"The Rifle is the Symbol": The AK-47 in Global South Iconography

Abstract:This article examines the relationship between Cold War national liberation groups through their shared material and visual culture. Using China, Cuba, and Palestinian groups as its case studies, it reveals how Third World militants forged transnational associative networks in part through the transmission of cultural productions that reflected common values, assumptions, and metaphors. In Global South iconography, the AK-47 rifle became shorthand for a revolutionary transnationalism. The rifle is among the most iconic images in the world, even among those who have never seen one in person, and its use as a symbol is imbued with complex political meaning. While artists, themes, and ideologies varied widely in revolutionary art, the AK-47 was a metaphoric bridge between these groups and became a focal point of imagery for national liberation and transnational solidarity. Rather than demonstrating allegiance to the Soviet Union, the repetitious use of the rifle in visual culture became a way for revolutionary groups to stake out place as an imagined community across the Global South.