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AK47:The Story of the People's Gun
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. Her archive is here. Her previous piece for Webdiary was Damaging development. 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.
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so yesterday® ...
.. a somewhat deferential[1] short history.
Taking inspiration from the end of 'Repugnant?'
Submitted on August 20, 2007 - 9:19pm,
where Michael de Angelos (g'day) wrote:
«but hating socialism is so yesterday...»
-=*=-
I occasionally use the '®' character as a plea to the WD Eds not to 'improve' my text by applying their spell-checker. An example:
Wardah®, wardah everywhere!
but hardly a drop for the crop...
(A reference to the coming CO2 greedastrophe® 'side-effect' of world-wide glacier and permafrost melting and concomitant sea-level rise, and the possibly unrelated current and desperate drought.)
Apropos wardah, Canberra, like (most) other wide-brown metropolises is going a bit short on it; the solutions proposed are a) expensive and b) IMHO wrong. They propose extending one dam ($132-165mio) and pumping from a river into another dam ($40-70mio+/-30%, both costs only indicative). IMHO, all they really need to do is a) discourage the sheople® from watering lawns and/or roses, say, or better b) reduce if not stop population growth. Of course, both my (a) & (b) are seen as politically too hard, so we'll probably just have to cough up the dough for an extremely non-optimal, possibly unsustainable and then only putative solution. Bah!
-=*=-
Getting back to 'so yesterday,' my memory is not what it used to be, so I often employ 'artificial aids' in partial recompense. Ergo, a Google.
Google shows a possible 'dead heat' for a 1st 'so yesterday' use between Stephen Smith and Phil Uebergang around August 23, 2005. So much for me thinking of claiming any sort'a priority. But I have used it recently:
a) In my 'stung!' response to Daniel Smythe (g'day),
Submitted on March 11, 2007 - 7:37pm.
«Violence is just so yesterday».
b) In my 'house-price inflation, ...' response to Alan Curran,
Submitted on March 24, 2007 - 2:15pm.
«using an interest-rate scare to rattle the punters these days - apart from being outright devious, mean and nasty - well - isn't it just so yesterday?».
Following the principle of "the first shall be last", I note that:
a) Alan Curran never responded to this, possibly my definitive house-price inflation post. I put this inflation[2] down mainly to Costello's halving of the CGT. Costello himself recently attributed it to low interest rates and population pressures - toadally® ignoring/dodging his own acts/responsibility - but he would, wouldn't he? IMHO, dear reader, you can decide. Then
b) some others did respond (figuratively kicking at a 'downed' target), but as I have since pointed out elsewhere, these responses were doubly fallacious - by dragging in the red herring of consumer inflation. A red herring can be a 'simple' diversion, but here it does double duty, it is a fallacious[3] form of reasoning called 'the definitional retreat,' to redefine a term in the face of a failing argument - i.e. when the topic is and always was house-price inflation (Sydney 250%! Perth may go higher); to jeer that figures for consumer inflation are 2-3% is, IMHO, a deliberate off-topic and fallacious diversion. (Haw! Bad tactics, fellas.)
-=*=-
Back to «Violence is just so yesterday». I found this article, already reported in my 'The most amazing lies' which details US criminal immorality vis-à-vis invading other countries going back at least to the 'conquering' of Hawaii in 1893. (IMHO, the website is a ripper!) The original might be here .
Sooo, an answer to «is the USA "military industrial complex" to blame for ALL the worlds' ills» is probably no. Just most, and that by a very long chalk.
-=*end*=-
PS This post originated with Michael's «hating socialism[4] is so yesterday.»
Q: How do we describe the recent world-wide stock exchange bail-outs performed by central banks' injections of squillions of $s:
a) free market operations?
b) printing money?
c) socialism?
(Cue Costello: "Haw, haw, haw! - Let us prey.")
-=*=-
Ref(s):
[1] deferential adj. respectful. deferentially adv. [POD]
[2] inflation n. 1 inflating. 2 Econ. a general increase in prices. b increase in the supply of money regarded as causing this. inflationary adj. [ibid.]
[3] fallacy n. (pl. -ies) 1 mistaken belief. 2 faulty reasoning; misleading argument. fallacious adj. [Latin fallo deceive] [ibid.]
[4] socialism; Marx: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
Comment: sounds OK to me; only fair even.
Match your .38 and raise you four .45s
Guns don't kill people, it's those little pointy thingos called bullets.
If bullets were to become currency then that would be a good thing, because people would want a lot more of them, just as people want more money.
And the really good thing is that we don't burn our money,do we.? So it would follow that if bullets were currency we would not waste it by firing our currency, would we?
QED
The Ever Trusty AK
Richard Tonkin:
I would be too Richard, especially if I were Daniel. Seems to me anything going off the "military industrial complex" is not treated so well round these parts.
Truth is it is not the greatest weapon about. It is though very basic, all weather, and incredibly cheap. This makes it a favored weapon of choice to your every day urban guerrilla (and soccer fan).
Help, I'm scared!
The fact that, according to SIPRI - 2007, America and Britain between them generate 75% of the world's arms sales doesn't seem to worry our Paul (63% and 12% respectively). If it kills, they sell it. Interestingly they are also principle proponents of invasion and occupation.
On my blog http://seeking-utopia.blogspot.com I did a post about this very recently. The post shows a graph for those who might be interested.
Cheers!
The AK 47 And The Wrong Message
Daniel Smythe
Most certainly history seems to attest to this fact.
Though Daniel I fear you may have inadvertently gone off message. The ever trusty AK is a Russian invention now sold by the Chinese amongst others. Read somewhere it has killed more people than any other weapon.
The message seems to be in this place: The USA "military industrial complex" is to blame for ALL the worlds' ills. Consider this your first official warning!
Value
May I State the Bleedin Obvious?
Melody, it's people who kill people. The guns on their own are completely harmless! If humans didn't have AK47s, they would simply use something else.
The lust for blood is innate in humans and that lust, when it's combined with greed and perhaps religious belief, guarantees endless war.
Richard: ewwww, I know that kind of mood Daniel... felt that way more than once. There's still a bit of room for faith in human nature, in both senses, isn't there? I hope so.
HOLLYOOD SAYS ... NSW GOES MAOIST
Guns don't kill people, Charlton Heston kills people.
But imagine the potency of Allied soldiers in PNG during the Great Anti-Fascist Struggle had they carried AKs, rather than their English Lee Enfield bolt action rifles, Czech Brens and Australian Owen guns. Surprising the limber foe with his lumbering Arisaka in all that green and mud.
Imagine the potency of poor silly Martin Bryant at Port Arthur had he an AK47, rather than a defective M16-like Colt rifle.
Gee, he might have butchered even more shocked and startled visitors and staff.
Martin's semi-automatic, then perfectly legal to possess in benighted, inbred, corrupt two-headed Van Diemen's Land. allegedly broke down, frustrating his manic escapade.
Now they have different Gunns to f**k the place over. Much more thoroughly. Probably much more deadly.
There is a footnote to the Port Arthur caper and its wondrous result for both Bad King John and the Red Terror from Oxley, who has once again raised firearms laws in her Queensland Senate Campaign Manifesto this week.
In the decade before, the Liberal Party in NSW, Howard's Opus Dei/Ustasha fiefdom, had won an election with a substantial kick from knuckle dragging shooters.
In truth though, the real crime of outgoing ALP premier Barry Unsworth (dubbed "Barry Ullage" by one of Kerry Packer's simpering couriers) was that he lacked style.
He wore cardigans even.
That's something Nick Greiner would never have done.
Although one can imagine Nick and his spouse toting (that's the right word in those circles) AR15s/M16s. But never any weapon used to bring down both the Third Reich AND the US War of Imperialist Aggression against Vietnam.
And of course, urban shootings, mostly domestic, continued apace in John Howard's liberal and freedom-loving Sporting Shooters' NSW. Who said political power comes out of the barrel of a gun?
Frère Jihad Jacques OAM née Woodforde, a Martini Henry, stirred, not shaken