The Ukraine war: Propaganda and the death of truth

As propaganda clouds the Ukraine war, inconvenient truths are being buried and voices opposing the conflict silenced, writes Dr William Briggs.

IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, Independent Australia published an article highlighting the case of a young Ukrainian anti-war activist and socialist who faces 15 years in prison for arguing against the war.

His call was to unite people on both sides of the border. The mainstream media in this country and in all countries have completely ignored the case of Bogdan Syrotiuk. Is this blanket censorship acceptable? No. Is it surprising? No.

Maintaining objectivity and political clarity in a time of war is an almost impossible task. The Ukraine war is one of horror and brutality. As the days, months and years have passed, objectivity and clarity of vision have become casualties.

Our mass media play an increasingly partisan role. There is no room for independent thought. It is made grotesquely simple. There are white hats and black hats. Good fights evil. Democracy confronts authoritarianism. The coverage of the war, like all wars before it, has been clouded in an increasingly impenetrable fog of propaganda.

It is a story that is replayed time and again when the world goes to war. This war, undeclared as it might be, is no less real. The forces behind Ukraine represent the bulk of the Western world and, so, the Ukrainians are presented as almost blameless. The Russians, on the other hand, must be demonised. It is a vulgar and artificial view of what is happening and inevitably ignores the real motivations of those involved.

Ukrainian activist found guilty of high treason in political "show trial"

Bogdan Syrotiuk was found guilty of high treason — the evidence presented at his "trial" was clearly political.

NATO, the EU, the USA and countries like Australia are not playing any progressive role. For them, the motives for war are to shore up failing economies, gain access to resources and markets. The crisis of the capitalist economies is so deep that entire industrial processes are being turned into war industries.

This, tragically, is how capitalism, when confronted with an existential crisis, responds. To use the example of Germany, we can see the German state preparing to spend almost €152 billion (AU$245.3 billion) in military and war-related spending for 2027.

This is a 57 per cent increase in just one year. Job losses are at an all-time high. Social spending is being slashed. War-based industries are booming. In the USA, President Trump is demanding a $1.5 trillion military budget while food stamps are being cut for 5 million people.

The truth no longer matters. The media do not seek the truth and it seems that the public is to be “shielded” from any disturbing realities. The war drags on. Ukraine receives more and more materiel, more money, more training for its dwindling army and more assistance in targeting Russian infrastructure.

This is presented through our media as being defensive and a noble cause to save Europe. We see fewer images, read fewer reports of the catastrophe that is daily life in so many Russian towns and cities. But the Russians are, of course, the enemy.

In the fog of propaganda, there are tales of atrocities. Crimes are committed, but on both sides. When voices on either side of the border are raised against the war, then they are silenced.

The biggest crime, among a sea of crimes, is the fact that ordinary working-class men and women are fighting and dying to preserve criminal regimes. That has always been the way. The workers who are driven to the trenches have nothing in common with their masters. They have everything in common with their fellow workers that they now must kill. It was ever thus.

The propagandists do their work well. Every crime, real or imagined, that has been perpetrated by the Kremlin is illuminated. The Kyiv regime has a sorry record, but that is never broadcast. The truth is there, but never quite in sight.

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A few examples are worth noting.

Only weeks ago, there was a shootout in Kyiv between officers of the domestic security service and the military intelligence directorate. Several officers were wounded.

The Ukrainian regime has resorted to seizing fighting-age men from the streets to be used as cannon fodder. The dragooning of thousands of men known locally as busification is increasingly being met with resistance as local citizens fight pitched battles with the Ukrainian security forces.

Corruption within the government and judiciary is rampant. Recently, the chief prosecutor fled the country after a money-laundering scheme based on scams from bogus call centres that was run from his office was discovered.

While billions of dollars are pouring into the country, the people’s lives are increasingly becoming more difficult. The once popular war is now hated. A recent opinion poll saw 66 per cent of the population calling for an immediate end to the war.

The desertion rate among Ukrainian troops is massive. Latest figures show a conservative figure of 150,000 troops who have left their posts.

These stories are on public record, but somehow do not make the cut when television news shows go to air or newspapers hit the streets.

What is important for a propaganda campaign to be truly successful is that a positive spin must always be in place. The record of near veneration of WWII fascist collaborators and Nazi war criminals is airbrushed, as much as possible, from the public gaze outside Ukraine.

We are told and expected to believe that the war in Ukraine is all about preserving freedom and democracy. The problem is that the war, now being actively engaged in by almost all of the “democratic” West, is making a mockery of the concept of democracy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rules by martial law. There are no elections and none on the horizon. Perhaps elections might get in the way of preserving democracy. Perhaps elections might allow the people a voice against the war.

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But to have an election, Zelenskyy would possibly have to lift the bans on the left-wing political parties that have been banned. That is highly unlikely. The famously pro-democratic governments of Europe, North America, Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific don’t seem to notice, or simply don’t care. After all, it’s really all about saving a failing set of capitalist economies. Democracy is a useful word to be used as a propaganda weapon.

The case of Bogdan Syrotiuk starkly shows the power of propaganda in a time of war. For the mainstream media in all “democracies”, his name must not be mentioned. The campaign for his freedom, perhaps unsurprisingly, continues but receives no support from the global media. It is a subterranean campaign, but not without success.

Thousands of people in more than 90 countries have now signed a petition calling for Syrotiuk's release. Dozens of letters have been sent to the Ukrainian courts. The Ukrainian authorities responded by declaring that only letters in the Ukrainian language will be read. The letters have come from academics, public intellectuals, writers, artists, peace organisations, trade union groups, students and workers.

Truth matters, but national interest, in the estimation of those who tell us what truth is, seems to matter more. In a time of war, objectivity and political clarity suffer. People need to strive for the truth and to question the doctored, propagandised version of truth.

In 1984 the slogan was ‘war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength’.

We need to remember another line from that same book:

‘Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four.’

When we see images of PM Albanese hugging Volodymyr Zelenskyy, we are seeing an image of a world at war. This war, like all others fought in the name of freedom and democracy, is really about saving a failing world capitalist economy.

Dr William Briggs is a political economist. His special areas of interest lie in political theory and international political economy. He has been, variously, a teacher, journalist and political activist.