Latest news with #politicalcartoon
The Guardian
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Controversy is always good fodder': Uganda's cartoonists turn their pens on president's provocative son
A bulky man wearing a baggy green army uniform urinates on the ground. Another man, wearing sandals, stands in the puddle, looks down and says: 'I've never seen such beautiful susu (urine).' In the scatological cartoon, which appeared on Facebook, the sycophantic man with wet feet is supposed to be Balaam Ateenyi, a Ugandan government minister. The man relieving himself is Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, head of the military, provocative social media poster and the presumptive heir to his father, President Yoweri Museveni. 'Ateenyi has a habit of praising everything Kainerugaba does, even when he tweets all that nonsense,' said the cartoon's creator, Jimmy Spire Ssentongo. 'So I drew a cartoon depicting the infantile nature of his praise.' In a country where freedom of expression is often curtailed, Spire is among a number of political cartoonists who have used satire to critique the authoritarian Museveni administration. Increasingly their target is Kainerugaba. 'He has dominated news and events … both locally and regionally,' said the cartoonist Chrisogon Atukwasize, who signs his work as Ogon. 'He's controversial and that's always good fodder for cartooning.' In one cartoon, Ogon depicts Kainerugaba as a child graffitiing a wall with messages in support of his father, who is standing nearby. 'He's always been like this?!?' queries a white man portraying William Popp, the US ambassador to Uganda, asks Museveni. 'Certainly,' he responds. 'He loves me so much, he's my avenger.' The cartoon appeared shortly after Kainerugaba, whose first name means 'avenger' in the Runyankore language, had threatened to expel Popp from Uganda. Kainerugaba is Museveni's eldest child and a graduate of Sandhurst, the British army's officer training centre. Observers have long suspected that Museveni, who has ruled the country for nearly four decades, is grooming him as his successor. Though the president has denied it, Kainerugaba has not shied away from displaying his own political ambitions, including by holding rallies even though Ugandan law prevents military officers from taking part in politics. The 51-year-old has also raised eyebrows with inflammatory social media takes on myriad topics, including politics, society, security and foreign policy. Kainerugaba's X page reads like an intimidation manual. This year alone, he has threatened to castrate the opposition activist Eddie Mutwe, behead the politician Bobi Wine, and attack a town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2022, it appeared that he had gone too far with a threat to invade Kenya, which prompted his father to sack him from his role as commander of Uganda's land forces. Fifteen months later he was back, in the elevated position of head of the military. Isaac Tibasiima, a lecturer in the department of literature at Makerere University, said Uganda's political cartoonists were playing a nuanced societal role. 'The cartoonist becomes a social commentator to help us understand that this is actually something that we can laugh at, but in laughing at it we are both laughing at ourselves and at the systems that are being critiqued,' he said. Ogon mainly draws images on democracy, governance and human rights at the Daily Monitor, where he's an editorial cartoonist. But Kainerugaba's theatrics have provided material for plenty of his work in recent years. 'When you factor in his ambition and outrageousness, the things he does online, it is easy to see why he's the most dominant topic in our work,' he said. 'There was Museveni and [opposition politician Kizza] Besigye until like 2018, then Bobi Wine came in,' Ogon added. 'But now the new kid on the block post-Covid is the president's son.' Spire's cartoons often cover themes of repression and corruption. Kainerugaba has increasingly become a regular feature of his work, Spire said, observing that he seemed to be 'filling' much of the space that the 80-year-old Museveni was 'ceding' as he grew older. Spire, who used to work at the Observer, a Ugandan weekly publication, but now primarily posts his work on Facebook, said he drew more cartoons of Kainerugaba not only because of his 'interest in power' but also because his social media posts were 'mostly incredible'. He also highlighted the general's actions because he found them concerning. 'It is really scary that a person of this calibre is getting more and more power,' he said. 'What is he likely to do when he … is totally in charge?' Spire and Ogon's work adds to a body of cartooning that goes back as far as the 1960s, when Uganda became independent. Many who tackled political subjects self-censored under the repressive regimes of Milton Obote and Idi Amin. However, political cartoonists started becoming bolder when Museveni came to power. Initially, his administration regularly harassed cartoonists who were critical of government officials but the authorities shifted their focus to TV, radio and newspapers. That's made it possible for cartoonists to provide comparatively more daring and stinging political commentary. Spire and Ogon hope their cartoons can create a valuable space for political discourse. 'Many Ugandans fear talking about certain people,' said Spire. 'But when they see them drawn in a cartoon, somehow it brings them down a level.'
CTV News
22-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Local political cartoonist on his unique career
Ottawa Watch What goes into making and selecting a political cartoon? And what is the role of the political cartoonist in today's fast-paced 24-hour news cycle?
Telegraph
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Zarah Sultana accuses Observer cartoon of ‘brownfacing'
Zarah Sultana has accused a cartoonist for The Observer of 'brownfacing'. The independent MP, who resigned from Labour earlier this month, attacked cartoonist Saffron Swire over her depiction of Ms Sultana on the front of a raisin box. She accused the artist, who is the daughter of Sir Hugo Swire, the former Tory MP, of nepotism and being a 'Right-wing hack'. For The Observer's cartoon of the week, Ms Swire produced a mock invite to Jeremy Corbyn's party, complete with the former Labour leader dressed in a bright red Soviet 70s jumpsuit. 'Let's paint the town red!' a speech bubble reads, while the RSVP address lists the House of Commons. Ms Sultana, who had the Labour whip suspended in July 2024 after voting to scrap the two child benefit cap, resigned from Labour this month to form a breakaway hard-Left political party. She announced that Mr Corbyn would co-lead the new party, which still has no name, though reports suggested the move had caught the Islington North MP off guard. Ms Swire's cartoon invitation also promises goodie bags 'for the many (not the few)', emblazoned with a hammer and sickle. The bags are shown to contain a box of 'Zarah Sultanas', modelled in the style of a Sun-Maid red raisin box, and a copy of Karl Marx's Das Kapital. Responding to the cartoon published on X, the MP for Coventry South wrote: 'Brownfacing a box of raisins and mocking my surname. Brownfacing a box of raisins and mocking my surname. Exactly what you'd expect from a right-wing hack who is the daughter of an aristocrat and ex-Tory MP. — Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) July 20, 2025 'Exactly what you'd expect from a Right-wing hack who is the daughter of an aristocrat and ex-Tory MP.' Sir Hugo, the former Minister for Northern Ireland Office under David Cameron, was appointed as a life peer in 2022, becoming Baron Swire of Down St Mary in County Devon. The former MP served as representative for East Devon from 2001 to 2019. His daughter, Saffron, has written or produced cartoons for Prospect, Tortoise, The Economist, Art UK and the New European, as well as The Spectator. Sun-Maid, founded in California in 1912, has become the world's most recognisable raisin brand. The woman wearing a red bonnet holding a pallet of grapes was based on a painting of model Lorraine Collett by artist Fanny Scafford. Ms Sultana was born in Birmingham to a family which had migrated from Kashmir. She set up her hitherto unnamed Left-wing party on July 3, vowing to lead a cohort of independent MPs and activists against Sir Keir Starmer's benefit cuts and against what she described as 'genocide' in Gaza. Leading Corbynites rule themselves out Leading Corbynites John McDonnell and Diane Abbott were swift to rule themselves out, while the former Labour leader took his time to offer lukewarm praise for Ms Sultana's bravery in breaking away but neglected to directly confirm his co-leadership. Last week, Ms Abbott was suspended again from the Labour party after she doubled down on her claim that Jews experience racism differently to black people. The hard-Left MP had been suspended in March 2023 for claiming that 'white people with points of difference' such as Jewish people, Travellers or Irish people are not 'all their lives subject to racism'. Last week, Ms Abbott said, in an interview with the BBC, that it was 'silly' to liken racism based on skin colour to racism faced by Jewish and Traveller communities. Responding to Ms Abbott's suspension, Ms Sultana said: 'I stand with Diane Abbott'. The Guardian, which sold The Observer to Tortoise in December 2024, was previously accused of racism for its cartoonist Martin Rowson's depiction of outgoing BBC boss Richard Sharp. The Left-wing newspaper was forced to apologise and remove the cartoonist's impression after it was widely condemned as antisemitic.
Fox News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
NY paper's 'vile' political cartoon draws outrage for appearing to mock Trump-voting Texas flood victims
A political cartoonist for Buffalo News spurred outrage for appearing to mock victims of the devastating flash floods in Texas on Monday with a cartoon depicting a drowning Trump supporter. "Historic flash floods have struck Southern Texas, with at least 82 deaths and dozens more missing," a caption for the cartoon read. The image showed a man wearing a red MAGA hat being submerged under floodwaters in Kerr County, Texas, while holding a "HELP" sign. There is also a speech bubble of the man saying, "Gov't is the problem not the solution." Text at the top of the cartoon read, "Swept Away..." Buffalo News' editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis seemed to clarify that this text was in reference to Trump supporters' arguments for smaller government being "swept away" after the flood in an Instagram post. "Tomorrow's lines… that argument's gone in a flash," Zyglis wrote when posting his cartoon on Monday. He also included tags for "noaa," "national weather service," "doge," "cuts" and "maga." Several liberal media figures and Democratic Party members have come under fire for similarly politicizing the flash floods and blaming President Donald Trump and DOGE for causing the tragedy, despite reports that the National Weather Service office in the area had extra staff on duty at the time of the flooding. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson attacked liberals for their comments on Monday and pointed out that their accusations have been repeatedly debunked by experts. "It's shameful and disgusting that in the wake of tragedy, the left's first instinct is to lie and politicize a disaster to target their political opponents," she told Fox News Digital. "False claims about the NWS have been repeatedly debunked by meteorologists, experts, and other public reporting. The NWS did their job, even issuing a flood watch more than 12 hours in advance. The Trump Administration is grateful to the first responders who sprang into action to save hundreds lives during this catastrophe, and will continue to help the great state of Texas in their recovery efforts." The cartoon faced backlash on social media. Erie County Republican Committee Chairman Michael Kracker wrote, "@TheBuffaloNews ran a cartoon mocking Texas families who lost loved ones in a tragedy, just because they might've voted Republican. Twisted, vile, and shameful. They owe those families an apology and should pull this filth immediately." "DISGRACE: @TheBuffaloNews runs a VILE cartoon by artist Adam Zyglis, appearing to mock Texas families affected by the floods because they voted for Trump," Libs of TikTok wrote. Author Oli London reported, "Cartoonist working for The Buffalo News sparks outrage for his cartoon depicting drowning Texas flood victim wearing a MAGA hat. Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Adam Zygis drew the cartoon for the New York news outlets website with the words 'Swept Away…'" Fox News Digital reached out to Zyglis and Buffalo News for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From India to Britain and back: The cartoonist who fought censors with a smile
"It's unfair to lift censorship suddenly," growls a grizzled newspaper editor into the phone, a copy of The Daily Pulp sprawled across his desk. "We should be given time to prepare our minds." The cartoon capturing this moment - piercing and satirical - is the work of Abu Abraham, one of India's finest political cartoonists. His pen skewered power with elegance and edge, especially during the 1975 Emergency, a 21-month stretch of suspended civil liberties and muzzled media under Indira Gandhi's rule. The press was silenced overnight on 25 June. Delhi's newspaper presses lost power, and by morning censorship was law. The government demanded the press bend to its will - and, as opposition leader LK Advani later famously remarked, many "chose to crawl". Another famous cartoon - he signed them Abu, after his pen name - from that time shows a man asking another: "What do you think of editors who are more loyal than the censor?" In many ways, half a century later, Abu's cartoons still ring true. India currently ranks 151st in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled annually by Reporters Without Borders. This reflects growing concerns about media independence under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Critics allege increasing pressure and attacks on journalists, acquiescent media and a shrinking space for dissenting voices. The government dismisses these claims, insisting that the media remain free and vibrant. After nearly 15 years drawing cartoons in London for The Observer and The Guardian, Abu had returned to India in the late 1960s. He joined the Indian Express newspaper as a political cartoonist at a time when the country was grappling with intense political upheaval. He later wrote that pre-censorship - which required newspapers and magazines to submit their news reports, editorials and even ads to government censors before publication - began two days after the Emergency was declared, was lifted after a few weeks, then reimposed a year later for a shorter period. "For the rest of the time I had no official interference. I have not bothered to investigate why I was allowed to carry on freely. And I am not interested in finding out." Indira Gandhi's Emergency: When India's democracy was put on pause Many of Abu's Emergency-era cartoons are iconic. One shows then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signing the proclamation from his bathtub, capturing the haste and casualness with which it was issued (Ahmed signed the Emergency declaration that Gandhi had issued shortly before midnight on 25 June). Among Abu's striking works are several cartoons boldly stamped with "Not passed by censors", a stark mark of official suppression. In one, a man holds a placard that reads "Smile!" - a sly jab at the government's forced-positivity campaigns during the Emergency. His companion deadpans, "Don't you think we have a lovely censor of humour?" - a line that cuts to the heart of state-enforced cheer. Another seemingly innocuous cartoon shows a man at his desk sighing, "My train of thought has derailed." Another features a protester carrying a sign that reads "SaveD democracy" - the "D" awkwardly added on top, as if democracy itself were an afterthought. Abu also took aim at Sanjay Gandhi, the unelected son of Indira Gandhi, who many believed ran a shadow government during the Emergency, wielding unchecked power behind the scenes. Sanjay's influence was both controversial and feared. He died in a plane crash in 1980 - four years before his mother, Indira, was assassinated by her bodyguards. Abu's work was intensely political. "I have come to the conclusion that there's nothing non-political in the world. Politics is simply anything that is controversial and everything in the world is controversial," he wrote in Seminar magazine in 1976. He also bemoaned the state of humour - strained and manufactured - when the press was gagged. "If cheap humour could be manufactured in a factory, the public would rush to queue up in our ration shops all day. As our newspapers become progressively duller, the reader, drowning in boredom, clutches at every joke. AIR [India's state-run radio station] news bulletins nowadays sound like a company chairman's annual address. Profits are carefully and elaborately enumerated, losses are either omitted or played down. Shareholders are reassured," Abu wrote. In a tongue-in-cheek column for the Sunday Standard in 1977, Abu poked fun at the culture of political flattery with a fictional account of a meeting of the "All India Sycophantic Society". The spoof featured the society's imaginary president declaring: "True sycophancy is non-political." The satirical monologue continued with mock proclamations: "Sycophancy has a long and historic tradition in our country… 'Servility before self' is our motto." Abu's parody culminated in the society's guiding vision: "Touching all available feet and promoting a broad-based programme of flattery." Born as Attupurathu Mathew Abraham in the southern state of Kerala in 1924, Abu began his career as a reporter at the nationalist Bombay Chronicle, driven less by ideology than a fascination with the power of the printed word. His reporting years coincided with India's dramatic journey to independence, witnessing firsthand the euphoria that gripped Bombay (now Mumbai). Reflecting on the press, he later noted, "The press has pretensions of being a crusader but is more often a preserver of the status quo." After two years with Shankar's Weekly, a well-known satire magazine, Abu set his sights on Europe. A chance encounter with British cartoonist Fred Joss in 1953 propelled him to London, where he quickly made a mark. His debut cartoon was accepted by Punch within a week of arrival, earning praise from editor Malcolm Muggeridge as "charming". Freelancing for two years in London's competitive scene, Abu's political cartoons began appearing in Tribune and soon attracted the attention of The Observer's editor David Astor. Astor offered him a staff position with the paper. "You are not cruel like other cartoonists, and your work is the kind I was looking for," he told Abu. In 1956, at Astor's suggestion, Abraham adopted the pen name "Abu", writing later: "He explained that any Abraham in Europe would be taken as a Jew and my cartoons would take on slant for no reason, and I wasn't even Jewish." Astor also assured him of creative freedom: "You will never be asked to draw a political cartoon expressing ideas which you do not yourself personally sympathise." Abu worked at The Observer for 10 years, followed by three years at The Guardian, before returning to India in the late 1960s. He later wrote he was "bored" of British politics. Beyond cartooning, Abu served as a nominated member of India's upper house of Parliament from 1972 to 1978. In 1981, he launched Salt and Pepper, a comic strip that ran for nearly two decades, blending gentle satire with everyday observations. He returned to Kerala in 1988 and continued to draw and write until his death in 2002. But Abu's legacy was never just about the punchline - it was about the deeper truths his humour revealed. As he once remarked, "If anyone has noticed a decline in laughter, the reason may not be the fear of laughing at authority but the feeling that reality and fancy, tragedy and comedy have all, somehow got mixed up." That blurring of absurdity and truth often gave his work its edge. "The prize for the joke of the year," he wrote during the Emergency, "should go to the Indian news agency reporter in London who approvingly quoted a British newspaper comment on India under the Emergency, that 'trains are running on time' - not realising this used to be the standard English joke about Mussolini's Italy. When we have such innocents abroad, we don't really need humorists." Abu's cartoons and photograph, courtesy Ayisha and Janaki Abraham
