Psyops Radio

"Your culture is important to you, and to us. We wish for a better life for you, for the children of Afghanistan to live independently, free of foreign domination and oppression imposed by the Taliban's ways." These lines come from a flyer that the US armed forces dropped over Afghanistan. It's part of a program known as Psyops, short for Psychological Operations, and it's one of the most important ways in which radio, something so many of us listen to every day and can even take for granted, can actually help to change the world.

Psychological operations have been around for centuries, though they were not always known as such. Usually psychological operations took the form of leaflets that one army would spread among the enemy soldiers or among the enemy civilians. In US history, such leaflets even date back to the War of Independence, when soldiers for the Crown would be showered with leaflets describing the virtues of living in the New World - particularly freedom to own land. Since then, psychological operations have been used in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, as well as non-military operations where information needed to be spread in less than optimal conditions - such as helping victims of Hurricane Andrew in Florida, and aiding refugees from Cuba and Haiti.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Pysops can be summed up in their own terms: "Persuading rather than compelling physically, they rely on logic, fear, desire or other mental factors to promote specific emotions, attitudes or behaviors." Currently, the US military is working toward these ends by air-dropping Freeplay wind-up radios made among the Afghan people. Unlike the Freeplay Plus Radio we offer, which has the AM, FM and most of the short wave spectrum, these specially designed Freeplay radios are locked on a frequency that automatically tunes in US military broadcasts. With these radios, Afghans will know about aid facilities in their area as well as food drops. They'll also hear messages like the one above, assuring them of the US intentions in Afghanistan, and that we're there to help them.

Using wind-up radios in Afghanistan really makes a lot of sense. From reports published in newspapers in the US and abroad, it's pretty clear that the Afghans don't have easy access to things like batteries and electricity. And now, by just winding up a radio, they can regain at least a glimpse of the outside world - a world that they'd been closed off from for over half a decade - I think that's pretty amazing.

In December 2001, the US Congress also approved funding for Radio Free Afghanistan - which means soon people there will be hearing even more news and information in their own local dialects. I found it moving that one of the first signs of a return to freedom in Afghanistan was the playing of music in the streets. People tuned in shortwave from Pakistan, and they danced.

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