Later this year, the government of Zimbabwe will be hosting the “8th Pan African Congress Part 1 (8PAC1)”. On Saturday, March 11, more than 350 people attended the The Fourth Preparatory Meeting for the 8PAC1 that lasted five hours discussing the agenda item:
ESTABLISHMENT OF A PAN AFRICAN TV AND RADIO STATION/NETWORK
Nearly all organized efforts have a system of propaganda to convert people to their principles and get them to support them. Western Media, especially CNN, BBC, etc. has been and continues to be the highest form of systemic propaganda. That is why it is able in a major sense, to control the mind of the people of the world.Therefore, we must organize our propaganda to undo the propaganda of other people through a Pan African TV and Radio network that can rival CNN, BBC, etc.
LISTEN TO H.E. AMBASSADOR ARIKANA CHIHOMBORI-QUAO DISCUSS THE PROPOSAL FOR A PAN AFRICAN TV AND RADIO NETWORK WITH DELEGATES
During the meeting, 8PAC1 Coordinator Siphiwe Baleka emphasized the message in Marcus Garvey’s Course of African Philosophy: Lesson 16 Propaganda that serves as the rationale for establishing a Pan African TV network:
“Propaganda means to propagate or to make known extensively some particular phase of human intelligence. The desire is to convert or influence the people to the acceptance of the truth of that particular intelligence that is sought to be spread among them. Propaganda can be true or false in its origin or intent; but it is always directed at the public for the purpose of winning the support of that public to the sentiment expressed in the propaganda. . . . Nearly all organized efforts have a system of propaganda to convert people to their principles and get them to support them even though there may be no merit behind it all. Propaganda is all around you; to make you buy a special brand of cigarettes, although no good, but advertised to be the best; to make you drink or use a certain brand of tea; telling you of its wonderful qualities and its everlasting benefits when thee is absolutely nothing to it, and so on. . . . The press, cinema, pulpit, schoolroom are all propaganda agencies for one thing or the other. The pulpit carries religious propaganda, the schoolroom carries educational propaganda, the press carries out written propaganda, the platform carries on oral propaganda, the cinema carries out demonstrative propaganda. These methods have been devised by the white man to spread his ideas universally among men. That is why he is able in a major sense, to control the mind of the people of the world. The white man is a great propagandist. He fully and completely realizes the value of propaganda. Therefore, you must organize your propaganda to undo the propaganda of other people; if their propaganda affects your interest. . . . Tear up and burn every bit of propaganda that does not carry your idea of things. Treat them as trash. . . . You should always match propaganda with propaganda.”
Mr. Baleka likened television networks such as CNN and BBC to “fighter jets” and social media networks to “anti-aircraft artillery”. In his analogy, Mr. Baleka stated,
“Why do we need a Pan African TV station? Right now, African people at home and abroad are making great use of social media because the barrier to entry is very low. Anyone can do it from anywhere. So we are using our social media anti-aircraft artillery to partially nufflify the CNN and BBC jet fighters in the propaganda war for the minds of people. But foreigners, because they have these television networks, they have air superiority. . . We can win some of the media battles with our social media, but if we want to win the media war, the propaganda war, we need our own fighter jets, equal or better than the foreigners. We should not be afraind or limit our thinking to just the low hanging fruit of social media and winning sporadic battles over the narratives….”
Michael Thompson, founder of the Our Black Truch (OBT) and related platforms, gave an overview of the his Pan African social media system that will replace Facebook, Youtube, etc. Security issue related to the internet and social media were also discussed.
Council of Pan African Diaspora Elders Baba Baya added,
“Just wanted to suggest that we also pursue a Pan-African wire service to provide articles and commentaries to various newspapers throughout the Diaspora. There is a Pan-African news service already in existence however it is western socialist oriented. If the TV/Radio is the jet fighter, then the newspaper is the ground force. We have thousands of community newspapers throughout the Diaspora in French, Spanish, Portuguese and English-speaking community newspapers in the Diaspora community. A Pan-African news service that has access to online newspapers as well as conventional newspapers might also offer us a steady ability to shape our narrative at the community level. In many regions of the Diaspora, communities still read newspapers. We might want to include this as part of the conversation when it comes to us controlling the narrative.”
One of the outcomes of the meeting was the formation of the Pan African TV and Radio Committee for the 8PAC1. There is now a Citizenship Committee, a Technology Committee, an AU 6th Region Headquarters Committee, a Fund and Bank Committee, and a Youth Committee as well as a Council of Pan African Diaspora Elders.