{"id":1491,"date":"2015-10-13T17:04:01","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T17:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/?p=1491"},"modified":"2015-10-13T17:04:01","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T17:04:01","slug":"whats-behind-isiss-enormous-propaganda-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/?p=1491","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Behind ISIS\u2019s Enormous Propaganda War"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What\u2019s<\/a>
In this undated file photo released by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants of the Islamic State group hold up their weapons and wave flags as they ride in a convoy. (Militant website via AP, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The stark imagery of gory beheadings, crucifixions, and people being burned alive at the hands of Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists have flooded social media websites in recent years, but the majority of the propaganda produced by the group depicts civilian life, according to a think tank.<\/p>\n

While ISIS continues prominent efforts to glorify acts of violence, its most recent propaganda push shifts focus to prove it\u2019s a genuine nation state.<\/p>\n

A new report by the counter-extremist Quilliam Foundation departs from the media\u2019s focus on ISIS\u2019s frequent acts of brutality by stressing the importance of trying to understand the group\u2019s confusing long-term strategy.<\/p>\n

The terrorist group created more than 1,100 pieces of propaganda between July 17 and August 15 of this year, said the report. The pieces include photos, videos, audio statements, news bulletins, theological essays, and more.<\/p>\n

On average, 38 individual pieces of propaganda are produced each day in an \u201cunrivaled\u201d operation stretching from West Africa to Afghanistan that works around the clock.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s civilian output focused mainly on local services, religion, and economic activity. Among the languages used are Arabic, German, English, Russian, Kurdish, and French.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

They depicted Western foreign fighters sitting together on grassy hillocks and in children-filled parks, calling upon their fellow extremists to join them in the land of the \u2018caliphate.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

While violence was frequently depicted in photos\u2014both against perceived enemies of the group and against citizens accused of crimes\u2014more than half of the propaganda produced focused on ISIS\u2019s idealized vision of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey depicted Western foreign fighters sitting together on grassy hillocks and in children-filled parks, calling upon their fellow extremists to join them in the land of the \u2018caliphate,’\u201d reads the Quilliam report, authored by researcher Charlie Winter. \u201cMany others emerged over the rest of the year, showing Arab supporters singing and drinking tea together during \u201cistirahat\u201d (breaks). And rapturously inviting their compatriots to join them at \u201cribat\u201d (the frontier).\u201d<\/p>\n

This month, ISIS\u00a0<\/span>published photos<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>of two new theme parks for young children, which some analysts claimed was an attempt to divert attention away from persistent strife that pervades ISIS territories. The children are seen apparently enjoying a series of rides, including spinning teacups, a Ferris wheel, and a miniature train ride. The parks are located in Fallujah, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, according to the activist groupRaqqah is Being Slaughtered Silently.<\/a><\/p>\n

The photos could be part of what Quilliam describes as ISIS\u2019s \u201cutopia narrative,\u201d which is the most prominent theme. More than 52 percent of the pieces conveyed that theme above anything else.<\/p>\n

Since ISIS took power in 2014, there have been questions about the legitimacy and credibility of its claims. It compensates by creating an image of life that appears to be going on as normal, according to Quilliam. It can also seen as an attempt to win over local populations in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n

Haroro Ingram, a research fellow at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University in Canberra, said in a recent interview that Western powers are doing a poor job at countering ISIS propaganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern governments need to fight the urge to launch a counter-proselytizing campaign against IS (and other militant Islamist groups). At best, such efforts are likely to fail. After all, why should the adherents of a particular faith give any credibility to the ideological opinions of those outside of their faith?\u201d he told the\u00a0<\/span>Musings on Iraq<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>blog.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the U.S.-led efforts to counter ISIS\u2019s recruiting efforts has been insufficient, Ingram said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern counter-narrative efforts against IS [ISIS] have generally been pretty poor. Like many, I thought the State Department\u2019s sarcastic \u2018Welcome to the \u201cIslamic State\u201d land\u2019 video is a baffling example of counter-narrative messaging,\u201d Ingram noted.<\/p>\n

He suggests the United States and its allies should try again to challenge ISIS\u2019s core message, which is its claim of \u201cpractically addressing the needs of Sunnis via appeals to pragmatic factors like security, stability and livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

source : theepochtimes.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stark imagery of gory beheadings, crucifixions, and people being burned alive at the hands of Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists have flooded social media websites in recent years, but the<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[19,33,31,23,44,30,47,101,11,18,10,13,32,153,62,42,29,216,12,17,14,9,1774,21,59,20,37],"class_list":["post-1491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press","category-syria","tag-19","tag-children","tag-civilians","tag-coalition","tag-day","tag-executed","tag-execution","tag-foreign","tag-is","tag-isil","tag-isis","tag-islamic","tag-islamic-state","tag-islamique","tag-jihadis","tag-life","tag-press","tag-propaganda","tag-raqqa","tag-raqqa-is-being-slaughtered-silently","tag-state","tag-syria","tag-terrorists","tag-war","tag-women","tag-world","tag-youth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/743cd1141307272d840f6a706700c0b8-676x450.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1493,"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions\/1493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raqqa-sl.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}