Political cartoonists meet at U.N. to discuss fine line between free expression and respecting religious beliefs
The Associated Press
Published: October 16, 2006
UNITED NATIONS Political cartoonists met at the United Nations to discuss their responsibilities and the pressures they face which were highlighted by the Muslim outrage over a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.
More than 15 cartoonists from Denmark, the Middle East, U.S., Africa and other countries, drew a fine line between freedom of expression and respecting religious beliefs during a daylong program Monday on their changing profession entitled "Cartooning for Peace: The responsibility of political cartoonists?"
Some of the cartoonists will continue the debate at programs in Geneva and Brussels.
Cartoons "can encourage us to look critically at ourselves, and increase our empathy for the sufferings and frustration of others," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in opening remarks to the U.N. seminar. "But they can also do the opposite. They have, in short, a big responsibility."
During the seminar, the cartoonists exhibited their work and discussed the power of the medium that incorporates humor, irony and politics — and can sometimes result in a volatile mix.
Many of the cartoonists said their work must not be created primarily to incite tensions that could result in violence, while others acknowledged they cannot always determine when they will cross the line.
But they all agreed they must pay attention to the present political climate of the world.
"We have a job to be more sensitive," said Jean Plantu, a leading political cartoonist for the French newspaper Le Monde and the main organizer of the event.
"It is a new challenge for us," he told reporters at a press conference during a break in the day-long session.
Drawings depicting the Prophet Muhammad were first published in September 2005 in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten and reprinted four months later in a range of Western media, triggering massive protests across the Islamic world from Morocco to Indonesia.
Carsten Graabaek said during the program that he accepted "with some trepidation" the invitation to speak as one of the 40 Danish cartoonists originally contacted by the newspaper to depict the Prophet Muhammad.
Unlike 12 others who did, he said he declined to render a drawing for the paper because he "hadn't any squabble" with the prophet.
"I think cartooning is about what goes on Earth and freedom of speech is a worldly affair, a secular affair, whereas the prophet and respect for the prophet and the ban on drawing or painting his likeness is a spiritual matter," Graabaek said.
He said the two should remain separate.
"Instead of having these endless discussions that are still going on, I think we should scrap the whole argument, because it leads nowhere," Graabaek said, adding that cartoonists should be politically correct, despite the stigma the term carries.
While Plantu called for more sensitivity by cartoonists, he was joined by others who disagreed with codifying what subjects should be avoided.
"It's not our job to say what should be drawn and what should not be drawn," he said.
Mike Luckovich, a U.S. editorial cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a Pulitzer Prize winner, also said cartoonists should not have to follow political correctness, but should question their own motivations.
"I don't think you should incite people, just to incite them," he said. "And I think that's what the Danish cartoonists, or editors, did."
Annan said he hoped "we can avoid getting into a kind of 'cartoon war,' in which one group seeks to retaliate for the offense it has suffered, or believes it has suffered, by publishing whatever it thinks will be most offensive to another group."
An exhibition of more than 200 cartoons about the Holocaust opened in August in Tehran as Iran's response to the Danish cartoons.
During a visit to Iran, Annan raised concerns with officials over the exhibition.
Speaking about the reaction to the Danish cartoons, African cartoonist Godfrey Amon Mwampembwa said, "It's well documented that many Muslim papers have lampooned the Holocaust, but I guess you've never seen a reaction like that before."
Mwampembwa, the editorial cartoonist for the Kenya-based Nation Media Group, said he did not think "any cartoon merits the burning of the flag or the killing of somebody."
UNITED NATIONS Political cartoonists met at the United Nations to discuss their responsibilities and the pressures they face which were highlighted by the Muslim outrage over a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.
More than 15 cartoonists from Denmark, the Middle East, U.S., Africa and other countries, drew a fine line between freedom of expression and respecting religious beliefs during a daylong program Monday on their changing profession entitled "Cartooning for Peace: The responsibility of political cartoonists?"
Some of the cartoonists will continue the debate at programs in Geneva and Brussels.
Cartoons "can encourage us to look critically at ourselves, and increase our empathy for the sufferings and frustration of others," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in opening remarks to the U.N. seminar. "But they can also do the opposite. They have, in short, a big responsibility."
During the seminar, the cartoonists exhibited their work and discussed the power of the medium that incorporates humor, irony and politics — and can sometimes result in a volatile mix.
Many of the cartoonists said their work must not be created primarily to incite tensions that could result in violence, while others acknowledged they cannot always determine when they will cross the line.
But they all agreed they must pay attention to the present political climate of the world.
"We have a job to be more sensitive," said Jean Plantu, a leading political cartoonist for the French newspaper Le Monde and the main organizer of the event.
"It is a new challenge for us," he told reporters at a press conference during a break in the day-long session.
Drawings depicting the Prophet Muhammad were first published in September 2005 in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten and reprinted four months later in a range of Western media, triggering massive protests across the Islamic world from Morocco to Indonesia.
Carsten Graabaek said during the program that he accepted "with some trepidation" the invitation to speak as one of the 40 Danish cartoonists originally contacted by the newspaper to depict the Prophet Muhammad.
Unlike 12 others who did, he said he declined to render a drawing for the paper because he "hadn't any squabble" with the prophet.
"I think cartooning is about what goes on Earth and freedom of speech is a worldly affair, a secular affair, whereas the prophet and respect for the prophet and the ban on drawing or painting his likeness is a spiritual matter," Graabaek said.
He said the two should remain separate.
"Instead of having these endless discussions that are still going on, I think we should scrap the whole argument, because it leads nowhere," Graabaek said, adding that cartoonists should be politically correct, despite the stigma the term carries.
While Plantu called for more sensitivity by cartoonists, he was joined by others who disagreed with codifying what subjects should be avoided.
"It's not our job to say what should be drawn and what should not be drawn," he said.
Mike Luckovich, a U.S. editorial cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a Pulitzer Prize winner, also said cartoonists should not have to follow political correctness, but should question their own motivations.
"I don't think you should incite people, just to incite them," he said. "And I think that's what the Danish cartoonists, or editors, did."
Annan said he hoped "we can avoid getting into a kind of 'cartoon war,' in which one group seeks to retaliate for the offense it has suffered, or believes it has suffered, by publishing whatever it thinks will be most offensive to another group."
An exhibition of more than 200 cartoons about the Holocaust opened in August in Tehran as Iran's response to the Danish cartoons.
During a visit to Iran, Annan raised concerns with officials over the exhibition.
Speaking about the reaction to the Danish cartoons, African cartoonist Godfrey Amon Mwampembwa said, "It's well documented that many Muslim papers have lampooned the Holocaust, but I guess you've never seen a reaction like that before."
Mwampembwa, the editorial cartoonist for the Kenya-based Nation Media Group, said he did not think "any cartoon merits the burning of the flag or the killing of somebody."
UNITED NATIONS Political cartoonists met at the United Nations to discuss their responsibilities and the pressures they face which were highlighted by the Muslim outrage over a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.
More than 15 cartoonists from Denmark, the Middle East, U.S., Africa and other countries, drew a fine line between freedom of expression and respecting religious beliefs during a daylong program Monday on their changing profession entitled "Cartooning for Peace: The responsibility of political cartoonists?"
Some of the cartoonists will continue the debate at programs in Geneva and Brussels.
Cartoons "can encourage us to look critically at ourselves, and increase our empathy for the sufferings and frustration of others," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in opening remarks to the U.N. seminar. "But they can also do the opposite. They have, in short, a big responsibility."
During the seminar, the cartoonists exhibited their work and discussed the power of the medium that incorporates humor, irony and politics — and can sometimes result in a volatile mix.
Many of the cartoonists said their work must not be created primarily to incite tensions that could result in violence, while others acknowledged they cannot always determine when they will cross the line.
But they all agreed they must pay attention to the present political climate of the world.
"We have a job to be more sensitive," said Jean Plantu, a leading political cartoonist for the French newspaper Le Monde and the main organizer of the event.
"It is a new challenge for us," he told reporters at a press conference during a break in the day-long session.
Drawings depicting the Prophet Muhammad were first published in September 2005 in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten and reprinted four months later in a range of Western media, triggering massive protests across the Islamic world from Morocco to Indonesia.
Carsten Graabaek said during the program that he accepted "with some trepidation" the invitation to speak as one of the 40 Danish cartoonists originally contacted by the newspaper to depict the Prophet Muhammad.
Unlike 12 others who did, he said he declined to render a drawing for the paper because he "hadn't any squabble" with the prophet.
"I think cartooning is about what goes on Earth and freedom of speech is a worldly affair, a secular affair, whereas the prophet and respect for the prophet and the ban on drawing or painting his likeness is a spiritual matter," Graabaek said.
He said the two should remain separate.
"Instead of having these endless discussions that are still going on, I think we should scrap the whole argument, because it leads nowhere," Graabaek said, adding that cartoonists should be politically correct, despite the stigma the term carries.
While Plantu called for more sensitivity by cartoonists, he was joined by others who disagreed with codifying what subjects should be avoided.
"It's not our job to say what should be drawn and what should not be drawn," he said.
Mike Luckovich, a U.S. editorial cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a Pulitzer Prize winner, also said cartoonists should not have to follow political correctness, but should question their own motivations.
"I don't think you should incite people, just to incite them," he said. "And I think that's what the Danish cartoonists, or editors, did."
Annan said he hoped "we can avoid getting into a kind of 'cartoon war,' in which one group seeks to retaliate for the offense it has suffered, or believes it has suffered, by publishing whatever it thinks will be most offensive to another group."
An exhibition of more than 200 cartoons about the Holocaust opened in August in Tehran as Iran's response to the Danish cartoons.
During a visit to Iran, Annan raised concerns with officials over the exhibition.
Speaking about the reaction to the Danish cartoons, African cartoonist Godfrey Amon Mwampembwa said, "It's well documented that many Muslim papers have lampooned the Holocaust, but I guess you've never seen a reaction like that before."
Mwampembwa, the editorial cartoonist for the Kenya-based Nation Media Group, said he did not think "any cartoon merits the burning of the flag or the killing of somebody."
UNITED NATIONS Political cartoonists met at the United Nations to discuss their responsibilities and the pressures they face which were highlighted by the Muslim outrage over a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.
More than 15 cartoonists from Denmark, the Middle East, U.S., Africa and other countries, drew a fine line between freedom of expression and respecting religious beliefs during a daylong program Monday on their changing profession entitled "Cartooning for Peace: The responsibility of political cartoonists?"
Some of the cartoonists will continue the debate at programs in Geneva and Brussels.
Cartoons "can encourage us to look critically at ourselves, and increase our empathy for the sufferings and frustration of others," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in opening remarks to the U.N. seminar. "But they can also do the opposite. They have, in short, a big responsibility."
During the seminar, the cartoonists exhibited their work and discussed the power of the medium that incorporates humor, irony and politics — and can sometimes result in a volatile mix.
Many of the cartoonists said their work must not be created primarily to incite tensions that could result in violence, while others acknowledged they cannot always determine when they will cross the line.
But they all agreed they must pay attention to the present political climate of the world.
"We have a job to be more sensitive," said Jean Plantu, a leading political cartoonist for the French newspaper Le Monde and the main organizer of the event.
"It is a new challenge for us," he told reporters at a press conference during a break in the day-long session.
Drawings depicting the Prophet Muhammad were first published in September 2005 in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten and reprinted four months later in a range of Western media, triggering massive protests across the Islamic world from Morocco to Indonesia.
Carsten Graabaek said during the program that he accepted "with some trepidation" the invitation to speak as one of the 40 Danish cartoonists originally contacted by the newspaper to depict the Prophet Muhammad.
Unlike 12 others who did, he said he declined to render a drawing for the paper because he "hadn't any squabble" with the prophet.
"I think cartooning is about what goes on Earth and freedom of speech is a worldly affair, a secular affair, whereasSpeaking about the reaction to the Danish cartoons, African cartoonist Godfrey Amon Mwampembwa said, "It's well documented that many Muslim papers have lampooned the Holocaust, but I guess you've never seen a reaction like that before."
Mwampembwa, the editorial cartoonist for the Kenya-based Nation Media Group, said he did not think "any cartoon merits the burning of the flag or the killing of somebody."
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