Media Literacy: What you see is not what you get

Alan Yazbek, propaganda and the violence of a complicit MSM

I posted these images on my Instagram a few days ago and was surprised to hear that the misrepresentation of this incident had even fooled some of my readers. I’m resharing them here, interspersed with my comments.

To recap: an award winning restaurateur was arrested after attending the Palestinian liberation march in Sydney on Oct 6 because his sign included the depiction of a swastika. In NSW, it has been illegal since 2022 to publicly display Nazi symbols. Yazbek’s sign clearly states “STOP NAZI ISRAEL”, and is a parody of the Israeli flag with the swastika in place of the Star of David.

Do I like the sign? No. I would certainly have not chosen to display it myself. But do I think Israel is mimicking the actions of Nazi Germany and conducting a (very public) Holocaust with the express permission of imperial powers intent on entrenching white supremacy and domination in the SWANA region? Absolutely.

I’m not here to defend the use of swastikas to make statements against Israel. I think we can use Israel’s own words and actions for that. But I’m also not going to judge how any victim of Israeli violence chooses to protest it. The violence of white supremacy instructs people like me to defer to decorum over radical acts, and I’m aware that this informs my view here. If I were Palestinian or Lebanese, I would almost certainly feel very differently, and I offer unequivocal solidarity to those who are.

And note in particular how the Herald Sun specifically chose an angle of this photograph of Yazbek so that the words on his sign were difficult to read. Anyone scanning the paper - which is how most people “read” the news - would automatically see only the swastika and assume it was a blatant endorsement of Nazi ideology rather than an accusation of complicity between Israel and Nazi Germany. You can see from the other photo here (shared originally by the extremist right wing org the AJA) the front on image of the sign. This is an outrageous misrepresentation of Yazbek, and one that could conceivably result in actual physical harm coming to him as well as the impact to his livelihood.

But the misrepresentation of this has been wilful, deliberate and mendacious. The MSM relies on a lack of media literacy in the general public, and it’s enough to suggest a brown skinned Lebanese man attended a pro-Palestinian rally carrying a swastika without any context for what Yazbek was actually saying, because this duplicity helps to further manufacture consent for a slaughter that has now crossed borders into the homeland of his people.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the fabrication to take root among the propagandists at the Australian Jewish Association (a known extremist, right wing organisation that hides behind a name intended to terrify people into remaining uncritical of it lest they be accused of antisemitism.)

What I find especially revealing (and grotesque) is the mention of corporate backlash against Yazbek and his restaurant. Corporate Anywhere has never been in the business of human rights - the idea that Corporate Australia is at the forefront of fighting antisemitism is absolute nonsense.

It is an egregious kind of moral violence to expect people oppressed by racism, imperialism and cultural destruction to consistently play nice when it comes to protesting that oppression. Alan Yazbek is entitled to fight for the security, freedom and liberation of his people. And we are entitled to critique and question the choices media makes when it reports on matters, rather than be manipulated into swallowing absolute bullshit.

And what is it they’re so intent on concealing? Why is it so important that the media continue to distract the masses and manufacture consent for a genocide and its terrorist regime? What are they using Yazbek to deflect from?

Solidarity with all those fighting for liberation and freedom.