Disinformation and discursive hegemony in Peru: A critical analysis of the PIACI case and environmental NGOs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21142/DES-1704-2025-0086Keywords:
NGOs, Indigenous peoples, discourse, disinformationAbstract
Disinformation and defamation campaigns distort people's beliefs and attitudes toward specific issues, peoples, and places. These campaigns are strategically designed to distract audiences, sow distrust, influence policymaking, and reinforce forms of cultural and political hegemony. In Peru, these efforts, traditionally used by powerful economic interest groups to promote their agendas, primarily affect marginalized groups, such as Indigenous communities in the Andean and Amazonian regions. This study examines the discursive strategies and tactics used by these groups regarding the PIACI (Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact) law and the smear campaigns against environmental NGOs, particularly in the context of the proposed law amending the legal framework regulating international cooperation and the work carried out by NGOs (Law Creating the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation – APCI). Critical discourse analysis was used as a theoretical and methodological tool to examine social media and media posts in Loreto and Lima, triangulated with a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with journalists and NGO members in Peru. The results indicate the presence and predominance of the following discourses: sovereignty/unity discourse, development/extractivism discourse, discourse against "extremist NGOs," discourse against disinformation surrounding PIACI and "development," and discourse for the protection of Indigenous peoples/territories/autonomy.
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