My recent post for Forbes is about Forum D’Avignon, a think tank on culture. I was there, and delivered a short speech as well as drew cartoons of my impressions. I share the text of my speech and more cartoons on the Forbes column, please go take a look!
On 3 May 2012 I was honored to be present at the awards ceremony for the first International Prize of Cartooning for Peace. Kofi Annan, Honorary President of Cartooning for Peace and Pierre Maudet, Mayor of the City of Geneva, Jean Plantu, cartoonist for Le Monde, and Patrick Chappatte, cartoonist for the International Herald Tribune presented the prize to four Iranian artists, representing a new generation of brave and talented artists. Their names are Firoozeh Mozafarri, Kianoush Ramenzani, Hassan Karimzadeh.
I was on the jury, and it was difficult to decide what cartoonist(s) should receive the prize. There are many artists working to help speak to freedom of the press. But in the end we chose these four artists for the beauty and strength of their work and their bravery in speaking out in the face of difficulties. I also believe that Firoozeh Mozafarri is representative of a voice of women journalists around the globe. A voice very much in need of being heard.
Winners: Kianoush, Firoozeh, Hassan (Mana was unable to attend)
For a slide show of photos of the ceremonies, please visit my blog: whendotheyservethewine.com
The other day, I was looking around the web, and found a clip of the speech that I gave at The United Nations. This was a time following the initial events of the Danish Cartoon Controversy. I was invited to participate with other members of Cartooning for Peace, an organization founded by Jean Plantu, a French cartoonist. Cartooning for Peace is very active, and I feel very fortunate to participate when I can.
Speech is here (to hear what I had to say, click on my name on the UN page):
Cartooning for Peace, and a journalist from the Italian newspaper Republicca, invited me to contribute a drawing about freedom of the press. I learned that in Italy recently, the issue is in hot debate. The government passed a law prohibiting the publication of wire tap transcripts, and many in the country are up in arms. Here below is the drawing, and here is a link to the online newspaper (if you want to see my drawing, scroll through the slideshow. It is on the homepage at the moment).
