People in or traveling to Belgium should definitely make an effort to visit the city of Mons, where 120 political cartoons about Europe by 52 cartoonists are on display at the Mons Memorial Museum. The exhibition This is not Europe! is organized by Cartooning for Peace and will run until June 26, 2016.
40 NGO s and over 75 international cartoonists call for leniency for Iranian cartoonist wrongfully jailed.
A letter to Iranian President Rouhani by Cartoonists Rights Network International calls for leniency for Iranian cartoonist Atena Faraghdani, who is sentenced to 12 years in jail for a cartoon:
February 22, 2016
President Hassan Rouhani
Pasteur Street, Pasteur Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Your Excellency,
Our organization, along with the undersigned organizations and individuals, are happy to learn that as a result of the new chapter of relations with the international community, your government was able to approve the release of a number of prisoners of conscience, including The Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian.
Building on this very positive action, we ask your excellency to start a conversation with the Judiciary to free cartoonist Atena Faraghdani who is now in prison for publishing on the Internet a symbolic cartoon. Atena has been sentenced to 12 years 9 months in prison, awaiting final verdict for the court of appeal.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to various Articles within UN International Human Rights Conventions: including Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “The right to freedom of opinion and expression,” and Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights mandating “The right to express an opinion and freedom of expression” and “The right to freedom of association.”
Your excellency, you have pledged “support for the Freedom of Speech in Iran’s newspapers, magazines and websites,” and Foreign Minister Zarif also noted during a TV interview that “We do not jail people for their opinions.” Many Human Rights organizations and the UN believe that arresting, charging and sentencing Atena Farghadani for such activities contravenes the above-mentioned rights. It is also of concern to the international community that her continued imprisonment contravenes the spirit of a new era of international co-operation with Iran.
The United Nations, and other World Human Rights organizations, consider Atena Farghadani to be a prisoner of conscience, presently held for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association. Being a party to the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, we would hope you could see this too.
We hope that you are able to convince the Judiciary to reconsider her sentence on appeal, and set aside her conviction and sentence so allowing her to immediately return to her family.
The world looks on — hoping Iran will, in good faith, free Atena Farghadani in this era of international co-operation — and in so doing prove that Iran is indeed a supporter of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, along with other internationally accepted human rights, a vital condition and component within this new era of international co-operation that we are hopefully heading towards.
With best regards,
Dr. Robert Russell
Executive Director, Cartoonists Rights Network International
Friends of Cartoonists
Jean Schulz, Charles M. Schulz Museum, USA
Mehdi Amini, Afghanistan
Carol Lange, USA
Drew Rougier-Chapman, USA
Chris Bliss, MyBillofRights.com, USA
Will Durst, Durstco, USA
Mark McKinney, Miami University, USA
Carl Nelson, USA
Joan Mower, Voice of America, USA
Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, USA
Zeina Zahreddine, Canada
International Cartoonists
Brian Adcock, Guardian UK
Sahar Ajami, Norway
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle, USA
Terry Anderson, Scottish Cartoon Art Studio, Scotland
Gary Barker, UK
Xavier Bonilla/Bonil, Ecuador
Rupert Besley, UK
Steve Bright, The Sun, UK
Carlos Brito, Portugal
Steve Breen, San Diego Union Tribune, USA
Bernard Bouton, president Federation of Cartooning Organizations, France
Chris Cairns, Scotland
Daryl Cagle, USA
Patrick Chappatte, International New York Times
Kate Charlesworth, UK
Dave C. Cherry, USA
J.D. Crowe, Alabama Media Group, USA
Christian Daigle, Canada
Michael de Adder, Canada
Matt Davies, New York Newsday, USA
Andy Davey, UK
Vincent Deighan, (Frank Quitely) Scotland
Steven ‘Lectrr’ Degryse, De Standaard, Belgium
Sergii Fedko, Ukraine
Christian Fedele, Italy
Noel Ford, FRSA, UK
Ganzeer, Egypt
Scott Griffin, USA
Fadi Abou Hassan, Norway
Graham Harrop, Canada
David Horsey, Los Angeles Times, USA
Steve Jonesy, UK
Kal Kallaugher, The Economist, USA
Vladimir Kazanevsky, Ukraine
Nik Kowsar, Canada
Graeme MacKay, Hamilton Spectator, Canada
Lewis MacKenzie, Scotland
Bruce MacKinnon, Halifax Chronicle Herald, Canada
Ferran Martin, Catalonia, Spain
Josko Marusic, Croatia
Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle, USA
Kanika Mishra, India
Pedro Molina, Nicaragua
Greg Moodie, The National, Scotland
Terry Mosher/Aislin, Canada
Dan Murphy, Canada
Francis Odupute, Nigeria Observer, Nigeria
Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee, USA
Geoff Olson, Canada
David Parkins, USA
Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine, USA
Mike Peters, Mother Goose and Grimm, USA
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader, USA
Marlene Pohle, Argentina
Michael Ramirez, Investors Business Daily, USA
Hajo de Reijger, Netherlands
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, USA
David Rowe, Australia Financial Review
Martin Rowson, The Guardian, UK
Tjeerd Royaards, Cartoon Movement, Netherlands
Cristina Sampaio, Portugal
Miguel Villalba Sánchez “Elchicotriste”, Spain
Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer, USA
Jen Sorensen, USA
Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune, USA
Bill Stott, Chair, Professional Cartoonists’ Organization, UK
Manos Symeonakis, Cartoon Movement, Netherlands
Ann Telnaes, The Washington Post, USA
Adán Iglesias Toledo, Cuba
Tom Toles, The Washington Post, USA
Zach Trenholm, USA
Wes Tyrell, President of the Canadian Association of Ed Cartoonists
Shan Wells, Durango Telegraph, USA
Signe Wilkinson, Philly Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer, USA
Karl Wimer, USA
Matt Wuerker, POLITICO, USA
Zunar, Malaysia
Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, USA
International Non-Governmental Organizations
ActiveWatch – Media Monitoring Agency
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
ARTICLE 19
Association for Civil Rights
Belarusian Association of Journalists
Brazilian Association for Investigative Journalism
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Center for Independent Journalism – Romania
Committee to Protect Journalists
Freedom Forum
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
Human Rights Network for Journalists – Uganda
International Federation of Journalists
MARCH
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Media Foundation for West Africa
National Union of Somali Journalists
Norwegian PEN
Observatorio Latinoamericano para la Libertad de Expresión – OLA
Pakistan Press Foundation
PEN American Center
PEN Canada
PEN International
Reporters Sans Frontières, France
Social Media Exchange – SMEX
South East European Network for Professionalization of Media
Vigilance pour la Démocratie et l’État Civique
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
Danish PEN
Centre Québécois du PEN international
English PEN
Finnish PEN
Kurdish PEN Centre
San Miguel (Mexico) Centre of PEN International
PEN International Women Writers Committee
PEN Bangladesh
PEN Melbourne
PEN South Africa
Swedish PEN Centre
Spanish cartoonist (and CM member) KAP is the winner of Press Cartoon Europe 2016, with an excellent cartoon about Europe and refugees published in La Vanguardia. PCE awards the best cartoon published in European media.
Peace in Burundi.
Simon Nasaka (aka Stillmatic) is the first cartoonist from Zambia to join Cartoon Movement. His work has been published in Zambian newspaper the Daily Nation since 2012.
Dan Murphy was the editorial cartoonist for The Province, a newspaper in Vancouver, Canada. He now lives in Ireland and makes political cartoons and animations for various clients.
Ayman Alwusabi (aka Ayman Toon) is our second cartoonist from Yemen. Ayman is only 20 years old, but his work shows great potential. We are happy to give him a platform to show his work to an international audience.
Fragment from 'South Sudan: The Price of War, The Price of Peace'
In April 2015, we published South Sudan: Who Got What, a comic written by Alex de Waal and drawn by Victor Ndula. Over the past months, Alex and Victor have been working on the sequel, which tells the story of South Sudan’s civil war and the efforts to bring peace. The new comic, South Sudan: The Price of War, The Price of Peace will be published on Monday February 8.
Every year, a exhibition of the best political cartoons by Dutch cartoonists travels to different locations in the Netherlands. In March, the exhibition will be on display in the east of the Netherlands in the town of Arnhem. To accompany the exhibition, Dutch cartoonists (including several cartoonists from our own community) will go head to head in a Cartoon Battle. Unfortunately, the event is in Dutch; below is more information about the event (also in Dutch):
Image by Trik
In maart strijkt INKTSPOT neer in Dudok Arnhem, de reizende expositie met de beste politieke tekeningen van het politiek jaar 2014-2015. Ter gelegenheid van de opening van de expositie wordt op donderdag 3 maart om 19.00 uur de INKTSPOT battle gevoerd en gedebatteerd over vrijheid van expressie. Het debat komt tot stand in samenwerking met ArtEZ hogeschool voor de kunsten en boekhandel Het Colofon.
Battle
Dudok heeft ArtEZ hogeschool voor de kunsten uitgenodigd om samen te werken rondom INKTSPOT. Voor de studenten van de opleiding Illustration Design is het project politiek tekenen in dit semester een vast onderdeel. Zij gaan donderdagmiddag 3 maart met tekenaars en docenten HAJO en TRIK aan de slag in de masterclass politiek tekenen. De twee studenten die de beste resultaten laten zien doen die zelfde avond mee aan de battle met ‘de grote jongens’. In de arena van Dudok gaan de tekenaars de strijd met elkaar aan. Je kijkt als genodigde mee hoe actuele onderwerpen worden vertaald naar spotprenten. In de battle: ARGUS; Tjeerd Royaards; HAJO; Benjamin Kikkert; Maarten Wolterink; TRIK; Merijn Beeldverteller, Gezienus Bruining en Job van der Molen en de 2 beste ArtEZ studenten. De battle wordt begeleid door DJ MistaSweet.
De jury kiest diezelfde avond nog de winnaar van de battle. Battlejury: Saskia Bak (directeur Museum Arnhem), Zihni Özdil (historicus en schrijver) en Marc Boumeester (directeur AKI ArtEZ Enschede)
Tjeerd Royaards in actie tijdens de battle. Foto: Jhartho Kempink
Debat
Aansluitend volgt een debat over vrijheid van expressie. Het debat wordt ingeleid door ridder van het vrije woord Zihni Özdil, historicus, columnist bij NRC Handelsblad en schrijver. Zihni Özdil schreef o.a. het boek Nederland mijn Vaderland en staat bekend om zijn pleidooien voor de vrijheid van meningsuiting van zowel Geert Wilders als “haatimams”. De andere gasten zijn: Eduard Nazarski (directeur Amnesty International), Tjeerd Royaards (Hoofdredacteur Cartoon Movement, Cartooning for peace), Marijn Schrijver (hoofdredacteur Nieuwe Revu), Marc Boumeester (directeur Aki ArtEZ Enschede). Het gesprek wordt geleid door moderator Marlies Leupen.
Toegang tot het event: 5 euro, studenten gratis.
Hajo in actie tijdens de battle. Foto: Jhartho Kempink
Inktspot expositie
De spotprenten in dit jaaroverzicht 2014-2015 raken op scherpe en humoristische wijze de kern van het onderwerp. In januari 2015 werden de cartoonisten in het hart geraakt door de terreuraanslag op het satirische weekblad Charlie Hebdo. Zij uitten hun verdriet, boosheid en opstandigheid in hun tekeningen, die in deze Inktspot zijn samengebracht als hommage. De expositie is een initiatief van de Stichting Pers & Prent en wordt georganiseerd in samenwerking met Het Persmuseum en de Kunstcommissie van Nieuwspoort.
De expositie INKTSPOT in café-brasserie Dudok is van 1 maart tot 4 april 2016 dagelijks gratis te bezichtigen, Koningstraat 40 in Arnhem. Toegang tot het evenement op 3 maart is 5 euro, studenten gratis.
José Antonio Rodríguez García is an illustrator and cartoonist from Mexico he is editorial cartoonist for the newspaper La Voz de Michoacán in Mexico and the magazine Negratinta in Spain.