Tag: protest

A Gathering of Brave People: Oslo Freedom Forum

The Oslo Freedom Forum is no ordinary conference. For one week every year, human rights advocates, artists, tech entrepreneurs, and world leaders meet to share their stories and brainstorm ways to expand freedom and unleash human potential across the globe. This year in May, the eighth gathering in Oslo, Norway,  Liza was invited to curate an international exhibit of cartoons to be shown at the Forum.

The speakers came from all over the globe.  Many had risked their lives (and continue to do so) for the cause of freedom of speech, to help their country, to battle dictators and corrupt governments. Many are individuals who dedicate their lives to helping activist and artists battle oppressive regimes, many are creators of non-profits whose mission is to change cultural stereotypes.

To see some of the videos of the speakers, and learn more about Oslo Freedom Forum, go to their website, follow them on twitter or Facebook.

Liza live-drew all the speakers.

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Kids pick up words they hear their parents say, and I can imagine “occupy” is a word being bantered around in a lot of households right now.  The Occupy Wall Street Movement is fascinating–my cartoon is a play on words.  The OWS folks may not have started with a plan, but it sounds like they are getting one. These two kids will probably just play.

Ideas and Words

Sometimes ideas spring from just one word.  But it has to be the right word.  Doing a cartoon around the word “uprising” would be difficult. Plus, it’s not a very interesting word.  “Revolution” could lead to a lot of things.  But the word “protest” is more malleable, it can fit into many situations. It’s not an interesting word, but it is a buzz-word in the public’s mind right now, so using it at this moment in time works.

While the above idea is not really what I want to say about all the turmoil that is going on in the Middle East, you sometimes just have to go with the flow as to where words take you. Political cartoons in The New Yorker are often oblique, and are about how events affect people often far removed from the events. And unlike editorial cartoons, they are not necessarily about my opinion.  I am an observer.

I often say that cartoonists are sponges, soaking up all that is around us and then squeezing it out into ideas. But we are also grabbers, snatching ideas and words–I envision a butterfly net– as they float in the air around us. We put them on our papers and mold them into cartoons.

cartoon originally published on womensEnews.org

Risk Taking


We Americans try to understand and sympathize with what is going on in Egypt.  It’s hard, but the least that we can do is try, like this misguided woman in the cartoon above.

An article in the New York Times recently profiled 26 year old Egyptian protest organizer, Asmaa Mahfouz.  Ms. Mohfouz had posted a video on youtube–a daring act by a woman in that part of the world–explaining her work and passion in helping to organize the uprising in Egypt.  She says,

“I felt that doing this video may be too big a step for me, but then I thought: For how much longer will I continue to be afraid and hesitant? I had to do something.”

How many of us American women have felt that? About anything–asking for a raise, a job, respect. Granted, it is not life-threatening for us to take risks in most cases, as it is in Ms. Mahfouz’s part of the world.  In our country, the decision to wear pants, when you know everyone else will wear a dress, is scary. That’s how different–or similar–we are with women in the Middle East.

I noticed on television, and read in the New York Times and DoubleX, that there are more women involved in the uprising in Egypt than in previous protests in the region. It was refreshing to see their faces on the streets, chanting and hoping for freedom along with their male counterparts. Who knows, could the measure of peace in the protests have anything to do with their presence in the square?  I wonder.

When women take risks, and try to change things, it benefits all.  Amr Hamzawy, a research director at the Carnegie Middle East Center who has spent most of the last week in central Cairo, said,  “It’s very impressive. It’s not about male and female, it’s about everyone.”