Armed by Design/El Diseño a las Armas

In September Interference Archive opened Armed by Design/El Diseño a las Armas: Posters and Publications of Cuba's Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin American (OSPAAAL), a public exhibition and series of events which featured the graphic design production of the Organization of Solidarity with the people of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Based in Havana, Cuba, OSPAAAL produced nearly 500 posters, magazines, and books from the late 1960s through today. 

OSPAAAL was created during a 1966 meeting in Havana of delegates from various national liberation movements and political parties from the global south called the Tricontinental Conference. Combining a design with unique Cuban aesthetics with literature from revolutionary thinkers, OSPAAAL remains an organization focused on fighting U.S. imperialism and supporting leftist liberation movements around the world. 

To accompany he exhibition, Josh MacPhee and friends created this collection of writing which discusses the intersection of graphic design and political solidarity work in revolutionary Cuba through the lens of the graphic design production of OSPAAAL, the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.