August 6, 1945, 8:15 A.M.

Anti-Americana: Take That, Redux

As it has done regularly since the 1950s, the DPRK (North Korea) has issued a new propaganda postage stamp depicting Korean resistance to US aggression. In the familiar "Take That" tableaux used on dozens of similar North Korean images, a soldier in a helmet labelled "US" cringes with his nuclear weapons in the corner of the design, while an angry Korean soldier towers above him. While previous images have shown workers with sledgehammers or clubs, or soldiers with bayonets, this one shows a soldier gripping the barrel of his rifle about to slam the unlucky American with the gun's stock.

I'm guessing the design is based on a a street poster, but I'm not sure, and sadly I don't read Korean so I can't guess at what specifically the slogans on the images say. The release of these stamps obviously corresponds to the current heightened tension between the DPRK and the United States.

Similarly-themed DPRK stamps from 1971 and 1969

Click on the "stamps" link here to see many more examples of how postage stamps have been transformed into tiny propaganda statements.  Here's two more from decades past.

Previous propaganda poster issue from 2010

In 2010 the DPRK reminded us not only of resistance to US imperialism (right) but also the long history of resistance to Japanese imperialism (left). It's not widely remembered here, but Japan colonized Korea in 1905, doing its utmost to destroy indigenous Korean culture and turn Korea into a source of cheap labor for the rising Japanese military-industrial complex. Though Korean communist forces and the Russian Army brought an end to Japanese occupation in 1945, many have accused Japan of continuing to cast a covetous eye on the peninsula.

Click on the images to see them larger. For more in the "Anti-Americana" series of propaganda images click here.

We Almost Lost... Tokyo

As of this writing Japanese authorities are trying to control a fire at the Fukushima nuclear reactor in the aftermath of a massive earthquake and tsunami. Radiation was released from the accident and thousands of people have been evacuated. It's not known how bad the situation is. While fortunately Japan has made great advances in preparing for earthquakes, this human byproduct of a natural tragedy reminds us of our complaceny in accepting the risks of nuclear power.

Gil Scott-Heron recorded "We Almost Lost Detroit" back in 1977 on his album "Bridges." The video above shows him performing the song in London in 1990. In songs and raps throughout the 1970s and 1980s Scott-Heron touched political and cultural issues like no one else: his biting commentary and social conscience stands out against the passing of time like Cassandra's very own words. In "We Almost Lost Detroit" he sings about the Fermi 1 reactor that narrowly avoided a catastrophic accident near Detroit in the late 1960s. Recorded before the more infamous Three Mile Island or Chernobyl meltdowns, he anticipated the anti-nuke movement and became one of its leading cultural spokespeople. He followed up this song in 1980 with the anthemic stomper, "Shut 'Em Down" (below).



Scott-Heron can rightfully be considered a kind of prophet. We ignore his words at our own risk. The earthquake was an unavoidable catastrophe. Any lives lost or poisoned by the Fukushima reactor are our own fault.

"Just thirty miles from Detroit
stands a giant power station.
It ticks each night as the city sleeps
seconds from annihilation.
But no one stopped to think about the people
or how they would survive,
and we almost lost Detroit
this time.
When it comes to people's safety
money wins out every time.
How would we ever get over
over losing our minds?
Cause odds are,
we gonna lose somewhere, one time."