Black & White: Issue 3

STROKES OF RESISTANCE

Issue 3

5102 ,REBMEVON

Black & White

Online Cartoon Magazine

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Cartooning As Activism A write up on a new 08 form of cartooning

All 50 Cartoons from 'A Cartoon Against Every Lash'

50 Cartoons by Aseem Trivedi against the flogging of blogger Raif Badawi, facing a penalty of 1000 lashes and an imprisonment of 10 years

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Free Raif Badawi A set of 4 50 Cartoons by Mark Dolk demanding freedom for Raif

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37 Free Atena

By Mark Dolk

38 10 Cartoons against

the arrest of Kovan in the charges of sedition

By Aseem Trivedi

44 White Guilt

By Zane Kaufmann

45 Homosexuality

By Aarushi Arora

46 Cartoonist in Danger

mail.bandw@gmail.com www.bandw.in

Cartoonist Hadi Heidari jailed in Iran

Black & White

Cartooning as Activism

Aseem Trivedi

Cartooning is a blend of journalism and art. Much like the editorial write-up of in a newspaper where the editor expresses views on certain08issues, an editorial cartoonist has freedom to express views through cartoons and, importantly, freedom to advocate for what he or she thinks is right. Remember, cartooning is always about exaggeration. This exaggeration is what makes it powerful, because it gives more strength to advocate and also has the ability to offend the other side too!

When I used to work for newspapers, I couldn’t draw anything that could offend someone or some community. The editors checked the cartoon each day and whenever they found something deemed ‘offensive’, it had to be changed. The same still happens with my cartoonist friends who work for some media organizations.

The thing is that once you understand the limits of free speech that your organization follows, you start following it yourself and here comes the most dangerous form of censorship, that is selfcensorship. When you start following those boundaries, the incredible power of this art disappears or becomes very limited.

But the things 50 go different, when you refuse to accept boundaries. This is possible in independent cartooning only.

Though you may fall into great troubles and there may be no-one to save you, it is only this way you experience the immense full freedom of speech. The limit is up to you. Cartoons directs satire in a visual medium that can spread fast through social media platforms, making them handy and very capable for campaigning and activism.

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Black & White I took the path to activism in 2011 when I started campaigning through my cartoons. I started ‘Cartoons Against Corruption‘, a campaign to support a wider national anti-corruption movement in India and uploaded my cartoons on the internet to speak out against official graft. The Mumbai police subsequently banned my website during a hunger strike of the movement in December 2011. Then, in September 2012, they arrested me on three charges: sedition, insulting national symbols and Section 66A of 08 the IT Act. According to section 66A, any person who sends information that is deemed ‘offensive’ through communication devices like phones and computers shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years with fine But I also received a lot of support from every part of the country. Many artists, activists and politicians criticized my unlawful arrest. After spending four days behind bars, I was granted bail from the High Court. Finally this year, two charges were dropped from my case. The Bombay High Court dropped the charge of sedition on March 17, 2015 and the Supreme Court of India scrapped Section 66A of the IT Act on March 24.

Section 66A was frequently used by the government to silence bloggers and social media users. We observed regular incidents of such arrests and most of the cases filed under this section were politically motivated and were acts of revenge. This Act earned a very negative response from the public but the 50 government issued guidelines instead of scrapping it though all of these guidelines failed to stop the misuse of the law. Finally, judgement on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2012 against this notorious section was served as the Supreme Court declared it to be unconstitutional and scrapped it finally.

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Black & White Free speech is not very easy to get in India and you may have to pay a high price for it. With its blend of religions and communities, people can get upset quite easily and any art work that hurts the sentiments of the citizens can be banned anytime.

Many books, movies and paintings have to struggle with the culture of banning that operates here. Even the BBC documentary India’s Daughters, based on the December 2011 Delhi gang rape case, was banned by the government in March though many of us failed to find anything objectionable in it. So, here the cartoonist 08 Self-censorship is an idea that works best and knows the limits. keeps you safe from threats and the legal cases.

After the attack on the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris in January, the Mumbai police blocked over 650 posts on social media within 24 hours of the attack. The editor of an Urdu newspaper was arrested for reprinting a Charlie Hebdo cartoon after the massacre, while other media houses were busy in extending their support and solidarity over the killing. But the support was quite hypocritical. Here in India, the government removes the cartoons of Shankar Pillai (considered to be the grandfather of Indian cartooning) from text books due to community protests. The greatest Indian painter M.F.Hussain had to die in exile due to a lot of troubles for him and his paintings. In this country, where we couldn’t protect the free speech of our greatest artists ever, how we can we protect that of any ordinary artist?

After50my arrest, I stayed away from cartooning for two years for of many reasons. But I resumed cartooning after the attack on Charlie Hebdo by drawing a caricature of the prophet Muhammad. I thought it was my responsibility as a cartoonist to show my solidarity for the cartoonists who were among those killed during the attack.

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Black & White In May, I launched Black & White, an online cartoon magazine of resistance. Through these cartoons, I hope to highlight freedom of expression issues by publishing a series of cartoons, focusing on activists, bloggers, writers and journalists who are being targeted for their work. The vision is to create a platform where cartoonists from all over the world can raise their voice on their local issues and use their art to contribute for a better world blessed with free speech, equality and justice.

08 In the first issue, I’ve published the first 25 cartoons from ‘A Cartoon Against Every Lash‘, a campaign for Raif Badawi. Raif is a Saudi Arabian blogger, activist and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals. He was arrested in 2012 on a charge of insulting Islam through electronic channels and brought to court on several charges including apostasy. I learned about him through twitter when I observed the campaign against flogging. I got in touch with his wife Ensaf Haider and decided to start a campaign for him.

Today cartoonists are facing troubles in every part of the world; they are facing harassment and censorship. Right now in Malaysia, the cartoonist Zunar is facing a sentence of 43 years for sedition charges. In Iran, Atena Fargudhani, a young artist and activist, has been arrested for drawing a cartoon against a law that would severely restrict birth control for both men and women.

50 I believe we need some mechanism to help cartoonists in trouble not only through these tough times but also to protect our right to freedom of expression. Through cartooning activism, we give them a voice through art.

(From: Page 6

://samsn.ifj.org/)

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All 50 Cartoons from 'A Cartoon Against Every Lash'

By Aseem Trivedi 01

Humanity

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A series of 50 cartoons against the flogging of Raif Badawi, a blogger who is facing a penalty of 1000 lashes A Cartoon against Every Lash is a series of 50 cartoons supporting Raif Badawi as a symbolic protest to the 50 lashes, he was flogged publicly on Jan 9. Raif was arrested in 2012 on a charge of insulting 50channels and brought to court on several charges Islam through electronic including apostasy. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes in 2013, then resentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison plus a fine in 2014.

The lashes were to be carried out over 20 weeks. The first 50 were administered on January 9, 2015. The second set has so far been postponed.an imprisonment of 10 years.

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All Rights Reserved

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Islamic Anti Virus

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Blogging Vs Flogging

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Q and A

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Twitter Handle

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Equality

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Liberty finds her Valentine

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Statutory Warning

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Anti Flogging Vaccine

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Justice Vs Justice

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Excess of Oil

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New National Emblem of Saudi Arabia

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When Mahatma Gandhi meets Raif

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Raif

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Too Big to be Caged

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Just a Blog

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Options

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Believe It Or Not

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Differently Abled

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New Update

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raiF for Free Speech

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Freedom

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Double Role

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New Symbols of Censorship

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The Restriction

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A Classroom in Saudi Arabia

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Free Speech

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A Thousand Against One

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The Wings

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Known For....

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Article No.

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Freedom

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Stiched by Lashes

No Shame

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Mental Illness

Explosion

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Reality

C for Comedy

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Congrats !

Balance of Justice

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Liberty in Saudia

Art & Culture

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Awards & Support

Deep Fried Human Rights

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Generation Gap

Extra Curricular

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Help !

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Anti Clock Wise

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A Silent Prayer

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Free Raif Badawi A set of four cartoons demanding freedom for Raif Badawi

By Mark Dolk

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#FreeAtena

BY MARK DOLK

Atena Farghadani is an Iranian artist and political activist, who is currently imprisoned.

Amnesty International considers her a prisoner of conscience.

She was arrested for her cartoon, in which she criticized a draft law which would outlaw voluntary sterilisation restrict access to 50 measures of birth control, she portrayed Iranian government officials as monkeys and goats.

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10Â Cartoons

Against the arrest of folk singer Kovan in the charges of sedition in India Tamil folk singer Kovan has been arrested by the Chennai police in charges of 'sedition' for just making a song in which he criticized the Tamil Nadu government for the alcoholism in the state.

The songs offending the authorities criticize the state government’s alleged callousness in running TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) bars when the people were floundering in alcoholism and homes were being wrecked due to the habit.

50cartoons are uploaded as a These 10 symbolic protest against this unlawful arrest of an artist for just voicing his views against the government and the CM. Page 38

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White Guilt

BY ZANE KAUFMANN

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HOMOSEXUALITY

BY AARUSHI ARORA

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Cartoonist in Danger Cartoonist Hadi Heidari jailed in Iran Iranian political cartoonist Hadi Heidari was taken into custody by government agents at his newspaper, Shahrvand, on November 16.

The arrest was made shortly after Heidari posted a cartoon of solidarity with Paris following terrorist attacks there. The arresting agents were reportedly members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp.

More Information@ http://cartoonistsrights.org/yVsY2 Page 46

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Black & White

'Black & White' is an online cartoon magazine with a purpose to campaign for the issues related to free speech, justice, equality and other human rights.

You are always welcome to: a. Suggest an issue for the cartoons b. Send us your cartoons c. Help us spreading the online magazine Plz Feel free writing to us at: mail.bandw@gmail.com

Contributors of this Issue

Aseem Trivedi Mark Dolk Zane Kaufmann Aarushi Arora

cartoonistaseem@gmail.com markdolk@gmail.com zanekaufmann@gmail.com aaarushi6@gmail.com

www.bandw.in Page 47

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