The information war in Sudan | The Listening Post

[Music] Civil War in Sudan and the information vacuum activists are determined to fill tone deaf in Brussels the official birthday greeting sent to Israel and the blowback online plus tunisia's president turns his people against each other by playing the migrant card [Music] hello I'm Richard gisbert and you're at the listening post where we provide explanatory journalism about journalism the Sudanese Capital Khartoum looks like a war zone these days as two generals and their armies fight for control of the country in one corner Abdel fatah al-burhan whose forces helped oppose the former president Omar al-Bashir in 2019. in the other Muhammad hamdan dagalo better known as hemekti leader of a rival Army called the rapid support forces caught in the middle the Sudanese people who despite frequent Internet outages and power Cuts have taken to social media to find safe evacuation routes medical supplies they are also heavily reliant on the efforts of the online resistance committees that led the 2019 Revolution against al-Bashir and are still at work with Al burhan and hametti pushing their own narratives on social media and Jocelyn to control the state-run airwaves the other thing the people of Sudan need right now reliable information has been under siege for days now fighting is erupted between a paramilitary force and the country's Army two warning men in uniform once allies now adversaries hundreds dead hundreds of thousands trying to flee Sudan with the recurring power cuts and Internet outages getting video interviews out of cartoon is not easy the activist we spoke to over WhatsApp describes a capital city gone dark I used to live in amarat the epicenter of the clashes it was one of the worst hit areas in the city and so there was a WhatsApp group where everyone would post updates that was our source of information so once that internet outage happened we lost that no one knew what was happening it was very frightening and disorienting because you're completely caught up we were living in actual darkness and it was just a nightmare in 2019 the Sudanese people had higher hopes after 30 years under the dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir they got organized online and took to the streets eight months of protests and Civil Disobedience later rival military forces turned on al-Bashir and joined the pro-democracy movement teaming up to help take him down and pledging to restore democracy by this year 2023. two years later the respective generals reneged on that promise they've been eyeing each other ever since armed forces and Muhammad hamdan dagalo also known as hametti of the paramilitary group rsf are now engaged in this winner take all fight for the presidency in cartoon the battle between burhan and hemeti is about Supremacy and ultimately it is about who controls Sudan there is also a media war and a narrative war and it is one that hemetzi has been preparing for for a while there are reports that he hired public relations firms out of the Emirates the UAE which gives you a sense of who is supporting um nobody is buying it who's actually Sudanese who knows anything about hermiti and the history of the conflict is much more of a traditional military man and and so his positioning hasn't been nearly as polished as himesis was very focused on presenting himself as a Statesman we're seeing both sides using social media to stake these claims to try and give the impression that they have the upper hand and to try and throw mud at each other suit knees in cartoon and across the country you know they see the contrast between these fine words and Grand claims and the reality of what's unfolding often on the front door steps of their houses or on the streets outside I think it negates the effectiveness of a lot of the messaging that they're trying to do hametti tends to have an interesting message where he views himself as a protector of the democratic movements for change because he comes from a marginalized region of Darfur now this is a real contradiction because he's also inflicted enormous amount of violence against protesters he's also inflicted violence against people of Darfur and not just protesters General hamectis rsf Army the rapid support forces have a genocidal reputation to live down born in the 1980s as a militia known as the janja weed hametti's soldiers Rose to infamy in the early 2000s when they helped Omar al-bashir's government Forces fight a civil war in the southern region of Darfur against non-arabic-speaking separatists there they committed human rights atrocities on an enormous scale doing much of Al bashir's most Sinister work for him one way to keep that narrative and any criticism of the rsf's current military operations out of the mainstream media coverage today is to take control of the state-owned broadcaster Sudan TV which general albertan's troops will not allow without a fight it's a classic move of coups particularly in Africa or the first days of military conflicts that there's a fight for control of the state TV station and that's certainly what happened here is State tv in order to get their message out there but also in recent years I think many Sudanese have turned both to private TV stations and to social media for a lot of their news and I think people discount a lot of what they see on State tv as something that really is one-sided historically there has been a lot of skepticism on the part of Civic movements of these state-backed news outlets at the same time they still get their some of their messages across but it's also countered by an enormous Reliance upon digital methods of communication be that Twitter encrypted networks or what have you where people are cross-checking stories verifying them we need to consider that whenever we talk about social media reach it is really only a small segment of the Sudanese population because internet diffusion is estimated to be maybe 30 percent at most and those that do use social media are typically younger cohorts those that are educated understand English and that are far more media savvy than older cohorts which also means that this is the same demographic that is more inclined or more able to recognize fake news for what it is and to understand how social media and how fake news work the number of times my family members have sent me videos or screenshots of something they've seen that says Hemet has been killed if I had a penny for every time somebody did that I'd be able to fund the evacuation because the amount of misinformation and the amount of rumor and conjecture that that flies around the flow of information is incredibly polluted for a population we're just one in three citizens are online the Sudanese are remarkably organized and highly effective at political networking in 2019 they formed resistance committees on social media that proved crucial in galvanizing protesters to come out against albashir to demand a democratic Sudan those committees remain in place adapting to the times and the needs of the people me and my family when we came to be evacuated from our house the two people who came to save us Enlisted the help of resistant committee members because they knew all the back roads they knew all the Alleyways they knew how to get our friends from point A to point B and they did it calmly and without any Fanfare and me and my family will forever forever be in debt to them the resistance committees are what give me hope in Sudan because they have shown what Sudan can really be and they've shown the power of the Sudanese civilians and the power of collaboration on these hashtags you will find people sharing phone numbers people saying hey I can't contact my uncle I can't contact my dad here is his phone number can you try call him and see if if he's still alive um I need insulin can somebody get it to me over here I'm in this house what's a safe passage it's actually been incredible but the internet service providers in Sudan they tend to be state-owned and any internet access that comes from the state can expose activists and resistance committees to risks so learning from other social movements some may actually opt to organize and and resist offline because it's harder to track and outside the state's surveillance reach through social media and it's these committees that are helping because us to the least have been left behind the ngos the embassies they took care of their own people but the people who are affected the most and the worst were left behind so we have to fend for ourselves but we always have and the resistance committees are a big part of that and whatever happens they can no longer be sidelined they need to be part and parcel of any talks any negotiations they have the right to that seat at the table more than other parties which begs the question on the part of Sudanese citizens dodging the bullets and bombs in cartoon what table negotiations on where the country goes from here seem to be a long way off and democracy which appeared Within Reach just a few years ago is nowhere in sight this past week marked the 75th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel it is a divisive Milestone the state's founding involved the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the words that one European official chose to Mark the occasion have come back to haunt her Meenakshi Ravi is here with the details thanks Richard in sending birthday greetings to Israel the president of the European commission Ursula Wonderland posted this video message 75 years ago a dream was realized with Israel's independence day describing Israel's creation as its independence day is controversial to start given that it also marked the nakba or the catastrophe of the ethnic cleansing of an estimated 750 000 Palestinians from their land to make way for the new state Wonderland's message made no mention of the nakba or of Palestinians and the controversy didn't end there today we celebrate 75 years of vibrant democracy in the heart of the Middle East you have literally made the Desert Bloom that last claim which has been around for decades implies that Palestinians were incapable of basic cultivation Palestinian officials described it as a racist Trope and Wonderland was eviscerated online there were multiple Twitter threads analyzing and breaking down the message inaccuracy by inaccuracy on that Desert Bloom claim there were photos and reports about Olive Grove's cultivated by Palestinians you have literally made the Desert Bloom and then burned down by the Israeli state there have also been accusations of hypocrisy in her 92nd statement Wonderland never mentioned Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land even though she's been highly critical of Russia occupying territory in Ukraine when we contacted Wonderland's office it sent us a statement saying the EU is unpleasantly surprised by the inappropriate statement from the Palestinians they also described it as quote unacceptable before adding that deu supports the idea of a Palestinian State apparently though the 75th anniversary of Israel's creation is not the time to do that thanks Mina to Tunisia now where president kais Syed continues his Crackdown on critical voices Rashad ganucci the leader of the opposition and nocta movement is now in jail when Syed dissolved Parliament back in 2021 and NAFTA was the country's most popular political party ever since syed's so-called self-coo though he's gone after his critics effectively neutered the legal system and brought the Tunisian news media to heal roughly two months ago his messaging took a turn to the xenophobic tapping into a racist conspiracy theory Syed accused African migrants of invading Tunisia of attempting to change the country's demographic makeup his words triggered waves of violence against tunisia's black community many of whom have since lost their jobs their homes or been forced to flee the country the listening posts Tarak now for now on the racist rhetoric coming out of Tunis and how hard it is to counter that I mean large numbers of illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa violence crime and acceptable practices into just another African country divorced from its Arab and Islamic roots and this loaded language forms part of an official speech to tunisia's National Security Council a meeting held two months ago to address the country's apparent migrant crisis it was racist rhetoric invoking a theory of great replacement and it was delivered by tunisia's President ice Syed it was the most shocking statement we'd heard since gaisaeed took power in his coup d'etat words are clear he talks about conspiracy he talks about colonization he talks about crime and violence perpetrated by immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa stereotypes these people saying that they're part of a conspiracy to replace tunisians you never expect the head of state to come out and say the things that he said do you specific terminology to describe the situation and to completely discard the consequences that might occur following that speech it doesn't look like he took his time to think about his words or what he's saying or the implications if the president's word sounded like something a spokesperson for tunisia's Far Right nationalist party might say it's because they were social media was Awash with misinformation and conspiracy theories about the supposed toll migrants from countries like Mali Ivory Coast and guinea were taking on Tunisia leading that charge the country's nationalist party party nationalist Tunisian which posted a detailed study advancing the conspiracy that black immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa were arriving in droves out to replace the country's Arab majority population it was just weeks between the publication of that study and the president's speech Tunisian nationalist party was campaigning hard about sub-Saharan immigration High Society took this idea an idea that wasn't yet in the media and he put it there is been a normalization of anti-immigration discourse racist discourse and this theory about the great replacement is now taking hold as being debated on radio and TV shows in this TV exchange the journalist does the bare minimum to challenge the leader of the Nationalist party and suddenly you see that they've given the floor to someone who defends great replacement Theory as if it were a legitimate idea these extremists platform in which they could voice their racist I just identophobic ideas people who don't have the full picture of what migrants go through Tunisia people who just treat it as if it was in like a normal debate as if we're debating things that don't have actual effects on other people's lives but they do black migrants in Tunisia are facing a massive spike in hate crime the impact on the approximately 21 000 black African migrants in Tunisia was immediate reports of racially charged harassment have multiplied in recent weeks speech and the racist discourse that developed advocacy in human rights groups have documented a marked increase in cases of migrants being targeted attacked and arrested by police authorities never responded to our request for an interview but following his speech Zaire did deliver a joint press conference with the president of Guinea bissau in which he denied the accusations of racism he saw Africa tulips all countries of sub-Saharan Africa were legitimately asking for an apology but it wasn't an apology is [Music] instead Syed accused those who oppose him critical journalists those he sees as challenging his ideas of misunderstanding him looking out against the Syed government takes guts in the wake of the president's 2021 power grab in which he devolved Parliament decimated the Judiciary and jailed top opposition figures journalists have rallied together in solidarity to protest the increasingly repressive media environment the president Came Out Swinging is and the assault on the media has only intensified enabled by a controversial new law decree 54 introduced last September decree 54s deliberately vague wording punishes journalists who publish quote fake news that might harm Public Safety National Security or spread Terror and gives authorities license to interpret that at their discretion it's a threat hanging over journalists nowadays they risk 10 years in prison as well as tens of thousands of dnrs and fines if they're charged with criticizing those in power or if they question the information they spread the cree 54 has created a climate of fear in the media is especially after the arrest of nuritin bhutar the director of tunisia's privately owned Mosaic Cafe and it stops reporters from discussing certain subjects or being too critical of the authorities out of fear of being pursued and imprisoned like so many opposition figures nowadays they can file complaints against journalists saying that they're spreading rumors and harmful information and as a result self-censorship develops there are media Outlets where the space for sub-Saharan immigrants and for black tunisians is protected where they can develop their narrative but this is negligible compared to the weapon of mass broadcasting the president has at his disposal as well as the legal Arsenal that can be used to repress journalists this culture of fear and repression the Crackdown on both undocumented migrants and the media attempting to tell their story has transformed Tunisia a country which Prides itself on being the first Muslim Nation to abolish slavery and which in 2011 gave birth to the Earth spring as the country's financial crisis worsens and the president's popularity wanes sahayed seems to be scapegoating black migrants before his speech racism in Tunisia existed but was barely spoken of now it's been laid bare that speech weakened an already very fragile community in Tunisia it's very damaging because it implicitly says you're not really Tunisian if you're black you don't fit the mold of what a Tunisian is in the collective imagination anti-blackness is deeply rooted in history it's a history that has never been acknowledged or addressed so it makes sense that in 2023 we would face said such a crisis and we would hear such a narrative and finally just six days after Fox News bought its way out of a defamation lawsuit at a price of close to 800 million dollars the network fired its most popular presenter Tucker Carlson Carlson is known for messing with the facts regurgitating conspiracy theories he knows to be false and for demonizing immigrants he's also trashed other networks for putting out fake news which coming from anyone at Fox is a bit Rich we'll leave you now with how the news of Carlson's firing rippled across American television screens from rival news channels to late night comedians there seems to be a distinct lack of empathy out there we'll see you next time here at the listening Coast we have some news from within our Fox Family Fox news media and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways Tucker's last show was this past Friday he was a Network's most popular Prime Time host and one of the most influential conservative media voices on the air if there is a a Fox News household name and it is probably him he is I I would say the best known of the fox hosts here in the United States without doubt that's right Fox News has severed bow ties with Tucker Carlson after all these years they are parting ways uh which means he was fired I mean that's really what party weighs me so this is more like an episode of succession than last night's episode of succession The Wall Street Journal reported that Tucker Carlson's vulgar offensive messages about his colleagues helped seal his fate at Fox News Fox couldn't have cared less when Tucker was saying vulgar offensive stuff on television about other people but when he said it in private about Fox News Executives they were suddenly outraged some people aren't sure what led to his exit but fox said they can think of almost a billion reasons why thank you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 247,064

Keywords: Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera English, africa, al Jazeera, al jazeera English, al jazeera live, al jazeera video, aljazeera, aljazeera English, aljazeera latest, aljazeera live, aljazeera live news, conflict, israel, latest news, media, middle east, nakba, news headlines, palestine, racism, sudan, the listening post, tunisia

Id: EOhYS_cGGnY

Length: 24min 57sec (1497 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 29 2023