The Editor’s Weblog discusses an article in Le Monde (article in French) with Iraqi cartoonists Yasser Abdulrahim and Khoudair Al-Hemyare who talk about cartooning both under the dictatorship of Saddam and his moustache brigades and… er.. well, under whatever they actually have in Iraq at the moment. Given online discussion on comics sites about the Danish cartoons of the Prophet and the reaction with cartoons in Iran and Israel it is interesting to hear a bit of what is happening with cartoonists in Iraq.
Abdulrahim commented that now “we can make fun of the United States, of Europeans and of the invasion, but we still cannot touch religious symbols or leaders, nor the resistance” while his colleague told of the shocked reaction of his editor when he wanted to do a cartoon with an ayatollah in it (they were genuinely worried they would be killed for it). During Saddam’s regime both cartoonists said they were afraid of the state – now, ironically, they are worried about the lack of a state.
0 Comments For This Post
2 Trackbacks For This Post
November 30th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
[...] Elena Perotti of Editors Weblog offers a short summary of an article from French newspaper Le Monde about Iraqi editorial cartoonists. The piece notes that cartoonists were afraid of the State under Saddam Hussein, whereas “now we are frightened by the non-existence of the State.” (Link via the Forbidden Planet blog.) [...]
December 1st, 2006 at 4:44 am
[...] Original post by Joe [...]