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- Accusation in a mirror (AiM), mirror politics, mirror propaganda, mirror image propaganda, or mirror argument is a hate-speech incitement technique. AiM refers to falsely imputing to one's adversaries the intentions that one has for oneself and/or the action that one is in the process of enacting. The term in French, "accusation en miroir", was described in a paragraph in a 1970 adult education manual entitled Psychologie de la publicite et de la propagande—part of a large, comprehensive series of ESF Collection formation permanente publications intended for adult education and professional formation. The French author and editor, Roger Mucchielli, intended the material to educate others to be able to identify publicity and propaganda techniques in order to thwart them. Mucchielli explained how the perpetrator who intends to start a war will proclaim his peaceful intentions and accuse the adversary of warmongering; he who uses terror will accuse the adversary of terrorism. However, during the 1994 Rwandan genocide AiM was used—along with other propaganda techniques—by the Hutus to incite the genocide. By invoking collective self-defense, "accusation in a mirror" justifies genocide, just as self-defense is a defense for individual homicide. Susan Benesch remarked that while dehumanization "makes genocide seem acceptable", accusation in a mirror makes it seem necessary. In 1999, a team of human rights working under the direction of historian Alison Des Forges found a mimeographed document in a Rwandan Hutu hut, by an anonymous author. The document, entitled "Note relative à la propagande d'expansion et de recrutement", included the term "accusation en miroir" as described by Mucchielli, along with an analysis of the psychology underpinning propaganda, transforming Mucchielli's psychology textbook into a propaganda manual. The term was further elaborated upon during the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as an extreme form of hate speech that is considered to be an incitement to genocide. Des Forges, who testified before the 1998 ICTR case The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, among others, had described "mirror politics" or "accusation in a mirror". The Office of the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide (OSAPG) defines "mirror politics"as a "common strategy to create divisions by fabricating events whereby a person accuses others of what he or she does or wants to do". The OSAPG includes "mirror politics" in their Analysis Framework on Genocide as part of one category considered in their determination of a "risk of genocide in a given situation". Kenneth L. Marcus, and Gregory S. Gordon have investigated ways in which "accusation in a mirror" has been used to incite hatred and how its impact can be mitigated. (en)
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