcala-declare-war-against-disinformation/

The First Word War – Palestine Think Tank and Tlaxcala declare war
against disinformation 

Totalitarian regimes have always depended on either ignorance or fear to
help them carry out their work of establishing, consolidating and
maintaining their dominion over those who otherwise would rebel against
them. The same appears to be true in today’s “democracies”. Pressure is
put on Islamic charities, groups that combat occupation are categorised
as being terrorist movements and diplomatic relations are also dependent
upon the blessing of whoever holds the purse strings. Conditions are set
that prohibit openly supporting political movements and even governments
that are critical of the Zionist state, as if this itself is the
barometer of the validity of an entire nation in the global spectrum. In
short, even democracies (again, quoting my psychologist friend,
“demonocracies”) implement strong indoctrination to instil their
hegemonic advantage politically, economically and even morally. They
utilise the media, both as information and entertainment, to brainwash
and form their model of a good citizen so that the society is fully
supportive of whatever political plans their government will back. The
effects filter down all the way to the bottom, even to our children, who
are asked to a-critically salute “heroes of peace” armed to the teeth in
Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems that Orwell had gotten it right after
all.

Fighting the empty rhetoric, deconstructing the lies one by one and
taking back the power of our critical thinking is something that is no
longer a luxury, but an absolute necessity. To contribute to this ideal
of consciousness-building, Palestine Think Tank and Tlaxcala are
launching a series of essays that examine many of these terms and
phrases, one at a time, in order to construct an alternative lexicon and
to present a more accurate reading of the words that surround us at the
moment primarily as propagandistic emotional triggers. We ask our
contributors, members and affiliates to reflect upon and write about
these issues, and we also invite our readers to contribute essays for
publication, translation and dissemination.

Essays by Mary Rizzo, Ayman El Kayman and Santiago Alba Rico follow, in
English, French and Spanish, translated by Manuel Talens, Machetera and
Fausto Giudice. 
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The members of PTT and Tlaxcala