Institute For Strategic Dialogue (ISD): Government Sponsored Group Combatting “Misinformation”

Ever get the impression that Governments are colluding with social media and NGOs in a program of counter-intelligence? Ever think that there may be a coordinated effort to keep the general public oblivious to what’s really going on in the world? Turns out, there may be something to that.

Credit where it’s due: Stormhaven Media previously addressed the ISD, and some of its nefarious connections. Go check that out for more context.

The Canadian Government briefly mentions the work done by ISD in their group: Rapid Response Mechanism Canada (RRM Canada). This was related to foreign interference during and leading up to the 2019 European Union Parliamentary Elections. ISD is specifically listed in footnote #3.

On that page, there was also concern that anti-abortion sentiments were rising as a result of the language used. In short, calling things what they were amounted to resistance to the pro-death agenga. Also, Ottawa seemed to realize that people were getting wise to globalism and to the prospects of a Muslim takeover. Having a narrative shift makes it harder to sell Government policies.

A program run by Public Service Canada involved implementing the agenda of preventing violent extremism into Canadian schools. Parents, did you know about this?

Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD)
This project builds on a long-standing international program, first launched in 2015 through support from Public Safety Canada, designed to give young people the resources to challenge violent extremism in all its forms. Extreme Dialogue is a free resource designed to be delivered by teachers, youth practitioners, external facilitators (including social services and police), or young people themselves, by using films and supporting curriculum materials to learn about the true stories of those affected by violent extremism.
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This new investment will support bringing the program to approximately 2,000 students between the ages of 14-20 in eight different francophone high schools and CEGEP/colleges in Quebec, and will deliver new and adapted education material and workshops for students, delivered by teachers and practitioners. Teachers and practitioners will be equipped through training delivered by the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (CPRLV).
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Ultimately, this project aims to build resilience to radicalization leading to violence in youth by providing them with the knowledge, skills and values needed not only to openly discuss, but to also challenge extremism in schools and other settings within their community.

Did parents know that the Federal Government was implementing into their schools the same kind of training that is given to those “peaceful groups” to ensure they don’t commit mass murder? Maybe not letting such people into Canada in the first place would have been a better idea. Perhaps this is done to subconsciously shift the public opinion that this sort of thing should be considered normal. But then, objecting to the forced integration of vastly different groups is probably racist, or something.

Canada also has a Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security, or CCRS, It’s chaired by Amarnath Amarasingam, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue

In 2013, Public Safety Canada gave ISD $24,372.98 in a sole-sourced contract to “counter violent extremism”. However, the details of this contract were extremely sparse, so we are left to guess about what it actually involved.

Last year, Canadian taxpayers forked over nearly $400,000 to this “independent” group. Seems like an unproductive use of money. But then, it’s hardly the only time we’ve financed our own brainwashing. See the links at the bottom for worse examples of this.

It’s a registered tax-exempt organization in the United States, so more information about its finances is available from the Internal Revenue Service.

Of course, it’s hardly just the Canadian Government (or rather, taxpayers) who are financing this organization. Looking through their website, it’s easy to find the full list of donors and partners. And wow, what a list of organizations this is.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue US (ISD US) is a non-political, not-for-profit corporation registered in the District of Columbia with 501(c)(3) status. It was formed with Articles of Incorporation on 19 August 2009. Whilst the two entities are legally separate, a majority of Board members sit on both boards so that decisions can be taken collectively. You can search for ISD US using tax identification number 27-1282489.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue gGmbH (ISD Germany) is registered with the companies’ registrar in Berlin, registration AG Berlin-Charlottenburg HRB 207 328B. It was formed on 19 February 2019 with a Deed and Articles of Association and began operations in 2020. The Managing Directors are Huberta von Voss and Sarah Kennedy.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue France (ISD France) is a legal entity under the status of Association de loi 1901, a status granted to not-for-profit organisations across a range of sectors.

PARTNERS
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS

• Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
• ARENA @ Johns Hopkins University
• Cardiff University
• Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM)
• Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
• Deakin University
• Demos
• Fair Fight Action
• Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
• German Marshall Fund Alliance for Securing Democracy
• Global Center on Cooperative Security
• Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF)
• Global Disinformation Index
• Hans-Bredow Institute
• Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
• Institut Montaigne
• Institute for Economics and Peace
• McCain Institute
• MIT Media Cloud
• Ontario Tech University
• Sussex University Computer Science Department
• United Nations Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (UNCTED)
• Victoria University
• West Asia-North Africa (WANA) Institute

FUNDERS (2018-PRESENT)

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• British Council
• Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
• Europäisches Forum Alpbach
• Gemeinnützige Hertie Stiftung
• Gen Next Foundation
• Hirondelle Foundation
• International Republican Institute (IRI)
• Mercator Stiftung Germany
• Mercator Stiftung Switzerland
• National Democratic Institute
• Omidyar Group
• Open Society Foundations
• Robert Bosch Stiftung
• United States Institute for Peace

Governments & Multilateral Organisations

• Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and trade (DFAT)
• Australian Department for Home Affairs
• Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST)
• Council of Europe
• Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration
• Department of Premier & Cabinet, Victoria, Australia
• Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs
• Dutch Ministry of the Interior
• European Commission
• Finnish Interior Ministry
• German Federal Agency for Civic Engagement
• German Federal Foreign Office (Auswaertiges-Amt)
• German Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV)
• Global Affairs Canada
• Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS
• International Organization for Migration (IOM)
• London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC)
• Ministry of Justice and Security, The Netherlands
• New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)
• Norwegian Ministry of Children & Families (MCF)
• Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security
• Public Safety Canada
• Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)
• Swedish Ministry of Integration
• Swedish Ministry of Justice
• Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
• UK Home Office
• UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• US Department for Homeland Security (DHS)
• US State Department

Private Sector

• Audible
• Facebook
• GIFCT
• Google
• Google.org
• Jigsaw
• Microsoft
• YouTube

Now, just because the Institute for Strategic Dialogue is financed by numerous Western Governments, social media companies, think tanks, and NGOs like the Open Society and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, there’s no reason to be concerned. It’s not like there is any ideology that prevents truth and objective analysis from being published.

It’s hardly surprising that the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Open Society are claiming that racism and hate are on the rise. When NGOs are pushing open borders policies, it tends to provoke considerable backlash.

ISD lists conditions it imposes for any donations that are offered. While they sound fine on the surface, it needs to be said that it will only take money from groups who are on board with its ideology.

(1) The funder demonstrates respect for and adherence to universal human rights, freedom of speech, democracy and the rule of law, and does not support or condone extremism or terrorism
(2) The funder does not conduct activities or implement policies that promote violence, hatred or prejudice on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, age or disability, and does not seek to deflect criticism from their involvement in any of the above by funding ISD
(3) The funding will help to challenge extremism, polarisation and disinformation and will support ISD in its pursuit of its charitable objectives
(4) The funder does not attempt to influence ISD’s objectives, policies or decisions, and the funding does not pose a risk to ISD’s independence, either explicitly or implicitly
(5) The funding does not pose a risk of harm to ISD’s reputation, staff, partners or beneficiaries

If one questions of the replacement agenda is real (getting rid of whites in the West), the climate change narrative, the pandemic fear-porn, or censorship in general, ISD will not take money. Rather than foster any true debate or research, it seems that all this group wants is an echo chamber.

Never forget, the Canadian Government has openly talked about passing laws to combat what they call “pandemic misinformation”. While that may be a hard sell, this may be the next best thing, from their perspective.

Now, let’s see the ISD findings in action. Let’s see some fairly mainstream coverage which references the work ISD does. Surely, it will be fully transparent in all of this.

Irish far-right groups have been exploiting online loopholes and using encrypted and largely unmoderated social media sites and messaging apps to mobilise and spread messages of hate throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
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That’s according to research carried out by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD), an independent global organisation dedicated to powering solutions to extremism, hate, and disinformation.
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The study showed that the number of channels and messages created and sent by Irish users of the encrypted messaging app Telegram has increased rapidly, with just 800 messages sent in 2019 compared with over 60,000 this past January.

As just one example of propaganda, the Irish Examiner refers to the ISD as an “independent” organization. Any due diligence would have found out who really funds this group. Pretty hard to be independent when Governments and interested parties are paying the bills.

It’s entirely possible this omission was due to sloppy writing. However, it appears far more likely that this author simply chose to ignore the truth about the ISD, in an attempt to mislead and deceive readers. Looking at his LinkedIn profile suggests willful omissions, as he has a Masters in journalism. He probably should have stuck with being an English teacher.

Don’t worry, the Government is isn’t involved in gaslighting, brainwashing, or otherwise dumbing down the population in order for them to be more compliant. Politicians don’t really get their hands dirty like this. They just pay other people to do it.

IMPORTANT LINKS
(1) https://www.isdglobal.org/
(2) https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/publications/rrm-mrr/european-elections-europeennes.aspx?lang=eng
(3) Open data analysis – European Parliamentary Elections_ Comprehensive Report
(4) https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/bt/cc/fpd-en.aspx
(5) https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/crss-cltrl-rndtbl/mbrs-en.aspx
(6) Members of the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on Security
(7) ISD Funding Project Descriptions
(8) https://www.securitepublique.gc.ca/cnt/trnsprnc/cntrcts/dtls-en.aspx?id=3462
(9) ISD Disclosure of Contracts Over $10,000
(10) https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/
(11) https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/?sort=score%20desc&page=1&search_text=institute%20for%20strategic%20dialogue
(12) https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/allSearch
(13) https://www.isdglobal.org/partnerships-and-funders/
(14) Partnerships and Funders – Institute For Strategic Dialogue
(15) https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-misinformation-disinformation-law-1.5532325
(16) https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40745154.html
(17) Irish far right groups flocking to encrypted and unmoderated social media sites
(18) https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-heaney-28bbb9114/
(19) Steven Heaney _ LinkedIn

RESOURCES FOR MEDIA ACTING AS COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE
(A) https://canucklaw.ca/media-subsidies-to-counter-online-misinformation-groups-led-by-political-operatives/
(B) https://canucklaw.ca/taxpayer-grants-to-fight-misinformation-in-media-including-more-pandemic-bucks/
(C) https://canucklaw.ca/counter-intelligence-firms-to-influence-elections-canada-and-abroad-registered-as-charities/
(D) https://canucklaw.ca/more-pandemic-bucks-for-disinformation-prevention-locally-and-abroad-civix/
(E) https://canucklaw.ca/disinfowatch-ties-to-atlas-network-connected-to-lpc-political-operatives/
(F) https://canucklaw.ca/phac-supporting-science-up-first-online-counter-misinformation-group/
(G) https://canucklaw.ca/rockefeller-spends-13-5-million-to-combat-misinformation-in-u-s-elsewhere/
(H) https://canucklaw.ca/poynter-self-claimed-factchecking-group-funded-by-media-giants/
(I) https://canucklaw.ca/journalism-trust-initiative-trusted-news-initiative-project-origin-the-trust-project/
(J) https://canucklaw.ca/coalition-for-content-provenance-and-authenticity-c2pa-project-origin-content-authenticity-initiative/
(K) https://canucklaw.ca/public-media-alliance-brussels-declaration-protecting-journalists-media-freedom/

EVEN MORE MEDIA SUBSIDIES
(A) https://canucklaw.ca/media-1-unifor-denies-crawling-into-bed-with-government/
(B) https://canucklaw.ca/media-in-canada-obedient-to-govt-covid-narrative-largely-because-of-subsidies/
(C) https://canucklaw.ca/postmedia-subsidies-connections-may-explain-lack-of-interest-in-real-journalism/
(D) https://canucklaw.ca/postmedia-gets-next-round-of-pandemic-bucks-from-taxpayers-in-2021/
(E) https://canucklaw.ca/nordstar-capital-torstar-corp-metroland-media-group-more-subsidies-pandemic-bucks/
(F) https://canucklaw.ca/aberdeen-publishing-sells-out-takes-those-pandemic-bucks-to-push-narrative/
(G) https://canucklaw.ca/many-other-periodicals-receiving-the-pandemic-bucks-in-order-to-push-the-narrative/
(H) https://canucklaw.ca/cv-37i-tri-city-news-pulls-article-where-bonnie-henry-admits-false-positives-could-overwhelm-system/