---
title: El Enemigo de la Humanidad [The Enemy of Humanity]
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-el-enemigo-de-la-humanidad-spanish-1941/
description: A snarling, shirtless soldier with a blood-streaked bayonet dominates the sheet, beside four vignettes (Formosa 1895, Korea 1910, China 1937.
section: Collection
---

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3. El Enemigo de la Humanidad [The Enemy of Humanity]

**Content note:** US wartime poster in Spanish with a racial caricature of a Japanese soldier and vignettes of violence, including a woman seized by a soldier, shown as printed. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![El Enemigo de la Humanidad \[The Enemy of Humanity\], 1941 US poster: A snarling, shirtless soldier with a blood-streaked](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-ociaa-el-enemigo-de-la-humanidad-spanish-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-ociaa-el-enemigo-de-la-humanidad-spanish-1941.jpg)

# El Enemigo de la Humanidad [The Enemy of Humanity]

A snarling, shirtless soldier with a blood-streaked bayonet dominates the sheet, beside four vignettes (Formosa 1895, Korea 1910, China 1937, United States 1941) each labelled with a single charge: tyranny, aggression, terror, treachery. The tell: the headline labels a whole enemy as humanity's enemy (name-calling), the burning-town scenes aim at fear, and a hand-picked list of Japanese actions stands for the whole record (card-stacking).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (Spanish) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
EL ENEMIGO
DE LA HUMANIDAD

FORMOSA—1895
TIRANÍA . . . El gobierno japonés dió aquí una muestra de usurpación esclavizando al pueblo indefenso mediante su poderío militar.

COREA—1910
AGRESIÓN . . . Aquí, los caciques militares japoneses emplearon nuevamente la fuerza bruta como instrumento de política nacional para anexarse territorio.

CHINA—1937
TERROR . . . La soldadesca japonesa desbordó su crueldad en la violación y ultraje de Nanking, el incidente más oprobioso de la guerra contra China.

ESTADOS UNIDOS—1941
TRAICIÓN . . . El Japón se lanza nuevamente a la guerra, pero no con lealtad, sino con alevosía, atacando a la flota de los Estados Unidos en Pearl Harbor.

Publicada por el Coordinador de Asuntos Interamericanos, Washington, E. U. A.
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
THE ENEMY OF HUMANITY

FORMOSA—1895
TYRANNY . . . The Japanese government here gave a demonstration of usurpation, enslaving the defenseless people through its military power.

KOREA—1910
AGGRESSION . . . Here, the Japanese military chiefs again used brute force as an instrument of national policy to annex territory.

CHINA—1937
TERROR . . . The Japanese soldiery gave full vent to its cruelty in the rape and outrage of Nanking, the most opprobrious incident of the war against China.

UNITED STATES—1941
TREACHERY . . . Japan hurls itself once more into war, but not with loyalty, rather with treachery, attacking the fleet of the United States at Pearl Harbor.

Published by the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Washington, U.S.A.
```

[← Não deixemos o Eixo meter as garras nas Américas \[Let us not let the Axis sink its claws into the Americas\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-dont-let-the-axis-get-claws-in-americas-portuguese-1941/) [A Fortaleza Voadora \[The Flying Fortress\] →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-flying-fortress-portuguese-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)