As news happens, political cartoonists around the globe take up their brush pen or pencil and come up with images and often a few choice words to comment on the events of the day. Each week, The World’s Carol Hills selects a group of cartoons that reflect on issues in the news. For cartoons prior to June 2009, please click here.
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A friendly Sphinx extends his paw to cast a vote while ancient pyramids are turned into ballot boxes and voting booths in these cartoons about Egypt’s historic elections. But look closely, one ballot box turns out to be a mirage and another is being clutched by a group that doesn’t want to let go: Egypt’s military. The World’s Carol Hills narrates.
Cartoonists ponder the big question: What if Greece “Grexits” and leaves the eurozone? Look for ruins in ruin, bottles of ouzo, tightening belts, loaded guns, torches, togas, and Angela Merkel zinking the unzinkable in these images from (mostly) European cartoonists.
A cartoon that was published in India more than 60 years ago has caused a showdown between India’s Education Ministry and the nation’s Dalit community.
Iranian cartoonist Mahmoud Shokraiyeh has been sentenced to a flogging for depicting an Iranian politician in a soccer jersey.
The Chinese civil rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng become a household word in the space of about 10 days. His daring escape from house arrest, his circuitous route to the US Embassy in Beijing, the tense negotiations between the US and China, the deal reached, his decision to leave the Embassy, and then the deal gone sour. Chinese netizens and cartoonists (using pen names) have followed the saga with solidarity, humor and solemnity.
There’s a lot of blood on the floor and bloody hands in these cartoons about the countdown to the ceasefire deadline in Syria. The only person who seems to believe Syria will meet the April 12th deadline is Kofi Annan. But US officials are doubtful that Bashar al-Assad’s “pledge” to observer the ceasefire has any credibility because of past broken promises.
Kamal Sharaf is an artist and satirist in Yemen who has dared to question the status quo. Through his cartoons he challenged former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and suffered for it. He was forcibly taken from his home in 2010 and spent a month in prison. These days Kamal Sharaf continues to take comparatively progressive stands on issues like women’s rights and is not afraid to question the direction of the new Yemeni president.
Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is not listening … to his opponents, to his international critics, or even to Koffi Annan, the UN/Arab League envoy who is talking, persuading — even pleading with Assad to play ball with Annan’s six-point peace plan. Pope Benedict visits drug trade-addled Mexico, and meet some non-human drug addicts: the food on your plate.
Emad Hajjaj is a Palestinian editorial cartoonist based in Amman. He was born in Ramallah on the West Bank but has lived most of his life in Jordan. His editorial cartoons appear in the Jordanian newspaper Al Ghad as well as other Arabic language newspapers. They also appear in English through Cagle Cartoons. Over the past year or so Hajjaj has been consumed with the Arab Spring, both as a cartoonist and as an Arab. Here’s a selection of his recent cartoons, arranged chronologically.
Dmitri Medvedev is leaving the Russian presidency in May 2012 but for many political cartoonists, he never really arrived. Looking back at cartoons published during his presidency, The World’s Carol Hills finds Medvedev portrayed as the ultimate ‘mini-me’ to Vladimir Putin, the puppet on a string, the dog ordered to fetch, basically a doormat. Enjoy.
The Soviet jokes disappeared when the Soviet Union collapsed, but that brand of dark humor has made a comeback in Russia today.
DC Comics has created an African superhero modeled after Batman. His name is Batwing and he’s battling evil in the Democratic Republic of Congo!
Blood, blood and blood are the subjects of this cartoon slideshow about Syria. Cartoonists around the globe are responding to the blood being spilled in the violent crackdown on demonstrators — especially in the Syrian city of Homs. Bashar al-Assad is the villain and the images are graphic, in your face, and unsubtle.
Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is a man in the middle….the middle of a campaign. He wants to be Russia’s president — again. He’s in the middle of protests against him. So he’s staging his own support rally in response. And Putin is also in the middle of the international outrage over the violence in Syria. Russia sells lots of weapons to Syria and Putin (along with his representatives at the UN) are neutering any real efforts to end the government-sponsored violence in Syria.
Dutch cartoonist Tom Janssen uses a familiar emoticon to show how Facebook (the company) is probably feeling about the upcoming IPO.
