The Bookbat

radicallyhottoff:

ourcatastrophe:

“dig for plenty” by le bon, 1944, UK.  “the art of war” online exhibition. 

this is a striking image with a great message.  but I actually wanted to use this to make a space to think about the way progressives reappropriate WWII propaganda pictures — Rosie the Riveter is probably the Ur-text here, but I’m also thinking of the universal popularity of the Keep Calm and Carry On poster.  they’re often charming, nostalgic, encouraging sticking together and not wasting resources. but what does it mean to reproduce the military propaganda of the state?  can messages like “grow vegetables” be divorced from messages like “watch out for whores” and “spy on your neighbours” and “let’s put the Japanese in internment camps”? 

like — I don’t reproduce Soviet WWII military-themed posters because I don’t think Stalinism is kitsch.  but the Soviets also fought against the Nazis.  and I certainly wouldn’t reproduce a Nazi poster even if it was saying something noncontroversial like “don’t waste oil”. I am against the state and against nationalism and against the military — should I make an exception for propaganda that’s essentially militaristic and nationalist in character just because I agree with what it’s saying in that one instance?  especially when it’s nationalism coming from the imperial centre that can’t be read as part of any anti-colonial struggle.

is WWII propaganda from the Allied powers given a free pass because “we” were on the “right side”?  it’s important to remember that Nazi genocide and human rights abuses were not a major factor in most Western nations joining WWII, rather the issue was Axis territorial expansionism.  also A LOT of fucked up stuff was perpetrated by Allied soldiers — the mass rape of women (including Jewish women) in “liberated” areas and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki come to mind. 

what does it mean for Rosie the Riveter to be a feminist icon when she was encouraging women to work factory jobs so as to free up US men to become soldiers, go to Asia and Europe, and burn and rape women there?   we can do…what, exactly? 

There are actually lots and lots of reproductions of Stalin-era propaganda for sale in St. Petersburg and Moscow.  Which was shocking to me, I guess because it’s always shocking to see something you’ve been taking for granted from an outside perspective.  I suppose if there’s something unprocessably awful in your history, it makes sense to turn it into something cute and kitschy—because then the only objections that will stick are “this is ugly” or “this is boring,” and in this case the ugliness and triteness are already wrapped up in the cuteness, so that’s irrelevant too.  Kitschifying something is a really effective way of making it impervious to moral criticism.