“Propaganda,” Hitler’s chief propagandist declared, “works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will”. This, together with the insight that many people will simply go along with and not challenge a movement that seems socially dominant – the Mitläufer phenomenon, translating literally as one who walks with – explains a great deal about why extremists and autocrats are so keen to use people of good faith to amplify their evil ideas.
March for Australia protesters in Sydney.Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
The Chinese Communist Party celebrated its military might and propaganda nous this week, with the help of Western leaders. Former Victorian premier Dan Andrews was depicted striding, hand outstretched, towards Chinese dictator Xi Jinping. Later he posed for a photo alongside the Chinese leader and his Russian, Iranian, and North Korean counterparts at a military parade.
Andrews’ insistence that he acted in Australia’s interests is precisely what makes him so useful to Beijing – propaganda works best when its subjects believe themselves sovereign. The assembled autocrats got to show their citizens and the world that an influential Australian is untroubled by their agendas and the CCP vision.
It’s been a big year for bad actors manufacturing images of consent. Last week, ASIO revealed that some of the most frightening recent antisemitic attacks in Australia were part of a mischief campaign, directed by Iran, with the objective of destabilising our social cohesion. That these attacks are now recognised to have been orchestrated and not spontaneous expressions of endemic antisemitism is some comfort, but it just exposes Iran as the clumsiest among a wide range of opportunists.
When 90,000 Sydneysiders marched onto the Harbour Bridge to protest against the war in Gaza, a range of provocateurs joined the crowd. The most visible of these was someone who held up a large placard of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the architect of the Iranian Revolution. Khomeini was responsible for turning the course of liberalisation in Iran around, asserting and leading an Islamic republic which represses women, deploys child soldiers, promotes an anti-Western and antisemitic world view, and believes in a global Islamic empire.
Julian Assange and Craig Foster took part in the pro-Palestinian rally across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on August 3. In the background, a protester carries a picture of the Ayatollah Khomeini.Credit: Getty Images
The placard remained behind the prominent protesters who led the march for long enough that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, former NSW premier and foreign minister Bob Carr, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi and former Socceroo Craig Foster were photographed with it. The placement of the Ayatollah placard was without doubt a deliberate attempt to imply that prominent Australians endorsed the Iranian revolutionary objectives.
It was not the only piece of attempted propaganda at the March for Humanity. People with knowledge of the symbols claim to have identified flags linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In response to my enquiry two days after the march over the Harbour Bridge, Sydney City Police Area Command confirmed that they were investigating the identity of a woman with a swastika placard, as well as stills, videos of flags and chants from the march.
In one video on social media, titled Together till we march on Quds, a protester tells viewers that “we are with them in the struggle until Palestine and Al-Aqsa are liberated”. Quds refers to Jerusalem, the city sacred to all three Abrahamic religions. Al-Aqsa is a mosque in the old city of Jerusalem, which holds special significance for Muslims. It is located on the Temple Mount, a holy place to Jews and Christians.
