Since there have been elections, someone has been trying to interfere with them. So let’s talk about it.
Any history of espionage contains a few chapters on election interference. After World War II, the Soviet and American spy agencies traipsed around the globe trying to get everyone to join their teams. Leaflets, posters, editorials, bribery; any medium that might tip a balance in favour of a candidate was engaged as they fought without nuance to spread their ideologies (capitalism: great! communism: woo hoo!)
Old habits die hard.
Although some of the vectors have changed, (less posters, more social media), the goals haven’t. External parties still want to manipulate democratic processes the world over for their own ends. The major difference now is that a new group has joined the fray: billionaires.
Election interference isn’t cheap. It costs money to build media outlets or hire IT people to feed a steady stream of misinformation to social channels. So it makes sense that these new players are rich. And their interference seems to be about maintaining their astronomical wealth.
Of course, just because interference happens, doesn’t make it right. If we want to maintain our democracy and our sovereignty, we need to fight back.
There’s no sense feeling shock and outrage when we hear that so and so country/billionaire is trying to interfere with our elections. We need to accept that it’s going to happen and plan accordingly.
The government needs to take action, making sure electoral officers have the resources they need to discover and expose threats. But the general public needs to take action also. We need to stop engaging with political chatter from channels we know are ripe for manipulation (start with social media and go from there). Political opinion pieces without any critical analysis or investigative journalism behind them aren’t worth your time.
And we need to question the source: Who owns this media? What is their agenda? Whose interests do they represent? The more transparent the ownership is, the better.
Most importantly, know what you value. Don’t get sidetracked by emotional wedge issues. Focus on the direction you think is best for your country on core issues, and carefully consider which candidate is most likely to go there.
History has shown time and again that election interference isn’t always successful. There have been many failures over the last 80 years, from South America to Asia. As long as we know what we’re facing, we can work to keep our sovereignty intact.
Ultimately, engaged, educated populations are harder to manipulate.
Read this: Leaving Berlin by Joseph Cannon. So good. Atmospheric, intriguing, and insight into how the east/west division was built, from the walls to the ideologies. The plot moves quickly, and the description of the setting makes you feel like you’re living right beside the characters.
Thanks for giving me the gift of your time.
Rhiannon