Melody Kemp is a long time and passionate Webdiarist who has been a contributor for several years. She has a global perspective on Australia's human rights record based on her work and residence in Asia. Her bio is here [0]. Her archive is here [0]. Her previous piece for Webdiary was Damaging development [0]. Here Melody reviews Michael Hodges recent book, AK47. The Story of the People’s Gun.
Those that have not actually been in conflict usually focus on anti nuclear activities as a focal point for their fear of war and early and violent death. The vehemence, at times at times verging into obsession with nuclear issues, belies the real killer of people world wide: small arms, rudimentary explosives and the ubiquitous Kalashnikov. AKA as the AK47. There are estimated to be some 70 million AK’s in the world. But the author and most authorities would admit that is a huge underestimation, based on formal production figures. The AK, after all, is the most pirated gun in the world.
Having lived in Asia for some 20 years I am familiar with this weapon and the power it brings to the imagination as well as to ballistics. My first experience was in the Philippines when, working with an offshoot of the New Peoples Army, I would accompany rebel patrols to the latest development disaster inflicted on tribal Filipinos. The government in the form of police and army, being then and now a client of the US, had been supplied with the notoriously fallible M16 – a weapon famous for jamming. It bluntly refusals to operate in anything but ideal conditions. Thus the rebels clearly out-shot the powers that be. I got used to be being around women and men whose weapon itself said ‘rebel’, even if the word was unspoken.
US troops are now known to have thrown their own M16’s away during the American war in Vietnam, snatching the much more reliable AK’s from dead ARVN soldiers. This led to many deaths in the North Vietnamese forces used to hearing the distinct sound of AK’s coming from their friends.
Today, turn on the TV and the image one has of warfare is the AK held high over a shouting man, his arm often punching the sky. In Lao where I now live, the pimply army youths emerge whenever some visiting dignitary feels he requires special attention. The modern version AK’s hang at their side looking as sullen as the men holding them.
The weapon has transcended the mere utilitarian to now be integral to symbolism and shamanism. The AK has been imbued with anthropomorphic virtues which blend happily with the needs of the user. Michael Kalashnikov, a survivor of Stalin’s terror, made the weapon to secure Russian pride. It did and it has been securing all manner of pride since.
Michael Hodges has written a fabulous book that is long on both boys’ own yee haa adventure and compassionate understanding. He veers from the cynical expose of Geldorf’s refusal to allow a Sudanese ex boy soldier Emmanuel Jal, who had gained fame as a rapper performing at the Live 8 concert, to the brilliant insouciance of an imbedded journalist in Iraq, trying to understand the place an AK holds in Iraqi culture.
Those who blithely oppose guns may not find this book appealing, which is a shame as it is a passport into the world of conflict and passion. It is as enlightening as it is entertaining.
“Once you have fired an AK you become brave. If you are not careful the gun sends you into battle.”
He contrasts the shallowness of gun control laws in the UK, where having an AK is an invitation to be searched, stormed and intimidated and shrieked at by a ignorant press who do not realise that the symbolism of an AK to a beleaguered people is like that of a crucifix to underground Christians.
Hodges is a great writer. This book deserves to be read by men and women alike as it is as much about war and men’s culture as it is about the weapon, but the weapon is the love object. Hodges is as much in love with the idea of the AK as he is with the life its study leads him into.
I watched a recent argument in the New York Times about aid to Africa. The majority of commentators opined that Africa simply has too many people (in fact the world has too many people), and that development and stability will only come to Africa when the population is reduced. Both HIV and the AK47 are doing a sterling job at doing that. But as an African said (and they are usually the last ones to be asked in these days of celebrity-led foreign policy), “Africa will only have peace of prosperity when someone clears out the guns.” That is why people should read Hodges book, if only to take a peek into an unseen world and realise it’s not the big bang of a nuke that is the danger to the world but the rapid fire bang, bang, bang from an AK 47. You can buy one for less than USD100 if you know where to look. That’s less than most family’s weekly grocery bill.
As a postscript, I was in Bangkok when the book arrived from Amazon UK, and bugger me if there wasn’t an article in the weekend’s Bangkok Post featuring a photo of the now 87 year old Michael Kalashnikov himself bemoaning the piracy of his weapon. China and Pakistan are now the world major producers. He should take it as flattery.