Two years after Charlie – A tribute to persecuted cartoonists

On the eve of the second anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Cartooning for Peace and cartoonists’ associations Cartooning for Peace (CFP), Cartoonists Rights International Network (CRNI), The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) and Cartoon Movement pay tribute to all press cartoonists who defend media freedom by means of their cartoons.

CARTOONING FOR PEACE

How you wield a pencil can still lead to violent reprisals.Only too often, cartoonists pay a high price for their irony and impertinence. The threats they receive are barometers of free speech, acting as indicators of the state of democracy in times of trouble. It is hard to say whether cartoonists are more exposed since the attack that killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo in Paris on 7 January 2015. But they continue to be subjected to political, religious and economic pressure, to censorship, dismissal, death threats, judicial harassment, violence and, in the worst cases, even murder. As a profession, they are clearly threatened.

“Since the Charlie tragedy, many cartoonists have lived under constant political, religious and economic pressure, and pressure from non-state groups as well”, RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Accusations of offending religion are too often used as a tool of political censorship. It is essential to remember that international law protects cartoonists because it safeguards the right to express and disseminate opinions that may offend, shock or disturb.”

Cartooning for Peace president Plantu (Jean Plantureux) said: “Many cartoonists bear witness, in their battles and in the harassment and threats they receive, to the importance they assign to their efforts to raise awareness. Since the Charlie terrorist attacks, other tragic events have confirmed that, more than ever, we need to pursue our fight for freedom, one that is also waged with the pencil.”

RSF, Cartooning for Peace and the other press cartoonist associations have compiled the following profiles of cartoonists who have been dismissed, arrested, imprisoned or threatened because of their cartoons.

The chosen cartoonists are Zunar, who has been hounded by the Malaysian authorities for years and is be tried at the end of January; Tahar Djehiche, an Algerian cartoonist who was given a jail sentence for insulting President Bouteflika; Musa Kart, the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet’s well-known cartoonist, who is now in jail; and Rayma Suprani, who was fired from the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal over her cartoons about the government and now lives in exile in the United States. Sometimes just reposting a cartoon can lead to prosecution and imprisonment. This is what happened to Tunisian blogger Jabeur Mejri, who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in 2012 in connection with his Facebook posts.

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ZUNAR (Malaysia)

© Zunar (Malaysia) – Cartooning for Peace

Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, the cartoonist better known as Zunar, is a symbol of the fight for freedom of expression in Malaysia and the government’s bugbear.

Because of his cartoons denouncing the corruption in all layers of Malaysian society, he has been subjected to various kinds of persecution for nearly a decade including repeated detention, arrests of assistants and supporters, a travel ban, the closure of his website, the confiscation of his cartoons and a ban on his cartoon books.

When the opening of a Zunar exhibition was disrupted by his critics in November, the police intervened, confiscated the cartoons and ended up taking him into custody. In December, he was arrested again when he organized a sale of his books to compensate for the financial loss resulting from the exhibition’s cancellation. As a result, he is now being investigated as a threat to parliamentary democracy.

He is already facing up to 43 years in prison on nine counts of violating the Sedition Act, which violates freedom of expression by making it easy to prosecute journalists and cartoonists for supposedly “seditious” content. The pretext for Zunar’s prosecution was nine tweets critical of the government. His trial has been postponed twice in the past two years and is now due to start on 24 January. Last year he received the Cartooning for Peace Prize for his courage and determination.

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RAYMA (Venezuela)

© Rayma (Venezuela) – Cartooning for Peace

Rayma Suprani is a Venezuela cartoonist who worked for nearly 20 years for the Caracas-based daily El Universal.

Her cartoons criticized poverty, the lack of social justice and abuse of power under President Hugo Chavez, and under his successors after Chavez died in office in 2013.

She had often been subjected to threats and pressure but in September 2014 she went “too far” in one of her cartoons. It portrayed public healthcare in Venezuela – which has been undermined by the crisis in the petrodollar economy – as an electrocardiogram that began with Chavez’s well-known signature and then flatlined.

She was immediately fired by El Universal, which had just been acquired by someone more sympathetic to the Chavista government.

Deprived of her source of income, she fled to the United States, where she continues to use her pencil to fight for freedom of expression.

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MUSA KART (Turkey)

© Musa Kart (Turkey)

During the wave of arrests that followed last July’s failed coup in Turkey, the police detained a dozen employees of the leading opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet on 31 October.

They included editor Murat Sabuncu, the newspaper’s lawyer, and its well-known cartoonist, Musa Kart. The head of the Istanbul prosecutor’s office said they were suspected of committing crimes on behalf of the Gülen movement (which is accused by the government of orchestrating the coup attempt).

“For years I have tried to transcribe what we live through in this country in the form of caricatures and today it seems that I have entered one of them,” Kart said at the time. “What explanations will they give to the rest of the world? I have been taken into police custody because I drew cartoons!”

Musa is currently waiting behind bars for a trial date. His colleagues from all over the world are drawing cartoons in solidarity, some of them even being published in Cumhuriyet at the spot originally reserved for his.

He is no stranger to harassment from the regime. In 2014, following the publication of one cartoon referring to a money laundering scandal involving Erdogan he faced 9 years imprisonment.

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TAHAR DJEHICHE (Algeria)

© Tahar Djehiche (Algeria)

The Algerian cartoonist Tahar Djehiche posted a cartoon on social networks in April 2015 showing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika being buried under the sand of In Salah, a Saharan region where the population has been protesting against the use of fracking to produce shale gas.

His aim was to draw attention to the environmental dangers of shale gas production by this means in Algeria, but he was charged with insulting the president and “inciting a mob.”

He was acquitted in May 2015, but was convicted on appeal the following November and was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 500,000 dinars.

Many international organizations have condemned this absurd and incomprehensible decision, especially as it is still not known who was responsible for the appeal.

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JABEUR MEJRI (Tunisia)

© Willis from Tunis (Tunisia) – Cartooning for Peace

A 29-year-old Tunisian blogger, Jabeur Mejri was prosecuted in March 2012 for posting cartoons and satirical texts on social networks at a time of continuing tension just over a year after President Ben Ali’s removal, when anything to do with religion was extremely sensitive.

The cartoons, in particular, were deemed to have insulted Islam. He was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and a fine of 1,200 dinars on charges of disrupting public order, causing wrong to others, and violating morality.

He was strongly defended by human rights groups, which regarded him as one of the first prisoners of conscience since the fall of the Ben Ali regime.

After two years in prison, he was finally pardoned by President Moncef Marzouki and was released in March 2014.

He was arrested again the following month on a charge of insulting an official. After a second pardon in October 2014, he left Tunisia.

Gallery

Two years after Charlie – A tribute to persecuted cartoonists – Tjeerd Royaards (Pays-Bas / Netherlands)

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  Two years after Charlie – A tribute to persecuted cartoonists – Kichka (Israël / Israel)
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  Two years after Charlie – A tribute to persecuted cartoonists – Kap (Espagne / Spain)
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  Two years after Charlie – A tribute to persecuted cartoonists – Boligán (Mexique / Mexico)
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  Two years after Charlie – A tribute to persecuted cartoonists – Joep Bertrams (Pays-Bas / Netherlands)

«Que se vayan a la mierda», les desea Charlie Hebdo a los terroristas de Estado Islámico

La revista satírica publica mañana un número dedicado a los atentados de París. En su editorial señala que «los parisinos de 2015 se han convertido en los londinenses de 1940, determinados a no ceder, ni al miedo ni a la resignación.»

Pagina de la revista Charlie Hebdo, un año después del atentado: «Ellos tienen las armas, que se vayan a la mierda, ¡nosotros tenemos el champán!»

MÓNICA ARRIZABALAGA, 4 enero 2015 / ABC

«Ils ont les armes, on les enmerde, on a le champagne!» se lee en la portada del próximo número de Charlie Hebdo que sale mañana a la venta. La viñeta que firma Coco es la de un joven acribillado que sigue bailando y bebiendo champán que vierte a chorros por los balazos recibidos.

«Ellos tienen las armas, que se vayan a la mierda, ¡nosotros tenemos el champán!» vendría a ser la traducción al español del mensaje que la revista satírica envía a los yihadistas del Estado Islámico que mataron en París a 129 personas, la mayoría de ellos jóvenes que habían quedado ese viernes por la noche a cenar en un restaurante con amigos o habían acudido a la sala Bataclán a escuchar un concierto.

«Se sospechaba que a los atentados de enero les seguirían otros ataques. Esperábamos, resignados, que cayera sobre nuestras cabezas, como una espada de Damocles», señala el editorial de la revista que el 7 de enero fue asaltada por dos yihadistas que mataron a once personas. El ataque suscitó una respuesta en todo el mundo con el hastag «Je suis Charlie».

El semanario satírico recuerda en el texto que adelanta el diario «Liberátion» las palabras proféticas de William Churchill «sangre y lágrimas». «Sin saberlo, los parisinos de 2015 se han convertido en los londinenses de 1940, determinados a no ceder, ni al miedo ni a la resignación», añade, porque «es la única respuesta a los terroristas. Que sea inútil el terror que intentan crear».

En la viñeta del día destacada en la web de Charlie Hebdo también reflejan esa inutilidad del terror, con la representación de parisinos que retoman su vida normal con boina negra y su baguette bajo el brazo. Eso sí, como fantasmas, en el dibujo de Juin que recuerda a las víctimas.

Albert Uderzo también rinde homenaje a los fallecidos en los atentados con un dibujo especial de Astérix mostrando sus respetos junto a Obélix e Ideáfix, con una flor en la mano. «Más que nunca, necesitamos héroes que nos reconforten como Astérix y Obélix», señala el genial dibujante al diario Le Figaro.

«Si tuviéramos la poción mágica, ¡qué útil nos sería!. Al mismo tiempo, en el espíritu de los pequeños, y de los menos jóvenes, creo que la poción mágica se encuentra en los álbumes de Astérix, Quizá la lectura de las aventuras de nuestros irreductibles galos nos pueda consolar de toda esta violencia que nos rodea», añade Uderzo.

La nota de «Liberation»

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Charlie Hebdo:
«Un año después, el (Dios) asesino anda suelto»

El semanario satírico francés reivindica su supervivencia frente al fanatismo religioso en un número especial por el primer aniversario del atentado yihadista contra su redacció.

Portada del número especial de Charlie Hebdo en el primer aniversaruio del atentado: «Un año después, el asesino sigue corriendo»

EFE/Paris, 4 enero 2016 / ABC

El semanario satírico francés «Charlie Hebdo» reivindica su supervivencia frente al fanatismo religioso en un número especial por el primer aniversario del atentado yihadista contra su redacción, cometido el pasado 7 de enero.

El título de portada de la revista, que sale a la venta el miércoles, es «Un año después, el asesino sigue corriendo», sobre la caricatura de un dios que va a la carrera con las manos manchadas de sangre y con un kalachnikov a la espalda.

En su editorial, el director Laurent Sourisseau, conocido como «Riss» y uno de los supervivientes del ataque terrorista, señala que en la historia de «Charlie Hebdo» desde su reaparición en 1992 «la muerte siempre ha formado parte del periódico», en primer lugar porque estaba amenazado de desaparición por razones económicas.

Riss denuncia que desde que publicaron las famosas caricaturas del profeta Mahoma en 2006, «muchos esperaban que nos mataran», y en ese grupo incluye a «fanáticos embrutecidos por el Corán», pero también de otras religiones que «nos deseaban el infierno en el que creen por habernos atrevido a reírnos de la religión».

También -añade- algunos «intelectuales amargados» o «periodistas envidiosos»: «Ese atajo de locos y de cobardes quería nuestra muerte».

El director recuerda que en 2011 sufrieron un primer atentado, cuando fueron incendiados sus locales en un momento en que estaban vacíos, lo que llevó a la policía a darles protección.

Una protección que el mismo Riss reconoce que consideraba que no hacía falta un mes antes del ataque de enero de 2015: «las historias de las caricaturas era pasado. Pero la religión desconoce el tiempo. No cuenta en años o en siglos porque sólo cuenta la Eternidad».

«Un creyente -razona-, sobre todo fanático, no olvida nunca la afrenta a su fe porque tiene por detrás y por delante la Eternidad. Es lo que habíamos olvidado en ‘Charlie’. La Eternidad nos cayó como un rayo ese miércoles 7 de enero».

Riss justifica la continuidad de la publicación después del atentado precisamente porque «todo lo que hemos vivido desde hace 23 años nos da la rabia» para continuar.

«Nunca hemos tenido -añade- tantas ganas de romper la cara a los que han soñado con nuestra desaparición. No serán unos gilipollas encapuchados los que van a echar por tierra el trabajo de nuestras vidas y todos los momentos formidables que vivimos con los que murieron. No serán ellos los que verán palmar a ‘Charlie’. Es ‘Charlie’ el que los verá palmar».

Su conclusión es que «las convicciones de los ateos y de los laicos pueden mover todavía más montañas que la fe de los creyentes».

Su número especial de esta semana sacará a la venta cerca de un millón de ejemplares con 32 páginas, en lugar de las 16 habituales, con ilustraciones de los dibujantes asesinados el 7 de enero pasado pero también de los actuales, así como mensajes de apoyo de personalidades.

Entre esas personalidades están las actrices Isabelle Adjani, Juliette Binoche o Charlotte Gainsbourg, intelectuales como Talisma Nasreen, o músicos como Ibrahim Maalouf, además de la ministra francesa de Cultura, Fleur Pellerin.