RUSSIA
Outrage, threats, over the interpretation of a sacred symbol (1992)
In November 1992, Mikhail Zlatkovsky, who, in WittyWorld's
international survey was voted the best cartoonist in the world, drew a
cover for Cobecednik, a national Russian weekly targeting young adults.
The artwork, titled "Russian coat-of-arms," brought disaster to
Zlatkovsky. The cover even prompted a special investigation by the Russian
Parliament at the end of 1992. The cartoonist and his family received many
threats "from our Nazi" as Zlatkovsky put it in a letter to WittyWorld
editor Joe Szabo. The messages varied from "We will kill you!"
to "Go to your Israel!" (Zlatkovsky is not Jewish or at least
he doesn't know whether he is).
A couple of years earlier, during his visit to Moscow, Joe Szabo called
Zlatkovsky to set up a meeting with him. The cartoonist said that he wanted
to meet somewhere outside, possibly in a park, indicating that his home
may be bugged. The two met in a wide open area in pouring rain. There were
no other people around, except two men in leather coats and with an umbrella
walking up and down exactly in the same area where Zlatkovsky and Szabo
were talking. When they finished, suddenly the other men had to go, too.
At that point, Szabo understood the pain that Zlatkovsky had to endure.
The hunt and continuous harassment took its toll on the Russian intellect.
He said that he wouldn't have been surprised if all this happened to him
fifteen years earlier, but he couldn't take it anymore when he realized
that even democracy couldn't bring change in the Russian way of life. The
threats that came after the publication of the "Russian coat-of-arms,"
constituted the last drop for Zlatkovsky. He left his homeland for the United
States in 1993.
The "Russian coat-of-arms" by Misha Zlatkovsky
UPDATE
After spending nearly five years in the United States, Zlatkovsky
moved back to Moscow in 1998. He is currently President of the Russian Cartoon
Academy and Professor and Head of The Mass Media Design Department at Moscow
State University. |
