41. Today in 1920s Turkey: 15 December 1924 (Stratification and Oppression)
English
(Above) The bottom layer, the upper layer.
(Below) — May God never deprive us of the great ones above!Türkçe
(Üstte) Alt tabaka, üst tabaka.
(Altta) — Allah üstümüzden büyükleri eksik etmesin!
Comments:
Few words are necessary to explain the imagery of this cartoon, so I will try to keep this brief... With its use of universally legible visual vocabulary this cartoon can be comprehended by a broad swath of readers. Here, we witness the contrast between a well-dressed and well-fed aristocrat on the one hand and an indiscriminate mass of nude, emaciated people on the other. The superior status of the singular, wealthy man is echoed in his placement above, or rather, upon the mass of starving people whose only purpose in life is to serve as his cushion. According to this arrangement, the masses, although greater in quantity, must all suffer for the comfort of one.
This cartoon functions as an allegory of capitalism and oppression. The unbalanced wealth distribution is placed at the center of this image to highlight the senseless suffering that occurs simultaneously with the accumulation of capital in the hands of the few. Indeed, there are enough resources to go around, yet capitalism’s life-force, greed and the pursuit of profits, prevents that. Despite this injustice, the well-to-do man neither cares nor acknowledges the faceless masses who make his leisure possible… as these are the people who work for him, serve him, buy his products, vote him into office, and die to protect his interests in war.
First published on Steemit on 15 December 2016 and revised, edited, and republished on December 15, 2018.
Originally published at https://steemit.com on December 15, 2018.
