Disinformation Symposium: A Defining Moment

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :

Disinformation Symposium: A Defining Moment

— halifaxsymposium.ca, June 14, 2004 —

The question of disinformation through the mass media since 9/11 has become a prominent question in the world, the more so following the two successive "mea culpas" published during May by the New York Times on its coverage of the war on Iraq.

Saying the newspaper was duped by "the cunning campaign" of those at the Pentagon who wanted the world to believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, Times executive Daniel Okrent wrote, "some stories pushed Pentagon assertions so aggressively one could almost sense the military rankings on the shoulders of editors."

From June 30 to July 4, prominent academics, journalists, film-makers, publishers, professionals from diverse specialties — as well as media, labour, environmental, youth and First Nations activists — will be converging on Nova Scotia to participate in The Halifax International Symposium on Media and Disinformation.

"It is the first conference to be held in the world on this defining issue for humanity," says co-chair Tony Seed, editor and publisher of Nova Scotia’s shunpiking magazine and of the Dossier on Palestine, and a former features writer with the Toronto Globe and Mail. Along with CKDU Radio at Dalhousie [University] and the Dominion Paper, an Internet/print newspaper, the three Halifax-based media outlets have been working to prepare the Symposium for the past seven months.

With the backing of such national organisations as the Confederation of Canadian Unions and the Canadian Islamic Congress, including a broad section of student media and indymedia web sites and virtually all Palestinian organisations in Canada — the Symposium is to debate and examine the modus operandi of disinformation. The conference is for both the media and the public and meant to be inclusive. "Every view on disinformation is valid," says Mr. Seed.

"The response from around the world to the Symposium’s call is phenomenal," he adds. Noam Chomsky, the famed professor at MIT, writer or co-author since 1969 of more than 80 books, including Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, joined many other prominent media analysts from several continents in endorsing and sponsoring the Symposium.

With a combination of evening public forums and daily general sessions, the symposium’s program on disinformation touches on 9/11 and the war on terror; Islam and the "clash of civilisations"; nation building and Gaelic and First Nations language rights; Cuba, Venezuela and Latin America; the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine; First Nations and Colonial Justice; the environment (from the international fisheries to Depleted Uranium); the dignity of labour; and, of course, issues of journalism and communication.

To date, apart from those coming to participate, listen and learn, 43 individual speakers/participants have already confirmed their intentions to present at the Symposium in the Nova Scotian capital.

They hail from all across Canada and the United States, Ireland, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, South Asia, Palestine and Africa.

They include Prof. Bruce Wark of the University of Kings College School of Journalism and a former Senior editor with the CBC and Producer of Media File, a weekly network program that reported on issues concerning journalism and the media. "Disinformation or propaganda are now an intrinsic part of the structure of mainstream news," he says.

The Symposium also aims to bring to the world the voices of those marginalised by disinformation and validate them.

The Symposium opens at the FASS Building, Dalhousie University with a Ceilidh featuring Gaelic, Mi’kmaq and Afro Nova Scotian performing artists, Wednesday, June 30 at 7:00 p.m. and continues through to Sunday, July 4.

Major forums are held every evening at 7 p.m.

The Canada Day Evening Public Forum is on the theme of "Ending Colonial Justice — Affirming First Nations’ Sovereignty." Keynote Speakers are Pearl Bonspille, spokesperson of Kanewake, outside Montreal; Splitting the Sky, a leader of the major Gustafsen Lake, BC stand-off in 1995; Dr. Anthony Hall, author of The American Empire and the Fourth World; and Prof. Andrea Bear Nicholas, chair of Native Studies, St. Thomas University, one of Canada’s foremost authorities on the linguicide of First Nations’ languages.

On July 2 the Evening Public Forum examines the question of "Islam, Jihad and the ‘Clash of Civilisations.’" Keynote speakers include Dr. Mohamed Elmasry, national president, Canadian Islamic Congress, and Dr. Jaspal Singh and Hassan Abbas, from Harvard/MIT and the Fletcher School of Diplomacy.

On July 3 the Evening Public Forum examines the Dignity and Rights of Labour with featured speaker Rolf Gerstenberger, president of the 11,000-member Stelco local of the United Steelworkers of America in Hamilton, ON.

Leuren Moret, Environmental Commissioner of the City of Berkeley and a prominent campaigner against the international use of Depleted Uranium, will also speak on "Spin and Counter-Spin on the Environment."