By Vincent DublangePosted on 04-05-2019Modified on 04-05-2019 at 23:13

Meeting in the Ethiopian capital, cartoonists call on UNESCO to recognize access to their art as a fundamental right. On World Press Freedom Day, they presented an exhibition of their drawings.

" If you have not been in prison, you are not a good caricaturist ! Zulkiflee Anwarul has a sense of shock-formula. It is also a hit with the audience gathered in one of the many conference rooms of the huge new building of the African Union (AU), offered by China to the pan-African organization in 2012. The draftsman Malaysian is a kind of expert on the subject. Although he did not taste the jails of his country, justice promised him for a moment 43 years imprisonment for his harsh criticism of the government of his country, including the theme of corruption. Faced with the drawing chosen for the Ethiopian exhibition, depicting a man seated and bound by a cloth in the colors of the Malaysian flag, Zunar - his artist name - explains: " In all countries of the world, the flag is normally a symbol patriotic, many governments use it to support the ruling party. Some see the flag as a symbol of independence, but this drawing seeks to show that it is the opposite. "

Free from all forms of censorship

The drawing of the press is indeed first of all a symbol, a fast, sometimes sharp way, of sketching a situation, a social, political, economic, environmental fact. An art, but also a form of journalism or at least commentary on the news, which does not necessarily bother with objectivity. " Even my pencil has a point of view, " exclaims Zunar, with his sense of the formula. For him, everything can be drawn. " I am a Muslim and a draftsman. It became very difficult to draw on Muslims, on Islam, especially after Charlie Hebdo . Islam is a religion, believers are Muslims and can be criticized, but not religion. This is my point of view, personal, but if someone wants to criticize Islam, it's his right, there is nothing wrong. The best way to answer it, if I had to answer, is by drawing. " We must " free " of any form of censorship when a caricaturist, abounds the Danish Lars Refn.

It takes a good dose of courage. The courage to resist social pressure, but also to confront the critics. " We tend to look to the political authorities, but sometimes the danger comes from nowhere, it can be in the population , says Lassane Zohoré, cartoonist and boss of Ivorian newspaper Gbich ! . "It happens that one of our drawings is picked up on social networks and violently criticized. Recently it happened, but as the editor I got involved in the conversation and the people who were violent at the beginning put some water in their wine because I used pedagogy to explain why did this drawing. Because, despite the universality of drawing as such, its understanding is sometimes more difficult than it seems and requires a form of education in the image, in both senses. An art in which the Ethiopians and their Qäné excel, this poetry at once " of gold and silk " according to the expression which translates this double level of reading of the text. " Your designs may look like this ," says Yemsrach Yetneberk, a 29-year-old Ethiopian designer. You look at them for the first time and you see something, then looking better, you see something else. So it's also a way of talking about taboo topics or that can cause you problems. And as it is in our culture to understand this double meaning, we can communicate with Ethiopian society. "

"Pushing boundaries, creating conversations"

In the country of Yemsrach now blows a new wind of freedom . According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 23 new publications have been authorized and six TVs since one year. Access to 264 websites has been released in May 2018. And this also applies to the drawing. " I've seen many people expressing themselves on social media lately ," says the training architect. I did not know we were such an expressive people. I see drawings everywhere now, I did not know that we were so many to draw ! "

Leaving Ethiopia by the Blue Nile, another country is in turmoil: Sudan. Alaa Satir accompanied with his artistic look this popular movement that led to the fall of Omar al-Bashir on April 11th. " We only talked about that, we constantly looked at social networks to see if something had happened, so it felt on our art ," she says. At the same time, it was necessary to do it also because at the beginning of the demonstrations in December 2018, there was no media, local or international, so everyone, artist or not, had the feeling that he had to way or another report what was happening. Alaa Satir, 28, draws a lot about the status of women, beauty canons, how to dress. She likes to build bridges between communities, religions, " pushing boundaries, creating conversations " .

► See also : [Slideshow] Cartooning for peace in Addis Ababa for freedom of the press

This meeting between 26 caricaturists of the continent in Addis Ababa is also a way to create bridges. " I feel less alone, " Guinean Ben Youssouf said. Oscar, of his pseudonym, directs the newspaper Bingo ! and founded the Bulle d'encre festival in Conakry. " Frankly, it's comforting, I think the idea is great, because it allows us to know and debate. Best of all, we designed together and adopted a statement. A text claiming that press design is recognized as a fundamental right by Unesco. And who, perhaps, would enhance this unknown profession. " In Guinea today we do not live 100% of our business, but we have peace. Why ? Because we looked for it, it was torn out of our struggle, our freedom. We paid tribute for the younger generation. And the next generation is eagerly awaited by his Malaysian colleague, Zunar. " We had the first wave and then the second, but the third today is not up to par. And after ? It will be nothingness ? Economic difficulties weigh on the press in general and, in turn, on press cartoonists. Very few live on it. Despite everything, Zunar wants to be optimistic and concluded, with a last sentence well tied: " people have become lazy, they do not want to read anymore, drawing press has the future ! "

► See also : SOME DRAWINGS PRESENTED IN ADDIS ABABA FOR THE WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY

    On the same subject

    The spring of the Ethiopian press

    [Slide Show] Cartooning for peace in Addis Ababa for freedom of the press

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