The Center for Investigative Reporting (featured before on this blog with two animations: The Cost of Gas and The Hidden Cost of Hamburgers) has published a graphic novel-like report about sexual harassment of mentally disabled persons. It's an impressive story, and it also shows how graphic storytelling can be used to tell a gruesome story in in a way that protects and respects the victims:

In August 2006, caregivers at the Sonoma Developmental Center found dark blue bruises shaped like handprints covering the breasts of a patient named Jennifer. She accused a staff member of molestation, court records show. Jennifer's injuries appeared to be evidence of sexual abuse, indicating that someone had violently grabbed her.

The Office of Protective Services opened an investigation. But detectives took no action because the case relied heavily on the word of a woman with severe intellectual disabilities. A few months later, court records show, officials at the center had indisputable evidence that a crime had occurred.

About a year ago, one of our cartoons triggered a debate about religion and the rights of women. The cartoon depicted a nun and a Muslim woman, asking the question why the West regards the head scarf of Muslim women to be oppression, while the head dress of a nun is considered part of the Christian tradition. The image sparked a discussion between people from the Arab World and other countries about how perspectives differ depending on where you are in the world. It also inspired other cartoonists to visualize these different perspectives, adding to the debate.

Artists (clockwise): Jean Gouders, Arcadio Esquivel, Giacomo Cardelli, Elchicotriste

Ever since then, we have been waiting for the opportunity to do a project specifically aimed at showing different views, and showing these using editorial cartoons. We had the opportunity to work with the Arab desk of Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) this year, on the Cartoon Spring Competition, and meeting in September to discuss future collaborations, we all felt a project of this kind was a worthwhile idea.

On Monday December 3, we're launching the project 360 Degrees. The essence of the project is to show the differences and similarities between perspectives from the Arab World compared to perspectives from the rest of the world on a range of themes, hoping to offer a view of 360 degrees. The project will run for three months, and every month will focus on a different theme; the first theme, running in December, is Freedom in Perspective. Freedom is a broad subject, and every week we focus on a specific question within the theme. The question for next week: is this the moment for more freedom?

The project is meant to foster debate through visuals created by our network of cartoonists. It's not just a partnership between Cartoon Movement and RNW, but includes media partners in Saudi Arabia (Al Sharq), Egypt (Masrawy, Al Masry al Youm), Yemen (Almasdar online), and Morocco (Hespress). Every week, two opposing perspectives will be chosen for publication. The participation of the audience is not limited to debating the cartoons; we invite you to join the conversation via Twitter, and your tweet could become a cartoon. Like we did with our project Your Peace Retweeted, tweets with a certain hashtag will appear in our newsroom, and serve as inspiration for our cartoonists. The hashtag for this project is #360D.

Each week the best tweets-made-cartoons will be chosen, and the winners will have the coice of receiving a high quality art print of the cartoon, or have it printed on a t-shirt.

For the announcement of the project in Arabic, please check the RNW website.

November 20 is Universal Children's Day. To commemorate this day, we have created a collection of cartoons about children's rights. Click here to view the cartoon collection.

An optimistic view of humanity.

We have added a new design to our t-shirt webshop. This cartoon about peace is by Italian artist Tomas; it was made for the special project Reinventing Peace. By ordering this shirt, or any other items, you're helping us to build a sustainable future for editorial cartooning:

EU shop
UK shop
US shop

Don't like the shirts we picked? You can design a product yourself with this cartoon. And if you'd like to have a specific cartoon (over 700 available) to put on a shirt, bag or hoodie, drop us a line by email, and we'll be happy to help.

Elihu Duayer is a cartoonist from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He studies arts in France and Brazil, and works for many publications in both countries, including Jornal do Brasil and Libération. You can see more of his work here.

Mathijs Hendrix is a Belgian artist and animator. He specializes in realistic digital illustrations. His work has appeared in Knack Magazine (Belgium), Vrij Nederland (Netherlands) en Rolling Stone Magazine. Check out more of his work here.

We live in times of crisis.

We have added a new design to our t-shirt webshop. This cartoon about the economic crisis is by Spanish artist Joseba Morales; it was made for the special project Blame the Recession. By ordering this shirt, or any other items, you're helping us to build a sustainable future for editorial cartooning:

EU shop
UK shop
US shop

Don't like the shirts we picked? You can design a product yourself with this cartoon. And if you'd like to have a specific cartoon (over 700 available) to put on a shirt, bag or hoodie, drop us a line by email, and we'll be happy to help.

Francesc Llopis Surrallés (artist name Franchu) is a cartoonist and comic artist from Barcelona. His work has appeared in El Triangle and El Jueves, among others. Franchu is a versatile cartoonist, who can get a smile out of anybody. To see more of his work, visit his website: www.franchu.com

A new hope for a future without weapons.

We have added a new design to our t-shirt webshop. This cartoon about war is by Spanish artist Ricardo Plástiko; it was made for the special project Reinventing Peace. By ordering this shirt, or any other items, you're helping us to build a sustainable future for editorial cartooning:

EU shop
UK shop
US shop

Don't like the shirts we picked? You can design a product yourself with this cartoon. And if you'd like to have a specific cartoon (over 700 available) to put on a shirt, bag or hoodie, drop us a line by email, and we'll be happy to help.

Egyptian cartoonist Rasha Mahdi informs us she has launched a project to show the real message of the Prophet Muhammed, with cartoons. According to Rasha: 'Mercy for all mankind is the real message of Prophet Muhammad.' She has created a series of cartoons that are based on the teachings of Islam and sayings of the Prophet Muhammed.

At Cartoon Movement we try to provide a platform for all perspectives. With many cartoons showing Islam as a violent religion responsible for terrorism, subjugation of women and intolerance, it is refreshing to see a (female) cartoonist tell the other side of the story: