Introduction
On February 14, 2024, Professor Glenn Diesen[1][2][3][4] published several posts[1][2][3][4] on X in which he reports on the cancel and censorship culture, as practiced by the Norwegian Aage Borchgrevink[1]. Although Borchgrevink is listed on various websites and Wikipedia pages as a human rights activist, works at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and is chairman of the Norwegian NFFO, the Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association, he is not who he pretends to be.
What Glenn Diesen describes in the following articles, posted on X, corresponds with the experiences so many others and also I had with Aage Borchgrevink on X: there is zero willingness to be informed about the scientific facts regarding political issues. He distorts facts, creates misinformation, and is a USA propaganda activist, not a human rights activist. The same applies to the Helsinki Committee, and the NFFO.
1. The Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Association (NFFO)
…….. announced that they cancelled their participation as a co-organiser for a public debate about the conflict in the Middle East because I am one of the speakers. I wear this as a badge of honour. One of Norway’s leading propagandists who has been writing hit-pieces about me for years in the media just happens to be a chairman of NFFO who announced the cancellation. So, the person behind the organisation that cancelled their participation, because I am allegedly controversial, is the same person who has been working tirelessly to depict me as controversial to have me fired as a professor from the university. These are two cheeks of the same arse, but this is conveniently omitted by those reporting on this story.
I do not use the term “propagandist” lightly. This propagandist works for the Helsinki Committee, a “human rights organisation” financed by the CIA-cutout National Endowment for Democracy (NED). When Reagan established NED as an extension of the CIA in 1983, it was to manipulate civil society in other countries (see tweet below). NED and its proxies only focus on human rights in adversarial states and thus sell all great power conflicts as a fight between democracy and authoritarianism (good vs evil), while claiming the source credibility of a “human rights organisation” that enables them to dismiss critics as enemies of freedom. When this Norwegian “human rights activist” does not slander me in the media and shames my university for permitting academic freedom, he is campaigning against Julian Assange and other critics of the US.
This is not simply an issue to a silly propagandist discrediting NFFO. Censorship, cancellations and the corruption of institutions have detrimental effects on society. After a decade of war in Ukraine, Norwegians are still not exposed to any arguments and evidence that deviate from NATO’s narrative. Norway will give the US sovereign control over 15 military bases on its soil to confront Russia in the Arctic and Norway has become one of the most eager weapon suppliers in the Ukrainian proxy war – with almost no public debate about the impact on our security as only one argument is permitted and dissent comes with great social cost. Anyone attempting to explain the arguments of the opposing side can be denounced for “legitimising” the opponent and thus smeared as a “Putinist”.
Our discourse subsequently consists of clichés and slogans without substance, simplified and dumbed down to a narrative of goodies versus baddies in which ever-more weapons are the path to peace, diplomacy and negotiations are dangerous, and censorship is vital to protect our democracy.
All is not well with freedom of speech and academic freedom in this country. I have published 11 academic books, which have been translated into several languages. Yet, an organisation devoted to academic writing cancelled their participation as a co-organiser because a ridiculous NED-financed “human rights activist” has accused me of working for Russia. Also, the debate they withdrew support from is not even about Russia, but the Middle East…
2. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee
…….. should be designated as a propaganda organisation due to its funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED): – Washington Post writes that NED has been the “sugar daddy of overt operations” and “what used to be called ‘propaganda’ and can now simply be called ‘information'”. – NED was inaugurated by President Reagan to conceal influence operations by US intelligence as work on democracy and human rights. – Documents released by the Reagan presidential library reveal that NED cooperated closely with CIA propaganda initiatives. – Allen Weinstein, a cofounder of NED, acknowledged: “a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA”. – Philip Agee, a CIA whistle-blower, explained that NED was established as a “propaganda and inducement program” to subvert foreign nations and style it as a democracy promotion initiatives.
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee wrote a 7-page long article about me (plus front page), in which they pressured the university to terminate my employment as I allegedly violate international law by supporting Russian war propaganda. – This is a strange allegation as I have been very openly opposed to the war from day one, but my crime as a professor of Russian politics has been to engage with Russian media. And this is allegedly in breach of international law. – The article makes no sense and was published in a newspaper where the author’s wife is an editor, but it is nonetheless cited in numerous efforts to censor and cancel. – It is beyond absurd that government-funded “non-governmental organisations” masquerading as “human rights organisations” can routinely attack academic freedoms and manipulate civil society in our country to ensure there is only one acceptable narrativ
3. Tweets by Aage Borchgrevink
Notice how in all these tweets (and all his articles), he attempts to shame the university into cancelling dissent. Is this normal for a state-financed “human rights activist” and a chairman of an organisation for authors? Click picture to enlarge:
4. Borchgrevink’s cancellation
He is very proud to censor and cancel. Unworthy of an open society. Click picture to enlarge.
5. Professor Glenn Diesen about the Tucker Carlsen interview with Vladimir Putin
The subjects “propaganda“, “freedom of speech“, and “censorship” start at 16:34 in the video ”Is America in decline: The US could lose the war against Russia – CBC Weekly Talk (Azerbaijan)”
Anastasia Lavrina: I don’t know if you watched the last interview of Vladimir Putin to American journalist Tucker Carlson and immediately after the West started to criticize the journalist for this interview. Why do you think the West turned against the American journalist in this particular interview is there any specific issues on the agenda?
Glenn Diesen: Well, they denounced the interview as propaganda before had even been released so I think it’s quite obvious that this doesn’t look good in terms of our principle of free speech because a lot of the attacks you know calling him a Putin puppet and you know this kind of name calling it’s not just childish but it’s also completely devoid of any substance. There’s no real criticism of you know the questions he asked or the direction he took it, so I think it demonstrates I think an unwillingness to present the opposite side of the argument and this is a huge problem.
I always make the point that at least during the Cold War we knew what Moscow’s arguments were. We didn’t feel the need to censor it but these days there’s a huge amount of censorship going on now here in the west, not only censoring Russian media but also journalist academics within the West who dare to explain what the Russians are thinking, what they’re doing, are accused of legitimizing what the Russians are doing, and one sees the call for censorship and cancellation immediately arises, so I think that a lot of the war narrative which we have been building over the past two years is based on their flawed assumption.
I don’t think many people anymore in the west really know much about very basic facts which can be proven, so I think there’s a huge concern that the whole narrative for war is disappearing and so the the need for narrative control. I think this is the greatest concern, and why there was such a fierce opposition to the Tucker Carlson interview of President Putin.
6. Glenn Diesen about Arestovych, the former advisor of Zelensky, and propaganda
Click to read the tweet.
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Glenn Diesen: The Ukraine War & The Eurasian World Order
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