AK-47: More than just a rifle

There is a massive counter-culture of these guns - on T-shirts, TV, etc. And there are over 100 million of them still in circulation

From an idea in the mind of a wounded young soldier, the AK-47 has risen to become perhaps the most iconic rifle of all time, adorning national flags and coats of arms, gracing Hollywood screens and music, and becoming a symbol of liberation and oppression around the world.
The AK-47 dates back to 1941, when Mikhail Kalashnikov - then 22 - was recuperating in a Soviet military hospital after being wounded in the shoulder fighting the Germans in the Second World War. Asked by another soldier why German soldiers possessed automatic weapons while Soviet soldiers often had to share antiquated rifles, Kalashnikov - a natural tinkerer with a flair for engineering - got to work.
His design, easy to operate and cheap to manufacture, was eventually adopted by the Soviet army in 1949. In the Cold War decades that followed, hundreds of millions of AK-47s, its only slightly modified successors and a plethora of licensed and unlicensed versions were produced. With its distinctive banana-shaped magazine, it became the world's most recognisable weapon and the rifle of choice both of guerrilla movements and the governments they were fighting. Over 100 million are still thought to be in circulation.
Over time, the AK-47 became more than just a rifle - it became a symbol. It still adorns the flag of Mozambique, where it served as an emblem of the country's liberation struggle against its Portuguese colonisers. It also features on the flag of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group and of Communist guerrillas in the Philippines.
In Nicaragua's capital, Managua, an enormous statue of a man holding an AK-47 reminds citizens of the role the weapon played in toppling a dictatorship. In parts of Africa, mothers have named their sons "Kalash" in honour of the rifle. The weapon is frequently seen in movies, often in the hands of terrorists or criminals, and has been referenced in dozens of songs, most famously by American rapper Ice Cube.
At IDEX in Abu Dhabi this week, a Kalashnikov Group company spokesperson told   that the company plans to capitalise on its brand by selling AK merchandise. Already, AKs adorn umbrellas, watches, and even a brand of vodka - which comes in a rifle-shaped bottle. In 2006, Colombian artist Cesar Lopez unveiled a line of guitars converted from AKs, one of which was gifted to then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
A French newspaper - Liberation - even named the AK-47 as the most important invention of the 20^th century, ahead of space travel and the atomic bomb.
How did all this happen? For one, the weapon is incredibly reliable and easy to use, meaning that anyone - even the most technically inept peasant - can use one. The AK's success was perhaps best explained in the 2005 film Lord of War by Nicholas Cage's character Yuri, based on a real-life Russian weapons trafficker.
"(It's) a weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple nine-pound amalgamation of forged steel and
they do."
But aside from just being simple, for many the AK is a symbol of defiance, as Larry Kahaner - the author of   AK-47: The Weapon Changed the Face of War- explained to America's NPR radio in a 2006 interview.
"Basically, it's the anti-Western cachet of it," he said. "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, so we all sort of think, 'oh boy,' we've got a little bit of Che Guevara in us. This accounts for the popularity of the weapon."
"It's considered counterculture," he added. "We see it on our T-shirts, we see it in our greeting cards, we see it on our TV programmes. It's kind of a sticking finger in the eye of the man, if you will."
It shouldn't be overlooked, of course, that hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of lives, including many innocent ones, have been ended by AKs.
But that didn't bother Mikhail Kalashnikov, who went to his grave with a deep conviction that it was nothing more than a sometimes misused and misunderstood weapon of peace.
"People often ask me how I feel about my invention being used to kill people every day," he said. "I want to make it clear that I created my assault rifle to protect my country. You can blame politicians for its spreading out of control on a global scale."
AK47 Factfile
After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, US forces discovered gold-plated AK-47s among the possessions of Saddam Hussein. Similar golden AKs - some of them also encrusted with diamonds - have been confiscated from drug traffickers in Mexico.
In 2006, Colombian activist Cesar Lopez created guitars from AK-47s. Lopez said the 'escopetarra' (an amalgam of Spanish words for shotgun and guitar) are 'weapons of peace'. One sold for $17,000 in LA for victims of anti-personnel mines.
The flag and emblem of Mozambique bears an AK-47. During the 60s & 70s, guerrillas of the Mozambican Liberation Front used AK-47s against the forces of the Portuguese military in their successful war of independence. Also by Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Bernd is a gizmo nut who likes airplanes, tech stuff and shiny blinking things
bernd@khaleejtimes.com
 

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