PART 1 — Media, Culture and Information Sovereignty
By Jan Oberg
TFF co-founder and director
January 20, 2026
This is the first of four TFF-created idea portfolios designed to curb the global reach of the United States and, in both the short and long term, help catalyse a worldwide nonviolent resistance to what many observers describe as the Trump administration’s uniquely confrontational, destructive and world-threatening policies.
These portfolios outline what governments and citizens across the world can do through dynamic diplomacy, creative initiatives, and strictly nonviolent means.
They are typical TFF works in that we do not only tell what the problem is and how bad it will go – as 90+% of all commentators, experts and scholars do – we tell what we think can be done, inviting you to think of what you think you can do.
It seems painfully clear to me that the current political dynamics in Washington increasingly resemble the most dangerous pattern that ended in 1945 and was supposed to never happen again.
If that assessment holds, then passivity is no longer an option. A coordinated, global, nonviolent mobilisation is essential — not least because nonviolence is the one type of power and language a heavily militarised superpower is least prepared to counter.
All power rests on others accepting and carrying out its orders. Even the strongest leader in the world cannot round up criminals or fight wars with his own hands. Power is always dependent – dependent on someone who finds it legitimate, and do the dirty job on the strongman’s order. If young people were not brainwashed to accept warfare, there would be no wars. This is why nonviolence can be extremely effective and make an overarmed country look morally weak. That’s what Gandhi taught the world when using this theory to rid India not of the British as people but of the British Empire’s dominance structure.
The global mobilisation suggested here and in the coming thematic peace idea portfolios would also allow the rest of the world to deprive Trump of setting the international agenda. When Trump says something crazy, geopolitical experts, the media and the rest of the world, it seems, scrutinise his words in minute detail and waste all the time and energy that should be devoted to constructive alternatives and action.
If all this sounds “unrealistic,” consider the alternative: a world in which Trump’s Personal Occidental Empire is allowed to take shape — one that intimidates, coerces, and disregards established norms, continuing unchecked for the next three years as it has begun.
The proposals in this first portfolio are not limited to preventing the attempted acquisition of Greenland, though Greenland naturally occupies a central place here. Many fear that, without meaningful global resistance, such an acquisition could be carried out with little more than verbal protest from the international community — emboldening further unilateral ventures.
Think also of the so-called Gaza Peace Board that does not even mention Gaza. It is a cynical vehicle for establishing a new, personalised global “peace” structure intended to replace the United Nations with Trump himself as lifetime leader and the man who appoints his successor. Further, it is built on money, deals, and favours.
Only fools believe this is anything but Empire-building disguised as peace-making. Beyond any doubt, it is world-threatening.
It should now be evident that the ability to shape global perceptions — to persuade people of the inherent benevolence of U.S. power and of the current administration in particular — relies heavily on information dominance: narratives, propaganda, disinformation, and outright falsehoods. The Greenland argument, framed as a defensive move against China’s and Russia’s intention to take it, is one such example. It is also a psycho-political projection of the US/Trump’s own dark sides.
For these reasons, curbing U.S. information power is essential, as is countering its cultural and intellectual influence platforms. Therefore, this first Nonviolent U.S. Resistance Portfolio focuses on these domains. The suceeding portfolios will address additional forms of power that must be challenged and replaced through peaceful, principled means.
A. Media Transparency & Accountability Measures
These don’t censor anything, they expose dependency and deception and aim at creating an alternative global information and media structure after the US monopoly.
Immediate Measures (within a week)
Mandatory disclosure labels
Every news story must state the origin of its primary source (AP, Reuters, AFP, NYT, etc.). This alone would shock audiences into seeing how much comes from U.S. pipelines.
Publish a “Media Dependency Index”
A weekly ranking of outlets by percentage of U.S.-sourced content.
Announce parliamentary hearings
Transparent, non-accusatory hearings on foreign influence in national media ecosystems.
Longer-Term Measures
European or Global South–Europe newswire alliance
A structural alternative to U.S. news dominance.
Media Sovereignty Observatory
A permanent body tracking narrative dependency and foreign influence.
Open source, federated news distribution systems
Infrastructure that reduces reliance on U.S. platforms and algorithms. Boycott or at least reduce your reliance on US media platforms that censor and de-rank even peace voices and voices critical of the US, NATO, interventionism and genocide. That is – Google, Google-owned YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X and more.
B. Diversification of Global News Inputs
Plurality of sources is the alternative to narrative dominance. Stop following mainstream Western media and follow non-Western media. The Internet is a wonderful invention. Spend 75% of your media time on non-Western media online or you will be fooled about what the world actually looks like.
Immediate Measures (within a week)
Emergency subscription packages to non-U.S. news agencies
AFP, Kyodo, Al Jazeera, African newswires, Chinese and Russian media — instant diversification. Use the internet and see everybody else’s much more open-minded news coverage, editorials and discussions.
Temporary European Arctic Correspondent Network
Reporters in Nuuk, Reykjavik, Tromsø to counter U.S. framing of Greenland.
Partnerships with Greenlandic media
Ensures that Greenlandic voices define Greenland’s story and are heard worldwide.
Longer-Term Measures
Permanent European Arctic Desk
A sustained reporting presence across the Arctic region. It may be more important to have them there in the future than all over the West itself.
Support for Indigenous media networks
Strengthening local voices across the Arctic and beyond.
Cross-regional multilingual reporting hubs
Shared editorial teams linking Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
C. Citizens’ Media Resistance
Citizens can shift the media ecosystem faster than governments.
Immediate Measures (within a week)
Boycott outlets with >40% U.S. newswire dependency
A voluntary, global, nonviolent pressure tool.
“Switch Off America Week”
A symbolic week where citizens consume only non-U.S. news.
Crowdsourced monitoring of U.S. narrative dominance
Publicly track how often outlets rely on U.S. sources (and tell you they are free, diverse and public service…
Longer-Term Measures
Global media literacy networks
Teaching citizens how narratives are constructed and by whom. And use existing non-Western ones.
Public Sphere Charter
A global commitment to pluralistic information flows.
Global public-interest search engine
A non-corporate, non-U.S. alternative for accessing information.
D. Cultural & Academic Sovereignty
Cultural exchange must be mutual, not a one-way projection of power and a de facto grooming of pro-US personalities and murky associations.
Immediate Measures (within a week)
Pause new academic partnerships with U.S. institutions
A cooling-off period to reassess influence.
Suspend U.S.–EU cultural festivals and cultural cooperation
A symbolic but powerful signal of recalibration. Of course, you can enjoy the incredible works of US cultural workers over time, but stop formalised cooperation.
Prioritise Indigenous Greenlandic cultural voices.
Shift the cultural centre of gravity toward those directly affected.
Longer-Term Measures
EU–Global South academic networks
Diversifying knowledge production beyond U.S. institutions. Send your students to up-and-coming countries, not to the declining US. Stop filling you university reading lists with US literature; these books silently convey only a US perspective on the world.
European Arctic Cultural Institute
A hub for Greenlandic and Arctic cultural expression.
Ethical guidelines for cultural diplomacy
Ensuring reciprocity and preventing one-way influence.
E. Public Sphere & Civil Society Mobilisation
Nonviolent resistance begins with public consciousness and challenges military arrogance with countermeasures that set a constructive agenda.
Immediate Measures (within a week)
Global demonstrations at U.S. embassies
A peaceful, visible expression of global resistance: Enough is more than enough, Trump!
“Greenland Solidarity Week”
Events in 100+ cities to raise awareness.
People’s Tribunal on violations of international law
A moral forum documenting actions and giving voice to the affected.
Longer-Term Measures
Documentary series (“Greenland And Arctic Reality Check”)
A sustained narrative counter-campaign.
Global civil society coalitions
Networks linking NGOs, Indigenous groups, and peace organisations, for instanced the global movement against US bases in 130 countries.
World Forum on Nonviolent Power
A permanent platform for developing peaceful resistance strategies. There is a desperate need for solution-oriented thinking and global peace visions, for pro-peace and not just anti-war.
PART 1 SUMMARY
Media and cultural sovereignty are the foundations of nonviolent resistance. Massive, immediate actions worldwide can disrupt narrative dominance within days; long-term measures build a pluralistic global information order in which no single state monopolises the definition of reality for the rest of the world.
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Introduction: How Governments and Citizens Can Stop the Trump Regime’s World-Threatening Designs
Part 1 – Media, Culture and Information Sovereignty
