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Splendor and misery... of propagandists. Op-Ed by Victor Pelin


https://www.ipn.md/en/splendor-and-misery-of-propagandists-op-ed-by-victor-pelin-7978_1076914.html

„...The disdain for the propagandists’ activity is so big that even the very influential authoritarian leaders whom they serve cannot stand their servility, humiliating them in public and confirming a very well-known truth – the propagandists don’t speak, they grunt. Regrettably, this is the said truth...”
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Nomadism of propagandists

Any electoral campaign is an occasion for celebrating for the propagandists. Dozens of mercenaries who call themselves political scientists, sociologists and experts, have invaded the public sphere, polishing the images of their principals and denigrating their opponents. Evidently, the mercenaries don’t perform for charity. They earn their existence. And they do this without emotions, according to an old formula – he who pays the piper calls the tune. The sums paid to propagandists are classed as commercial secret and should not interest us. What matters is obscure origin of the money paid by the principals to the propagandists to compensate these for their efforts and moral damage. The extent of damage is reflected by the red lamps of the studios affiliated to electoral competitions.

Currently, the charm of the moment derives from the nomadism of the propagandists who have to migrate from one principal to another. In this regard, ex-Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu was right when he said philosophically that life is changeable, after the seven Turkish teachers who educated, including children of the Moldovan elites, were traded for a grant intended for the repair of the Presidential Palace. The profiles of the propagandists who served the interests of the oligarch – executive coordinator of the government Vlad Palhotniuc – and who appeared to justify the transaction became more evident then. It was embarrassing, but remunerative.

In the current campaign prior to the presidential elections, the cohorts of the propagandists look very pale, evidently due to the ‘wear degree’. It couldn’t have been different after we saw that the same persons served all the “kings” in turn and now serve “the red king”. Indeed, we have among the current propagandists persons who served the national idea at the start of the 1990s, working for the editorial offices of patriotic newspapers and then serving Vladimir Voronin’s Communists and then the executive coordinator Vlad Palhotniuc and now wandering through the studios affiliated to the Socialists. There are specimens who switched over for more than three times from one European party to another, promoting the national idea, including unionism, but now walk through the same studios affiliated to the Socialists. These are only several examples. The “wear degree” of the others is less visible, but they are anyway easily identifiable.

Surely, this is life. Times passes and the principals or masters change as they are either removed from politics or become fugitives. In such circumstances, the “wear degree” of the propagandists appears on their faces similar to the portrait of Dorian Gray. That’s why we should remain human and have an indulgent attitude to them as supply to distort things and people’s minds will not exist in the absence of demand.


Bringing a knife to a gunfight

The mentioned propagandists also have a labile character as they can be easily influenced by the financial potential of the principal. Propagandists with principles and values, who serve not one politician or another, but a whole Russian imperial movement, which is represented by the Moldovan branch of the Izborsk Club, become more conspicuous against such a background. The activity of some of these propagandists is extremely useful because it is not camouflaged. They put such trenchant questions as, where does the opposition parties take money from? This helps us to understand where the party of the Russian imperial movement takes money from. And this matters a lot! Especially because the indoctrinated propagandist recently asked the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) to investigate the services provided by political technologists of Romania for political opponents of candidate Igor Dodon and the sources of financing of these.

The given request looks like an act of revenge given that reference is made to press reports. But the propagandist overlooks the
famous saying: People living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones at others! The truth is the main opoonents of this, and of Igor Dodon, do not live in castles whose cost against the declared incomes cannot be justified. In such circumstances, for example, Igor Dodon, who has held public posts for 15 years, had to say that he bought a castle with the relatives’ money. From this viewpoint, the request to the SIS is welcome and the SIS should detach itself from the settling of scores between political opoonents and should seriously investigate the dangers to national security deriving from our elites involved in obscure businesses, but what is more important, it should investigate these dangers. For instance:

  • Legality of sources of financing of the parties of the power and the opposition;

  • Legality of the activity of the branch of the Russian imperial movement on the country’s territory and the sources of financing this;

  • Legality of the activity of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), whose leaders supported the referendum of February 2, 2014 in Gagauzia within which the entry into the Customs Union and the delayed independence of the region were proclaimed; 

  • Investigation of the sources of financing for organizing the referendum that in 2014 gave the start of the so-called Russian Spring that is to end with the annexation by Russia of the so-called Novorossiya, including the territories up to the mouth of the Danube;     

  • Organizational connection between the referendum in Gagauzia and that in Crimea, which was held on March 16, 2014, on the annexation of Crimea, which was publicly supported by the PSRM and Igor Dodon;

  • Direct involvement by members of the Russian imperial movement in the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas;

  • Recent subversive actions by members of the Isborsk Club against the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, etc.          

All these aspects should be investigated by the SIS so as to understand where the dangers to Moldova’s security derive from and what the role of the propagandists in maintaining and aggravating these dangers is. So, we support an objective investigation and hope a lot that the SIS officers will launch it as soon as possible.   

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that the fate of propagandists is not enviable. It’s true that some of the wisest of them enrich themselves fabulously. However, we convince ourselves that they are not at peace with themselves and seem disorderly, especially when the press inquires about their property. It happens because, even if they declare that they serve (page 8) the interests of the Russian imperial movement, they refuse to declare the financial contributions of this to their wellbeing. Does anyone believe that a whole imperial movement does not remunerate its soldiers? Furthermore, the disdain for the propagandists’ activity is so big that even the very influential authoritarian leaders whom they serve cannot stand their servility, humiliating them in public and confirming a very well-known truth – the propagandists don’t speak, they grunt. Regrettably, this is the said truth.