Sunday, June 13, 2010

Anti-American Art: The Brink Last Time


"Yankee Imperialism, Out of South Korea" says this 1969 poster from Cuba's OSPAAAL issued to mark the "International Month of Solidarity with the Korean Students and People." Above the headline is a fairly threatening depiction of the North Korean People's Army and the North Korean flag that could be ripped from today's front pages. According to a remarkably information-free press release from Cuba in 2009, Cuba and North Korea brag of "an excellent state of bilateral relations."

Although there's a natural affinity between common enemies of the United States government, many speculate that the ideological replacement of Marxism-Leninism with the "Juche ideal" (self-reliance) in North Korea has fundamentally changed North Korea's ideological sense of self. It's hard not to think that wouldn't effect the spirit of relations with the few remaining nominally Marxist-run states. In "The Cleanest Race" author B.R. Myers argues that North Korean ideology is actually a unique and essentially racist form of nationalism. Fascinating excerpt here.

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