'Trust us, We're Lying': Eurozine and Cultural Journals From Across Europe Take a Closer Look at the Power of 'Post-truth' in a New Series of Online Articles and Debates

     (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/611359/Eurozine.jpg )

Eurozine's focal point 'Disinformation and Democracy' combines empirical studies at national levels with theoretical discussion of the politics of post-truth; analyses of contemporary developments with intellectual and conceptual histories; and investigations of the political fringes, asking: what now constitutes democratic 'normality'?

It's impossible to ignore Russia's role in these phenomena. Markus Wehner gives an overview of the strategy and techniques of Russian 'infowar'; Anton Shekhovtsov traces how far-right groups across Europe and the U.S. use Russian web-hosting to spread anti-western propaganda; and Daniel Leisegang assesses the effectiveness of Germany's new law on online hate speech and fake news, given the virtual migration to the Runet. Shifting the focus to eastern Europe , Milena Iakimova and Dimitar Vatsov explore how, in Bulgaria , Russian propaganda has co-opted western grassroots criticism of liberalism and globalization since 2013. They note:

From dialectical materialism to neoliberalism, any politics that lays claims to the truth is both illusory and dangerous, argues Jean-Claude Monod. Political scientist Joseph Uscinski explores the relationship between conspiracy theorizing and partisanship in the U.S., pointing out:

Providing historical perspective, Marci Shore compares western intellectuals' response to the disappointment of 'real-existing communism' with that of the dissidents who lived under it: can a radical concept of truth counter the threat of 'post-modern dictatorships'? And Valentin Groebner traces a thread of fakery in 'news' right back to the Middle Ages.

All the focal point texts are available in English in Eurozine: http://www.eurozine.com/focal-points/disinformation-and-democracy/

This editorial collaboration within the Eurozine network continued via a series of panel discussions at the 28th European Meeting of Cultural Journals in Tartu, Estonia in October 2017.

The discussions can be viewed on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2ADE5tg