Gianluca Costantini and other cartoonists in Italy and elsewhere are reacting to the upsurge in violence in Gaza which escalated over the Christmas and New Year period (New Year, same horrible old story – one group attacks an other, that group hits back harder and in-between as usual on both sides innocent civilians suffer while politicians and militias posture) and has also been posting on the subject on Channel Draw:
“Twenty years ago we created Kufia, Italian pencils for Palestine, with the help of many artists and associations supporting the Intifada. An exhibition of the artists’ original drawings toured more than 70 towns in Italy, Israel and Palestine, including Jerusalem. Prints of the portfolio were sold to raise funds to support Palestinian’s rights over their land and their right to return to their land.
Today, we wish to re-launch the Kufia campaign and possibly to widen it. Together with il manifesto, Alfabeto Urbano, Mano magazine, and other political organisations and press companies, we are now working on a new edition of the portfolio and exhibition. It will host major Italian comics artists and, hopefully, Israeli and Palestinian artists (as in the past edition). Although we know that humanitarian support and alternative information – offered by important associations such as Emergency, Un ponte per, Action for Peace, Peace Brigades International, Indymedia and others – is absolutely fundamental to many areas in the world, we still think that more can be done in the field of communication, culture, and art for the sake of Palestine. We want to bring together different experiences, all stemming from Palestine’s emergency call, and develop new theoretical and practical strategies. In the following days more information on Kufia will be found in the newspaper il manifesto, including the different steps of our project and other coming publications.”
Mon, Jan 5, 2009
Comics and cartoons