Cartoon Movement

New Cartoonist: Normal Gergely

Normal Gergely is a visual and sound artist from Budapest, Hungary. His stark black and white illustrations resemble woodcuts and have a clear social message. Check out his website to see more of his work.

Talking about Cartoons at the UN

Last week, CM editor Tjeerd Royaards was invited by the Permanent Representation to the UN of the Netherlands to participate in an event at the Palace of Nations in Geneva. He talks about his experience with talking about social satire at the United Nations:

My talk focused on the shrinking space for freedom of expression in general, and for editorial cartoons in particular. Not only do we have many leaders in power that do not like to be mocked, newspaper editors seem to be getting more timid when it comes to publishing political satire (just look at the decision of the New York times earlier this year to stop publishing cartoons altogether).

To illustrate my point I made a video showing a cartoon about the current situation for cartoonists:

Now the thing about the UN is that within the halls of UN buildings you are not allowed to insult political leaders. I had hoped to get away with it by drawing a lot of them in one cartoon, but the organization that invited me was afraid they might never be allowed to host an event at the Palace of nations again if I were to show the cartoon above. So I was faced with a choice; either withdraw from the event, or censor my own work.

I try to take any opportunity I get to talk about the importance of cartoons and freedom of expression (especially at international level), so I was reluctant to cancel. Instead, I tried to think of a way to work around the constraints while still making the same point. Here's what I came up with:

In the end, there is little difference between kings fearing the jester mocking them and (authoritarian) leaders fearing the cartoonist's sharp pen. And I'm quite sure those in the audience will have recognized many of them in my altered version. Here are the two of them side by side:

New Cartoonist: Seyran Caferli

Seyran Caferli is the first cartoonist from Azerbaijan to join Cartoon Movement. He is director of Humortoons, a website for international cartoon news.

Cartoonists for Democracy

37 cartoonists from around the world will gather at the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg on November 6, 7 and 8 at the invitation of Cartooning for Peace. Among them are many CM members, including Pedro X. Molina, Camdelafu, Marilena Nardi and Ali Ghamir. Read the full programme here.

Blocked in China, Iran, Russia and Turkey

If you can read this post, you are part of the diminishing group that enjoys free access to the Internet (or using a VPN). An old saying about cartoonists states that a good cartoon always needs to piss off someone.

We tend to agree, and it seems we are doing a good job pissing off those in power, especially those despots who fear a few lines will make them lose their power. How do we know this? Cartoon Movement is currently blocked in China, Iran, Russia and Turkey.

Source: Comparitech

New Cartoonist: Carmelo Kalashnikov

Carmelo Kalashnikov is an Italian cartoonist. His work is published in Midnight Magazine and he is part of the Sputnink collective. Check out more of his work on his Facebook page.

New Cartoonist: Riccardo Marinucci

Riccardo Marinucci is an Italian cartoonist from Abruzzo. His work is published by Italian online media and has appeared on TV. He is is also one of the founders of Sputnink, a collective of young Italian cartoonists. Follow him on Instagram to see more of his work.

New Cartoonist: GASGO

GASGO is a cartoonist who doubles as a sports writer for an online news agency in the Philippines.

Comics Journalism - Migration from Ethiopia

Together with the University of Sussex and the Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium, we have created a 4-page comic about irregular migration from Ethiopia to South Africa. The Ethiopian government has outlawed many kinds of migrant smugglers and brokers and their businesses have gone underground. There is now a large migration industry of smugglers, informal brokers and other actors who help migrants navigate border controls.

The research on which this comic is based sought to understand the social relations that underpin brokerage and the implications of clandestine migration for the welfare of the migrants themselves as well as their families. The relationships between migrants and those who mediate migration are complex with the power shifting between the migrant and broker at different points of the journey. The research shows how the system operates and why it continues despite the controls.

The comic, drawn by Kenyan artist Maddo, will be published on Cartoon Movement on October 9. Two other comics exploring irregular migration are currently being produced and will be published later this year.

Lands of Disobedience 2019 - Catalogue

Lands of Disobedience, the cartoon competition organized by Italian cartoonist and CM member Emanuele Del Rosso, has published a digital catalogue featuring 33 cartoons that were selected from over 300 submissions.

You can download the catalogue via this link.