This posts was originally published on the DELIAH Substack.

Cartoon Movement is taking part in a project called Democratic Literacy and Humour (DELIAH). But what is DELIAH? In short, it's an EU-funded research project spanning four years (2025-2029) that examines the relationship between democracy and humour. The somewhat longer answer is, however, probably more insightful. In this article, we show you what DELIAH will be doing in the next four years and what the outcome of the project will (hopefully) be.

DELIAH is funded by Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. The DELIAH project was proposed in answer to a Horizon call that focuses on culture, the arts and cultural spaces for democratic participation and political expression, online and offline.

DELIAH has a broad approach, acknowledging the multifaceted nature of humour. The project is divided into what in EU jargon (you'll be hearing more of it if you continue to follow the project) are called Work Packages (WP). The WPs are smaller research projects that focus on different forms of humour and research questions. DELIAH has eight such WPs:

WP 1 - Meta-analysis of humour practices and democratic attitudes in the European context

Our starting point sounds academic, but our meta-analysis will provide a solid base for the rest of the project. What is already known about the relationship between democracy and humour and how can we build on this?

The outcome will be a public database (mainly aimed at scientists) and a summary report. The report will also serve scientists, but we also plan to make the conclusions accessible in an engaging way for a broader audience.

 

WP 2 - Conducting focus groups to discover discourses of and evaluate responses to humorous stimuli

One way to build upon WP1 will be a hands-on examination of how Europeans in different countries respond to humour. We will set up focus-groups in different countries and show each group the same, or similar (because some humour is often language or country-specific), examples of different types of humour to see how they react, before discussing these examples with them. The resulting report should provide valuable insights into how Europeans look at humour.

 

WP 3 - Disparaging humour and democracy: Best practices for free speech jurisprudence and content moderation

Disparaging humour, meaning humour that mocks and belittles vulnerable individuals and groups, is often at the center of complex legal cases, where judges have to draw a line between safeguarding freedom of expression on the one hand, and countering incitement to discrimination or violence on the other. Besides, social media platforms and content moderators often struggle to find a balanced approach to jokes or memes that might be considered harmful or discriminatory by some users.

How can courts and online platforms ensure that humor (including provocative or potentially offensive jokes) is preserved as a vital component of democratic debate, while at the same time protecting the rights of targeted communities? What options are available to foster democratic participation, beyond the mere decision to remove content or keep it online? In light of both human rights law and humor research, this WP will create a toolkit helping judges and online platforms develop a fair and consistent approach to disputed humorous material.

 

WP 4 - Analysing the rhetoric of far-right: humour online and the role of democratic literacy

This WP will result in a toolkit on how to increase democratic literacy that can be used by educators and by organizations active in the field of democracy and free speech. We’ll also write policy recommendations for educators, policymakers and social media companies.

 

WP 5 - Understanding laughter scandals to create conceptual and translational tools for democracies

Our findings will be used to create a toolkit for educators and to write a white paper for policy makers on how to address such controversies.

 

WP 6 - Analysing humour and fostering democratic participation in times of conflict

Our goal is to formulate policy recommendations around humour practices in relation to disinformation, anti-democratic propaganda and civic participation.

 

WP 7 - Analysing gender and stand-up comedy in the 21st-century Anglophone world, online and offline

This WP will result in a database of relevant comedians working today (which will be restricted to use by request, due to its sensitive nature), a bibliography of current research into stand-up comedy and gender, and a white paper outlining how such stand-up comedy has contributed to informal kinds of democratic speech and participation.

 

WP 8 - Analysing uses of 'counter-humour' in media education and activism

Our goal is to develop potential humour intervention strategies, with attention to particularly vulnerable social groups (e.g., girls ands LGBTQ+ youth), in close collaboration with civil society initiatives and media education organizations.

As the project progresses, we’ll provide more in-depth coverage of the different topics and we will of course share all the outcomes, make them accessible and/or available for download.

If you have any questions or requests related to the DELIAH project, please contact us at [email protected]

Images by MORO, Engin Selcuk, Moz, Rahma Cartoons, Halit Kurtulmus Aytosly, George Riemann, Andrea Arroyo and Marilena Nardi

We were present at the International Journalism Festival last week: cartoonists Stellina Chen from Taiwan and Tjeerd Royaards from the Netherlands gave a workshop on the role and impact of political cartoons.

Why are cartoonists so often targeted by dictators and how are cartoonists coping with the rising number of autocratic regimes in Europe and the world? Stellina and Tjeerd showcase the work of a number of cartoonists who are currently in trouble because of their work and, using examples of their own work, they also explain why cartoons can have such an impact and what tools a cartoonist uses to create an effective image.

You can watch a recording of the workshop here.

We are happy to welcome Bouali Mbarek, originally from Morocco, now residing in Canada. He began his cartooning careeer in the late 1980s, working for various Moroccan publications. He currently publishe on Hespress, one of the largest news platforms in Morocco.

It's December, so it's time for our traditional top 10 list of the best cartoons of the year! In 2024, we received over 10,000 cartoons from our network of over 700 cartoonists. Around 250 of these were featured as an editor's choice on our homepage; many others were highlighted on our social media channels.

Picking the 10 best ones from such a large pool of high quality cartoons is almost impossible, so while the selection is by no means exhaustive or objective, these 10 images do reflect some of the most important news events of 2024, and were very popular with our audience.

In the first cartoon, from early January, Osama Hajjaj expressed the hope that 2024 would be better. It didn't exactly turn out that way, and he could basically create the same image for 2025...

The second cartoon on our list, by Austrian artist Marian Kamensky, proved to be more prophetic (unfortunately), and gives a succinct visual summary of current power relations.

The cartoon Gaza child by Yousef Alimohammadi isn't funny at all, but it does show how a good cartoon can confront you with the harsh reality while also showing how things should be.

One of the recurring topics we get a lot of cartoons on each year is International Workers' Day (May 1). Derkaoui Abdellah not only shows the inequality that continues to persist between capital and labor, but also connects this to the climate crisis and rising sea levels, the consequences of which will no doubt be felt the hardest by common workers.

Although the National Rally didn't win the French elections this summer, the cartoon by SWAHA does show how the radical-right tries to make their ideas more palatable to voters (in France evolving from Jean-Marie to Marine Le Pen, and then Jordan Bardella).

The lure of the far right in the European elections is also aptly captured in this cartoon by Thiago Lucas from Brazil:

The world was (and is) slow to call what is going on in Gaza a genocide. Z from Tunisia made this telling visual about the politics that surround the unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe that is still happening today.

Most of you will remember the first (and only) debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Although lost by Trump, it didn't cost him the elections, as most voters seem to prefer convenient lies to harsh truths. The cartoon is by Emad Hajjaj.

And this is what the new reign of Trump will look like, according to Paolo Calleri from Germany.

We of course need to end our top 10 with the major event of December, the fall of Assad. Alan Lauzan from Chile imagines Assad's arrival at the palace of Putin.

We have no doubt 2025 will provide our cartoonists with more than enough material to continue making scathing, sharp, witty, funny and confronting visuals. If you want to see more top 10s, check out the best cartoons of 2023 and 2022.

Massimo D'Acunzo, aka Qunzo, is a graphic designer, illustrator and cartoonist from Naples, Italy. He collaborates with several Italian satire magazines and illustrates editorial works for children.

The European Press Prize and Studio Europa Maastricht announce the opening of the European Cartoon Award 2024, the prize for excellence in editorial cartoons.

From April 29 to June 2, 2024, editorial cartoonists will be able to submit their work for the fifth edition of the European Cartoon Award. Submitted cartoons must have had their first publication date between June 2, 2023, and June 2, 2024, with a media outlet from a country within the Council of Europe, plus Belarus, and Russia.

Founded in 2019, by the European Press Prize and Studio Europa Maastricht, the European Cartoon Award has one of the highest monetary prizes for cartoonists, granting its winner a prize of 10,000 euros.

For more information and to submit your work, go here: europeancartoonaward.com

In January we launched a cartoon competition, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, in the six countries that make up the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro North Macedonia and Serbia.

Out of a total of 186 submissions from 95 artists, a jury of journalism and comic professionals selected 44 works for a cartoon exhibition on media freedom. You can see all the submissions (and more info on the jury members) on our project page.The jury was also tasked with picking a winner and a runner-up. They decided to award first prize to Dušan Petričić from Serbia, with a caricature of Serbian president Vučić. The jury was impressed by the style and execution of the cartoon and the fact that the artist needed no words to convey a clear message. The cartoon also has universal appeal; if you do not know who Vučić is, you will most likely still understand the visual message.

The winning cartoon by Dušan Petričić

Second place was awarded to Armend Ajredini from North Macedonia. Armend is an editorial illustrator for Gazeta, a publication in Kosovo. The jury complimented his clear style. They were also happy to see journalists presented not as victims, but as professionals that can alter the status qua with the work that they do.

The cartoon that won second place, by Armend Ajredini

Although not part of the official awards, the jury also decided to give a special mention to Anastasija Visekruna, a 16-year old artist Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the message in the image might not be as straightforward as in the winning cartoons, the visual intrigued the judges and sparked debate about the meaning of the drawing. The goal of a cartoonist is to create an interesting image that will make people think; in that, Anastasija certainly succeeded.

A special mention was awarded to this cartoon by Anastasija Visekruna

The exhibition is on display in the six countries of the Western Balkans in April and May. Here below are some impressions of the exhibitions.

Podgorica - Montenegro

Podgorica - Montenegro

 

Skopje - North Macedonia

 

Belgrade - Serbia

Belgrade - Serbia

A day late (we usually send our newsletter out on Monday) because of Easter, but our monthly update from the world of political cartooning is out. Read it here to discover our latest news and last month's most popular cartoons. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so here.

And remember, we also send out a newsletter every weekday with our daily cartoon, t0 which you can subscribe here.

In 2018, we did a project together with the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) and the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands creating cartoons about the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Out of over 500 cartoons sent in from all over the world, 30 winning cartoons were selected; one for each article of the UDHR. The cartoons were bundled together in a booklet, a visual guide to the UDHR.

At the end of 2023, we were contacted by the Permanent Representation of the Permanent Representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations, the WTO and other organisations in Geneva. As a kick-off for the Kingdom of the Netherlands' three-year membership in the Human Rights Council, they wanted to re-issue and update the booklet. The renewed booklet includes a lot of updated cartoons to reflect more diversity.

It was launched yesterday during the visit of our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hanke Bruins Slot, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and the Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot take a look at the booklet.

The booklets distributed at the Human Rights Council in Geneva

This booklet is the result of a collaborative effort between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Cartoon Movement, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An illumination of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with cartoons crafted by artists from around the globe.

Download the booklet ‘Cartoons for Human Rights’.

Western Balkans cartoon competition & exhibition