Today, June 4th marks the 30th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square civil rights protest and the subsequent massacre. It also marks the beginning of one of the longest, largest, and most convoluted censorship campaigns in human history, as China has sought…
Tag: cartoonist
Cartoonist Musa Kart in Prison Unjustly, Again
Almost exactly one year after award-winning editorial cartoonist was released from prison to await appeal, he has turned himself in to serve a sentence for “supporting terrorism” with his colleagues from the Turkish paper Cumhuriyet. The official charge leveled against…
Comic Strip Banned from Local Papers
Obscene Scribble Gets Syndicated Comic Strip “Non Sequitur” Removed From Multiple Newspapers Sunday, February 10th, some sharp-eyed newspaper readers got a shock with their morning funnies when long-running, syndicated comic strip, Non Sequitur contained an obscene message to the president. The creator,…
Beetle Bailey Cartoonist Mort Walker Dies at 94
Mort Walker, a prolific comic strip artist, advocate for comic history preservation, and the creator of world famous Beetle Bailey, passed away Saturday, January 28, 2018, from pneumonia at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. Walker lived to be 94 years…
Pakistan’s First Professional Female Cartoonist on the Impact of Cartoons
Sometimes the most poignant cartoons are those that subtly disclose social issues by depicting the everyday life of the common man and woman. That is the approach Nigar Nazar, Pakistan’s first professional female cartoonist, takes with her immensely popular and beloved…
Indian Cartoonist Orijit Sen on Being a “Voice of Dissent”
Indian cartoonist Orijit Sen is no stranger to censorship. The artist, whose work has been repeatedly pulled from Facebook, recently spoke with Tehelka about why it is important that his “voice of dissent” rubs some people the wrong way and…
Egyptian Author Goes Back to Court for “Harming Public Morality”
Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji and newspaper editor Tarek e-Taher are going back to court to be retried for allegedly “harming public morality” just a few short weeks after being acquitted of the same charges. Naji and el-Taher were first brought…
Lawyer Challenges Egyptian Constitution over Racy Excerpt
This past weekend, Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji went to court to face charges that an excerpt of his novel The Use of Life violates decency laws. Naji is facing a two-year jail sentence and a 10,000 Egyptian pound ($1,245) fine,…
New Information Implicates Sri Lankan Government in Cartoonist’s Abduction
On January 10, 2010, Sri Lankan cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared from his place of work under mysterious circumstances. His family and many others believe that he was abducted by the government in retaliation for voicing his dissent with the then…
Cartoonists On The Front Lines: The Economist Cartoonist on Free Expression in Turkey
Award-winning political cartoonist Kevin Kallaugher has shared his thoughts about United States’ society and politics in The Economist since 1978, but recently, he shared his concerns about the state of free speech in Turkey and the difficulty his fellow cartoonists…