In the country of silent majority. The Kremlin propaganda and Russian society

The lecture will address the impact of propaganda on Russian society. The speaker will seek to explain the phenomenon of popularity of Vladimir Putin, consider the way the propaganda of the Putin “majority” has become the means to consign those who are in doubt to internal exile, inquire about the reasons why citizens tend to believe the propaganda (and whether they do indeed?), as well as how anti-Western rhetoric has become the instrument of the regime’s lasting power, obscuring Russians’ European identity. Irisova will also discuss the issue of negativisation of consciousness, the psychological effects of propaganda, and the rise of the “us – them” discourse, seen as an inevitable result of the current socio-political situation.

Free admission, meeting held in Russian with simultaneous interpreting into Polish.

Olga Irisova – political and mediaanalyst, senior editor of the Intersection analytics portal (http://intersectionproject.eu/), founded by the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding. She published her texts in Russian and international media, including Forbes, Niezawisimaja Gazieta, Moskowskij Komsomolec, World Economic Journal, Slon, Insider, New Eastern Europe. She specialises in issues related to the information policies of the Kremlin and the methods of manipulation of the public opinion. She is a graduate of the European Association of the Schools of Political Studies by the Council of Europe.