How to Confront the Cognitive War in Venezuela
The sign on the T-shirt reads, “Proudly Chavista.”
By:
August 23, 2024 Hour: 11:28 am
The Global South should create digital observatories to determine the sources of cyberattacks.
Don Bosco once said, “He who has peace in his conscience has everything.” Currently, the ability to process information, its relationship with language, and the construction of critical thinking are the main battlegrounds in an unconventional social confrontation. In this context, the cognitive war in Venezuela, which has been ongoing since the Bolivarian Revolution came to power, has recently reached unprecedented proportions.
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Several specialists have concluded that this type of fifth-generation hybrid warfare has the potential to be more destructive than physical armed conflict. Based on interviews with them, this article aims to provide insights on how to face this unprecedented situation for the Venezuelan people.
Considering that cognitive warfare is based on the manipulation of knowledge, disinformation, and deception, journalist and historian Aldemaro Barrios argues that these attacks are aimed at “culturally and symbolically affecting public emotions to then target political and military objectives that impact the sustainability of peace.”
To address this issue, Barrios suggests that “there are two dimensions in which we must generate defensive and offensive lines, expressed on a strategic level and in tactical operations.” Strategically, we have the advantage of the Bolivarian Doctrine, a system of thoughts and ideas that must be deepened by the Venezuelan people.
We also possess a symbolic cultural foundation of national and Latin American identity that provides a framework for collective imaginaries against a cognitive war. Therefore, the task of the Venezuelan state and people is to strengthen this cultural fabric with its powerful symbolic forces. It is crucial to reinforce the fractured social fabric and consolidate values.
Creation of Digital Observatories
Given the prominence of recent brutal digital attacks, Barrios proposes that Venezuela and its regional allies generate laws to defend against aggression and create digital observatories to determine the sources of cyberattacks.
In this regard, the Bolivarian government has proposed a “Law against Fascism, Neo-Fascism, and Similar Expressions,” which will need to be discussed by social and institutional actors.
On the other hand, Maria Alejandra Aguirre, a social communicator and specialist in educational systems, emphasized the role of personal reflection in changing behaviors.
“Transformations must be oriented towards seeing ourselves first as individuals in relation to our environment. Based on this, we could meet individual and collective needs… To the extent that each person is truly willing to answer ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What do I need?’, social transformations necessary for the time we live in will occur.”
Questioning from Within
Aguirre also noted that “we would take a big step towards peace if we started paying attention to what happens beneath our skin.” From this premise, she invites us to rethink everything, promote critical thinking from basic education, avoid mere assimilation of information, and teach questioning. These tasks would allow us to analyze the content of social media.
“What is the purpose of this content for me? Is it useful to me? How does it nourish me? Does it add anything to me? Does it take anything away? Is this the message I need at this moment? What do I need from this message? How much of my time am I dedicating to this social network?” These questions are equivalent to taking the Matrix’s red pill, choosing to wake up and live consciously, even if it hurts, and accepting that pain is part of life. The challenge for humanity in these times is to become aware of how it lives its freedom,” Aguirre said.
Confronting fifth-generation warfare is a matter of collective concern, but it also involves introspection and examination of the personal space from which one interacts with the outside world.
“If we take responsibility for our lives and assume that we are not ‘things’ among other ‘things,’ we will understand that cyberspace, social networks, and algorithms are not meant to determine who is who. They are not there to make us wander aimlessly or to turn us into victims or victimizers in any war.”
These structural changes will allow us to conceive of a new reality. This implies understanding that globalist capital controls hegemonic social networks, which are interested in turning us into automatons. The information we provide them is part of the market’s surplus value.
Never Choose Hate
What we consume on digital platforms, which lack regulation on their impact on mental health, must be countered with individual actions to prevent “cognitive viruses” from further harming people who, out of necessity or leisure, are exposed to devices and platforms. Psychiatrist Angel Riera offers a simple formula:
“Don’t believe everything you see or read on social media. Verify the information. Often, the goal of the information is to incite emotional suffering and provoke impulsive actions. This can be countered by developing one’s own criteria, forming one’s own opinion, and avoiding making decisions in anger. Hate will never be a good option. It is a harm that one inflicts upon oneself.”
Besides encouraging actions that empower people and prevent them from being controlled by “algorithms,” it is important to implement awareness campaigns, academic initiatives, conferences, forums, talks, seminars, and specialized studies on what affects collective health.
Community Support Networks
Social psychologist Shuruk Duqqa, who is also an activist in solidarity with Palestine—a nation devastated by Zionism on its own territory and cognitively battered for decades—suggests that the state should promote research to act immediately.
“Create community support networks where people can share verified information and discuss topics of common interest. This includes creating social media groups that promote the veracity of information. Involve academics and experts in various fields to provide accurate and up-to-date information. Their participation can add credibility to collective initiatives,” she said.
“There should also be a push for responsible and critical use of social media, promoting the sharing of verified information and alerting against disinformation. Social media campaigns can help change the culture of information consumption.”
The social psychologist proposes creating and disseminating alternative narratives that counter disinformation and focus on real facts and data. For these narratives to resonate with the target audience, it is also necessary to promote and support independent media dedicated to research and the dissemination of accurate information.
To regulate emotions and information overloads that impact cognition of reality, Duqqa also suggests “maintaining a dialogue with one’s own body, practicing some sport, learning meditation techniques, and engaging in physical activities that involve several people.”
Discipline and Self-Regulation
We are the ones who can guarantee what we consume digitally. The levels of mental vulnerability depend on the permissibility to which we subject ourselves. Jeisson Rauseo, a cybersecurity expert and gamer, urges us to recognize that life goes beyond what we see in the electronic webs. For this, self-regulation is essential.
“In an oversaturated and hyperconnected society, it is necessary to take a step towards digital detox. Detox from social media consumption by setting schedules that allow you to have mental peace during the day and, above all, start practicing methods to verify the information you receive through social media,” he said.
“You need to verify social media information and try to maintain solid digital health by disconnecting from social media at certain times, setting schedules to turn off notifications on our mobile devices, disconnecting a bit from the platforms, and starting to live a little more in the real world.”
Connecting with reality. What we read on social media completely disconnects us from what is happening on the street. While everything flows normally in the economic and social spheres, we are locked in our homes, reading notifications from networks that bombard us with false or exaggerated information, trapping us in fear and worry.
In summary, Rauseo emphasizes the need to establish a routine similar to the one we have for eating properly and the importance of structuring schedules for physical exercise, reading, listening to music, spending time with family, and focusing on new projects.
Comparing Different Perspectives
All of this allows us to situate ourselves and analyze our conception of freedom, as capitalist interests seek to dominate our bodies and minds through the positioning of narratives aimed at uniformity of thought and against plurality. On this matter, CELAG associate researcher Giordana Garcia Sojo opts for a philosophical premise.
“Much of their power lies in having integrated it into our daily lives. That’s why it’s so difficult to simply stop using WhatsApp or a social network because its use has already become naturalized for logistical, commercial, and family communication issues. This is a way of ‘soft power’ that manipulates cultural symbols to infiltrate emotions and desires,” she pointed out.
“It is a way of manipulating ideologies and ways of understanding the world. This soft power has been perfected in record time, to the point where social networks now report on state affairs or international law, usurping institutions, to the extent that their owners, like the obvious case of Elon Musk, behave as if they were an international organization in themselves.”
“What to do about this? Resort to the old Cartesian doubt: I think, therefore I believe what the mainstream media tells me or not. Compare different perspectives and look for other editorial lines. Make layered readings. You cannot understand Venezuela without inserting it into the dynamics of global geopolitics and the power struggle between elites and the people, which is part of our civilization.”
Reconnecting with Humans and Nature
Regarding collective action, which allows for the development of solutions under the lens of shared knowledge, Jose Roberto Duque, popular communicator and member of the alternative media outlet La Inventadera, advocates for a paradigm shift in the way we relate, from how we do so in community and also with materiality that is directly linked to our corporeality.
“The only way to combat the cognitive war’s effects would be to stay away from it. However, it would be counterproductive, inconvenient, and catastrophic if we, the people who generate opinions and those responsible for political mobilization, decided to stay out of this war. It is not by avoiding the cognitive war that we can combat its effects. It sounds a bit sad and fatalistic, but we have no choice but to participate in this symbolic confrontation,” he pointed out.
Faced with the compulsive consumption of images and sounds that lead to disconnection, Duque proposes another premise, which is to take up a real challenge to protect one’s own health.
“A very important antidote in this cognitive war is reconnection with everything that is being attacked at this moment: nature, human beings, and the material. We must be aware of our bodily connection with everything that surrounds us since the disconnection sought by hegemonic powers with their cognitive weapons will continue to alienate us from ourselves, taking us away to accept death in life and greater fragmentation,” he stated.
“To counteract the above, let’s connect with who we are in essence by questioning what determines our own relationship with the environment and a search for an ideal state of peace and happiness.”
Autor: Ricardo Romero-Romero
Fuente: teleSUR
The opinions expressed in this section do not necessarily represent those of teleSUR