WittyWorld News

Launched in 1992, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is coordinated by a committee of 13 organizations, including the Kenya Coalition Against Landmines (KCAL). It brings together over 1,400 human rights, humanitarian mine action, development, religious, environmental and women’s groups in over 90 countries who work locally, nationally, regionally and internationally to ban antipersonnel mines. In 1992 the organization successfully lobbied for the signing of a Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) and in recognition of its work was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The MBT obligates its participants to:

The First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty is to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from November 29th to December 3rd 2004. In attendance will be the UN Secretary General Kofi Anan and several heads of state. The conference will take stock of the progress made in implementation of the MBT over the past five years and rededicate the international community to the goal of full and universal implementation of the MBT by the year 2009.

In order to raise and sustain public awareness on this important issue, KCAL and the Association of East African Cartoonists are organizing an international cartoon exhibition with the theme "Rubbing Out the Mines." The exhibition is open to all professional and amateur cartoonists and the deadline for receiving works is November 20, 2004. All entries should be sent via email to katuniexhibition@yahoo.com and should be in ,jpg format with a resolution of 300dpi. Selected works will be exhibited during the conference and included in a booklet on the danger of landmines to be distributed throughout East and Central Africa.
For more information on issues regarding landmines please visit www.icbl.org.

Beijing, China — The 6th World Comics (Cartoon) Conference took place October 3-6 in Beijing, China. The event grew out of a series of previous comics conventions in Asia - this time, with the exception of editorial-political cartoons, expanding into covering practically all genres of cartoon art: comic books and comic strips, humorous illustration, gag cartoons, and animation.

Beside a sizable Chinese participation — among them Wong Chun Loong, Baohua Yan, Yang Lin, Lijun Sun, and Bangben Pang — delegates speaking at the conference included Ana von Rebeur (Argentina), Rolf Heimann (Australia), Ronald Libin (Belgium), Kianoosh Ramezani (Iran), Makino Keiichi (Japan), John Pek (Malaysia), Chong Ardivilla (Philippines), Jeffrey Seow (Singapore), Kwon Young and Lee Hyunse (South Korea), Zhen Nalan (Taiwan), Vladimir Kazanevsky (Ukraine), and Joe Szabo (United States).

The presentations covered a wide range of topics from the prospect and development of cartoons in a multi-media era (Wong and Baohua), core tech in animation and comics (Zhen), the importance of cartoons in education (von Rebeur), to the current state of cartooning (Szabo). A number of speakers talked about issues pertaining to their countries - among them, Ardivilla, Heimann, Ramezani, Yang, Yong, and Pek.

Also represented were Germany (Lex Drewinski), Kenya (Patrick Gathara), Romania (Julian Pena-Pai), Turkey (Sema Undeger), and Iran again by Massoud Sojai.

Superstar gag cartoonist Guillermo Mordillo of Argentina was the guest of honor. To date, a hundred thousand copies of his books were sold in China alone.

The events ended with a historic announcement by the organizers. The southern city of Guilin will be home to a brand new mega-cartoon center. The 300 million yen project (about 36 million U.S. dollars) is fully funded by the Chinese government. Part of the proposal was a plan for establishing a 'World Cartoonists Union,' which was vigorously contested by some of the foreign delegates, notably, Heimann, Ramezani and Szabo, for a lack of credible assurance for a fully internationally governed and democratic structure. Mordillo, citing a busy schedule, declined accepting the presidency for the proposed organization. However, the delegates felt that establishing a research, conference and exhibition center was a commendable idea and gave their signature in support.

WittyWorld staffers from left to right:
Patrick Gathara, Joe Szabo, Zhang Yaoning, Rolf Heimann, Chong Ardivilla,
Vladimir Kazanevsky, Kianoosh Ramezani, and Sema Ündeger

Beijing, October 5 — A WittyWorld staff meeting saw four first-time participants: Filipino Chong Ardivilla, Iranian Kianoosh Ramezani, Ukrainian Vladimir Kazanevsky and Kenyan Patrick Gathara. Kazanevsky has been with WittyWorld for a number of years, while the others represent a fresh, younger generation of correspondents.

Discussed were projects involving exhibitions, collecting cartoons on the topic of land-mines and the image of the United States, as well as issues and possible remedies concerning the profession. A decision was made for WittyWorld to take a more active role in helping, benefiting the cartooning community worldwide. Joe Szabo announced that major improvements for the Web site are under way, among them the creation of a new database for WittyWorld's "Who's who in cartooning." A plan was sketched out for the next editorial meeting and the organization of Africa's largest and most diverse cartoon festival and conference yet, coming up in September 2005.

Former president appears in comics
Comic Artist, Matti Hagelberg, is working on the biography (about 200 pages) of the former Finnish president Urho Kekkonen, of which parts have already been published in English in BLAB. He has been widely published in various anthologies all over Europe. He uses a rare technique in comics, scraper board, which makes 200 pages a gargantuan task.

A detail from a page of the Kekkonen biography by Matti Hagelberg

Comics presented as diary
Katja Tukiainen is a popular female artist, who works also as a painter and a comics teacher. Her book Postia Intiasta (Mail from India) (2002) is written as a diary. It is a wonderful travelogue, disarmingly free from any expatriate haughtiness. The book is in Finnish, but has English translations as an appendix. Katja Tukiainen was awarded in 2003 with the most prestigious comics award in Finland, Puupaahattu, by the Finnish Comics Society.

An image from the book "Postia Intiasta" by Katja Tukiainen.

Katja Tukiainen and Matti Hagelberg are both active in World Comics Finland and especially in the cooperation project with India.

Finland has reference book on comics
Art critic and writer Heikki Jokinen has published in 2004 the first comprehensive text book on comics for teachers and librarians. Its title is Sata Sarjakuvaa (one hundred comics), 224 pp. Publisher: Tammi. It is in the Finnish language, and it lists and comments 100 comics in alphabetical order, not in order of importance, which makes it even more interesting to read. The selection contains both Finnish and translated comics.
Heikki Jokinen writes comics reviews in Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest daily newspaper in Finland.

Comic book as campaign material
Election sucess: Oras Tynkkynen, 24-years old climate activist, contested a seat in the Finnish Parliament. He relied heavily on a 22 page comic book as campaign material. The book was drawn in manga-style and told a story about activists disrupting a WTO-meeting. For the global community, the story had a happy end. For Oras Tynkkynen too, he made it to Parliament as a runnerup and when Ms. Hassi was elected to the European parliament in June 2004, Oras Tynkkynen got her seat.

The cover of the election comic book story.

Finnish Comics Festival
will take place in Helsinki September 18-19. Several comics artists from abroad have been invited: Jeff Smith from USA, Lewis Trondheim from France, Javad from Iran, and Lise Myhre from Norway. Several new Finnish albums will be published at the time of the Festival, and there will be a number of exhibitions, among them an exhibition of Iranian comics and cartoons.
There will also be an event concentrating on children’s comics, and a prize will be given for the best comics in this genre.
Javad’s participation and the Iranian exhibition are sponsored by World Comics Finland. At the Festival, World Comics Finland will do fund-raising by its ever-popular Caricature Slot Machine (a box, with a double-sided mirror, designed by comics artist Katja Tukiainen. The caricaturist sits inside the box, but cannot be seen by the person s/he is drawing. The money for the caricature is put in a slot, and the drawing comes out from a hole. Many of Finland’s top comic artists have taken part in this, free of charge. The income has been used for project work in India (workshops for grassroots activists).
Picture: hedayat.jpg This caricature by Javad of the Iranian author Hedayat will be on show at the Helsinki Comics Festival in September.

Just as the "Political Challenges Facing Africa" exhibition along with a series of successful workshops organized by the Association of East African Cartoonists ended in Nairobi, their very precious freedom of expression suffered a setback when a minister exposed her insecurity and turned to seek legal remedy regarding her portrayal in the local media.

Water Resources Minister Martha Karua’s net of grievances against the media has extended to the realm of the creative.

In what could be a first for freedom of expression litigation in the country, Karua has sued over a caricature of her that appeared in the April 25 issue of Penknife, a satirical pull-out of the East African Standard.

Penknife, originally an independent satirical weekly, now appears as a supplement to the East African Standard. The creator and producer of Penknife is Communicating Artists Ltd., an aliance involving four of Kenya's elite cartoonists: Gado, Frank, Madd and Kham.

Karua contends that the humorous caricature depicted her as “unfair to the media, which is unfair and derogatory to me.”

“You show me as I confront the media, I am standing on live wire with 10,000 degrees centigrade hot (sic),” she complains.

“This caricature is not only derogatory and intended to injure my credit and reputation, but is also intended to trash my right to pursue legal redress. It is an aggravation of the various libelous matters I am pursuing you for in court, and constitutes fresh libel,” says the Gichugu MP.

The minister also took issue with the headline, ‘Boiling Hot,’ and claims that suggestions in the cartoon that she has teamed “up with my colleague the honourable Minister for Information to muzzle the press when the truth of the matter is that I am pursuing my rights in court” are “false and malicious.”

The minister has also threatened to sue the Sunday Standard over a separate comment entitled ‘Iron lady Martha’s tit for tat’, published in the same April 25 issue, which she said contained excerpts “which are false, malicious and defamatory”

She says: “You may also wish to know that I am also pursuing Benson Riungu’s “Back Peepers” and “Benson’s World” of the same Sunday Standard.”

She does not stop there. Another of her plethora of suits and threats relates to a comment by “Media Maverick” columnist Kodi Barth citing views posted on the Internet about her conflict with Kiss FM. The column had stated that most of the commentators on the Internet “took a swipe at her abrasive temperament and failure to cut out the figure of a role model.”

In her letter, Karua says “It is my considered view that these words are defamatory in that they purport to present the falsehoods broadcasts by Kiss FM as true, thus repeating the libel.” “Further, it portrays the public as having overwhelmingly condemned me which is not true and is calculated to further injure my credit, standing and reputation in society. The article further paints me unjustifiably and maliciously as lacking in decency and morality.”

The minister also took issue with an article on March 25, which posed a question: “What was Ms Martha Karua doing calling Kiss FM names?”

Ms Karua has filed an unprecedented number of suits against various media houses for allegedly defaming her since a carjacking incident involving her and Catholic priest, Fr. Dominic Wamugunda, which was exclusively broken by the Sunday Standard.

There was a lot of public speculation that the two were having an affair since noone could explain why the Minister had dispensed with her official car and security detail. This all came to a head when the Minister sued a local FM station (Kiss FM) for allegeddefamation. The case is still in court.

The Information Minister, Raphael Tuju, then set up a panel to investigate complaints against the station, but many of those invited to be members (including the MDs of both the Nation and E.A. Standard and the Sec-General of the Kenya Union of Journalists) declined. There was widespread condemnation of the minister's move and a court injunction was obtained by
Kiss FM stopping the panel from holding hearings. Hon. Tuju proceeded to ignore the court order (claiming that the panel was an "advisory" one and that the court had no power to stop him taking advice) while at the same time paradoxically asking the Attorney-General to appeal the ruling.

The KUJ has called on Hon. Karua to withdraw her suit against Kiss FM and, jointly with the Association of East African Cartoonists (KATUNI), plans to hold a press conference on her latest threats.

Only days after the opening of the well-known biennial it helped establish a decade ago and after 12 years of glorious existence, Kayhan Caricature, Iran's only cartoon magazine with an international flavor was forced to close. The publisher, Kayhan Institute, brought to an abrupt end a magazine that uniquely showcased the finest cartoonists and their works on a regular basis. Kayhan Caricature's small staff led by Hosein Niroumand and Massoud Shojai Tabatabai ambitiously nurtured the art of cartooning with expertise few others exhibited in the international arena. Their meticulous research and eye for finding sophistication and artistic skill produced a continuous series of outstanding issues. In response to the editor's request for an explanation, the institute's management simply cited financial constraints and asserted that publishing a cartoon magazine is not important under the circumstances. Hosein Niroumand countered that the magazine offered guidance to Iranian cartoonists who won many international prizes and by doing so have brought the country a lot of honor in the international fields of art and culture. He added that he wants Iran's cultural management to realize that although it spends a vast amount of money and time on the other arts, cartooning is constantly overlooked. Kayhan Caricature was the publication with which almost all professional Iranian cartoonists and caricaturists began working. Now they are left without any means of guidance, promotion, or contact with the international cartoon scene.

Above: A visit to the House of Cartoon.
Clockwise from the bottom left: Guest of Honour Joe Szabo (USA),
Kayhan Caricature Editor-in-Chief Massoud Shojai Tabatabai (Iran),
and international jury members Eray Özbek (Turkey),
Achille Superbi (Italy) and Dachuan Xia (China)
PHOTO: Gül.

The 6th International Cartoon Biennial kicked off in Tehran with works selected by a virtual who's who of the Iranian cartoon scene: Kambiz Derambakhsh, Afshin Sabouki, Bahram Azimi, Hussein Niroumand, Javad Alizadeh, Kiarash Zandi, Touka Neyestani, Jamal Rahmati and Massoud Shojai Tabatabai. After narrowing down a very respectable number of submissions (3,247), Dachuan Xia (China), Eray Özbek (Turkey) and Achille Superbi (Italy) joined in to select the winners. Festival Director Faez Alidoosti opened the ceremony in the presence of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister and his Art Advisor, a number of foreign ambassadors, artists and guests. Bahram Azimi's report followed then, after the award ceremony, special guest Joe Szabo spoke to a full house of audience. The awarded works (see list of winners on the right) as well as the exhibited materials showcased high quality ideas and craftsmanship in the fine tradition of this biennial event. The festival culminated in a terrific show and a series of lectures given, among others, by the Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister and WittyWorld founder Joe Szabo.

Longtime WittyWorld editor Rolf Heimann wins Australia's Cartoonist of the Year Award
Sydney, Australia, October 10, 2003 - Melbourne cartoonist Rolf Heimann was named Cartoonist of the Year at the 19th annual Stan Cross Awards on October 10, for cartooning excellence. The eternally humble Heimann, who also received the Wacom Digital Illustrator Stanley, said that he "did not deserve" the accolade, but was swiftly shouted down by his colleagues at the packed glittering affair on the NSW Central Coast, this year part of the SpikeFest Comedy Festival. Heimann snagged the award in a strong field which included former Cartoonists of the Year Eric Löbbecke from News Ltd, comic cartoonist James Kemsley - Ginger Meggs, Alan Moir from the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review's David Rowe and first-time nominee Vince O'Farrell from the Illawarra courtesy of P&O South Pacific.

They "looked at each other" in a funny way
Stockholm, Sweden, September 24, 2003 - The Polish Institute mounted an exhibition of 61 works by 27 artists, ten of them from Sweden. Three artists were rewarded for their cartoons in a competition on the theme "How we look at each other." The event was arranged by the Polish Institute and the Polish Congress on account of The Polish year in Sweden. The rewarded artists are Riber Hansson, Sweden (Grand Prix - see his work above), Maciej Mikolaj Michalski Poland, and Andrzej Ploski, Sweden.

Iranian adds a new dimension to contemporary humor
Tehran, Iran, September 2003 - "4D Humor" is the title of Javad Alizadeh's cartoon on the Theory of Relativity, E=mc2 formula, Einstein and the fourth dimension (time), which recently has won two medals for him, one from from China and one from Japan. Previously he has won four other prizes with the same theme in other parts of the world. Javad has been drawing cartoons about and involving Einstein for about 15 years. He even created a column titled: "4D Humor" in his Tehran based magazine Tanz-O-Caricature, that has been running for 13 years. It is unique in a sense that he invited his readers to join in with their own writings and drawings on the subject. Javad (Iranian editor for WittyWorld for well over a decade), keeps working in this odd direction - as he put it - adding a new dimension to contemporary humor.

Many U.S. papers drop Trudeau's "masturbation episode"
Philadelphia, USA, August 31, 2003 - The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that newspapers across the nation are taking different stances on a forthcoming Doonesbury comic strip that will address masturbation. The comic strip appears in 1,400 newspapers. Of the 34 that responded to a recent poll conducted by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 19 papers said they would not run the strip, opting instead for a substitute strip provided by the comic's syndicate. Twelve papers said they planned to run the masturbation strip. The Sept. 7 installment of the strip by artist Garry Trudeau attempts to find humor in recent scientific findings about prostate cancer. In it, the Rev. Scot Sloan says a study suggests regular masturbation prevents the disease. A few panels later, a late-arriving character notes that "self-dating prevents cancer."

Satire at its Bests
Nairobi, Kenya, August 31, 2003 - Kenyatoons.com in conjunction with the French Cultural Centre and Communicating Artists Limited held a cartoon exhibition called Satire at its Best which features works from the country’s leading cartoonists including Paul "Madd" Kelemba and James "Kham" Khamawira of the East African Standard, Frank Odoi and Godfrey "GADO" Mwampembwa of the Daily Nation and Patrick Gathara of www.kenyatoons.com. The exhibits included a cartoon history of the Constitution Review process in Kenya, caricatures by Gathara and a wide range of cartoons and cartoon strips from GADO, Madd, Kham and Frank Odoi. Also participating was French cartoonist Davor Stambuk.

Fascination Comics
Frankfurt, Germany, August 20, 2003 – The program for the "Fascination Comics" event at the 2003 Frankfurt Book Fair is now available online at www.buchmesse-frankfurt.de or www.comic.de.

Australia's Stanley Awards
Sydney, Australia, July 20, 2003 - Australia's Premier cartooning award, the yearly 'Stanley' prize, will this year be presented on the NSW coast north of Sydney, near the town of Woy Woy which, so it is sometimes said, was put on the map by comedian Spike Milligan, who spent some of his childhood there. His brother Pat is organizing a 'Spike-fest' to commemorate Spike Miligan who, apart from comedian, actor and writer, was also a cartoonist. The event will take place on the weekend of the 10th October 2003. James Kemsley is once again leading the organizing. Only Australian cartoonists are eligible for prizes in various categories, and these prizes are not given for a particular cartoon, but for the body of work over the previous year. There is an additional prize in the year 2003 for digital art, sponsored by Wacom. Because some of the best cartoonists who have won in the past, have withdrawn from the organization in fear that they could win again, a new part has been added to the 'voting book', for artists who do not want to compete. (It has been suggested that such a category should be considered by other, international events. Many cartoonists from First World countries do not enter international competitions because they could walk away with a cash prize that would mean a small fortune for cartoonists from a Third World country).

Spooner honored
Melbourne, Australia, March 10, 2003 - Melbourne caricaturist John Spooner has just been named the winner of the 2002 Graham Perkin Award for the Australian Journalist of the Year. The judging panel agreed that John Spooner was 'an incisive commentator of the highest caliber: thoughtful, acerbic, artistic, brilliant. And on every level Spooner is one of a kind...' Michael Gawenda, editor of the Melbourne morning paper, said: 'John Spooner is a genius - a truly remarkable illustrator with a unique range of skills. He is one of Australian journalism's great treasures...' (The accompanying Spooner-illustration satirises the Prime Minister's attitude towards asylum seekers - his lips stitched together by the word "welcome". This followed reports that asylum seekers had protested by sewing their lips together). Also launched in March: John Spooner's first illustarted children's book "A Kingdom for a Hat," published by Lothian, Melbourne, and authored by Rolf Heimann.

Preparing for the 6th World Comics Summit in China
Zhengzhou, China, March 1, 2003 - Members of an international planning committee gathered in the capital of Henan Province to discuss and prepare for the 6th World Comics Summit to be held there in October. The 22 member strong committee was made up of international cartoonists, association presidents, publishers, and government officials. They were: Ana von Rebeur (Argentina), Rolf Heimann (Australia), Ronald Libin (Belgium), Chang Yougong, You Qi, Wang Yong Sheng, Pang Bang Ben, Hu Changguo, Yang Shangjun, Xu Tao and Xia Dachuan (China), Yamada Keitaro, Sekiguchi Haruhisa, Chiba Hiroshi (Japan), Shin Moon Soo and Kwon Young Sup (South Korea), Wen Shaolun, He Caiting, We Hui (Hong Kong), Max Lai and Chen Zhihua (Taiwan), and Joe Szabo (USA - in white shirt). The representative of the African continent, Patrick Gathara of Kenya, was not able to attend. Beside laying out plans for the October events, the committee passed a declaration to protect intellectual rights. After the conference, Heimann, Rebeur, Szabo and Xia went on to participate in a symposium of "news cartoonists" in Beijing organized by China Daily, the country's official English language newspaper (see article).

For information about how to participate in the exhibition and/or the events of the upcoming 6th World Comics Summit in Zhengzhou, please send an e-mail to editor@wittyworld.com or call WittyWorld's Pennsylvania office at 215-699-6074.

Another great cartoonist is gone
Vienna, Austria,February 21, 2003 - After a long battle with cancer, Erich Sokol died on the 20th of February. From the late 50s his work has been a fixture in Playboy. Especially with his editorial cartoons and caricatures, he was also very prolific back in his home country in Austria.

Ali Dilem: A busy judiciary calendar
Algirs, Algeria, January 14, 2003 - Already condemned last December 31 for a drawing published in Liberté, cartoonist Ali Dilem is being put on trial for three more cartoons. This new attack of the military against him (the complaints are being brought forward by the Ministry of Defense) only confirms the strict application of a new amendment to the Penal code dating from May 2001 and then called the "Dilem amendment" as it clearly appeared that this text was made to fit the cartoonist. Article 144 of the Penal code calls for two to twelve months of prison and heavy fines for all attacks against the "President of the Republic" in terms containing insults or slander. These sanctions also apply to attacks against the Parliament and the army.

Translation: The telethon
"It seems that some generals will give away money."
"We don't call that gifts but restitution!"

Comic book program to ease ethnic tension in Indonesia
Indonesia, January 12, 2003 - Common Ground Indonesia, a member of the International Search For Common Ground network, is embarking on an ambitious comic book program in 2003. The plan is to publish a series of stories in which a multi-ethnic soccer team tackles various ethnic prejudices and learns how to identify and deal with conflicts. The program starts with a pilot project with 6 comic books published in three months. The comic books are created by the Rumah Warna (House of Colours) company in close cooperation with the Common Ground Indonesia staff. The procedure of making this comic book series was worked out during an October workshop led by Leif Packalén of World Comics and WittyWorld's editor in Finland. (Illustration: The Rumah Warna logo)

Cartoonist Attacked at Police Check Point
Cameroon, December 20, 2002 - Cameroonian cartoonist Paul Nyemb "Popoli" is no stranger to heavy handed "Goon Squad" threats because of his satirical and hard hitting editorial cartoons. In 2000, Popoli went into self imposed exile after he received repeated anonymous phone threats against his family. Upon his return the phone threats began anew. On the night of November 30, Popoli and another staff cartoonist with Le Messager were stopped at an impromptu police check point set up about 50 meters from the paper's offices. The police first told him that all he was doing in the country was insulting people. Popoli has gained a reputation of being particularly interested in focusing his pointed cartoons on the Head of State's wife. A Police Officer started beating Popoli about the head and shoulders, telling the other police officers that Popoli had said that, "(President) Paul Biya is nothing in this country." More officers joined in the beating that lasted for about 10 minutes while they continually told him to continue with his offending cartoons. Popoli was injured on the head, back and feet. His paper, Le Messager, plans to bring a criminal charge against the offending police officers as they are known persons and there were witnesses to the beating. In an email to Cartoonists Rights Network's headquarters in Burke, Virginia in the US, Popoli said, "It's enough! I'm only a cartoonist! I'm not dangerous. I don't understand why they are looking to destroy me. They want me to regret that I have returned to Cameroon. For more than 3 months now, the Head of State's spouse was the one threatening me by phone." Apparently the First Lady was in the habit of calling Popoli personally from time to time complaining about his cartoons of her.