Following the arrest of Malaysian cartoonist
Zunar, Al Jazeera highlights the plight of cartoonists around the world
February 15, 2015
Pulitzer
Prize-winning cartoonist Jeff MacNelly once said that if political cartoonists
couldn't draw, they probably would have become hired assassins — sharp words
that underscore the provocative nature of a cartoonist's work.
Corrupt
19th-century New York politician William Marcy “Boss” Tweed might well have
agreed. “Stop the damned pictures," he said of the work of legendary
cartoonist Thomas Nast. "My constituents can’t read, but, damn it, they
can see pictures.”
The
merciless probing and caustic scrutiny of the cartoon antagonizes politicians
across cultural and geographic lines. And while the savage killings of the
Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in Paris last month and Saturday’s shooting attack at
a Copenhagen event featuring Swedish artist Lars Vilks — known for
controversial cartooning — shocked the world, the struggle faced by cartoonists
internationally is as old as the medium itself.
Just
days ago, Malaysian cartoonist Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar,
was arrested over a tweet he posted criticizing Malaysia's judiciary. A cartoon
he posted on his Twitter account showed Prime Minister Najib Razak as the judge
in a high-profile case involving an opposition leader.
Governments
have historically employed tools ranging from threats, smears and prison time
to assaults and even murder to silence cartoonists, according to Edward Lordan,
professor of communications at West Chester University and author of “Politics,
Ink: How Cartoonists Skewer America's Politicians.” "As thought leaders, cartoonists can be
extremely influential," Lordan said.
Just
one month prior to his arrest, Zunar had talked to Al Jazeera about the
challenges faced by cartoonists. In that interview, he called for a World
Cartoonist Day in order to raise awareness of the global persecution of
cartoonists. “There are so many other smaller-scale Charlie Hebdos around the
world,” he said. "Cartoonists may have millions of fans, but very few
defenders."
Below
Al Jazeera profiles cartoonists from around the world who face challenges
because of their work.
Algeria
Ecuador
France
India
Kuwait
Malaysia
Spain
Sri
Lanka
Zimbabwe
Ali
Dilem (Algeria)
Algerian cartoonist Ali Dilem gestures as he
addresses the European Parliament in Brussels, Thursday, May 3, 2007. Yves
Logghe / AP
Algerian
cartoonist Ali Dilem, 47, has satirized his country's political and religious
establishments for nearly three decades, according to Kabyles, an online
Algerian publication. In that time, he has been condemned to death in several
fatwas and criminally prosecuted at least 50 times.
In
2006, Dilem was sentenced to one year in prison for lampooning then President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Kabyles reported, adding that the cartoonist even has a law named after him: The so-called
"Dilem amendment," signed into law in 2001, allows a one year jail
term for those convicted of insulting the Algerian president and military
leaders.
In
response, Dilem drew a 15-fingered hand with the caption, "In the Algerian
Army, the corrupted ones can be counted on one hand." That led to him
being prosecuted under his namesake law.
In
2007, Dilem expressed his frustration with what he perceived to be a lack of
solidarity from the international community with cartoonists from the Arab
world.
"I
am an Algerian at grips with the Islamists and his own government but … I have
not been entitled to all the solidarity the European cartoonist enjoy today."
he told Kabyles. "One should at least give us credit for that, and pay a
little attention to us.
In
2005, Dilem was awarded the Freedom of Press Trophy and in 2006 he received the
Courage in Editorial Cartooning award issued by the Cartoonists Rights Network
International.
Xavier
Bonilla (Ecuador)
Xavier
Bonilla, who goes by the pseudonym “Bonil,” is a well known critic of Ecuador's
President Rafael Correa’s administration. He was the first journalist charged
under Ecuador’s Communication Law, which went into effect in June, 2013,
according to the Knight Center for Journalism at the University of Texas at
Austin.
That
was after the 51-year-old was accused of defamation for a December 2013
cartoon. Correa branded Bonilla “sicario de tinta” — a hit man who uses ink as
his weapon, according to the center.
The
cartoon concerned a controversial police search of journalist Fernando
Villavicencio’s home and implied police corruption. Bonilla was ordered to
explain his actions before a judge, according to the Cartoonists Rights Network
International (CRNI).
In
his 7-page response to the court, Bonil wrote “A cartoon is humorous creation
so it cannot be required to be, or judged under, truthful and impartial
representations of reality.”
The
court imposed a $93,000 fine on the newspaper that published the cartoon, and
Bonilla was ordered to create a “correction” of the cartoon, according to CRNI.
The
“correction” came in February of that year. It depicts Villavicencio welcoming
the police into his home as the police conduct their raid.
The
controversial Communication Law has been heavily criticized by international
rights organizations. Human Rights Watch in 2013 said that the law “is yet
another effort by Correa to go after the independent media. The provisions for
censorship and criminal prosecutions of journalists are clear attempts to
silence criticism.”
Back
to the top.
Denis
Leroy (France)
Denis
Leroy, who goes by the pseudonym Guezmerm, is a French cartoonist who found
himself in legal trouble in 2001 after he published a political cartoon in the
weekly newspaper Ekaitza depicting the twin towers of the World Trade Center
with the caption “We have all dreamt of it…Hamas did it."
Not
surprisingly, the controversial cartoon sparked massive backlash and in the
magazine's next issue, the artist published a defense of his work, stating that
his aim was to illustrate "the decline of American imperialism",
according to Iris Merlin, a European legal database.
Nonetheless,
a public prosecutor filed charges against Leroy and in 2002, a French court
convicted Leroy of "condoning terrorism." He was fined 1,500 EUR, or
about 1,745 dollars.
Leroy appealed his case to the European Court of
Human Rights, relying on Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights
which guarantees freedom of expression.
The
court upheld the ruling, finding that his publication had “provoked a certain
public reaction, capable of stirring up violence and of having a demonstrable
impact on public order.”
Kanika
Mishra (India)
.jpg)
Rahul
Katyayan / Cartoonists Rights Network International
Kanika
Mishra, a Mumbai-based cartoonist, is widely known for tackling India’s rape
culture, and for targeting prominent Hindu religious leader Asaram Bapu who was
accused of raping a minor in 2013.
Her
cartoons typically feature a staple character named “Karnika Kahen,” who she
refers to as a “common girl of India.” The character, whose name in Hindi means
"Karnika Speaks,” is usually depicted mocking powerful Indian figures or
addressing taboo topics such as religious zealotry and domestic violence.
“She’s the voice of women in Delhi who want to speak but can’t find the space
to speak,” Mishra said.
Mishra
first rose to national prominence following a cartoon she posted to her
Facebook and Twitter accounts lampooning Bapu, who claims a significant
following around the world.
Bapu
first came to her attention following controversial remarks he made in 2012 in
which he suggested that the victim of a brutal gang rape in Delhi was partly
responsible for the assault because she failed to refer to her attackers as
“brothers.”
Two
years later, when the guru was charged with raping the 16-year-old daughter of
two of his followers, Mishra drew Bapu being hauled off to jail while Karnika
Kahen's character advises him that he may avoid arrest by referring to the
officer as “brother.”
That
cartoon was widely disseminated, prompting a deluge of threats from Bapu’s
supporters.
“They
hacked into my personal accounts and posted my address, phone number, and other
personal information online. People from across the country began calling me
and threatening me and my husband. Some even threatened me with rape,” Mishra
told Al Jazeera.
Despite
the threats she and her family have received, she remains unfazed in her commitment
to taking on India's rape culture. “I believe it is almost like a duty to keep
Karnika Kamen going. One thing is very clear: People are very comfortable in
insulting a cartoonist if the cartoonist is a woman,” she told CRNI. “But I
have high hopes from the youth of India who have this very open mental attitude
— and they are ready to welcome change.”
Ali
Ferzat (Syria)
.jpg)
In this photo taken Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011,
Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat works in his atelier in Damascus, Syria. Muzaffar
Salman / AP
Syrian
cartoonist Ali Ferzat, 63, has been a thorn on the side of Arab dictators since
the late 1960s. Banned in three Arab countries and exiled from his homeland of
Syria, the head of the Arab Cartoonists Association once said, “Of all the
arts, cartoons stand on the frontline against dictators.”
Prior
to the Syrian uprising in 2011, Ferzat's work took a less confrontational
approach and he avoided drawing caricatures of recognizable individuals, the
Guardian reported in 2013.
The
Arab Spring uprisings emboldened him to dispense with such caution.
"It
was a big decision to start to draw Bashar and, yes, I was scared of what might
happen, particularly when I was attacked," Ferzat told the Guardian.
"But I had a responsibility to do what I did. I wanted to show people that
they did not need to be scared any more.”
Shortly
after he began publishing caricatures of Asad, Ferzat was abducted by gunmen
brutally beaten, according to the Guardian. His attackers shattered both of his
hands. Photos of a battered Ferzat lying on a hospital bed triggered an
outpouring of solidarity by cartoonists internationally, according to Ahram
Online.
Now
living as an exile in Kuwait, Farzat says he is determined to continue
caricaturing Assad. "I was born to be a cartoonist, to oppose, to have
differences with regimes that do these bad things. This is what I do," he
told the Guardian.
Zunar
(Malaysia)
.jpg)
Lai Seng Sin / AP
Zulkiflee
Anwar Ulhague ("Zunar") was arrested Tuesday on sedition charges over
a tweet suggesting Malaysia's judiciary is politically corrupt.
Over
a career lasting more than two decades, seven of his books have been banned and
his office is frequently raided by the the Malayasian authorities, but he
remains undeterred. "When a country
is facing a moral crisis like Malaysia, I cannot just close my eyes and sit
back. It is my duty as a cartoonist to hold my pen firmly and fight corruption
and tyranny," he told Al Jazeera.
"Political
cartooning is about challenging the power structure. So most political
cartoonists highlight the voice of the people in their works," the 53-year
old cartoonist said. "My cartooning philosophy is, 'How can I be neutral,
even my pen has a stand!'."
He
added, "The fact that even the Malaysian government, who bans cartoon
books and jails cartoonists like me, also condemns the attack on Charlie Hebdo
screams hypocrisy to the core."
Zunar
stressed the need for an international framework to safeguard the rights of
cartoonists. In January, he called for a World Cartoonist Day in order to raise
awareness of the global persecution of cartoonists. “There are so many other
smaller-scale Charlie Hebdos around the world,” he told Al Jazeera.
"Cartoonists may have millions of fans, but very few defenders."
Manel
Fontdevila (Spain)
Manel
Fontdevila is one of two cartoonists who were fined 3,000 Euros each, or about
$3490, in 2007 under a 1995 Spanish law that prohibited the slandering of the
royal family, according to the BBC.
The
cartoon in question appeared on the front cover of the weekly satirical
magazine El Jueves and it depicted Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia
having sex.
Refering
to the socialist government's plan to give about $2,900 for each baby born to
certain qualified couples, the cartoon depicted the prince as saying: "Do
you realize if you get pregnant this will be the closest thing I've done to
work in my whole life?"
The
edition was pulled from newstands across the country, the BBC reported at the
time. A judge ruled that the cartoonist "had vilified the crown in the
most gratuitous and unnecessary way."
Seven
years later in 2014, Fontdevila and several other journalists resigned from El
Jueves after its publisher pulled 60,000 copies of a front page cover that
depicted a cartoon by Torres lampooning the former King Juan Carlos I,
according to the Spanish Report, a site that monitors Spanish news stories.
Prageeth
(Sri Lanka)
.jpg)
Sri Lankan media rights activists hold
posters of Prageeth Eknaligoda in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010.
Eranga Jayawardena / AP
Prageeth
Eknaligoda, a writer and cartoonist sharply critical of the Sri Lankan
government, disappeared in 2010 while on his way home from work, according to
Amnesty International.
In
the days leading up to his disappearance, Prageeth had written critically of
then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa. At the time, Rajapaksa and other senior
officials were accused by international observers of having commited war crimes
in the course of its war against Tamil separatists.
Sandhya
Ekneligoda, Prageeth's wife, believes that he was abducted for his published
investigation of the government's use of chemical weapons against the Tamils.
“In
2008, Prageeth wrote and informed the diplomats about the Sri Lankan
government’s usage of chemical weapons against the people in the north,” she
told the BBC in 2011.
Sandya,
who has relentlessly pursued her husband's case, appealed to international
journalists at a 2011 writers festival to help her locate the whereabouts of
her husband.
“I
welcome you, to a country, where thousands of women and children weep silent
tears for a nation of innocent civilians who have been killed or disappeared on
account of their ethnicity. Welcome to Sri Lanka,” she told attendees.
Tony
Namate (Zimbabwe)
Tony
Namate began his career as an editorial cartoonist for the Daily News in 1999
during a critical time in Zimbabwe politics, as President Robert Mugabae — who
had led the country's liberation struggle against white minority rule — was
coming under increasing criticism for his autocratic style of governance and
human rights abuses amid deepening economic decline.
Namate
has documented these abuses through his illustrations, which has gotten him
into frequent trouble with the authorities..
In
2000, a bomb was thrown at the office where Namate worked and a year later,
another set of bombs were placed in the building, destoying the printing press,
according to the site Africatoons, whose mission is to advance freedom of
expression throughout Africa.
The
Daily News was eventually shuttered in 2003 following the passage of a
draconian law meant to monitor how the media operates in the country.
"The
Daily News team received unprecedented threats during its short life. They were
arrested, beaten up and threatened with death, yet they soldiered on. We
couldn’t let the people down. We became Zimbabwe’s first reader-friendly paper,
Twitter and Facebook in print. Stories dropped on our laps,” Namate told
Africatoons.
Namate
recently published a book of his cartoons entitled The Emperor’s New Clods:
Political Cartoons from Zimbabwe. Kevin Kallaugher, a cartoonist for the
Economist, has described the book as puncturing "the pomposity of the
powerful on behalf of the poor and the powerless."
No comments:
Post a Comment