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‘File 28/7 II War: Propaganda – Local Opinion’ [‎64r] (127/686)

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The record is made up of 1 file (341 folios). It was created in 12 Mar 1942-12 Aug 1944. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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4
change from a stable and resigned outlook on life rooted in
traditionalism to one that is secular, rationalistic, politico
volatile. Our best propaganda approach is the one shaped by
local existing realities.
Any propaganda successes the G-ermans have scored locally
are thought to have been due less to German propaganda
technique than to German military successes. With the turn in
the tide of our military fortunes our pro-British Arabs will
grow in number and enthusiasm. Meanwhile, in the Gulf - it is
one of the great potential oilfields of the East, and is
besides, a major Russian supply route, so that it may well
attract Axis attentions - the propaganda aim that seems of
pre-eminent value at this moment is the one that is best
calculated to promote a friendly countryside. To this end, one
tours and film-showing gain wide and friendly contacts; the
distribution of our excellent publicity material best achieves
its ends if it is aided by friendly personal intercourse: we
are always able to strike a right note for our Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
listeners through the means of local broadcasting.
The Gulf area is one of wide expanses. Scattered
hereditary oligarchies, friendly to us, are centres of
influence but seldom of learning or moral exaltation. War
partisanship is not primarily a matter of intellectual
persuasion. Our field of action is where we meet our friends
on common ground. Notably, one subject of abiding interest
to the Gulf Arab - shipowner and trader as he often is - is
sea-warfare and what is germane to it, blockade, shipping,
overseas markets, the means of supplying his wants. This,
of course, can contain the seed of noxious as well as of
healthy propaganda: peradventure it is what lies at the roots
of his war sympathies.
I am sorry to have to draw so unattractive and primitive
a picture but it would be wrong to disguise the truth of the
matter which is, that the Arabs of these parts are less
susceptible to the lofty appeals of our altruism than to the
attractions of our band-waggon. Of course they will learn.
Meanwhile, they are reached by the simplest representation of
items that have a definite meaning within their experience,
such, for instance, as the thesis that British seapower is the
mainspring of their security without which they could not
trade with an outside world. Then, too, a valuable propaganda
aid in a centre such as the Gulf, where the population is
thin-spread and every body of importance is knowable, lies
in the cultivation of ftiendly personal contacts.
Bertram Thomas
Public Relations Officer
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .

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Content

The file, a direct chronological continuation of ‘File 28/7 I War: Propaganda: local opinion’ (IOR/R/15/2/687), comprises reports and correspondence concerning: the dissemination of pro-British and Allied propaganda in Bahrain and the wider Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region, as prepared and coordinated by the Publicity Office in Bahrain; the reception and impact of propaganda (Allied and Axis) on local public opinion in Bahrain. The propaganda covers events from Germany’s advances in Russia and Japan’s advances in the Indian Ocean in early 1942, to the Allied Landings in Normandy in June 1944. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Public Relations Officer in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Bertram Sidney Thomas); the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban; Edward Birkbeck Wakefield; Major Tom Hickinbotham); and the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior).

The file includes:

Extent and format
1 file (341 folios)
Arrangement

The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The file notes at the end of the file (ff 315-342) mirror the chronological arrangement.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 343; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-314; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. An additional mixed foliation/pagination sequence is also present in parallel between ff 315-342.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘File 28/7 II War: Propaganda – Local Opinion’ [‎64r] (127/686), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/688, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025481967.0x000080> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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