via Flickr
People were fed up by 1966.
With uprisings happening internationally, revolution leaders around the world flew to attend Fidel Castro’s inaugural Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba, seeking to build momentum around the guerilla warfare tactics each hoped would stop the intrusion of U.S. imperialists in their homelands.
From that mission came the Organisation of Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (Ospaaal) - a publishing house charged with one essential role…
Ospaaal’s designers printed and distributed colorful and imaginative depictions of revolutionaries like Argentina’s Che Guevara and Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, coupled with powerful rallying cries they knew would infect the people with a fighting spirit.
Posters like “Day of Solidarity with the People of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, 1968,” created by Berta Abelenda Fernandez, portray women as respected fighters, wielding machine guns and taking an active role in the collective struggle to overcome.
On some occasions, these geopolitical marketing campaigns also came with thousands of Cuban special forces troops deployed as back up in discriminatory anti-apartheid operations.
Ospaaal’s 53 years of participation in world history reinforce the contributions of women and visual artists to liberation movements we’ve come to respect.
This is what working together across linguistic and cultural barriers can do for the freedom of all oppressed groups. This is where working together can lead.