Vanessa Beeley (born 1963/1964[1]) is a British activist and blogger[2][3][4] known for sharing conspiracy theories[5] and disinformation[2][6] about the Syrian civil war and about the Syrian volunteer organisation the White Helmets.[3][5][7][6][8]

Early life and career

Beeley is the daughter of former British diplomat Harold Beeley.[9][10][11] Initially, she worked as a consultant to a waste management company in the Middle East.[2][12]

Activism

Beeley has travelled to Palestine where she lived through Israeli bombardments.[13] In 2014, she started her blog titled The Wall Will Fall in which she supported the Palestinian cause.[14]

Since 2015, Beeley has focused her activism on the Syrian civil war. She first visited Syria in July 2016.[9] That year, she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus as part of a US Peace Council delegation, describing it as her "proudest moment".[1][2][9] According to Bellingcat, Beeley was on the steering committee for the Syria Solidarity Movement.[15] After visiting Syria, Beeley went to Moscow to meet Russia's deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov and director of information and press Maria Zakharova.[2] An article by Janine di Giovanni in The New York Review of Books described Bogdanov as "Putin's point man on Syria".[2]

Beeley has frequently appeared on the Russian government-owned networks RT and Sputnik commenting on the Syrian war.[4][6][2]

In 2019, two of Beeley's planned talks at universities in Canada, organised by the Hamilton, Ontario chapter of the Stop the War Coalition, were cancelled after a backlash. The Université de Montréal said the room booked for the event was too small and it was concerned that the "event would not go off peacefully".[6]

Journalism

Beeley has been an associate editor of the conspiracy website 21st Century Wire.[3][9][16][11]

In 2019, she received the "Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism" from the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, which Bellingcat describes as a "pro-Assad lobby group".[15]

Beeley has claimed to have been a finalist for the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, however, according to James Fox, a member of the prize committee, there are no finalists for the Gellhorn Prize, and only winners or special commendations are published.[17]

Views

Some of Beeley's controversial views include a belief that the human rights NGO Human Rights Watch is a "fake" group,[1] that the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris was a false flag operation, and that al-Qaeda was not responsible for the September 11 attacks.[1][6][8]

Syria

Beeley is a member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media which has attracted criticism for disputing the veracity of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War.[18][19]

In February 2018, Beeley encouraged her readers to report a list of news outlets and journalists – including the BBC, Channel 4 News and The Guardian – for allegedly violating the UK Terrorism Act.[20] The journalists and media outlets listed by Beeley had all been critical of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.[20]

In leaked private chats, Beeley admitted knowing that the Syrian government engages in torture, but said that she would never publicly state so.[2]

White Helmets

Beeley has accused the White Helmets, a Syrian humanitarian organisation that operates in parts of opposition-controlled Syria and in Turkey, of being a fraudulent terrorist organisation that engages in organ harvesting, and that its volunteers are a legitimate military target.[9][21][2][6][11][22] In 2017, referencing Beeley's false claims, the Russian government submitted a report to the United Nations Security Council that linked the White Helmets to al-Qaeda.[2] Eight countries on the Security Council rejected Russia's submission, saying that the White Helmets are an "impartial, neutral group".[2]

Middle East experts have dismissed Beeley's allegations that the White Helmets are linked to al-Qaeda and that the group engages in organ harvesting.[21][23] Fact-checking website Snopes gave a rating of "false" for Beeley's claim that the White Helmets were linked to terrorists.[24]

According to data analyst organisations Graphika and Hoaxy, in 2018 Beeley was among the most influential figures in spreading content online about the White Helmets.[9][10]

Syrian chemical weapons

Beeley is a member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media which alleges that the 2018 Douma chemical attack was staged by the White Helmets.[21][25] She has claimed that the Syrian government has not carried out chemical weapon attacks.[10] Experts from the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism have stated that the Syrian Air Force was responsible for the 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.[7] Beeley has claimed that the attack has been "debunked".[7]

Accusations against MP Jo Cox

In 2017, Beeley called the deceased British MP Jo Cox – who had been murdered the previous year – an "al Qaeda advocate"[1] and "warmongering Blairite".[26]

COVID-19

Beeley has shared conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. She has alleged that Microsoft founder Bill Gates has ties to Imperial College London and asked "Is UK government working for Bill Gates?".[27]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bachner, Michael (August 22, 2018) "UK Labour MP slammed for praising anti-Semitic pro-Assad conspiracist" Archived 21 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine. The Times of Israel.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Giovanni, Janine di (16 October 2018). "Why Assad and Russia Target the White Helmets". The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Assad Supporters Plan to Put the 'Media on Trial' for Doing Journalism in Syria". Snopes.com. May 2018. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  4. 1 2 Wilson, Tom; Starbird, Kate (14 January 2020). "Cross-platform disinformation campaigns: lessons learned and next steps". Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. 1 (1). doi:10.37016/mr-2020-002.
  5. 1 2 "White Helmets 'staging fake attacks' in Syria? We sort fact from fiction". The France 24 Observers. 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 York, Chris (7 December 2019). "'Conspiracy Theorist' Vanessa Beeley Faces Backlash As Universities Cancel Her 'Journalism' Talks". uk.news.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 "The online activists pushing Syria conspiracy theories". BBC News. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  8. 1 2 "The 'crazy club': Inside the British propaganda trips that seek to legitimise Assad's barbarism". The National. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Solon, Olivia (18 December 2017). "How Syria's White Helmets became victims of an online propaganda machine". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 Keate, Georgie; Blanchard, Sam (14 April 2018). "To say Douma attack was staged is to enter an Orwellian world". The Times. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 Webster, Ben (16 April 2018). "Academics accused of speaking for Assad condemn Syria raids" Archived 6 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine The Times.
  12. ↑ Weiss, Michael (20 April 2021). "Syria Chemical-Attack Deniers Admit Links to WikiLeaks and Russia". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  13. ↑ "Britisk journalist svarer Khader igen: "Jeg er hverken støttet af Assad eller Putin"". jyllands-posten.dk (in Danish). 2 January 2017. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "About". The Wall Will Fall. 12 September 2014. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  15. 1 2 Davis, Charles (30 September 2019). "Pro-Assad Lobby Group Rewards Bloggers On Both The Left And The Right" Archived 30 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Bellingcat.
  16. ↑ Berlatsky, Noah. "Dear Leftists: Going on Tucker Carlson Is Not Going to Stop Imperialism". Pacific Standard. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  17. ↑ Hadjimatheou, Chloe (February 27, 2021). "Mayday: How the White Helmets and James Le Mesurier got pulled into a deadly battle for truth" Archived 1 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News.
  18. ↑ "Mysterious death of White Helmets co-founder spotlights toxic propaganda". PBS NewsHour. 24 December 2019. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  19. ↑ "Syria: on academic freedom and responsibility". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  20. 1 2 Mackey, Robert (21 February 2020). "Homeland Security Algorithm Revokes U.S. Visa of War Crimes Investigator Eyal Weizman" Archived 1 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine The Intercept.
  21. 1 2 3 "Mysterious death of White Helmets co-founder spotlights toxic propaganda". PBS NewsHour. 24 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  22. ↑ Kennedy, Dominic (28 April 2018). "Guests rebelled at Syria trip 'lunacy'" Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine The Times.
  23. ↑ Hadjimatheou, Chloe (27 February 2021). "Mayday: How the White Helmets and James Le Mesurier got pulled into a deadly battle for truth". BBC News. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  24. ↑ Palma, Bethania (December 15, 2016). "Are the Syrian 'White Helmets' Rescue Organization Terrorists?" Archived 15 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine Snopes.
  25. ↑ Hadjimatheou, Chloe (26 March 2021). "The UK professor and the fake Russian agent". BBC News. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  26. ↑ "Labour MP Chris Williamson's 'democracy roadshow' criticised" Archived 17 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. 21 August 2018.
  27. ↑ Kennedy, Dominic (10 April 2020). "British academics sharing coronavirus conspiracy theories online - News". The Times. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
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