Who wants to see a real British forgery from 1963?
This one was designed to “intensify indignation” of African students towards the Soviets
A #fakefriday thread 🧵 1/9
First, some context:
In early 1963, African students in Bulgaria violently clashed with police after authorities banned their attempts to establish and all-African Students’ Union.
How could 🇬🇧 exploit this??
2/9
By forging a World Federation of Democratic Youth response obviously
(WFDY being a Soviet front)
3/9
They posted it in English, French and Spanish from an unknown location to 275 addresses across Africa and South America.
These included newspapers, youth orgs, and influential personalities.
4/9
The forged response professed to urge solidarity against “ultra-colonialist” (🇺🇸 🇬🇧) attempts to drive a wedge between European and African youth.
It was full of earnest statements about the scourge of racism and supporting African youth.
BUT…
5/9
… at the same time it slipped in references to African students being primitive, morally weak, and uncivilised.
6/9
It claimed: African students were “emerging from the jungle darkness of want” and so didn’t know how to behave in civilised society. ?!?!
So how did it go down?
7/9
The forgery received press coverage across the continent, with many newspapers reacting violently.
At least one college directly protested to the WFDY
8/9
It’s a fascinating example of western propaganda trying to inflame racial tension.
🚨 IMPORTANT CONTEXT 🚨
This took place on a much smaller, less aggressive, and less deceitful scale than concurrent Soviet activity
9/9
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.