Ceuta as a propaganda tool

PalmaPolitical propaganda has existed for as long as there have been organizational and power structures. An elite tries to persuade the masses to control the polis and, if things go well, to derive some benefit from it: prestige, wealth, and the feeling of being above others. In fact, this is what the word 'prepotence' means: the Latin praepotentia was nothing more than the quality of being superior in power.

But propaganda has not always operated in the same way and has adapted to new political, social, and communication systems. The objectives nowadays go beyond political power, because it also involves controlling the mental framework of the masses, a step with which the Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels has a lot to do, who by no means dreamed of all that would be done in the era of social networks.

It doesn't matter what scale we're talking about. The tentacles of propaganda range from the most local and microscopic levels to the global scale, where histrionic leaders fight in the arena of international power. Propaganda ranges from your neighbor's post when they share news about migrants to Donald Trump's latest tweet.

This is where what is happening in Ceuta fits in. The situation in the North African city has ceased to be a humanitarian crisis and a problem of institutional management to become a window of political opportunity. No one is willing to miss the occasion. Calls for the territorial integrity of Spain are an example of the exacerbated cynicism of the political class. Solidarity with the people of Ceuta goes beyond hypocrisy. It is cynicism. Ceuta is a propaganda tool.

The right wing is striving to fish for votes in the waters of the extreme right and works with diligence and rudeness to wear down Pedro Sánchez's executive. For their part, fascists never miss an opportunity to destroy, to burn, to sow chaos.

The Spanish government's disastrous performance in the Ceuta case has been gasoline for this fire, which has once again exposed the shame of a society incapable of perceiving human tragedies in their depth and which is animalized at the cry of “Yo soy español”. The masses have bought into the mental framework.

It is difficult not to feel great astonishment when the mayor of Palma calls on social networks for citizens to gather for Ceuta. The instrumentalization of citizens is already being done without disguise or any kind of shame.