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POLITICAL CARICATURES ARE INDISPENSABLE TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION |
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| Following the publication of a controversial caricature, the American newspaper The New York Times took a radical step: it banned political cartoons. Cartoonist Plantu sees it as a threat to "the future of our democracies". "Humor and disturbing images are part of our democracies," says French designer Plantu. Founder of the Cartooning for Peace association, which criticized Tuesday the New York Times' decision to ban political cartoons from its international editions. "It's as stupid as asking children on Mother's Day to stop making drawings for their moms," said the cartoonist Le Monde history.
The daily said it had been thinking for a year to "align" the international edition to that published in the United States, which no longer includes political cartoons for many years. He intends to put this project into effect as of July 1st. Controversy over caricatures At the origin of this controversial decision was a caricature of comedian Antonio Moreira Antunes. In late April, the publication of a cartoon of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump sparked an uproar within the Jewish community and beyond. The head of the Israeli government was drawn in the form of a guide dog, wearing a necklace with a star of David, and kept on a leash by the blind American president with a kippah on his head. This caricature The New York Times has announced Monday that it will publish more political drawings in its international edition, after a recent controversy related to a caricature deemed antisemitic. These drawings are already banned from its American edition for several years. For me . Plantu the American newspaper has "flattened itself in front of the social networks by apologizing several times for having published a drawing", and he should "get back together" and say that he was "wrong to separate from the designers because we can not imagine newspapers without the images of opinion ". Press drawing is a "fundamental human right" for Plantu Through the association Cartooning for peace (created in 2006 with Kofi Annan), and with the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Plantu is leading a campaign for press design to be recognized by UNESCO as a human right. fundamental. He therefore expressed his solidarity with his colleagues working for the New York Times, including Antonio Moreira Antunes, whose caricature is at the origin of this controversial decision. The mobilization of the cartoonists It is on Twitter, and with pencils, that cartoonists have reacted to the controversy. Authors like Ménégol, caricaturist who collaborates notably with the Figaro, fought back on the social network. In his drawing, the emblematic letters of the New York title became sawtooth, cutting up a pencil. The cartoonist Glon amused himself by caricaturing Donald Trump with his advisor. "But why does not the New York Times ever talk about me again?", The US president wonders. "They stopped the political caricature, Mr. President," his neighbor replies. "As we supported the cartoonist Antonio who was censored by the New York Times (...), the association Cartooning for peace supports the cartoonist Patrick Chappatte", one of the cartoonists of the American newspaper for twenty years. years, pointed out the draftsman. "We are worried about the future of our democracies and the freedom of opinion," he added. Cartoonists worried about democracy "Maybe we should start to worry," said Patrick Chappatte "And we rebel. News cartoonists are born with democracy and when liberties are threatened, so are they. " For his part, the head of the editorial section of the New York Times James Bennet said on Twitter that the newspaper wanted to continue working in the future with Patrick Chappatte and Heng Kim Song, his other star designer, on other formats... |
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| Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld | |
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