Nothing wrong with patriotic education

By Bi Yantao (China Daily)

Many Chinese have demonstrated their patriotism by responding appropriately to Japanese right-wing activists' provocations over the Diaoyu Islands dispute. Chinese students are inculcated with patriotism as part of their education, and some Western media demonize the system as brainwashing because of ulterior motives.

Patriotic education is at the core of a country's strategy to realize its goals. To build a better country, citizens have to love and be faithful to their history and culture, for it enhances their spirit to fight for the country. After the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the government made patriotic education an effective means to integrate resources and create consensus.

The United States, which advocates democracy and freedom, lays stronger emphasis on patriotic education. A survey conducted in 18 developed countries in the West shows that Americans express the greatest pride in and are most willing to fight for their country.

US politicians believe diplomacy, information, military and the economy are the four pillars of national strength. Exhibiting patriotic fervor, for Americans, is a way of reflecting their national strength and gaining the respect of the international community. One of the responsibilities of the US under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs is to disseminate the country's major diplomatic decisions and activities among Americans.

In the US, patriotic education can be found everywhere. Students in public schools salute the national flag and take oaths of allegiance to their country everyday. The US judiciary and social elites both support the oath-taking ceremony, although some religious figures have expressed dissatisfaction with it.

After the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, the US administration saw to it that patriotic education got a boost. The education strategy for 2002-07, issued by the US Federal Department of Education, reiterates America's resolve to inculcate its citizens with high-quality patriotic spirit.

The US' patriotic education includes history, civics, national ceremonies, crisis management and culture. That citizens should feel they are loved and protected by their country is a prerequisite for patriotic education, and the US sets a good example in this regard.

As a mark of respect to and to commemorate the soldiers killed in the line of duty, the US has inscribed their names on walls and monuments across the country. These memorials not only salute the soldiers who died for the country, but also inspire Americans to fight for their country. Every anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks is marked by a memorial service at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, which demonstrates the respect that the US administration has for them. Hollywood movies, too, play an important role in American patriotic education. US brand expert Simon Anholt once said movies, music, art and literature play a significant role in shaping the image of the country. Many movies made or sponsored by the US military foster the myth that the US armed forces are invincible.

The US administration uses school education, pop culture and political propaganda to make Americans believe that the US' global leadership is unshakable. Thus many Americans are proud of the US' identity as the "world police", and are convinced the "China threat" theory is a reality rather than a figment of some Western leaders' and experts' imagination.

So high has been ordinary Americans' perception of the US' superiority that the administration cannot deal with their disappointment now that the US' global influence is in continuous decline.

For Americans, patriotism has a real meaning. During the war in Iraq, an American journalist was fired for challenging the US army. At the beginning of 2005, Voice of America planned to shift its newsroom to Hong Kong, which required hiring eight editors from Hong Kong. But the plan was shot down because patriotic Americans insisted that the editors have to be US citizens who have undergone security checks and proved that they can protect the country's interests.

Americans have to undergo security checks before getting the clearance to access confidential information. Not only military US intelligence agency personnel, diplomats and governments at all levels, but also private organizations that work for or cooperate with the government require security clearance.

Moreover, participants in some conferences, too, have to get security clearance, and employees with security clearance are paid much higher salaries than others in some important institutes. Before giving security clearance to a person, the authorities check his/her background and determine his/her patriotic spirit.

So there is nothing wrong if China, as a socialist country, believes that common faith and value can connect community members and propel reform and development. And US politicians, who manipulate national consensus to protect their interests, should not blame China for imparting patriotic education to students.

The author is director of the Center for Communication Studies, Hainan University.

(China Daily SEP 21, 2012 page9)

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2012-09/21/content_15772327.htm

The rising impact of social media

The rising impact of social media

By Bi Yantao ( China Daily)

The recent Israel-Palestine conflict has highlighted the importance of new media in a war. On Nov 14, Israeli defense forces launched "Operation Pillar of Defense" both on the traditional and virtual battlefields, with the Palestinians fighting back on both fronts. It is thus more than evident that social media have become the second front in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Warfare in the information age has changed dramatically. Traditionally, media campaigns have served only as a supplementary tool in a war. But today, the media play a crucial role in influencing world opinion and winning support.

To win wars in the information age, the United States has explored and exploited all possible options. In the Iraq War, the US army used an "embedded" information control strategy, allowing more than 600 journalists from around the world to cover news along with the combat troops. In fact, "embedded coverage" is a well-designed media experiment for using the media to give the world the US military version of a war.

With the advances made in information and communication technology, and given the popularity of new media, political and military campaigns have widely used social media. Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution" showed how important a role social media can play in promoting political change. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, social media have been weaponized, which should be seen as the result of the evolution of warfare technology.

Because of its special national conditions, Israel has attached great importance to projecting its image since its foundation, though initially it mainly focused on the state's religious significance for Jews.

In 2005, with the help of American marketing executives, Israel launched "Brand Israel", a campaign to "rebrand" the country's image as "relevant and modern" instead of militaristic and religious. Now, Israelis and Palestinians both are trying to legitimize their policies and operations.

In October 2000, the Palestinians and Israelis resorted to cyber warfare for the first time. One year later, both sides extended the cyber war to the psychological and media battlefields. Israel said it was "disadvantaged" in this regard because of the lack of collaboration between the media and the government and because it was not well-prepared for a new type of war. Soon Israel established the National Information Directorate to coordinate between the media and different wings of the government, turning it into a platform for cooperation among all the agencies that deal with communication relations and public diplomacy. This automatically accorded social media a special status.

In December 2008, Israel's defense forces opened a military channel on YouTube. A year later, social media began playing an important and distinct role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And in 2010, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spent $15 million for research into and application of social media.

Apart from seeking advice from US specialized agencies, the Israeli Foreign Ministry recruited civil Web specialists to participate in a secret social media war. At the same time, it encouraged patriotic personalities to help the government reshape the image of the country. These non-military, non-governmental Web specialists used the garb of ordinary Internet users to help project Israel's new image. Besides, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has also distributed a large number of pro-Israel photographs and videos among its citizens on the understanding that they would post them online.

The US is Israel's preferred target market to exert influence, followed by Russia and Europe. But Israelis and Palestinians have now opened a "battlefield" on China's twitter-like website of weibo, too. Israel is making greater efforts, though, to influence the movers and shakers across the world.

Through various new media platforms, such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr, Israelis and Palestinians are trying to influence public narrative by providing "facts" to their respective liking. However, these media operations are part of a propaganda war, which mixes unverified network information with lies, slander, deceit and intimidation to manipulate people's perceptions.

Social media are inexpensive and easily accessible, and can be used by anyone to publish anything. Compared with the traditional media, social media are more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility. In the foreseeable future, all wars will be accompanied by media wars to cover each period and corner.

Like traditional warfare, social media war also has strategic, campaign and tactical goals. So it should be evaluated according to different timings and events. But a social media war is a protracted war that demands constant resources and weapons. Otherwise, it will not produce the desired result.

In the public opinion war, Israelis have gained an upper hand because of their preparedness and proper strategies and tactics. In the war to gain the international community's support, a government must play an absolutely dominant role - it cannot expect to win a media war by being overly dependent on spontaneous civic actions.

The media war will continue as long as there are conflicts of interests between countries. China, too, faces opportunities and challenges in the age of information technology, and has to strengthen its communication capabilities and upgrade its concepts and models to communicate with the rest of the world.

In 2006, former US president George W. Bush coined the term, "kinetic action", which is a euphemism for "use of force". After that, "non-kinetic operation" began to appear frequently in US military files. To me, "non-kinetic power" means the strength to persuade, allure and coerce targeted countries (or organizations) to cooperate with the US. Therefore, China should make "non-kinetic action" an important part of its foreign operations.

China's peaceful rise depends on whether it can effectively integrate its official and unofficial, and military and non-military resources. In other words, promoting institutional innovation and establishing mechanisms to absorb the wisdom of the people is very important for China's peaceful rise.

The author is director of the Center for Communication Studies, Hainan University.

(China Daily NOV 30, 2012, page 9)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2012-11/30/content_15973168.htm

Profile of Prof. BI Yantao

BI Yantao (Mr.) is an independent observer, nonpartisan freelancer and communication professor based in mainland China. Born in Shandong Province in eastern China, Yantao received education in China, UK and Ireland. His major research areas are strategic  communication, political communication and discourse analysis.

Born into a farmer family, BI Yantao holds the firm belief that China needs a stronger civil society to ensure an improved relationship between the government and the people, to combat bureaucracy and corruption. That is why in recent years Yantao has been making every effort to help empower the grassroots organizations in China.

BI Yantao deems that political communication studies can benefit both the elites and the grassroots. To impart the knowledge and techniques he has accumulated these years, Yantao has been working as Director of Center for Communication Studies, Hainan University, China, since he founded the Center December 2004.

To promote exchange and cooperation among communication researchers, BI Yantao established Daizong Meditation Room at the foot of Mt. Taishan in 2008. As the first non-profit research center of its kind in China, Daizong Meditation Room is designed to promote the political communication studies in China and advance the democratization of the socialist country. It is open to all interested researchers over the world, free of charge.

To verify and enahnce his expertise, Yantao has been active in different kinds of social movement. Prof. BI is now Director for Asian Affairs, Global Unification International (GUI), an NGO headquartered in Australia. In the meantime, he works as a consultant for several other entities.

As a consistent advocate of freedom of expression in China, Yantao is a diligent writer. He is a contributing author of Global Voices Online. Meanwhile, he writes for dozens of influential Chinese websites and journals. As of Februrary 2013 he has published 10 books and more than 500 articles in print media of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, UK, USA, Canada and Germany.

"Mastery of effective communication techinues is a prerequisite to realize our targets at lower costs.”

China's major English news websites

by BI Yantao, China

1. China Daily: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

2. China's Web: http://www.china.org.cn/

3. Xinhua (English): http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/index.htm

4. CCTV English: http://english.cctv.com/index.shtml

5. People's Daily (English): http://english.people.com.cn/

6. Eastday (Shanghai): http://english.eastday.com/e/db/u1a4040423.html

Rural Chinese woman attends Int’l conference

By Bi Yantao, China

An international conference on Struggle Against Sexism and Racism is to be held in London January 31 to February 8, 2009. More than 150 participants from 21 countries will attend it.

The 10-day conference consists of 5 five seminars to discuss respectively:

1. Grassroots Struggle Against Sexism and Racism: an International Comparison;
2. Our Debt to Haitians – the First to Abolish Slavery;
3. Rape and Prostitution – A Question of Consent;
4. Invest In Caring, Not Killing: Valuing the Work of Caring for People and the Planet;
5. Rediscovering Tanzania’s Ujamaa –Tribute to the Great Ntimbanjayo Millinga and the Ruvuma Development Association.

This conference is organized by Global Women Strike and International Women Count Network, two grassroots organizations which are headquartered in London.

The organizers say, “Mothers who produce all the workers of the world are not considered contributors to the economy and must fight for every penny to feed families. Some are fighting to survive floods, droughts or other climate catastrophes. Others are separated from their children. Domestic workers who produce time for others are marginalized and exploited. Rural workers who grow the food we eat are the most neglected”.

Invited by International Women Count Network, Miss Wang Shumei, a rural woman from mainland China, will attend this international gathering. She will introduce the effect of China’s reform and opening-up on its rural political, economic and social ecology. Wang Shu Mei will exchange experiences with grassroots women from other countries. On her return, she will be reporting back on these common concerns.

It is noticeable that this international event will be staged at the Venezuelan Embassy in London.

Struggle Against Sexism & Racism

You are invited to an INTERNATIONAL GATHERING of the Global Women’s Strike and International Women Count Network

The Struggle Against Sexism & Racism:
an International Comparison

31 January-8 February 2009

London, England
All Welcome

Five major events over 10 days. Films to be announced.

For detailed information, please log onto
http://www.globalwomenstrike.net/internationalgathering2009.htm

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