Halifax International Symposium on Media and Disinformation

Opening Reception/Ceilidh-Spoken Word 7:30 pm, June 30, 2004

June 30 - July 4, 2004 - Dalhousie University - Halifax, Nova Scotia

FASS Building, University Avenue

Invitation to Participate

This International Symposium aims to deal with one of the most pressing matters facing journalists, media and culture workers, and all sections of the people -- disinformation. The main aim of the Symposium is to empower journalists and collectives of the people by definitively exposing the modus operandi and extent of disinformation, presenting the experience of journalists and activists across Canada and abroad in tackling it, and to consolidate the long-term struggle for its elimination.

That disinformation exists is well established. The international situation has become increasingly dangerous, filled with tension between the peoples and the big powers and amongst the big powers themselves. Disinformation has emerged as one of their most powerful weapons against peace and humanity. The whole world is discussing how the invasion and occupation of Iraq was justified by lies and deceptions. But disinformation extends far beyond isolated examples; whether it is the manipulation of "democracy" or of "human rights" or of "nuclear-non-proliferation" to justify interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations and even launch pre-emptive aggression, it has become so pervasive that it is the central rule, rather than the exception.

Disinformation -- as distinct from misinformation -- relies on mystifying the basis of change, development and motion in society, and reduces objective reality to a matter of interpretation, debate and discussion. Whether it is the "clash of civilizations" or the thesis of "rogue" or "failed" states, disinformation relies on the ideological content of imperialism.

For example, people simply are not able to understand the Palestinian crisis as anything other that an "ethnic clash," because they are not provided with information about the whole reality. They are not provided with the context needed to come to any other conclusion than the pre-determined one: a hopeless "cycle of violence."

The manipulation of information, the invention of pretexts, the falsification of reality, and turning people against their own interests is itself facilitated by the monopoly control over the media, and the process of neo-liberal globalization. The unprecedented concentration of media and power enables a tiny handful of moguls with a preconceived agenda to deploy colossal resources to dictate what is published and what is not, who is hired and who is fired, all with the aim of disorienting people and usurping any healthy discussion. Under the veneer of being "fair and balanced" and even "objective," this media normalizes bias, disregards and changes essential facts, and ignores and suppresses all those voices presenting information and independent views.

Disinformation is not just a matter of a foreign policy adventure of Bush or Blair, but has become a general method for imperial dictate and monopoly right in the overall neo-liberal assault on conscience and enlightenment, and the sovereign and democratic rights of nations and peoples.

The Symposium will feature discussions of disinformation and how it operates at the local, regional, national, and global levels. We invite media workers, scholars, First Nations, labour, fishermen and farmer's organizers, anti-war and environmental activists, publishers and other concerned groups or individuals to present their experience and expertise of disinformation. We are inviting journalists from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Palestine and other countries to share their rich experience in fighting disinformation and interference in their affairs.

Hostility towards the monopoly media is pronounced. Some are concerned about the Americanization, some dislike the sensationalism, some say that coverage is distorted, and others say that reality is ignored altogether. But all express dissatisfaction and outrage. The media, increasing numbers of people are realizing, does not serve them, and even acts as a barrier to dealing with the pressing issues they face.

These concerns have given rise to an explosion of new and independent media on a global scale, as a voice to address peoples' rights and concerns.

Those who are initiating this conference have professional backgrounds in independent journalism and publishing, in radio, print, film, books, and on the Internet. This Symposium is open to everyone who is deeply concerned about disinformation, the mass media and the kind of information and culture they represent. This Symposium has been borne out of this concern. We share the conviction that now is the time to develop our collective capability to influence the course of events. It is the responsibility of those who stand for the truth to thoroughly deal with the question of disinformation. We are building a space where we can deal with the question, and advance the long work of combatting disinformation and building an independent media.

Let all those concerned about fighting disinformation converge on Halifax!

Organizing Committee:

* shunpiking magazine; Tony Seed, editor/publisher

* CKDU Radio (Halifax) 97.5 FM; Pierre Loiselle, spoken word co-ordinator

* The Dominion; Dru Oja Jay, editor/publisher

Sponsors:

* CHMA Radio (Sackville, NB)

* Fernwood Publishing Co. Ltd. (Black Point); Errol Sharpe, publisher

* Ideological Studies Centre (Ottawa/Hull); Sandra L. Smith, director

* Monkeyfist.com (Washington DC); Kendall Clark, editor

* Montreal Muslim News; Yahya Abdul Rahman, editor

* Wake Up with Co-op (CFRO, Vancouver); Charles Boylan, host

Endorsers:

* Active Voice Coalition (Prince George, BC)

* Hasan Abbas, Fellow at Harvard Law School, doctoral candidate at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is working on Islamic and international law and jihad. The author of two books, one of them being released this summer, he is a former police officer from Pakistan

* Christopher Anderson (New York), PhD candidate in Communications; Columbia University, staff writer The Independent, editor NYC-Independent Media Center website

* Axis of Logic (Boston); Les Blough, editor

* Dr Labeeb B'Soul (Halifax NS), professor, Comparative Religion, Dalhousie University

* Dr Piotr Bein (BC); engineer-planner-scientist, author of books and articles on information warfare on the Balkan conflict, Depleted Uranium, co-founder du-watch@yahoogroups.com

* Canada Palestine Association; Dr. Ismail Zayid, president

* Canpalnet-Ottawa, member of the Canada Palestine Support Network

* Caravan Radio Show (CKUT, Montreal)

* Caroline Cameron (Inverness, NS), editorial co-ordinator, Mac-talla

* Isra'a Dabboour (Halifax, NS), computer programmer, Palestinian commentator

* Dalhousie Students for Peace and Justice (Halifax, NS)

* The Dalhousie Gazette. Dalhousie University

* Dr Hassan El-Najjar (Dalton GA), editor, Al-Jazeerah

* En Camino (Toronto, ON), Justin Podur

* En-Visions Productions, Inc. (Halifax); Charles Lapp & Bill McKiggan, filmmakers

* Greg Felton (New Westminster, BC), columnist, MediaMonitors.net and Alberta Arab News; autho,r Enemies of Necessity (July, 2004)

* Anthony Fenton (Vancouver, BC), journalist

* FromOccupiedPalestine.org, Valerie Zink & Jon Elme

* Gerry and Jose Gladwin (Wolfville, NS), teacher and librarian / Volkskayaks

* Don Grady, vice-president, South West Nova Scotia Fishermens' Rights Association, Cape Sable Island

* Halifax People's Voice, newsletter of the People's Front (Halifax)

* Dr. Anthony Hall, Founding Coordinator of Globalization Studies, University of Lethbridge; author, The American Empire and the Fourth World, and other works

* Don Hill, host, Wild Rose Forum, CBC Radio One, Alberta

* Information: Montréal - Palestine (www.imopa.ca)

* Dr. M.R. Islam, Petroleum Engineering, Dalhousie - Sexton Campus

* Penney Kome (Calgary, AB), author and journalist

* Lewis MacKinnon, co-president, Chomhairle na Gàidhlig, Alba Nuadh / Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia

* Ashley MacPherson (Sackville, NB), communications studies, Mount Allison University

* Randal Marlin (Ottawa, ON), Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Carleton University, author, Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion and other works

* MLPC Radio, University of Windsor

* Leuren Moret (Berkeley, CA); independent scientist, nuclear weapons lab whistleblower, radiation specialist, Environmental Commissioner in the City of Berkeley, and independent journalis;.author of Foreword to Discounted Casualties: The Human Cost of Depleted Uranium by Hiroshima journalist Akira Tashiro, and other works; President, Scientists for Indigenous People, Past President, Association for Women Geoscientists

* Nova Scotia Cuba Friendship Association

* Hernando Calvo Ospina, Colombian journalist and author resident in France. Contributor to Le Monde diplomatique. Author of nine books, including The Cuban Exile Movement: Dissidents or Mercenaries? (translated into eight languages) and Bacardi: The Hidden War (translated into seven languages). Based on this research, the Franco-German network ARTE and Britain's BBC produced two documentaries. Presently doing research on the manipulation of news carried out by Reporters Without Borders, a French organization which is supported by significant European media.

* Palestine House, Toronto

* Paper Tiger TV, New York

* Parent-Child Guide (Halifax, NS), Robert Rockwell, publisher

* Susan Riordan (Yarmouth, NS), Canadian Gulf War veterans widow

* Bill Ross (Delta, ON), believer

* Isaac Saney (Halifax), professor, International Development & Black History, Dalhousie & St. Mary's Universities; author, Cuba: Revolution in Motion

* Debby Seed (Toronto, ON), writer/editor, author, The Amazing Water Book and other works

* Smoke Signals First Nations Radio, CHRW 94.9FM www.chrwradio.com
(Hosts) Dan Smoke-Asayenes and Mary Lou Smoke-Asayenes Kwe
Outstanding Multicultural Program for 2004

* Dr. Jaspal Singh, South Asian Review (Canada), South Asian Center, MA

* Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, associate FAIR, columnist ("Media Beat"); co-author, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, author, The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media, amongst others

* Splitting the Sky, Mohawk Territory; author of The Autobiography of Spiltting the Sky: From Attica to Gustafsen Lake

* Dr. Erin Steuter, professor of Communication Studies, Mt. Allison University, Sackville, NB

* Susan Thompson (Edmonton, AB), freelance writer/editor

* überCulture Collective (Montreal/Halifax/Vancouver)

* Vive le Canada (Edmonton, AB) http://www.vivelecanada.ca

* Dr. James Winter, professor of Communication Studies, University of Windsor, ON; author Mediathink, Democracy's Oxygen: How Corporations Control The News, amongst others

* Workers' Forum (Toronto); Pierre Chénier, secretary

* John & Karen S. Wright (Kansas City), Heartland Labor Forum

* Gary Zatzman, co-editor, Dossier on Palestine

* Barrie Zwicker (Toronto), broadcaster and writer, producer "The Great Deception: The War on Terrorism, An Alternate View"; former host Vision TV's weekly "Insight Media File"; Director, International Citizens' Inquiry into 9/11 http://www.911inquiry.org/

In the interests of strengthening the unified front against disinformation on a world scale, we encourage everyone to discuss and endorse this Call and the Halifax International Symposium on Media and Disinformation. We warmly encourage everyone to take up this Call as your own and popularize it widely among your fellow journalists and other contacts throughout the world.

Please contact us as soon as possible and we will add your names immediately.

Contact

Telephone: 902.444.4922 (outside North America: 001.902.444.4922)
Fax: 001.902.444.7595
E-mail: info@halifaxsymposium.ca
Post: Halifax Symposium, PO Box 31377, Halifax, NS, Canada B3K 5Z1
Website: www.halifaxsymposium.ca

Subscribe

To receive email updates about the Halifax Symposium, send an email message to info@halifaxsymposium.ca with "symposium subscribe" in the subject line.

Registration

Registration fees are $120 ($100 for students and unwaged folk). This covers four days of events; some meals provided. To pre-register, send the following details to info@halifaxsymposium.ca:

* Your full name
* Your email address
* Your mailing address
* Any organizations you are representing
* Your web site address (if you have one)
* Whether you require billeting
* How many days you plan to stay

Registration is capped at 240 participants.

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