Avtomat Kalašnikova and its role
VIOLENCE IS NEVER THE ANSWER
4—5
6—21 Hold out like a Viet Cong „Disculpen las molestias esta es una revolucion“ Portuguese colonial war Un fatto umano: Mafia School shooting Islamic State
What is it used for?
Evil or freedom?
Index
Soviet-Afghan war
22—33
34—39
Hip hop and gangsta rap
How it works
Points of view
The engineer
As a product
As an icon
Institutional emblembs
40—41
Freedom or evil?
The AK-47 , officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova is a soviet gas-operated assault rifle. Almost from the moment of its official adoption by the Soviet military in 1949, the AK-47 was recognized as being simple to operate, rugged, reliable under trying conditions, and amenable to mass production. Because of its ease of use and maintenance, which allows also inexperienced people to its use, the AK-47 became one of the means by which various occupied states regained
their freedom after the colonial and imperialist period.With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, AK-47s were illegally sold on the black market and in the arms trade to anyone willing to pay, such as criminal organisations, drug cartels as well as various terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda. Today the AK-47 is the deadliest weapon in human history.
I. What is it used for? It isn‘t a world of saints.
Revolutions, wars, terrorism.
Hold out like a Viet Cong
Historic background France after the second world war and the occupation of the Indochina from Japan, tries to regain its oldest colonies but meets with resistance of Viet Mihn in the north of Vietnam. French occupy the south of Vietnam. It begins a war which was wearing out french despite the help of the United States. After the Geneva Agreements the state was officially divided in North Vietnam with a Communist government (leader: HoChi-Minh) and the South Vietnam with a dictatorship supported by USA (leader:Ngo Dinh Diem).Against the latter’s, it develops a Guerriglia group named Viet Cong.
Vietnam War Supported and army by the URSS, Viet Cong’s favourite weapon was the AK-47 and some of its variants.The Vietcong‘s determined guerrilla warfare led to increasingly intense US intervention. The conflict ended with the Americans retreating and the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces conquering the south of the country. The US fighters were young men, snatched from their youth, sent into battle by their state, who had strong doubts and dissatisfaction about the legitimacy of the conflict. The Vietnamese fighters were driven by patriotism and a strong thirst for freedom and independence.
“We were really confused why the Americans tried to invade our homeland. We hadn’t done anything to them.” Vu Van Vinh ex vietnamese soldier
left in the center:Viet Cong soldier with AK-47; right form the top down at right: Wounded and shocked civilian survivors of Dong Xoai 1965, A South Vietnamese Marine, severely wounded in a Viet Cong ambush, is comforted by a comrade in a sugar-cane field at Duc Hoa, August 5, 1963. Viet Cong troops cross a river in 1966 during the Vietnam War.
“Disculpen las molestias, esta es una revolucion” Their goals The stated goal of the Marxist-Leninist Zapatistas is to bring autonomous control to the indigenous people of Chiapas, though not necessarily to overthrow the Mexican government. In a June 2005 communiqué (the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle), the EZLN stated its decision to listen to the Mexican populace, deciding to cease fire and no longer engage in attacks against the Mexican military or other opposing security forces. The EZLN maintains, in that same statement, its willingness, even obligation, to resume an armed struggle if necessary. It also puts forth their desire for a new national constitution that recognizes the “rights and liberties of the people and defends the weak in front of the mighty.”
What zapatistas are The EZLN, a barely-armed indigenous guerrilla group, became a household-name in Mexico after their armed uprising in the state of Chiapas in January 1994. Their ex leader is known as SubComandante Marcos. In the Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle of 1993, which the EZLN refers to as its declaration of war, the EZLN demanded the end of the looting of natural resources found in the areas controlled by the organization. The insurgent group goes on to request the support of the Mexican people in the struggle for work, land, education, justice, democracy, and respect for native rights. The EZLN expressed the desire to allow the newly liberated population to elect freely and democratically their own authorities.
“Our choice is not between war and peace but between life with dignity or without” Subcomandante Marcos
In the pictures: the EZLN movment.
Portuguese colonial war
Historic background The Portuguese Colonial War (Portuguese: Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation, and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, was a 13-year-long conflict fought between Portugal‘s military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal‘s African colonies between 1961 and 1974. The Portuguese ultraconservative regime at the time, the Estado Novo, was overthrown by a military coup in 1974, and the change in government brought the conflict to an end.The aim of the regime was to ensure a assimilação uniformizadora („uniform assimilation“) of the native populations throughout its possessions, aiming at the constitution of a „political and spiritual community“ of Portuguese language and Christian religion. The population of the overseas provinces was thus divided into the two categories of indígenas („natives“, those natives still bound to their local traditions, languages and religions) and não indígenas („non-natives“), the latter including on an equal legal footing white settlers, mestizos and assimilados („assimilated“), i.e. natives who had learned Portuguese, converted to Christianity and enjoyed good economic conditions.
The conflict In theory, all levels of public administration and military hierarchies were open to the assimilados, but in practice they were penalised by the low levels of education to which they had direct access.The situation of the indigenous people was more critical: although slavery had been abolished, a system of compulsory labour was imposed on the non-assimilated native populations for the benefit of the central administration and the white settlers.The system of compulsory labour, as well as other measures such as the forced cultivation of agricultural products for export, the policies of increasing the white population after the Second World War and the allocation of the best land to the new immigrants from the motherland, ended up exasperating the
native populations and created a fertile ground for the cause of independence. As time went by, the weight of the conflict became unbearable for Portuguese society: the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974 brought an end to the Estado Novo regime and Portugal started to become a democratic nation. The new leaders also accepted the independence claims of the colonies: a transitional phase began, which ended at the end of 1975 with the proclamation of full independence for the African territories and the dismantling of what remained of the Portuguese Empire.
from left to right: Many people took up arms against the white minority government in Zimbawe; Mozambique soldiers; PAIGC fighters stand during the transfer of power ceremony from the Portuguese to the PAIGC; Cuban soldiers during the Angolan war of independence.
Un fatto umano: Mafia
Historic background After the unification of Italy and the beginning of the Italian liberal age, the south, which had been annexed without any real involvement of the population, was a world totally alien to the ruling class. The total absence of the state left this territory in poverty, with serious situations of exploitation of the working class by the landowners who were forced to remain loyal to the criminal groups that had formed. Thus the phenomenon of the Mafia was born.
The phenomenon Weapon are used form organized crime to committing offence, or as an object of sale. Crimes such as robberies, kidnappings, homicides, attacks for extortion or other purposes, almost always have, as an instrument of consummation, arms (including explosives); and murders, in particular, have unfortunately become an ever more frequent means used to eliminate "traitors"or members of adversary organizations in recurrent feuds determined by reasons of predominance in illicit traffic, or also to get rid of public officials, guilty only of carrying out their institutional duty of repressing crime in an effective and incisive manner. The weapon of choice for mafias is certainly the AK-47 (Kalashnikov) submachine gun, particularly of Russian and Chinese origin, found in large quantities in the various types in which it was produced. The reasons for this can be found in the fact that these weapons have great firepower and are readily available on the illegal market, especially the Chinesemade AK-47s, which are widely used in the Balkan conflicts and come mainly from Albania.
“La mafia non è affatto invincibile; è un fatto umano e come tutti i fatti umani ha un inizio e avrà anche una fine. ” Giovanni Falcone
Right:The A112 torn apart by AK-47 fire with the bodies of Mr and Mrs dalla Chiesa immediately after the massacre in "via Carini"; left: The murder of Stefano Bontate, an Italian Mafioso, by a rival "cosca“, 1981
School shooting The phenomenon A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, or university, involving the use of firearms.The phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school-related shootings, but school shootings have taken place in many countries across the world.Most mass shooters are young males who share the same ideology,one that glorifies violent revenge against the society that they feel has unfairly rejected or abused them, and they often express admiration for how their murderous predecessors achieved notoriety.According to studies, factors behind school shooting include family dysfunction, lack of family supervision, ready access to firearms, and mental illness among many other psychological issues.
April 14, 2003 John McDonogh High School shooting. 18-yearold Steven Williams, and 17-year-old James Tate, opened fire with an AK-47 and a handgun in the gymnasium of John McDonogh High School, killing a 15-year-old student and wounding three female students. Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Tate was sentenced to fifteen years. September 28, 2010 A 19-year-old sophomore student Colton Tooley, wielding an AK-47 and wearing a ski mask, opened fire and then killed himself in a University of Texas library. August 20, 2013 Armed with a 7.62mm AK-47-type assault rifle and nearly 500 rounds of ammunition, 20-yearold Michael Brandon Hill entered the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy shortly after 1:00 PM and took several employees hostage in the principal‘s office. Hill ordered his hostages to call local ABC News, declaring that he wanted a camera crew to record him killing police officers. When responding law enforcement officers arrived at the school, Hill exited the office and fired six rounds at police, who immediately returned fire; no one was injured in the exchange and Hill returned to the office with his hostages. During the resulting standoff with police, Hill claimed to have a bomb in his car and in the school and repeatedly threatened to kill himself and the hostages. During the standoff, police managed to evacuate the students and staff out the back of the school. Hill was eventually persuaded to surrender by one of the hostages, who shared stories with him and tried to keep him calm during the siege.
Above: Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting February 14, 2018.Right: active shooter drill at Deering High School, Portland, Maine.Below: Columbine High School shooting, April 20,1999.
Islamic State
Historic background Islamic State originated in 1999, pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda and participated in the Iraqi insurgency following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces. In June 2014, the group proclaimed itself a worldwide caliphate. As a caliphate, it claimed religious, political, and military authority over all Muslims worldwide.
The phenomenon Islamic State , at times known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or by its Arabic acronym, Daesh is a militant Sunni Islamist group and former unrecognized quasi-state that follows a Salafi jihadist doctrine.Islamic State was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and gained global prominence in 2014 when it drove Iraqi security forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive, followed by its capture of Mosuland the Sinjar massacre.In Syria, the group conducted ground attacks on both government forces and opposition factions, and by December 2015, it held an area extending from western Iraq to eastern Syria, containing an estimated eight to twelve million people, where it enforced its interpretation of sharia law. They were estimated at the time to have an annual budget of more than US$1 billion and more than 30,000 fighters. The most of IS attacks and executions are carried out with Kalashnikov-type assault rifles.
“The jihad will not stop when a certain person dies, even if he was the caliph himself.” ISIL social media operative
Above on the left: Islamic State fighters on the border between Syria and Iraq in 2014.Above on the right: drills and executions by the soldiers of IS. Below: beheading of british aid worker David Haines.
Soviet–Afghan War
Historic background After the revolution of Saur on the 27th April 1978, the People‘s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took power in Kabul, instituting the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (RDA), but found the clear opposition of the rural populations, faithful to the traditional Afghan and Islamic principles and contrary to the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, which gave life to the guerrilla movement of the Mujaheddin.
The conflict The extension of the guerrilla warfare and the instability into which the country fell provoked the first foreign intervention in the conflict: the Soviet Union intervened in aid of the Afghan government in December 1979, provoking, however, the discontent of the guerrilla movement, now sustained by the aid and support of many countries such as the United States, Pakistan, Iran, China and Saudi Arabia; thanks to the external support, the Mujaheddin were able to wear down the Soviet forces to the point of
provoking their retreat in February 1989. Without the support of the USSR, the RDA was able to resist the mujaheddin‘s pressure until April 1992, when the guerrillas conquered Kabul and overthrew the PDPA government. Both sides in the conflict used the Soviet weapon AK-47. This was because the Mujahideen obtained weapons from many sources, mostly supplied by the CIA during Operation Cyclone and channeled through Pakistan, many weapons were also captured from Soviet or DRA forces.
Main picture:an afghan man before being beheaded by jihadists during the 1980 Soviet-Afghan war; top:Ahmad Shah Massoud, „The Tiger of the Panjshir Valley“ holds a captured AK, Afghan-Soviet War, 1979-1989; bottom: soldiers of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1987.
II. As an icon Symbol of different struggles and achievements.
Street life and independence from colonialism.
Hip Hop and Gangsta rap Hip Hop music born in the 70’ at New York from the cultural exchange of the latin-americans and the afro-americans. Hip hop was a way to denounce social issues of their lifes. Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial rap subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappers flaunt associations with real street gangs, like the Crips and the Bloods.
Here‘s a murder rap to keep yo dancin With a crime record like Charles Manson AK-47 is the tool Don‘t make me act the motherfuckin fool -Straight Outta Compton N.W.A Gangsta rap has been recurrently accused of promoting disorderly conduct and broad criminality, especially assault, homicide, and drug dealing, as well as misogyny, promiscuity, and materialism. Gangsta rap‘s defenders have variously characterized it as artistic depictions but not literal endorsements of real life in American ghettos, or suggested that some lyrics voice rage against social oppression or police brutality, and have often accused critics of hypocrisy and racial bias. Speaking of these difficult social contexts and their history, the texts are enriched by violent images in which weapons, such as the AK-47,
are mentioned. The references to the weapon this time are not loaded with a particular ideological or political meaning, but rather allude to the weapons commonly used by gangstars. this is how the weapon became an icon in the world of young people.
top: Stitches with an AK bottom:Ice Cube with an AK 47
Institutional emblems
Mozambique flag A Kalashnikov assault rifle appeared on the flag of this African state in 1975 after its 15-year war for independence from Portugal. Mozambique even enshrined the Russian firearm in article 194 of its constitution as a national symbol and a “weapon that serves to protect.”
The AK-47 is a symbol of freedom fighters around the world, for which reason it has been immortalized on national flags.
Institutional emblems
Burkina Faso coat of arms “Homeland or eath, We Will Win” was the motto on the coat of arms of Burkina Faso from 1984 to 1997 underneath a Kalashnikov assault rifle.The Russian weapon was added to the flag after the country’s long war of independence: the image of an AK-47 crossed with a hoe embodied the people’s yearning for peace and freedom.
“La patrie ou la mort nous vaincrons”
Institutional emblems
East Timor coat of arms Since 2007, the Kalashnikov assault rifle has formed part of the coat of arms of East Timor, following more than 30 years of this small state’s struggle for independence from Indonesia.
“Unidade, Acção, Progresso”
Institutional emblems
Zimbabwe coat of arms The state of Zimbabwe appeared on the map in 1980 after 15 years of blood-stained war between the indigenous population and the European colonists.
“Unity, Freedom, work.”
III. As a product A weapon is also an engineering product.
The design and the designer.
How it works
Built around a 7.62-mm round with a muzzle velocity of some 700 metres per second, it had a cyclic firing rate of 600 rounds per minute and was capable of both semiautomatic and automatic fire. A long curved box magazine held 30 rounds, and a separate gas-return tube above the barrel held a piston that was forced back upon firing to activate the mechanisms that ejected the spent cartridge and cocked the hammer for the next
round. The AK-47 was manufactured in two basic designs, one with a wooden stock and the other, designated the AKS, with a folding metal stock. Beginning in 1959, the AK-47 was replaced in first-line Soviet service by the AKM, a modernized version fitted with longer-range sights and cheaper mass-produced parts, including a stamped sheet-metal receiver and a plywood buttstock and forward grip.
The engineer
Historic background While serving as a tank commander with the Red Army in World War 2, Kalashnikov was wounded in the Battle of Bryansk in October of 1941, an incident which inspired terrible flashbacks and nightmares in the Senior Sergeant. As he recovered in the hospital Kalashnikov became obsessed with creating a submachine gun that would give his home country an advantage over its enemies. “It is the Germans who are responsible for the fact that I became a fabricator of arms. If not for them, I would have constructed agricultural machines.”
Who is Kalashnikov Michail Timofeevic Kalasnikov Kur‘ja, (10 November 1919 - Izevsk, 23 December 2013) was a Soviet military man, engineer and designer, famous for the invention of the AK-47 assault rifle. As weapons developers in the United States learned from data acquired in World War II, so did manufacturers and designers in the Soviet Union. Inspired by the Germans Sturm Guevara 44, a weapon that continually proved advantageous on the battlefields, Mikhail Kalashnikov began designing what would become known as one of the first true assault rifles and one of the most iconic weapons for opponents of the West.
“My aim was to create armaments to protect the borders of my motherland. It is not my fault that the Kalashnikov became very well-known in the world; that it was used in many troubled places. I think the policies of these countries are to blame, not the designers.“
Above: first photographs of the AK-47 rifle. Below on the right:Stamp of Russia 2014 No 1883 Mikhail Kalashnikov. Below on the left:Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Points of view If the way of diplomacy has always failed to achieve social equality, will are there ways that exclude violence for the oppressed who seek redemption? If violence becomes legitimate as a means, will it also become legitimate as an end? Until when is it legitimate to reach freedom? The AK-47 offers an insight into the discussion on the legitimacy of violence, but above all into how the conception of an object, even a weapon of death, changes completely according to the place, historic period and culture.