( Das kam gerade ueber meine mail)
FYI
We would like to invite you to attend an event we are hosting in the New Theatre, Connolly Books, Temple Bar, on Saturday January 29th at 3pm to launch a study we had commissioned in the European Parliament. This is a really important issue for anti-war activists and has a strong bearing on our neutrality. We would love if you could make it-
Rhetoric and Reality of Disinformation in the European Union
by Joshua Rahtz & Anne Zetsche
Study for The Left in the European Parliament
The "foreign interference" narrative is the new frontier of pro-war disinformation from the EU establishment. Pervasive since 2016, the narrative scapegoats Russia and China for the crisis of legitimacy of the EU institutions, imagining so-called "hybrid threats" everywhere, and silencing political opposition with accusations of "collusion" with foreign powers.
The European Parliament's "INGE" special committe on "foreign interference" epitomises this wave of Cold War revivalism, and the culture of neo-McCarthyism that is taking hold in European politics. Crammed with EU foreign policy hawks and "experts" from NATO think tanks, the committee functions as a platform to launder disinformation into EU policy, stoking the flames of war and driving public funds into defence spending.
NATO is, for Irish purposes, a foreign entity, and the dissemination of NATO disinformation in Ireland via European Parliament committees should be seen as a form of interference in Irish democracy. And yet the Irish establishment has swallowed the "foreign interference" narrative hook, line and sinker, with the Taoiseach levelling smears of complicity with Russia against opposition benches, and regular fearmongering from the state broadcaster and Irish newspapers.
If "foreign interference" propaganda is not robustly challenged in Ireland, it will be used to demolish Irish neutrality, marginalise the anti-war left and integrate Ireland further into NATO and EU defence structures. This study documents the web of mercenary Atlanticist think tanks and other sources of motivated "expertise" which are used by European establishment political parties in the INGE committee to construct a false narrative that Europe is constantly under attack, to justify authoritarian security policy and dangerous geopolitical escalation.
We hope to have one of the authors present and myself and Mick will present some of the issues in relation to the latest developments in the European Parliament in this area. The launch will take no more than an hour, with a chat over a glass of wine after it.
All the best
Clare
PS: Feel free to distribute this invite to others who might be interested.