kufiyas and Hawaiian shirts: Boogaloo boys (#kufiyaspotting)

 More in the theme of the military or "tough guy" kufiya. Kufiyas show up all the time when far-right, white power militias mobilize. At Charlottesville, Amon Bundy's 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the Oath Keepers and other fascists fighting with 'antifa' in Portland, and so on. This has so much to do with US wars, with veterans from Gulf War 1, Iraq and Afghanistan, who got into kufiyas while abroad -- whether because they were very useful, given the environment, or they just thought they were cool, or they functioned as a kind of "sympathetic magic," a putting on of a garment identified with the enemy that serves to endow one with potency. Kathryn Belew's essential book Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, shows how important, since Vietnam, veterans of US imperialist adventures have been to the growth of the white power social movement. No wonder, then, that we frequently see kufiyas in all the far-right mobilizations of the last few years. (I've documented the phenomenon quite extensively here, but don't have time right now to put in all the links to previous posts -- you could do a search!)

 More photos of white power kufiyas to come!

This photo is from the New York Times, Sunday, January 31.

USA Patriot Kufiyas: 1776 and anti-masking

I'm sorry, I didn't keep track of the source, but the first image has been posted via rightwing websites and social media outlets. It's interesting, as it combines imagery of the USA patriot of 1776, in his tricorne cap, with the kufiya, often worn by rightwing militia types in the US, as I've documented in previous posts. The second image (again, I didn't keep good records) shows some armed men, exercising their 'free speech' rights not to wear masks and to carry guns in a USA café, spring of 2020. 

kufiyaspotting: tactical desert scarf

Now, there's a kufiya for ya (found today, somewhat randomly -- Feb. 10, 2019). Another example of what I've called "tough guy kufiyas." Should I expand the notion to be "tough guy/gal kufiyas," or is this woman depicted here as a kind of trophy for the tough guy?

Kufiya spotting: Narcos, Season 3

In the latest season (#3) of the Netflix series Narcos, "CIA Bill," the CIA station chief in Colombia, shows up on occasion to confound DEA agent Peña, to explain to him that things are more complicated than he imagines, to frustrate his efforts, etc. I can't remember which episode this is, but what is remarkable is that Bill shows up wearing a kufiya.

Here's how I make sense of this. In the show, Peña is depicted as a straight-ahead guy who goes after the drug dealers with all he's got. CIA Bill, on the other hand, is entangled in complicated, realpolitik arrangements, willing to make alliances with whatever political forces that are on-hand, to further the larger strategic interests of the United States. If that means strategic alliance with one drug cartel to wipe out another, fine. If that means supporting murderous and psychotic anti-communist militias and death squads, fine. To the extent that Narcos brings to bear any criticism of US government policies in Colombia, CIA Bill is the murky, powerful presence who represents the "bad" elements of US actions. Peña on the other hand is the straight arrow.

I think the kufiya is used here to mark that distinction, the fact that CIA Bill is a kind of "rogue" element (not rogue in terms of US official policy, but rogue from the perspective of the show, where the higher morality is to stop the drug trade). The kufiya is, I think, an anachronism, and an unusual one for a show that tries its best to depict Colombia in the 90s with verisimilitude.

The best example of the kufiya as a sign of the roguish tendency in US foreign policy can be seen in The Hurt Locker, where Ralph Fiennes, who plays the Contractor Team Leader, is shown in kufiya. He's not regular military, he and his band at first look like "hajis" to the bomb squad that encounters them. Fiennes' group is not on a regular, scripted mission, they don't play by the normal rules of engagement, and so on. (I've discussed this a bit previously here, and you can see photos here.) And I discuss the emergence of the kufiya as an item worn by US soldiers, especially post-Iraq invasion, and the related phenomenon of it being worn by tough guys on counter-terror or other missions (see: John Travolta in From Paris with Love) here.

There is more to be said, more to work through, but that is it for now.

kufiyaspotting: "Logan"

Logan, to open in March - 20th Century Fox 

 
I had actually seen the trailer for Logan in the movie theaters last week, but this scene flashed by so quickly that I don't think I noticed the kufiya. Today's New York Times has a short article by Michael Gold called "4 Trailers That Have Us Excited for 2017." One of the four trailers the article features is Logan, starring Hugh Jackman, and it's accompanied by this photo. In the trailer, this scene is to be found at 1:20. It appears, based on what I can deduce from the trailer, that the Logan character is being chased down, in the US, by military types. The kufiya on the soldier would appear to reflect that he had done service in Iraq or Afghanistan, where the wearing of kufiyas by soldiers has been quite common over the last 14 years, and I've documented several instances on this blog. I own a military issue kufiya, khaki colored, that is flame retardant, given to me by someone who served in Iraq.

British soldier in shemagh/kufiya, Siwa 1942

 

 

Source: memoryprints.com

A soldier of the Long Range Desert Group uses a Libyan keffiyeh scarf to protect his head from the sun, Siwa, 1942.

US Army Military Shemagh Arab MuslimTactical Desert Keffiyeh Scarf Black Skulls

 That's how it's described on ebay.

Rothco, which describes itself as "The World's Foremost Supplier of Military and Outdoor Clothing and Accessories," markets the item as a ROTHCO SKULLS SHEMAGH - TACTICAL DESERT SCARF.