Mighty Man, Little Man, White Men: charges, quadrinhos, escândalos e a guerra de propaganda a favor do Apartheid (África do Sul, 1973 - 1979)

Abstract

In the late 1970s, the Information Scandal shook the structures of the apartheid’s political institutionality: the Rand Daily Mail, South Africa's leading English-language newspaper, revealed the existence of a secret government-run propaganda program, leading to great political damage National Party main leaders and putting the future of the white domination system in check. In the genesis of this program was the idea that South Africa was the target of a total offensive that, based on lies, built an environment of international hostility towards the country and, in particular, the Afrikaner people. The propaganda actions developed since then would constitute an “active defense” strategy adopted to protect the country's social and political order - a propaganda war in the very words of the South African Department of Information. Two of these actions involved the use of comics and cartoons: the creation of South Africa's first superhero comic book, Mighty Man, and the establishment of the first English-language newspaper to publicly support afrikaner agenda, The Citizen. This work analyzes the place of these comics and cartoons in the propaganda campaign developed by the South African government, as well as the role of the cartoons published by The Rand Daily Mail, the newspaper recognized by the government as its main press adversary