The sudden out pour of international attention for our farmers garnered universal praise. However, it also earned the ire of many, labeling it as Propaganda. While it was great to see some of the most influential people around the world call out the chaos here, 1 incident proved to hamper all that.
Thus today, through this incident we shall look into how the International narrative shapes itself when any crisis grips India.
THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT
Just yesterday, a report graced the internet regarding a possible planned propaganda internationally, against India. Greta Thunberg, one of the many celebrities backing up the farmers shared a document yesterday highlighting this very aspect.
The now deleted document contained an entire “plan” of what to tweet and when to tweet regarding the farmer protests in India. The main points are as follows: –
- Participate in (or organize an) On-Ground Protest: Share solidarity Photo/Video Message by email preferably by January 25 (solidarity messages for farmers at Delhi’s border).
- Digital Strike: #AskIndiaWhy Video/Photo Message – On or Before 26th January.
- Twitter Storm on February 4, 5 2021: Share solidarity Photo/Video Message by preferably by February 5, latest by February 6.
- Contact a local Representative: It is paramount to put international pressure on India’s Government.
Reports also say that the document even names 2 big-business houses which are notorious for working with the current Indian government and exploiting the people. However, before we could dig any further, the document was deleted.
PROPAGANDA OVER FARMER PROTEST
This brings us to the last few days which were dominated by the Farmer issue. It all started with International Pop-star Rihanna putting out a tweet about the farmer protest.
This led to a domino effect, with a plethora of other celebrities jumping on the bandwagon. Consequently, former Porn star Mia Khalifa, Activist Greta Thunberg and Comedian Amanda Cerny among others, joined in with their support. The biggest push came in the form of Hollywood A-Lister John Cusack retweeted in support of the #FarmersProtest. Additionally, sports starts like Juju Schuster and Kyle Kuzma too tweeted with the hashtag.
As mentioned before, it all turned out to be a massive planned campaign. A tweet storm was planned and coordinated and when things started to come to light, that document with the layout was deleted. Additionally, reports also came in of these celebrities deleting comments that highlighted the Red Fort actions of the farmers. Thus, it’s evident that there’s a full fledged propaganda brewing out there. The American Hollywood and Sports Fraternity have time and again shown a clear left bias, in form of openly supporting the Democrats and ridiculing Republicans.
In addition to this, we must also note the fact that the 1st few celebrities ended up sharing the exact same CNN article on internet shutdown. In fact, Greta Thunberg tweeted the article in less than 6 hours after Rihanna tweeting the same. Secondly, their hashtags matched too.
BRINGING TO LIGHT THE INTERNATIONAL PROPAGANDA ON INDIAN ISSUES
Whether it’s the C.A.A-N.R.C protests or even the Statue of Unity, international media has time and again shown it’s pro-left bias.
Reputed news organizations like B.B.C, T.R.T and Al Jazeera have called the Statue a win for Modi’s saffron nationalism. While they have conveniently ignored the tourism revenue potential this brings. On top of that, there was a eerie similarity in all that reporting, which highlighted the angry rants of locals more than the statue itself.
However, it was the citizenship issue that saw a coordinated attack on India. All groups, from Black Lives Matter to Indian American Muslim Council, Hindus for Human Rights, Equity Labs, Shri Guru Ravidas Sabha (New York), Black Lives Matter and the Jewish Voice for Peace coordinated protests in various parts of the US. This went hand in hand with resolutions passed by a number of US states against C.A.A-N.R.C
Additionally,The Wire reported demonstrations between the 17th and 19th of December alone. Indian students from institutions such as Oxford, Sciences Po (Paris), Harvard, Cambridge, Columbia, University of Massachusetts, and many others organised peaceful protests in major cities. These included London, New York, Paris, Washington D.C., Berlin, Geneva, Hague, Barcelona, San Francisco, Tokyo, Amsterdam and Melbourne, Cape Town, Helsinki among other places.
Finally, no one forget the statements by Justin Trudeau supporting the farmer protests. Coincidentally, this came after a controversial decision by Canada. In this decision, it completely scrubbed all references to Sikh and Khalistani extremism. Canada was the most active commentator on the right to peaceful protest. However, no statement came from Trudeau even after the 26th January 2021 debacle. This is a clear reference to the fact that Canada is one of those nations that have actively planned an anti-India and pro-Khalistan propaganda.
FINAL WORDS
This is not in any way a means to malign the movement that’s happening in India. Farmers have peacefully demanded their say and this movement has largely remained peaceful. However, we also need to focus our attention on how slyly, the international media jumps on the bandwagon.
The only difference between the left and right, is the fact the right doesn’t sugarcoat their faults. This makes them an easy target for all. Thus, policies of right wing governments around the world are always under a much more critical eye. Believing that these INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITIES have the good of farmers in their mind, is not the right way to go. We need to understand that international out pour always was and has been a P.R stunt. The document showing the toolkit planning the while Twitter movement is proof of this.