Airborne Leaflet Propaganda Campaign 1960-1961

As mentioned in the last post, propaganda played an important role in the CIA's Tibetan operation. To continue with that theme, I'm showing a bit of my interview with Ken Knaus from March 2008, when we headed up to his office to take a look at the propaganda booklets that were dropped into Tibet in 1960-1961. Knaus, author of "Orphans of the Cold War", began working on the Tibetan Task Force in 1958, was an instructor at Camp Hale, and the operation's project manager from 1961 to 1965. He oversaw the making and distribution of these booklets.

Psychological tactics of this kind have often been used in historical military operations. According to Wikipedia (quoting from "Cassell's History of the Wars Between France and Germany, 1870-1871"): “Airborne leaflets have been used for military propaganda purposes at least since the 19th century. One early example is from the Franco-Prussian War when in October 1870 during the Siege of Paris a French balloon coming from the city dropped government proclamations over Prussian troops that stated the following (in German): ‘Paris defies the enemy. The whole of France rallies. Death to the invaders. Foolish people, shall we always throttle one another for the pleasure and proudness of Kings? Glory and conquest are crimes; defeat brings hate and desire for vengeance. Only one war is just and holy; that of independence.’ ”

In recent news, reports say that the South Korean military has been dropping leaflets, DVDs and flash drives into North Korea, where communication is tightly controlled and leaves many citizens unaware of world affairs. The propaganda, dropped by balloons, apparently describes the pro-democracy movements in the Middle East and North Africa in a call for North Koreans to also rise up against their oppressors.

The objectives for the booklets dropped into Tibet -- in many ways like South Korea's reported campaign -- were primarily to spread anti-communist sentiment, counter PRC propaganda, promote reasons to fight for freedom against oppression, show how to conduct political and guerrilla warfare operations, and persuade more Tibetans to join the resistance against China. Here's the brief explanation written on the first page of Knaus’ copies shown in the video: "A collaborative effort by the Camp Hale trainees on a booklet which spells out the reasons why the Tibetans are rebelling against the Chinese efforts to destroy Tibet as a nation and a culture with examples of how other nations obtained their independence and of friendly countries which are supporting the Tibetan cause. It was dropped into Tibet at the authors' request when they returned there on their missions."

CLICK HERE to download some of the pictures that have been translated (in chronological order from one of the booklets). Many thanks to Ken Knaus for sharing the booklets for scanning and to Doma Norbu for helping with the translation. Click the picture below to watch Ken Knaus showing and discussing his copies.

Revolt & Propaganda in “Unconquerable Tibet”

As revolution fever whips through North Africa and the Middle East, I thought I’d post an archival film called "Unconquerable Tibet". It's also timely as we approach the 52nd anniversary of March 10th, a day the Tibetan exile community commemorates as Tibetan National Uprising Day. That landmark revolt against the People's Republic of China wasn't the first or the last display of Tibetan rebellion by far; protests continue today (albeit unarmed since the 70s) within Tibet and the worldwide diaspora.

Looking through some US government documents from the ‘50s, I came across an interesting memo titled, “Peking Publicity for Tibetan Rebellion and Unrest”. I’ll post it in full next month, but for now here’s the final passage, dated just a few months before the March 1959 revolt began: (Note: the opening paragraph is the US intro.)

January 1, 1959 – The Tibetans persisted in their opposition to Communist reforms and in their desire for independence; a New Year’s statement by a leading official of the Chinese Communist Party control committee for Tibet admitted continued Tibetan resistance which, as usual, he attributed to imperialist influence.

An energetic effort should be made to struggle against the enemy and to expose the schemes and subversive activities carried out by all the reactionaries and imperialists. This must be done for the defense of our country. Under the guidance of imperialism and some special service agents of the Chiang [then the leader of the Republic of China/Taiwan] clique, a small number of reactionaries are carrying out a series of subversive activities to deceive the Tibetan people under the flag of nationalism and emancipation. For this reason, we must heighten our vigilance against imperialism and all reactionaries and be prepared to deal a fatal blow to them.

While that has a familiar ring to it these days, the difference for Tibetans in 1959 is there was no world watching. There was no press allowed in Tibet then (and very little now, for that matter). Few Tibetans had cameras then to document what was happening. So no one was there, that I have record of, to film what sounds like a massacre from first-hand accounts. The men I interviewed who were there all tell the same story: the rebels were crushed with overwhelming force. By March 28, 1959, the PRC had claimed the Dalai Lama a fugitive and Tibet officially under China’s rule. The party line claimed they were liberating the Tibetans from imperialist influence. Their tune changed in 2009 when China began touting March 28 as “Serf’s Emancipation Day”.

Propaganda was also, of course, a significant part of the CIA’s Tibetan Task Force (as with all US operations). Today’s video is a good example of US anti-Communist propaganda, made in 1959 following the March revolt in Lhasa. Produced by the United States Information Agency (USIA), here is “Unconquerable Tibet”.