Agitprop,
Part 9
Broadcasting, Loudhailing, Exhibitions
Agitprop, Part 9
Radio, TV,
Film and Video
This item is concerned with
what generally falls under the description “broadcasting”.
A more descriptive phrase is
“one-to-many” communication. The model form is the mass-circulation newspaper,
developed in the last quarter of the 19th Century. Cinema as a mass
medium followed at the beginning of the 20th Century. Radio
broadcasting got under way in the 1920s. Television took off as a mass medium
in the 1950s.
Mass, one-to-many, broadcast
communication is therefore typical of the 20th century. All of these
media have been used by states to impose uniformity of thought and culture on
the population. They have all been used by revolutionaries, as well. But
typically, one-to-many communication is patronising and not conducive to
revolutionary thought, which as we know requires dialogue if it is to develop.
Only with the rise of the
Internet, with its possibility of “many-to-many”, or “any-to-many” communications,
has the broadcasting model been challenged. It has meant that means of
production and distribution of cultural artefacts on a mass scale are now in
the hands of individuals.
Consequently, all of the
media of broadcast communications, newspapers, cinema, radio and television are
in crisis. All have declined to a fraction of what they used to be at their
peak, and they are continuing to decline.
What has replaced them is not
yet a new communism of communications, although there have been periods when
something like a free-for-all has appeared to exist in communications, in what
we now call ICT (Information and Communication Technology).
In practice the Internet, and
the World Wide Web which is the protocol that we use on the Internet, has been
exploited by the bourgeois State as much as, or more than, it has been by
revolutionaries. The possibility of frictionless communication does not in
practice mean that production is being done by everybody. On the contrary, the
situation has exposed the reality that communications is always a
labour-intensive business. The ones who dominate in communications are those
who can mobilise the largest and best-co-ordinated body of individuals who can
be put to work on production. Capital can do this if it wishes.
Therefore what comes about is
in effect an Agitprop war, where those with the most consistent and the best
output will prevail. The revolutionaries, with potentially millions of
well-motivated volunteers, should be able to win. But in fact it is usually the
money-bags capitalists who win, because they can hire people quickly to get
ahead.
What the revolutionaries need
in the first place are people who are capable of working the means of
communication, technically, artistically and ideologically.
At the same time, the
revolutionaries need to avoid mimicking the communication strategy of the
bourgeoisie, while stealing from it at the tactical level.
The bourgeois strategy is to
return as soon as possible to the condition of “broadcasting”, whereby the fountain
of national culture is effectively in their hands. The fullest development of
this model is the British Broadcasting Corporation, of which the SABC is
intended to be a copy. The SABC is supposed to set the tone of the nation by
centralised and country-wide communication. The fact that the SABC is in a
constant state of collapse, and the resultant furore that has continued for
many years past, reveals that the bourgeoisie and the middle classes badly want
a way to communicate with the masses, on their own (bourgeois) terms.
The revolutionary model, on
the other hand, is the Freirean model of dialogue. Therefore, film and video
are not good forms of propaganda for revolutionary purposes. Video locks people
away from one another, with each being held within a private channel of
connection with the screen. It is extremely difficult to generate a discussion
of quality from that starting point, if not impossible. Meetings that begin
with the showing of videos seldom take off.
A revolutionary communication
is a two-way communication. Revolutionaries must produce, as well as consume,
political culture. This is the theoretical basis of the Agitprop course.
Agitprop is not an add-on to political theory. It is in itself an indispensable
part of political theory.
Agitprop, Part 9a
Loudhailers on bakkie and on
kombi
Loudspeaker
Car, Leafletting
A form of broadcasting that
is used at local level is the loudhailer on a car, as illustrated above.
It is used at election time
to get the vote out on the Election Day, and to announce or to advertise public
meetings during the campaign period.
There is a section in the ANC
Election Manual about loudhailing. This is what it says:
LOUD-HAILING
Loud-hailing can be very
effective if it is done properly. It is best used in strong and ANC frontier
(contested) areas to inform people about things like mobile units for IDs,
voter registration days, and election day. Either use a hand-held loud-hailer
or one mounted on top of a car. It is not a good idea to use this method in the
suburbs!
The person using the hailer
should be trained and clear about what to say. Some people like to become pop
stars or clowns when they have a loud-hailer and they can waste our resources
and irritate voters.
Here are some tips:
•
Speak slowly and
clearly
•
Write a script
for what must be said and stick to it
•
Drive slowly and
responsibly, don't use flashy cars, put ANC posters on sides of car.
•
Do not hang out
of windows
•
Never shout as
you will not be heard
•
Do not make
comments at passers-by – especially women.
Agitprop, Part 9b
Design for an exhibition stand
Exhibitions
Exhibitions are a means of
mass communication that the revolutionaries do not use very much in South
Africa, but elsewhere they are seen at festivals and at specialist events that
the revolutionaries take part in.
The basic unit of an
exhibition is a modular piece of floor space that the exhibitor can hire, and
erect on it a “stand”. The stands can vary quite a lot, but the one illustrated
above is quite typical. It has a “reception” type of desk where a person could
sit and welcome the people, and provide information about the matter being
exhibited.
Around the stand are display
panels and fixed exhibits.
There would need to be a good
supply of business cards and most likely leaflets and pamphlets.
Sometimes stands take the
form of small meeting rooms, with chairs and a round table, where business can
be discussed.
Exhibition stands need
carpenters and painters and a lot of good planning.
The above applies to indoor
exhibition stands. Outdoor ones usually look more like stalls. Here is a wider
shot than the previous image used of the French / Italian Communist Party stall
at the Fête de l’Humanité, a festival to support a relatively left-wing
publication, in France.
This is a typical stall. It
could be set up like this out of doors or indoors. It is selling literature and
clothing, plus in this case, cold drinks for the large l’Humanité crowd.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Post a Comment