Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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How they made us doubt everything
A new series looking at the war on truth that began in the 1950s shows that it's not the propaganda efforts of foreign states that threatens humanity — it's corporate PR, writes IAN SINCLAIR
Just as concern about smoking and health led to industry competitors working together to save their businesses, following the Kyoto Protocol committing states to reduce the carbon emissions, Exxon and others poured millions into climate change denial
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
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NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
“THE twentieth century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance,” Alex Carey noted in his seminal 1995 book Taking the Risk Out of Democracy, “the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”
The Australian writer’s analysis is well illustrated by the engrossing 10-part BBC Radio 4 series How They Made Us Doubt Everything.
Presented by Peter Pomerantsev, author of the 2019 book This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, the series looks at how corporate public relations firms engineered doubt about the connection between smoking and cancer in the 1960s and then used similar tactics to manufacture doubt about climate change.
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