Narratives promoting anti-democratic armed violence are spreading, including in the media: after Vincent Duclert's apology of armed groups, who maintained that the RPF had "political legitimacy", Yevgeny Prigozhin is now openly calling for military coups1  in Africa. The message of Vladimir Putin's "Chief"  is crystal clear : "it is now the time of colonels".

Yevgeny Prigozhin's propaganda is simplistic and conspiracist, and bets on gullibility or political inculture.

Conspiracism, about the West: "with one hand they create terrorist groups, and with the other they fight  them." This rhetoric is based on gullibility : how can one seriously believe that Westerners create terrorism? Or, in the same vein, that French military convoys transport weapons that they supply to Sahelian terrorist groups?

And it is a bet on political inculture when Prigozhin portrays the head of the Malian junta as a Che Guevara: "Another brightest phenomenon was Colonel Assimi Goita, in fact, he is an African Che Guevara".

How credible can Prigozhin be when he compares Colonel Goïta to Che Guevara? This rhetoric is draped in the bygone revolutionary splendor of Russia, trying to use the image of Che Guevara, whereas Prigozhin represents the worst of post-communist Russia: an unbridled and often mafia-like capitalism. The Prigozhin conglomerate is in the business of war and mercenaries, and the exploitation of mining resources in Africa, all the while investing in the control of local media and the manipulation of social media by armies of trolls.

The commodification of Che Guevara's image by a Russian businessman controlling a group of mercenaries created by a neo-Nazi would normally outrage those who know Che Guevara.

These methods of manipulation call for the development of people's resilience to online deception operations, by providing them with tools of emancipation: mass manipulation is also a form of enslavement.

utkin.webp

Wagner's founder Dmitry Utkin nazi tatoos.
photo credit : respublica.lt

 

 

1 https://vk.com/wall-177427428_842

https://web.archive.org/web/20220128023058/https://m.vk.com/wall-177427428_842

Traduction :
" Concord press service
On 25 Jan. at 4:27 p.m.
#535 Request from the largest socio-political pan-Arab resource Soukukkaz Media and the answer:
INQUIRY:
Hello! On Monday, the Lefaso news portal reported that another coup had occurred in Burkina Faso. A military group announced on state television the transfer of power in the country to the "National Movement for Protection and Restoration" led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, you have repeatedly commented on the African agenda, so please give us an enlightenment on following questions : 1. What are your thoughts and ideas about the situation in this region? 2. Since this is not the first coup in Burkina Faso, do you think others will follow?
Hello! On Monday, the Lefaso news portal reported that another coup d'état had taken place in Burkina Faso. A military group on state television announced the transition of power in the country to the "Patriotic Movement for the Protection and Restoration", led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Yevgeny Viktorovich, you have repeatedly commented on the African agenda, so please answer the following questions: 1. How do you assess the situation in this region? 2. Since this is not the first coup in Burkina Faso, do you think others will follow?
ANSWER:
We publish a comment by Evgeny Viktorovich:
“There is nothing surprising in the fact that many African states are striving to free themselves. This is because the West is trying to keep the population of these countries in a semi-animal state. All they do there is engage in intrigues: with one hand they create terrorist groups, and with the other they fight them and, unfortunately, they do it very badly.
All these so-called upheavals are due to the fact that the West is trying to manage states and suppress their national priorities, to impose values ​​that are alien to Africans, sometimes clearly mocking them. At the same time, he is engaged in the plundering of most African states. By the way, unlike Western pseudo-democracy, Russia respects and supports national priorities and values.
Today in Africa we are witnessing the birth of a new liberation movement. And the brightest names have already appeared in it. One of them, Faustin Archange Touadéra, who was not afraid and opposed himself to international banditry in the Central African Republic, did not allow extremist organizations to seize his country. Another brightest phenomenon was Colonel Assimi Goita, in fact, he is an African Che Guevara. In addition, I cannot fail to mention the leader of Guinea Mamady Dumbua. Now another new name has risen in the African firmament - Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Thus, renewal processes are underway on the continent and I am sure that in the near future the liberation movements will cover most of Africa. A new era of its decolonization has begun.
It's time for the colonels. And, as State Duma deputy Milonov has already said, we Russians feel this thesis especially well, since the national leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was also a colonel when he began the process of rebuilding the Great Power from Russia destroyed in the 90s.
I wish these brave people good luck and prosperity!”