Designs for dissensus : political posters, Africa and the tricontinental movement

Abstract

This research examines a previously neglected collection of political posters that were published by the Organización de Solidaridad de los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina (OSPAAAL) between 1967 and 1987 in order to address the question, ‘what does the African series of OSPAAAL posters convey about the role of Africa in the Tricontinental Movement and the capacity of these posters to disrupt the sensible of the Cold War?’ The Tricontinental Movement was a transnational solidarity movement that recognised imperialism and racial oppression as interlinked. During the Cold War, it played a pivotal role in fostering political radicalism. However, despite its significance and the centrality of Africa and the African diaspora to its political discourse and ideology, no academic research specifically addresses this aspect of the movement. OSPAAAL was the mouthpiece of the Tricontinental Movement. Based in Havana, the organisation was born out of the decision to include Latin America in the existing Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organisation. Of all its cultural outputs, its posters are the most iconic and well known. Moreover, they offer a valuable insight into how the Tricontinental community was imagined in the context of the Cold War. They have, however, largely been neglected within academia. This is partly due to their ephemerality, but also because aesthetic approaches remain at the margins of international politics as a discipline. Thus, through an iconographic analysis of the African series of OSPAAAL posters, this research examines the role of Africa in the Tricontinental Movement and explores the political and aesthetic capacity of these posters to disrupt the sensible of the Cold War.