“The Right of Return” by painter Abdel Nasser Al-Hourani (Al-Jazeera)

Cartoons keep pace with the spread of social media and the development of electronic publishing methods, benefiting from them after being confined to paper newspapers.

This art still plays the role for which it was created in presenting a sarcastic, scathing, and critical message, whether of authority, or of all social phenomena, or even of resisting the occupying enemy and inciting struggle against it and criticizing its crimes.

Positive shock

The expatriate cartoonist in the United States, Abdel Nasser Al-Hourani, believes - in an interview with Al Jazeera Net - that the “Al-Aqsa Flood” was a positive shock that caused not only a political division, but also a cultural and civilizational division between those who adhere to the principles and constants of their nation and those who abandon them, stressing that Gaza will remain the identity of our time. Until forever.

Regarding the message directed by the Arab creator in the diaspora and the role he plays there, the editor-in-chief and founder of the Al-Sikka news website issued in the US state of Texas adds, “Before October 7, the work was directed to the Arab communities and an attempt to address their problems and their struggle against discrimination, racism, and Islamophobia, which was established by the hostile media machine.” ".

He continues: Before October 7, our artistic works took a local direction in defending the issues of the Arab communities in America, but now any talk outside of what is happening in Gaza has become a luxury.

Al-Hourani - who was born in Al-Wahdat Camp in Jordan - believes that the activity of Arab intellectuals and activists of the Arab and Islamic communities and the presence of social networking sites played a role in conveying the Palestinian narrative to the Western and American audiences who became involved in the activities against the aggression on Gaza.

He points out that "social media sites are a platform for the voiceless in the Western media, which adopted the Zionist narrative from the first moment. It happened that opinion polls in America began to lean in favor of the Palestinians, a shift we had not dreamed of in light of the Zionists’ dominance over media platforms in the United States."

“The Palestinian Mother and Farewell to the Martyrs” by Risha Al-Hourani (Al-Jazeera)

Palestine to the fore

He points out that the credit for this transformation goes to the resistance, which returned the issue to the main news on all news stations, and art had a central role in conveying the Palestinian narrative that had been absent since the Nakba.

As for his caricatures, he says, “I have a point of view on this subject: If we want the West to sympathize with us and interact with the caricatures, we must make the Western recipient at the heart of our issues and smell the injustice that our peoples suffer.”

He continues, "We did not carry Palestine to the world, but rather we gathered the whole world into Palestine, our cause. Palestinianism is the cause of all free people on earth, and the world must become part of your just message."

"Patience and steadfastness" (Al Jazeera)

Caricature in battle

Al-Hourani believes that the art of caricature can be in the battle side by side with the resistance fighters and the oppressed in their battle in Palestine and Gaza.

He adds that the role of the artist is not limited, and he must not be in what the authority promotes (absolute authority) or the prevailing discourse, but rather he must always be on the side of socially just causes or national issues, otherwise he will lose his place and his message.

“Palestine is the identity of our time” (Al Jazeera)

Regarding the roles that Arab creatives play in the diaspora, Al-Hourani believes that even if they distance their bodies far from the Arab countries, they carry their issues, which are necessarily the issues of their nation.

He adds that the repression, which may be one of the justifications for the Arab innovator leaving his country, is that the image of repression haunts him with every image transmitted by satellite channels of repression in this or that Arab street.

Creative people abroad

Al-Hourani - who worked in most of the Jordanian weekly newspapers - points out that the Arab artist's soul remains attached to his country, and his sensitivity to the conditions there increases even more than his residence and presence there.

"The Palestinian Mother" (Al Jazeera)

Regarding the artist’s message in the diaspora, he asserts, “We are children of the cause, and every art that does not carry a cause is merely a hobby with no significance or value. As Arab intellectuals, we have hinted here in the United States that for the first time a Palestinian can achieve victory over the enemy.”

Al-Hourani was born in 1965. He studied in the schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the United States. He is a member of the Jordanian Journalists Syndicate, the founder and managing editor of the Al-Sikka news website published in Texas, and a cartoonist for a number of international publications.

Source: Al Jazeera