Wet noodle at hand
Affect
–noun
4.
Psychology . feeling or emotion.
5.
Psychiatry . an expressed or observed emotional response: Restricted, flat, or blunted affect may be a symptom of mental illness, especially schizophrenia.
6.
Obsolete . affection; passion; sensation; inclination; inward disposition or feeling.
I really don't think this is what they were talking about but I could be wrong. If so, they did not communicate well because 99% of the world will read the meaning as "effect" and not as regards emotions.
Or maybe the revolutionaries are all schizophrenics.
Journalism is about communicating clearly. Once upon a time, I was one.