issue 8 - persecuted cartoonists - september 2011

SEPT | 11

S A M P S O N I A WAYTONY NAMATE | ALFREDO PONG | PEDRO LEÓN ZAPATA | AW PI KYEH | ZAPIRO

Pedro León ZapataJuan Vicente Gómez was aVenezuelan dictator for 27 years, from 1908 to 1935. On July 24, 2007, he would have been 150 years old. With this cartoon, Zapataequates Gómez’s governmentwith Chávez’s military government.

PersecutedCartoonists:Steady Hands and Brave Hearts

2 S A M P S O N I A W A Y

Persecuted Cartoonists: Steady Hands and Brave Hearts by Barbara Collier

(above)

South African cartoonist Zapiro responded tothe threats that followed his cartoon of prophetMuhammad visiting the psychologist by drawinghimself on the therapist’s couch. While main-taining the right to draw, he dissociated himselffrom the “juvenile Islamophobic Facebook campaign,” the Islamophobia of the U.S. war on terror, and the European bans on the burqaand minarets.

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The political cartoon is arguably the most powerful format of that terror.More art than speech, the best editorial cartoons are lie-piercing tools in the fightfor human rights. With scalpel-sharp wit, they carve away at political power whereit holds unhealthy sway. And with their accessibility to a broad swath of followers— illiterate as well as educated — cartoons can become the banners of democracy. However cartoonists provoke the anger of repressive regimes. The profession

requires a steady hand and a brave heart. In many parts of the world, cartoonists fight for their basic right to freedom

of opinion. In perhaps the most infamous brouhaha in contemporary cartoon-publishing history, in September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands Postenattempted to open up debate about a hands-off-Islam demand by the religion’sadherents. The paper published 12 editorial cartoons depicting the prophetMuhammad, which is prohibited under Islamic law. The deed stirred worldwideIslamic protests and retaliations, including the torching of Danish embassies andthe attempted murder of one of the artists. Just like Jyllands Posten, there are many publications and cartoonists who have

faced pressure from local authorities. But unlike the Jyllands Posten case they don’tmake international headlines.

Sampsonia Way asked writers who have collaborated with the magazine to recom-mend a cartoonist from their country. From Zimbabwe, it was recommended we contact Tony Namate; from Cuba, Alfredo Pong; from Venezuela, Pedro León Zapata; from Burma, Aw PiKyeh (APK); from South Africa,Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro). Weasked them about their careersand challenges and, while editori-ally we can’t vouch for every one of their opinions, we applaud their efforts toexpress them and be heard.

“Books and all forms of writingare terror to those who suppressthe truth.”Wole Soyinka, Nigerian poet, dramatist and Nobel Prize winner.

(left)

Behind the ballot box and the red ballot (the color ofChávez’s party) is the phrase“From Here to Eternity.”Pedro León Zapataillustrates Chávez’s eagernessto change the constitution so he can maintain powerindefinitely.


Tony Namate recently published a book of his cartoons, The Emperor’s New Clods:Political Cartoons from Zimbabwe, which the Association of American EditorialCartoonists’ Kevin Kallaugher says, “punctures the pomposity of the powerful on behalfof the poor and the powerless.”A picture on Namate’s Facebook page, taken in 1999, shows him at his Daily News

desk drawing a cartoon. In April 2000 a homemade bomb was thrown at the paper’soffice, and in 2001 a series of bombs were planted in the building, blowing up theprinting press. In 2003 the paper, known for its critical views on President RobertMugabe, was denied a permit and subsequently shut down. Namate now draws forthe online periodical New Zimbabwe and also addresses the problems of otherAfrican countries.VJ Movement’s website says of Namate, “His work is often open to different interpre-

tations— an ambiguity he says not only protects him but also reflects the complicated politics of his country. He trusts in his readers’ capabilities to distill his message.”

SAMPSONIA WAY: How did you begin as apolitical cartoonist?

NAMATE: I grew up on American comics andBritish funnies that my father used to bringfrom work. I liked the drawings more than thetext. Then, when I was in high school in the1980s, I became addicted to Mad magazine. Inhigh school literature courses I read JuliusCaesar and Orwell’s Animal Farm. The resem-blance of my country’s political situation towhat I read shaped what was to become mypolitical outlook.

Tony Namate

SAMPSONIA WAY: What challenges haveyou faced in response to your cartoons?

NAMATE: I’ve been doing cartoons for over 20years now, and I have had some close shaves. I’vebeen threatened by government ministers andhave been chased by a Zanu-PF mob because I“make fun of the President.”

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“I realized the powerof cartooning andhaven’t looked backsince.” Tony Namate

(below)

Shoot to Kill A South African policemanshot and killed a three yearold boy in November, 2009.He said it was “in selfdefense...” Namateexplained that there hasbeen an outcry at the grow-ing number of civilian casu-alties ever since the Zumagovernment announced a“shoot-to-kill” policytowards criminals.

SAMPSONIA WAY: Have you ever comeclose to giving up your work because of the dif-ficulties imposed on you?

NAMATE: Political cartooning is a labor oflove, but yes, there have been times when Ithought of giving it up. I have no problem withreactions from politicians; in fact, I welcometheir reactions. If their reactions are brutal,then my response is equally brutal. But makinga living out of cartooning is not easy becausethe client base in Zimbabwe is so small andpolarized. If you make cartoons for one paper,you can’t make them for another. And paymentis a take-it-or-leave-it situation.

(left)

One Afternoon inSouthern SomaliaThis cartoon is a dig at theAfrican Union which insists,“African solutions to Africanproblems.” “It’s all hot air, of course,” Namate says.


Alfredo Pong escaped Cuba for Vancouver, Canada, in 1991, where he beganto draw his first political cartoons. By 1994 he had been hired by the news-paper El Nuevo Herald in Miami, where he continued cartooning for sev-eral years. Then in 1998 he connected with the online publication LaNueva Cuba. These days his work is published on websites in the U.S.,Brazil, Canada, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and his personal blog can beaccessed at cubahumor.com.

SAMPSONIA WAY: How did you begin as apolitical cartoonist?

PONG: I think I started drawing before I couldtalk. It’s impossible to think of myself as a childand not see me drawing on anything I could find.Then, when I was 8 years old, I was in an art com-petition in which you used your fingers as paintbrushes. I drew a picture of our national heroFidel Castro and won first prize. Ironically, I haddrawn a portrait of the young leader who wouldlater become our tyrant in chief.

Alfredo Pong

Reporters Without Borders has deemed Cuba “oneof the world’s 10 most repressive countries, as regardsto online free expression.” Pong, who has admittedthat he suffers an incurable case of “Castrophobia,” isamong many exiled journalists who continue to fightfor a free Cuba.

(right)

Cuba, 1977 – 1989 La AutocriticaIn 1986, Castro’s regime initiated an “error rectifica-tion” campaign, which sought to undo free-marketreforms made in the early 1980s. According to Pong, allthe public relations efforts were disingenuous becauseall criticism was rerouted to mid-level officials, while the core of the government avoided any responsibility.

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SAMPSONIA WAY:What motivated you touse your talent as a means of protest?

PONG: I belong to a generation that was therecipient of every socio-political and economicexperiment of the new Cuban utopia, so I wit-nessed the decline and disintegration of thecountry we had inherited, the separation offamilies, the loss of all the material wealth thathad been earned and accumulated by at leasttwo generations of Cubans, the annulment ofprivate property, and the right to choose afuture for yourself. In short, I witnessed thetotal loss of individual freedom in the name of anew collective and mandatory way of living. In Cuba I never published a political car-

toon. I knew the publishing circles and almostall the official cartoonists, but I wasn’t willingto pay the price, which would have meant giving up all autonomy and working accordingto the official “script” of the regime. Instead, I drew comic strips clandestinely, for my ownamusement, occasionally sharing some of themwith a select group of friends.When I managed to escape Cuba in 1991,

I began to get all that off my chest: The frustra-tion of spending my whole life without beingable to denounce the things I had seen, withouthaving the freedom to express my point of view,and always having to look over my shoulder.


PONG: Since the beginning, they have triedto pressure me in all kinds of ways, some verysubtle, like trying to block my participation ininternational graphic humor competitions, orsabotaging the publication of a book that waspublished in Brazil, which was a collaborationwith political analyst Jorge Hernández Fonseca.We put together a book with his work and mine,

which was supposed to be released during theInternational Book Fair in Miami, but it wassabotaged during printing, so it couldn’t beready for that. Also, none of my cartoons haveever been seen in Cuba because the governmentblocks all blogs or websites with content that iscritical of the regime. I have also received anumber of online attacks in different forms.

SAMPSONIA WAY: Have you ever consid-ered stopping your work because of these diffi-culties?

PONG: Well, I don’t get paid to do this. I liveoff my work as an architect. Nobody pays me,nobody tells me what to do, and I don’t useideas other than my own. That gives me a greatdeal of independence and freedom with my car-toons. I am the only person responsible for whatI say, which makes me very happy. I would lovefor my colleagues in Cuba to be able to enjoythat freedom one day.

“I suffer an incurable case of ‘Castrophobia.’”Alfredo Pong

(below)

The revolutionary slogan ‘Comandante en Jefe,Ordene’ means ‘Commander in Chief, give us yourorders.’ In Spanish, the word ordene means to giveorders, but Pong added a mark on the top of the n, and changed the word to ordeñe, which means to milk a cow.


Pedro León Zapata isn’t afraid to pick fights — even if his opponent isHugo Chávez, Venezuela’s authoritarian President. The Caracas-basedartist, winner of the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas, has been a reg-ular contributor to the popular Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional fornearly 50 years through his column, “Zapatazos.” Interviewed byElizabeth Farnsworth on PBS in 2002, he said, “How can you explainwhat is happening in Venezuela if even we Venezuelans can’t understandit? What is happening in Venezuela doesn’t have a logical explanation...In astronomical terms, El Comandante Chávez is a black hole... For me,cartoons are the perfect form for expressing fully all that happens to meinside as a consequence of what is going on outside.” Farnsworthdescribes Zapata as “a man with a strong appreciation for black humorand the absurd.”In the 1940s, Zapata moved to Mexico to study with the muralists

Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. Over the many years since hisreturn to Venezuela, he has become a nationally known political gadflyand unique artist — painter, muralist, illustrator, playwright, radio host,actor, and musician — revered for both his humor and his implacablechallenge to Chávez. In 2000 there was a confrontation with the Venezuelan leader, who

publicly challenged Zapata about these cartoons, asking whether hehad been bribed to publish them. Zapata answered the President withanother question: “Mr. Chávez, did you accept money to refer to mycartoons, thus inducing so many people to rush out and buy the newspaper?”Zapata is featured on Chávez’s list of “counter-revolutionaries”—

a collection of artists, journalists and other “public enemies” thePresident recommends go into self-imposed exile. Although we askedhim about his conflict with Chávez, Zapata preferred talking about his public reception.

Pedro León Zapata

(far right)

This cartoon, published inOctober 2000, provokedHugo Chávez’s ire. ViaTV, Chávez asked Zapata:“How much money didyou get for this?" Zapata’scartoon uses a militaryexpression—“firme y adiscreción”—and refers toChávez’s military govern-ment and a society thatsubmits to its authority.

(right)

Chávez compiled thenames of everyone whosigned a 2004 referendumasking for his recall. Based on this list, the government fired thou-sands of people. BecauseCongressman Luis Tascón(from Chávez’s Party)spread the list via inter-net, it became known asTascón’s list. According to Zapata, this cartoon represents Chávez’s partymembers as toads withepaulettes and militaryboots. In Venezuela, sapo (toad) is a pejorativeterm for informants or tattlers.

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SAMPSONIA WAY:How did you become acartoonist?

ZAPATA: One doesn’t become a cartoonist,one unbecomes oneself. I would have liked tohave another profession, but for many reasons Icouldn’t. For example, I wanted to be an archi-tect, but people praised my cartoons so muchthat I took that path.

SAMPSONIA WAY: What challenges haveyou faced as a response to your cartoons?

ZAPATA: People really like my cartoons, atleast they say so. The only challenge I face is toplease the readers without being indulgent.


ZAPATA: I haven’t found a great deal of diffi-culty in my work, just affection. Nothing has yet made me think about quitting my job as acartoonist.

“One doesn’t become a cartoonist, one unbecomes oneself.”Pedro León Zapata

(below)

With this cartoon Zapata contrasts thehigh price of crude oil around the world with the poverty suffered by most Venezuelans.


Aw Pi Kyeh

Aw Pi Kyeh (APK) chose this pen name because it means “loudspeaker”in Burmese. His cartoons dare to shout out loud about the militaryjunta that rules Burma. In 2007 he was banned from publishing insideBurma after he supported monks in their peaceful protests during theSaffron Revolution. Following that, colleagues who even mentioned hisname in an article were suppressed.In June 2011, the Burmese site Mizzima.com compiled the views of sev-

eral well-known Burmese on the fighting between the national troops andthe Kachin Independence Army, after both sides suffered heavy casualties.Aw Pi Kyeh commented, “The president said they would try to be a goodgovernment. What does good government mean? Is fighting good?”After 30 years of cartooning, Aw Pi Kyeh says he will not quit. He

continues to illustrate despite the ban on his work, and he has turnedto new channels of distribution such as Facebook.

(left)

After Burma suffered theloss of more than 138,000lives and damage estimatedat $10 billion in CycloneNargis in May 2008, theBurmese military regimeheld a referendum toretain its power. The cartoon depicts a man in trousers (a symbol of a military person) care-fully righting his chair (a symbol of power) whileignoring the plight of victims being blownabout in the cyclone.

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SAMPSONIA WAY: How did you begin asa political cartoonist?

APK: I have loved cartoon drawings since Iwas 9 years old and began copying them. ThenI discovered editorial cartoons in newspapers:Not only pictures, but ideas! So I began sendingsome of my own cartoons about current eventsto newspapers, but without success. When Ireached university, though, my work achievedcampus-wide fame. In 1980 editors of magazinesbegan to print my cartoons, and I was given amonthly platform. But at that time in Burma,editorial cartoons were published strictly forpropaganda. As soon as I was seen as havingnew ideas, I was not asked to draw regularly,and in fact I was appointed as an engineer in afactory that was far away from Yangon, wherethere was no post office. So in 1988 I resignedand became a full-time freelance cartoonist.


APK: The crucial challenge is censorship. ThePress Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD)reads all published books, newspapers, andmagazines and censors any pages they don’tlike. Publishers and editors need to tear out orink over those pages. All my cartoons were chosen to be published in magazines, but somewere censored. Whenever a page with my car-toon on it is torn out, the cartoon on the back is

also tossed out. The editors must allow thePSRD to check their publication again after thedeletions. It can take more than a week anddelay distribution. So I am a major headache formy editors. Though they would like to publishmy work, I am the cartoonist most prone tocensorship. I’ve had about 300 of my cartoonscut out of publications in my career.

SAMPSONIA WAY: Have you ever comeclose to giving up the work because of the diffi-culties imposed on you?

APK: No. After I resigned from my engineerjob, I was determined to be a freelance cartoon-ist for the rest of my life. I have tried to surviveeconomically, even with a wife and three chil-dren. When my cartoons were censored, some-times I was not paid, so I have also done cartoonillustration, computer graphics, and animationrelated to cartoons. From time to time, I workedas an external supervisor for some NGOs in cre-ating information, education, and communica-tion materials. Now I draw cartoons not onlyfor criticism but to inform and educate theBurmese people. Cartoons are an easy, effectivetool for this purpose. I am particularly interestedin using my cartoons to promote environmentalissues, disaster management, and early-child-hood development. I would never give up mycartoon work because I have so many goals toachieve that censorship will not impact.

(left)

“Shhh, this is my relative!” APKsays that the figure quieting thedog represents the new govern-ment, and the shadow of thethief represents those who workwith the government towardsdishonest ends.

(left)

This cartoon illustrates howthe winner of the 2010 elec-tion in Burma was chosen evenbefore “the race” began.

“About 300 of my cartoons were censored in my life.” Aw Pi Kyeh


Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro), born in Cape Town, South Africa, fulfilled his military requirement before becoming active in theanti-apartheid movement, the United Democratic Front. In 1988,on a Fulbright scholarship, he studied at the School of Visual Artsin New York City with premier comic artists Art Spiegelman andHarvey Kurtzman.Today Zapiro is a noted editorial cartoonist with a busy sched-

ule drawing for South Africa’s Mail & Guardian and SundayTimes. He has published 16 book compilations of his work andreceived the 2007 Courage in Editorial Cartooning award from theCartoonists Rights Network International, which monitors andsupports the well-being of political cartoonists who find themselvesin trouble because of the power and influence of their professionalwork. For several years, he’s been an invited speaker at the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos.According to the Daily Maverick, “He didn’t censor himself

before the apartheid government (and he was jailed for it), he doesn’tcensor himself to appease big business, and he certainly doesn’t cen-sor himself to please the African National Congress — he is one ofthose who takes most seriously Section 16 of the South Africanconstitution, the part where freedom of expression is enshrined.”

Jonathan Shapiro

(below, left)

This cartoon conveys thesense of loss of many SouthAfricans in 1999, when their beloved PresidentMandela retired.

(below, right)

In September 2008, Zapirodepicted South AfricanPresident Jacob Zuma aboutto rape Lady Justice with thehelp of his allies. Zuma, whohad previously been accusedand acquitted of rape, wasabout to receive a judgmenton whether a corruption caseagainst him would proceed.Enormous pressure was beingput on the judiciary; anarchywas threatened if the accusa-tions were upheld by the court. The cartoon provokedintense worldwide debate.

photo: Karina Turok

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SAMPSONIA WAY:How did you become acartoonist?

ZAPIRO: From the age of 8 or 9, I knew thatcartooning was my favorite thing. At 4, I remem-ber reading [Carl] Giles. But the big ones for mewere Peanuts and Tintin, which I discovered atabout 7 and 8. Those cartoons are still two of my great inspirations. Schulz and Hergé aregeniuses. At 13, I started to make a book based onthe Tintin action films to impress Hergé and gethim to let me be part of his team. Then I decided,no, I wanted to do my own stuff.At the age of 15, there was some pressure to

“be something,” and, of course, there was thatogre, the army. I thought I’d better do some-thing “proper” to stay out of the bloody army.Architecture seemed a good marriage of artsand science. I got into Cape Town Universityeasily enough, but I realized architecture wasnot where my heart was.Although I thought of being a cartoonist from

a young age, it was only when I became a politi-cal activist in my mid-20s that I really became acartoonist. Drawing cartoons for political organ-izations is what really got me started.


ZAPIRO: I’ve been involved in a large num-ber of controversies around my cartoons, beginning with the very first political pamphletI ever did, which was banned by the apartheidgovernment in 1983. Other bits of graphics andcartoons I did were also banned. I was interro-gated by the security police about one of themand was detained without trial in 1988. Thesame year an apartheid cabinet minister rantedin parliament about cartoonists, apparentlyattacking me and a colleague. Many of my car-toons about political, religious, and sexualissues have been controversial and have sparkeddebate in newspapers and other media. But nothing I’ve ever done has come close to

creating the kind of media frenzy and publicdebate sparked by my September 2008 SundayTimes “Rape of Justice” cartoon.

SAMPSONIA WAY: Have you ever comeclose to giving up the work because of the diffi-culties imposed on you?

ZAPIRO: For me the problems that I some-times face are part of the job. My best way ofdealing with this is to keep doing hard-hittingcartoons and not get intimidated. I have noplans to stop doing cartoons.

(right)

In response to the Everybody DrawMuhammad Day Campaign of May2010 — designed to protest the chillingeffects on free speech Muslim deaththreats have had in targeting artistswho depict or parody the prophet —Zapiro drew a cartoon showingMuhammad visiting his psychologistand asking why his followers don’t havea sense of humor. Zapiro sees himself as asserting his right to free speech.

“I was detained withouttrial in 1988.” Jonathan Shapiro

issue 8 - persecuted cartoonists - september 2011

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