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Cartoon Slideshow: Crisis in Syria

Carol Hills — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:08:05 +0000

Bas van der Schot, Netherlands

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.

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Settler Cartoonist Shay Charka Skewers All Sectors of Israeli Society

Matthew Bell — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:50:49 +0000

Shay Charka described himself as a bit of a fanatic, when it comes to drawing cartoons. Ever since he could pick up a pen, he says, he’s been sketching caricatures. In his teens, Charka did cartoons about life as a student in Jewish religious school and about Israeli politics. But he had his doubts about ever making a living as an artist because, he said, he didn’t like the idea of people telling him what to draw and how to do it.

By age 17 though, no one was telling Charka how to draw. He started getting his stuff published in a youth magazine. And he hasn’t stopped.

Charka lives in a Jewish settlement called Zufim. It’s a neighborhood of suburban-style single family homes that sits on a hilltop above the Palestinian city of Qalqilya. Charka reckoned he’s Israel’s only syndicated political cartoonist who is also a settler.

“I really felt in love with that area,” he said. “The olive trees, the rocks, the hills, the everything. The feeling like living in the Bible somehow.”

Charka’s cartoons are full of Biblical references and scenes from Jewish and ancient history. His sense of humor is playful and slightly brutal all at once. The political issues he covers range from Palestinian suicide bombers to Europe poking its nose into Israeli affairs to radical settlers.

And Charka gets a lot of inspiration from his own life experience. One of his books, called “Beyond the Line,” is very much autobiographical. The protagonist is a short, yarmulke-wearing Israeli cartoonist living in a settlement. Other characters include a friendly Arab neighbor, an extremist Jewish settler, a bearded Rabbi and a handsome – but not very bright – TV reporter.

“There’s a stereotype about settlers,” Charka said. “People think they all hate Arabs and they’re against peace. But that’s not the whole story.”

Charka said he has Palestinian friends and that he would like to live in peace with all his neighbors. But like many Israelis, he’s skeptical about the idea of giving the Palestinians a state of their own on the West Bank.

“Peace will only come when each side comes to terms with the reality that the other side is here to stay. Israelis have understood that about the Arabs. But I don’t think the Arabs have never completely agreed,” he said.

And that’s why Charka is against giving up land for the hope of peace with the Palestinians. He thinks the whole two-state solution idea won’t work, and that the US president is wrong to keep pushing for it to happen.

Charka’s politics put him in profound disagreement with many Israelis, including fellow cartoonist, Uri Fink. But the two men remain good friends, and fans of each other’s work.

“Shay’s work should be seen by everybody because it’s really, really good. Even if you disagree with the politics, like I do, I still enjoy reading it. And I think the voice of Shay has nothing to do with the crazy settlers that you see in the news all over the world,” Fink said.

On a recent day, the news was full of reports about an attack by Jewish settlers on an Israeli army base in the West Bank. Vandals slashed tires and smashed windshields. And not far away, an Israeli officer was injured by a rock in another clash with settlers. The incidents followed a string of suspected settler attacks against Palestinian property, including mosques.

Charka said he was shocked by the events.

“I’m shocked by these people and I think they should be put in jail,” he said. “But I understand where some of their frustration comes from.”

A few days later, Charka published a cartoon showing a masked Jewish extremist standing next to West Bank settlements. The settlement are sitting on top of a giant bomb. The extremist is challenging the Israeli government to try to dismantle illegally-built settler homes… as he’s about to light the bomb’s fuse.

Cartoon: Democracy According to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad

Carol Hills — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:21:08 +0000

Cartoon: Alan Moir, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad doesn’t get why the whole world is demanding he introduce democratic reforms. Australian cartoonist Alan Moir captures al-Assad’s take on democracy.

Egypt Businessman Faces Blasphemy Trial Over Mickey Mouse Cartoon

The World — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:40:40 +0000

One of Egypt’s richest men is to face trial for blasphemy after tweeting cartoons of Mickey and Minnie Mouse wearing conservative Muslim attire.

Telecoms mogul and Coptic Christian Naguib Sawiris re-posted the images on Twitter last June.

The tweeted images showed Mickey Mouse wearing a traditional Islamic robe with a full beard, while Minnie Mouse is wearing a niqab – a full-face veil – with just her eyes showing.

Sawiris subsequently apologized on twitter (see below), saying he meant no offense but a formal complaint against him has now been referred to court.

I apologise for any who don’t take this as a joke , I just thought it was a funny picture no disrespect meant! Assef!!

— Naguib Sawiris (@NaguibSawiris) June 24, 2011

Tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and minority Christian community have worsened in recent months.

Anchor Marco Werman talks with correspondent Noel King in Cairo.

Read the Transcript
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Marco Werman: In the uncertain cultural terrain of post-revolution Arab nations, a tweet can land you in deep trouble. A prominent Egyptian media mogul found that out the hard way. Naguib Sawiris tweeted a picture of Minnie and Mickey Mouse last June, but it wasn’t just any picture of the two Disney characters. Minnie is wearing a face veil, and Mickey sports a beard and traditional Islamic robe. And the mogul behind the tweet? Naguib Sawiris is a Christian. Egyptian authorities have charged Sawiris with contempt for religion. He is due to appear in court this Saturday. Correspondent Noel King is in Cairo. Noel, describe these Mickey and Minnie pictures for us.

Noel King: Well, they’ve been described as a cartoon, but if you see the image online you’ll see that they almost look like a painting with a little bit of a cartoonish aspect. Mickey Mouse is wearing Islamic robes and he has a long beard, and Minnie Mouse is wearing an niqab, the black face veil. And you can tell that it’s Minnie Mouse because she’s wearing the pink bow that we all know so well from the Disney character.

Werman: We’ll have a link to the pictures at theworld.org. I’ve got to say that Mickey Mouse with blue eyes seems unconventional, but the rest of him looks like Mickey as a Madrasah student, perhaps. These pictures were already out there online, Noel, and who knows where else. How are Caireans reacting to this? Because Sawiris is getting charged and getting tried for tweeting something that was already out there on the web.

King: That’s right, and that’s been one of his main defenses from the beginning, since he tweeted out the picture in June. Look, the cartooon has been out since 2008; it was out there; I thought it was funny. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. It was supposed to be a joke. But when he tweeted the picture, a couple of prominent Islamists picked up on the tweet and they said to their followers, we’re going to boycott this man’s business. He’s a very wealthy man. He’s got his fingers in every pie from construction to tourism to science and technology. But the biggest hit that he took was with his mobile phone company. The numbers that we have seen so far suggest that about three hundred thousand subscribers ditched his company Mobinil and went to other companies as a way of expressing their outrage. So he did take a pretty big hit in his business. His stocks did fall. That said, three hundred thousand people out of an estimated maybe 55 to 60 million cell phone users isn’t an overwhelming number, but there is some displeasure there.

Werman: Sawiris is a Christian, as we’ve mentioned, and Christians are a minority in Egypt and there have been attacks on Christians since the ousting of Mubarak last year. Did Sawiris have another agenda by tweeting this image or was it just a case of poor judgment?

King: There are two things here. It was likely a case of poor judgment, of a joke gone wrong. At the same time, Sawiris has clashed for years and years with Islamists in Egypt. He’s a very outspoken critic of anything that to him smacks of religious conservatism. He has said in the press and publicly again and again that he despises the idea of Egypt moving toward a conservative religious society. So this is a man who, in a sense, has been a flash point for many years now.

Werman: Are Egyptians saying this is a sign that the country is moving toward a more conservative society?

King: If you ask me, Marco, that’s really the whole story here. Here’s what’s happening. Egypt Islamists, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the more conservative Salafi parties are doing very well, as we all know, in the parliamentary elections. Egyptian liberals, Christians, and secularists have said for the past couple of weeks, this is something to really be concerned about. This country is moving in the wrong direction. Their critics, including many ordinary Egyptians have said: Look, Egypt is not Iran. The Muslim Brotherhood are not mullahs, they’re dentists; they’re businessmen. They’re not going to change Egypt in any great way. What the liberals and Christians and secularists are pointing to since Monday is, they’re effectively saying this is the writing on the wall. If you want an example of how this country is moving in the wrong direction, look to this, the fact that a prominent businessman made a joke and now is being hauled into court. So for many people here in Egypt, this is a disturbing sign that things are moving in a conservative direction.

Werman: Correspondent Noel King in Cairo. Thank you, indeed.

King: Thank you.

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Cartoon Slideshow: Fury Over Continued Violence in Syria

Carol Hills — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:40:36 +0000

Cartoon: Yasser Abu Hamed

There’s anger, sadness and downright fury over the continued violence in Syria. Much of the vitriol is directed against Arab League observers who arrived in Syria in late December to monitor the situation. There’s widespread feeling — which you’ll see in these cartoons — that the observers are ignoring the violence all around them.

Cartoon: NASA’s Predictions for 2012

Carol Hills — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:47:55 +0000

Luojie, China Daily, China

NASA held a press conference last month to try to debunk the latest doomsday scenarios for Earth in 2012 but Chinese cartoonist Luojie thinks the space agency may have forgotten one thing.

Cartoon: Chappatte Takes a Sneak Peek at 2012

Carol Hills — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Cartoon: Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune

Swiss-Lebanese cartoonist Patrick Chappatte with a very funny 2012 year in review.

Show Producer’s Blog: Hidden Heroes

Jeb Sharp — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:10:13 +0000

One of the things I’d like to do on this show producer’s blog (check out my first stab at this) is highlight the hidden heroes in the newsroom. The conventions of public radio mean that hosts in the studio and reporters in the field are well-recognized.

But much of the essential work goes on behind the scenes. A prime example is my colleague Carol Hills.

She was a driving force behind the conception and development of The World in the early days. In fact she hired and mentored me when I came on board as a staff reporter in 1998.

These days she’s a part-time producer and editor of our Global Political Cartoons. She’s developed a unique beat devoted to those cartoons and the cartoonists who create them. (Some great recent posts here, here and here.)

She’s on Twitter @globalcartoons.)

Her on-air chats and online slideshows are proving to be a vital link between our radio and web operations as we morph into a different kind of digital future.

Carol is also a source of endless great ideas and a conscience for the program. Just this morning she was haranguing me about Syria coverage and the importance of staying on the story and finding fresh angles (see Carol’s powerful story about Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat) and interesting ways into the unfolding tragedy there.

She’s right but she’s also vying for attention for a story in the context of a very big world full of complex issues that all clamor for coverage. I need colleagues like her to remind me what’s urgent, what’s vital, what’s not OK to ignore.

Thanks Carol!

British Cartoonist Ronald Searle Dies

The World — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:30:31 +0000

The World’s Marco Werman speaks with British political cartoonist Steve Bell about the legacy of cartoon artist Ronald Searle. Bell has currated several exhibits of Searle’s work and calls him the greatest British cartoonist ever.

British cartoonist Ronald Searle, best known for creating the fictional girls’ school St Trinian’s, has died aged 91.

His daughter Kate Searle said in a statement that he “passed away peacefully in his sleep” in a hospital in France.

Searle’s spindly cartoons of the naughty schoolgirls first appeared in 1941, before the idea was adapted for film.

The first movie version, The Belles of St Trinian’s, was released in 1954.

Joyce Grenfell and George Cole starred in the film, along with Alastair Sim, who appeared in drag as headmistress Millicent Fritton.

Searle also provided illustrations the Molesworth series, written by Geoffrey Willans.

The gothic, line-drawn cartoons breathed life into the gruesome pupils of St Custard’s school, in particular the outspoken, but functionally-illiterate Nigel Molesworth “the goriller of 3B”.

Searle’s work regularly appeared in magazines and newspapers, including Punch and The New Yorker.

Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman, this is The World. Britain is mourning the passing of one of its great graphic artists. Cartoonist Ronald Searle died this past weekend at the age of 91. Searle was best known for his series of comics depicting a girl’s boarding school called St. Trinian’s. Its hysterical teachers and anarchic pupils were later featured in a series of popular films in the 1950s. Ronald Searle himself thought of St. Trinian’s this way:

Ronald Searle: Trinian stuff came up quite accidentally. They got published, it only lasted six years. My principle has always been if the moment is successful, kill it, because it can only get worse. Basically, I was more interested in illustration and reportage.

Werman: And reportage is what Steve Bell focused on when he organized an exhibit of Searle’s work in London last year. Bell is The Guardian’s cartoonist based in Brighton, England. Now, Steve, you curated this exhibit of Searle’s work at The Cartoon Museum in London. And I understand that Searle made his first foray into reportage when he was a prisoner of war at the hands of the Japanese in WWII. Tell us about that.

Steve Bell: Yeah, that really is the most horrifying story. He was a prisoner of the Japanese I think from 1942 right through to the end of the war. He was actually a slave laborer. He had a hell of a, he had an awful time. He worked on the Burma Railway, the one they made that Bridge on the River Kwai film about. He was very near death quite a lot of the time. He was severely beaten, punished, as they all were, yet he kept drawing at great risk to his own life, and he preserved these drawings. He had this kind of urge to record what was happening.

Werman: Well, he did speak about the fact in this BBC documentary a couple of years ago that there were no cameras around and that’s what prompted him to draw. Let’s hear that.

Searle: I said to myself you are going to be an unofficial war artist. And I spent my next four years recording as best I could everything that happened in the prison and in the jungle.

Werman: And Steve Bell, as you say, to rather great risk for Ronald Searle.

Bell: Yeah, I mean they would’ve destroyed the drawings and he would’ve been severely punished, not to say beaten to death. He hid the drawings apparently underneath cholera victims. There were people dying all around him of cholera all the time and of course, the Japanese were not keen to catch cholera themselves, so they left them alone. So it was an amazing thing for actually a young artist freshly out of art school to do, but it’s something that gives his art an underlying seriousness and stature because it was an amazing work of reporting what happened, this great crime.

Werman: Steve, what are some of your favorite non-reportage drawings by Searle? Nigel Molesworth, the evil prep school boy from…

Bell: I suppose my favorite was Molesworth. That’s probably where I came to know the name Searle because somebody lent me a copy of a book of Molesworth drawings, which was written by Willans in this wonderfully misspelled style. There were so many, these cadaverous looking masters with their long noses and their cloaks that looked like bats and crows, their spindly legs and their funny shoes. The way he drew fingers, I always loved the way he drew hands and fingers; they would fold around things, just the sheer scratchiness of it. There’s the characters, their…

Werman: I’m trying to think of illustrations that might prompt our American listeners to remember who Ronald Searle was. And perhaps the best aside from a few New Yorker cartoons, he did the cartoon title sequence in the 1960s comedy film, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.

Bell: That’s right, yeah, that was a great success, these funny spindly weird little machines that flapped about. He did work a lot in America. I mean he drew reportage for Holiday magazine. He had an immense amount of stuff. He went to Alaska. He went to Florida. He went all over the place. He went wherever he was sent. He was a roving eye as it were. Sadly, not many magazines seem to do this kind of stuff anymore, so it was the age of the magazines now long gone. We’re in the age of the blog now, but drawing is still a vital thing to do. And he was just the greatest draftsman ever for me. And I think a great artist, British artist, bar none.

Werman: Steve Bell, The Guardian’s cartoonist speaking to us from Brighton, England. Thank you so much for talking to us about Ronald Searle.

Bell: Thank you.

Werman: We have a couple of videos looking back at Ronald Searle’s career. They’re at theworld.org.

Cartoonist Tayo Fatunla on Africa 2011

Carol Hills — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:12:27 +0000

(Cartoon: Tayo Fatunla)

Africa is vast and varied. So are the news stories that affected the continent in 2011. Nigerian caricaturist and illustrator Tayo Fatunla has been commenting on Africa through cartoons for more than three decades. In this slideshow Tayo reflects on some of the major themes that confronted Africa in 2011.

Slideshow: Burmese Cartoonist Harn Lay

Carol Hills — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:49:49 +0000

In this slideshow, I am going to show you some cartoons from a Burmese cartoonist. This is the only Burmese cartoonist that I’ve been able to find so far. I am sure there are others, but lets meet Harn Lay.

The Souring of the American Dream

Carol Hills — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:00:53 +0000

Canadian cartoonist Cam Cardow comments on an American phenomenom: the souring of the American dream.

Italy’s Latest Austerity Measure

Carol Hills — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:04:54 +0000

Canadian cartoonist Gary Clement on Italy’s latest austerity measure.

Political Cartoons Capture Gaddafi’s Many Sides

The World — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:10:32 +0000

Cartoonists and caricaturists around the globe react to the death of Moammar Gaddafi.

The former Libyan leader displayed cartoonish qualities for most of his 42-year rule.

Sometimes the focus on his clownish antics — like setting up elaborate tents to stay in during overseas visits –obscured the ruthlessness of his rule back home.

And Thursday, cartoonists across the globe reacted to the news of his death with some fresh drawings.

Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. Muammar Gaddafi ruled Lybia for forty two years. His image varied widely during those four decades in power. Gaddafi was referred to as a revolutionary, a strongman, a dictator, and a clown. Those depictions showed up over and over again in political cartoons and today cartoonists around the world reacted to news of Muammar Gaddafi’s death with some fresh drawings. The World’s global cartoon editor, Carol Hills has been monitoring the reaction. What are you finding Carol?

Carol Hills: Well I’m seeing all sorts of like a rat finally caught by the tail. I’m seeing the head of a scorpion. The head is of course Muammar Gaddafi and the rest of his body is being pulled away. There’s one cartoon with a sort of bullet going through his head and the bullet is democracy. So theirs a lot of different types of images and most of them are kind of mixed gruesome with the kind of age old cartoon look of Gaddafi.

Mullins: And the drawings themselves, the images, how do they differ today after Gaddafi’s death from those that were drawn before his death in terms of the images used?

Hills: Well, in recent months since the uprising started there have been a lot of kind of, you know, the line up pictures with the head of Tunisia, head of Egypt, and Gaddafi in waiting, waiting to be found and gotten rid of, but before that, I think cartoonists took much more liberty and depicted him in more of a clownish way and made fun of him less as a dark dangerous figure and more of a sort of funny figure.

Mullins: Anything in particular about his personality that they were pointing to in kind of the clown image?

Hills: Well it often comes up in the form of either him with his so called “nurse” and it’s usually a beautiful woman from Russia or Eastern Europe, or him arriving with a giant tent. I mean he famously travels with a tent. It’s usually quite an elaborate and beautiful tent and you might recall that, I think it was last year or the year before, he came to the US and he wanted to pitch his tent in various town around New York City for a UN meeting and town after town said, “No, we really don’t want you,” and finally one town said, “OK, you can pitch your tent her.” So it’s sort of his outlandishness and there’s less outlandishness in today’s cartoons since the announcement of his death and more of what a really horrible and vicious leader he was.

Mullins: And are you seeing a difference in the way Gaddafi is depicted from drawings generated in the Middle East versus elsewhere?

Hills: I guess the Middle East, I would say there’s more of a “phew!” you know, “That was horrible. This is finally over.” I think you get more of a sense of, there’s sort of a residue of Arab spring in the Middle Eastern cartoons because they’re living it. Whether it’s a Palestinian cartoonist in Jordan or a cartoonist from Tunisia or elsewhere in the Middle East, you get more a sense of they are in the middle of this story themselves.

Mullins: Versus on the outside.

Hills: Versus Europe, they tend to be more beautifully drawn and clever, but less allusions to the greater Arab spring theme.

Mullins: Alright. Thank you. The World’s Carol Hills. By the way, you can see a slideshow of some of the cartoons that were drawn after the news of Gaddafi’s death. They’re at theworld.org. Thank you Carol Hills.

Hills: You’re welcome Lisa.

India Gets Serious About Cartoons

Carol Hills — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:10:24 +0000

Political cartoons are an established tradition in India.

They have been a staple of Indian newspapers since before independence in 1947, and over the years, most cartoonists there have been left alone, and allowed to satirize or lampoon Indian politicians as they see fit.

But in recent weeks, two Indian political cartoonists have experienced pressure to censor their own work.

One of them is Satish Acharya whose cartoon depicting Indian politician Sharad Pawar pole dancing appeared in the Indian newspaper Mid day in early September.

A cartoon lampooning Indian politician Narendra Modi by Mussveer, the cartoonist for the Indian newspaper Prabhat Kiran, published on September 20, 2011.

The other is Harish Yadav, who goes by his pen name Mussveer. He is a cartoonist with Prabhatkiran, a newspaper in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, that published a cartoon lampooning the Indian politician Narenda Modi.

There are a range of newspapers published across India and many feature the satirical staple: the political cartoon. Alex Gallafent was recently in Bangalore and met with Rasheed Kappan, city bureau chief for the Deccan Herald, the city’s second largest daily. Kappan is also a long-time cartoonist and presents a few of his works — and of other influential Indian cartoonists. Check out the slideshow below.