Hi emily and youre in the stream today were talking about the kalashnikov Assault Rifle or a k 47 just what makes it the worlds most popular gun well discuss its history and legacy and we want to hear your questions and comments about it share your thoughts via twitter or and our lives. Im dr Charmaine Nelson professor of art history at Mcgill University in montreal and you are in the street. Russia is commemorating 100 years since the birth of soviet weapon inventor kalashnikov for the Russian Ministry of education it is an opportunity to teach School Aged Children about kalashnikov who was hailed a National Hero and died in 2013 at the age of 94. Online russians are using the hash tag kalashnikov 100 to share their thoughts on his life and legacy lewis offers this insight the machine gun invented by him became a symbol of russia as well as the most widespread small arms in history radio studio but its important to protect kalashnikov memory just this is invention how to protect russians on Instagram People are using that same hash tag here hes commemorated on postage stamps and lapel pins and the military offers a look at an in progress morial that will be installed at the museum in St Petersburg later this month meanwhile kalashnikov media put together an immersive website to have you learn more about his life we heard from the projects editor in chief. Was no looks to listen to my future collision course will do little to disappoint you so simply because ive learned to trust you still could prove you were going to school corrupt local control you can move because its my favorite late to. Do you see is due. To his dual online space project. You were a bunch of convenient. Introduced me to impose recent really cool constructive. So weve heard from people commemorating his legacy but to people in other parts of the world joining us today to discuss in poznan poland eunice army far a combat zone anthropologist and author of the book living with the a k 47. 00 also with us Jonathan Ferguson of Armaments Research services and the firearms curator at the Royal Armories Museum in leeds in the u. K. Where he joins us and in doha maria a journalist who covers the middle east the balkans and Eastern Europe shes written for a variety of Media Outlets including aljazeera welcome everyone to the show so good to have you here i want to start with our community because they had a lot to say about this weapon many familiar with it all started here 2 opposing opinions wasif says it symbolizes terror mass murder and lethal violence to say the very least so thats one persons perspective ill give you another persons who wrote in and this is just minutes after weve sent out this tweet our community telling them were doing the show as well the case symbolizes freedom to me when i look at the a k 47 it was instrumental in the freedom of zimbabwe mozambique it symbolizes great nudity so jonathan you see these 2 opposing sides there although both still be true can you give us the back story how did this come about. Sure yeah exactly so you want to be extreme views and views in the middle as well. As the origins the car kalashnikov was a military man himself tank crewman it was injured and its mine to theirs and of small arms came up with a submachine. Gun a carbine and i did up in charge of a design team working on a new concept there so why for so combining different types of weapon into law on the central something that would do all of the jobs of an infantry unit automatic fire medium range controllable fire as well. So this was based in part on a german german concept and 2nd world war there. But we got Assault Rifle from this is very much the russian take on the design. I want to play a video comment from a member of our community who had some parts on the creator this is eric harp is a Political Science lecturer in the us here in virginia and heres what he told the stream hed been plucked out of obscurity to lead a new Research Development program the Weapons Program that he was involved in. It wasnt creating the most sophisticated gun never quite the opposite it was the simplest firearm and the result was to make warfare easy for amateurs in the 1960 s. In the 1970 s. We saw the consequences guerrilla warfare everywhere in the 1980 s. His rival made possible the spread of global terrorism in the 1990 s. It was directly responsible for the spread of child soldiers be idea of having not more sophisticated technologies in the future but simpler easier to operate technologies thats kalashnikovs that was his insight. You know what do you make that parents come in there specially the point where he says it was the simplest firearm is that true in your view and is it is it still true. So its quite a simple. To operate but it was not a fire our whole amplified violence violence existed in different ways in a underlying structure of societies be it in africa the middle east or central asia basically it highlighted. So the simplicity is one thing but the symbolism but produce in different societies around it its allowed to become such an appealing element so you have knowledge is quality much of militia fighters are cross middle east who do not care for necessary if youre 47 anymore and they have access to other arms so it produced certain form of Cultural Habits you asian as well besides the fact that its a simple weaponry its quite easy to operate its quite it has acquired resilience and learned to beauty but it had it has a lot of symbolic partition and it has a lot of aesthetic appeal and so those elements basically need elements of balance or element of highlighting balance buds those balance all of that just as if youre 47 was not there Something Else would make it much more why arent you as youre speaking mary or is it maria was nodding her head mary you go 1st and then john is that your heart and you come in after. Yeah i mean i was actually quite surprised. Where the brow aaron. Assessment of the a k 47 but a call somehow terrorism and violence and all that stuff if there was a k 47 is kalashnikov hadnt been around for many decades the girls who invented that would have been another weapon that would have been produced so what if it was out in the exact same thing so when were talking about wind and so when so can bow surgeons see. Heroism and so on all these different types of warfare they would have to look at geopolitics and we have to think about when the a k 47 was born and he was born the cold war was beginning and what was the cold war doing it was there were 2 superpowers that were interested in influencing the world and were always to influence the world was to provide weapons to different forces on the ground in Different Countries and to support their goals right so this is a case for to say that for the u. S. S. R. It basically supports and so if it closes the u. S. S. R. Wont the police because to succeed the u. S. Was also supplying weapons to different factions different parties Different Countries governments and so on so to blame everything bob happening in the world in terms of violence you know terrorism and so on its i think a bit of an exaggeration right now jonathan. I was going to Say Something similar. If it wasnt the a k it would have been Something Else. About Something Else is there now 15. If we have sound which always was you know united seemed to answer in a way correct yeah absolutely yeah we talked just then about different states providing arms to different actors. Sometimes the United States did supply kalashnikov rifles because it was. The time the place whatever. But if we think in terms of the numbers 75000000 question cause. Direct bearing minimum in the world will be more the next most numerous is the way off 15 americas favorite rifle arguably in sunny the u. S. Militarys rifle thats at 11000000. 00 so its a lot a lot lower quantity wise but starting to catch up and its simple its own weight in fact it has this is something i wouldnt say myth about the cost because it is easy to use its definitely simple what it isnt is particularly over gnomic so the controls are few and quite simple but theyre not kind of the way you would want them to be if you were starting from scratch if that makes sense they were made to be as simple as possible thats great for mass production and with conscripts soldiers. Thats fine you know you but i thought was the starting point of any right right and it perfectly adequate perfectly great for professional armies as well but just like the British Army Rifle you kind of to try to round that the the office dean is like the Gold Standard for firearms are going to mix i would say. And its simple in its own way without getting into the technicalities of. So be at the time its a product of its time. And the manufacturing techniques of the time as well the m 16 i often think could not be so. Usually ill search each choice. Of the things i love that tell you something because jonathan i want to bring in this comment we got from someone watching on you tube a man he says explaining the reason that it is everywhere is that you can only do that with a low maintenance weapon the simple ease of use of the 8 k. Allowed the soviets to then give them away so i want to show our audience because i know our gas probably already know this i want to show our audience the places that it is traveled at least models of the 8 k. So this is mozambiques National Flag you might notice that they are using side in the 1st tweet that i read it on the today show explained that there this. Quite interesting one saddam husseins gold plated a k 47. 00 that was found after the us invasion of iraq and this last one is a whole list the a mike 10 photos that show how the a k 47 has become a Global Political symbol a scroll to show you just a few chill a iraq. Has although some say this is a variant of the a k 47 not the a k 47 itself but explaining that and why it has really spread so many places eunice i want to bring you in here on this why. Is there go global appeal how do you explain. So my area of work is most lets say best Asian Central asia and that i can talk much but you see there was a confluence of times when s. P. C. And seventys when a lot of resistance groups they met each other in the west asia and these groups they understood they can talk to the simplicity of design of a cure for autism and together they could train together they can exchange lesson militar knowledge to the simplicity and then from there when the 1st resistant groups like hezbollah are they received this weapon it became the symbol symbolic appearance which something which always comes along with martyrs so you see if any when theres a martyr theres a if youre 47. 00 there so it became met with the idea of martyrdom and this emergence slowly slowly produces the culture of resistance so this culture of resistance of produce the symbolism and the oil and mark around it your 47 and for example to give you in very specific an actor and much our masood who basically was the commander of the Northern Alliance in afghanistan then he at and at the funeral of a one of his commanders imagery during the during the burial ceremony he picked up the if youre 47. 00 and handed it to the brother of the. The multiyear and said this is the weapon of a martyrdom so will you promise to carry it further so it has that aura and however now any weapon which has similarity of structure it has its becomes kalash it becomes a 47. 00 collage as it would be said in central asia or middle east so that symbolism which is to certain social history it had it creates for that abil and a lot of forms of masculinity and only hood is. Militarized in middle east so this militarization could do certain imagination ideas of 0 to become a man so if youre 47 becomes a purchase or accessory of. Certain male groups in the. I mean that i was needing that so passing i wrote that down and how to become a man eunice because were actually hearing from people who talk about the use of the 8 k. By children especially child soldiers i want to share this from you tube nathan says as the u. S. Military veteran any weapon of war does not belong in civilian hands on a 4th generation that my father faced child soldiers in vietnam with a k 47 s. And we also got a comment from a former child soldier himself in the south sudan region conflict ive listened to emmanuel jal and heres his experience with that gun. In my experience its a k 47 and its light its easy to cotton and when you find it you enjoy the beat of reason makes you strong strong when my friend die and i have to cause lots more. What i can say now is. That. No child should ever come this. Is when we were growing. Were taught to take you for 7 years so far and how much we looked. What do you make of that comment. Its actually really sad and i wish there was a bit more awareness. Among the countries in the governments that decide to send these weapons to different points around the world whether its africa whether its the middle east like in america. From the lean mass actually on the other side of. The process the people who produced the gun you can see that there is actually pride in it there is no there is no remorse no sense of guilt there is no understanding that this has created a lot of violence it has created a lot of suffering so you can see i mean that was the introduction of the program the soul how in russia. This gun is perceived and also the maker of the gun i can tell you in vogue area for example which receives to trounce worth acknowledging. The license to produce during the communist era. They might come she and many of my country mates see the belgariad kalashnikov as the superior kolache go so they dont they havent realized you know during the communist era broke it was exporting a large amounts of kalashnikovs and other small arms. So the full version its continued to do so during the yugoslav for for example bulgaria was a huge source of weapons without conflict which was right next door. Then they were called 6 a bit further but still close enough lets say syria in iraq of gonna stand and so on and you can see the dung go as far as places in africa. I have traced like somewhat both gary and made weapons as far as africa so in vogue area when you talk so much. Or lets say a weapons dealer they will say proud to be the bulgarian kalashnikov is the best kalashnikov in the world but if you ask this child soldier if you ask right now a fight in syria if you you know back in the day during the vietnam war. In vietnam if they could recognize the bulgarian kalashnikov and they could tell it apart from the russian one or the chinese no calls none of them would tell you yes i can normal most of them would say like yeah i proudly carry a bulgarian gone the bulgarian kalashnikov. And that for me. I would say is is incredibly sad to see that there is this. Cold mist of dissonance in the way the people who produce the guns and the people who end up using it. This is absolutely yeah totally the idea that there are different layers of kalashnikov we lump everything in under a k 47 which is a problem in itself for People Like Us who try to truck and record and write about these things. Because that best describes only one of many. Offspring and jonathan im glad you said that because its not often that were able to show what were talking about on the stream you have with any style weapon can you show us what makes it in a k yeah well that. The collection that we have. The law marries extensive kalashnikovs i have one myself which is not actually live thankfully for everyone involved. Well it depends where you are right but. Where i am it would probably get me in trouble so this is actually a factory made dummy gun so its used for training. Instructional purposes so its the same as a real kalashnikov a k 74. So this is. 990 s. And still in use today in the Russian Armed forces. Buttons very much like it in many other forces russia has modernized recently with the a k 1215 so we just see iteration after iteration even from from russia. Still sticking by the basic mechanical design and then around the world so the main difference here is that this one is chambered in a smaller with a small of bullets in the cartridge which is a high velocity flash to shooting more like the american m. 16. Concept. So. Theres a particular type. So strictly ok 47 is only the prototype troilus rifles so we use a code which is actually easier but its a bit late because the world has already branded the whole thing ok well i think you for dispelling sentiments about and explaining that to us you know i hear you trying to get in but i want to add one more thing and ill direct this to you because i do want to share this with the world for those who dont know this is a headline its from 2014 weapons designer kalashnikov repented 47 killings in a letter before his death. This is reported by russian daily the pain in my soul is unbearable i keep asking myself the same unsolvable question if my Assault Rifle took peoples lives that means i am responsible for peoples deaths now there was an interview a little clip of caution off the daughter speaking at a Museum Exhibit earlier this year in september heres what she said. And he was a quiet man who was a very short stature he was very modest he had great selfrestraint he was a very wise man. He was he only came out on the world stage so to speak in the 1990 s. And before that our family was kept secret the kids were kept secret and everything was kept secret. Eunice as we were playing that someone watching on you tube says the gun is not to blame those who put it in the hands of children if it wasnt a k. It would have been another weapon probably an American Made one point that has been raised earlier here you know what if you want to. So i wanted to add there is one thing which will land around this interesting lets say little object is that the political economy of us or some and how even us socially produced this idea lets say not manufactured as a piece of machinery as an idea because if you look at the very how it became so pervasive because users are tolerated its not version and all the copycats so it was a form for decentralization of power because we imagine u. S. S. R. As a point of art already and absolute authoritarianism but even just to look at the travel of this object is basically a cure for autism and we see how it allowed to power to be decentralized and everybody who produces produce lets say a little object and at the same time so u. S. S. R. Locked all the lets say friendly country to act and not by giving them also the if what is a by locking them to the ammunition because the ammunition basically which is a if if a say in is 4. 54 or 4. 4 they will lock in with an awful lot of people that are of yeah i think if. You know 5. 00 it will lock in that production of ammunition and they were locked with the continuation of the pollution of 47. 00 so it was more there was a lot of political thinking around hall lit such a legal little object become a dominating of weapon in the certain areas so its great its simple its so one so which we talk a lot but there was much more into it there was a lot of political loading into it i mean a year and a unicef are afire and Jonathan Ferguson thank you for adding that and in clarifying a little bit unfortunately i have to pas the us was maria had thank you so much for joining. Thats all the time we have for this conversation but so much more to say it can happen online hash tag day stream at a 3 stream thank you for joining us and thanks to our community for sharing your thoughts well see online. Business leaders just want to find a bra spot. For. Business leaders just want to find a bra spot. Talk to aljazeera let me talk about 2 of the biggest problems facing and they all the endemic corruption and the gang we listen so if you really put place china as an enemy of the weather and thats really vendors we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on the edges there on the race for the white house has begun this down to 04 states have their say on the day wants to place donald trump the books in. June mr lafcadio to continue coverage of the casting of the 2020 u. S. Election. Only just a. Short. Hello im Barbara Starr in london these are the top stories on aljazeera the World Health Organization has warned of the coronavirus epidemic is escalating rapidly and action must be taken quickly to prevent it from becoming a pandemic this is the global reach of the virus continues to expand croatia austria and jiri and switzerland have reported their 1st cases and theres been an increase in the number of infections in south korea iran and france this is a rapidly escalating epidemic in different places that weve got to tackle super fast to prevent a pandemic i mean its actually were trying to demonstrate is where this goal