Cartoonist in Focus
Rachita TANEJA, (India)
Working under the pen name “Sanitary Panels”, Rachita Taneja posts webcomics to social media concerning patriarchy, nationalism, intolerance, misogyny, and authoritarianism in India. In December of 2020, three cartoons concerning the Supreme Court were the subject of a complaint for contempt of the Supreme Court, lodged by a law student associated with the student wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a decision criticised by both a former Attorney General and a former Solicitor General17,
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| Sanitary PANELS, (India) |
the sitting Attorney General found merit in the complaint and granted permission for prosecution. If found guilty, Taneja could face up to six onths prison sentence.
Since then, Taneja and her lawyers are caught in a repeating cycle, periodically checking for
announcements of dates when a hearing is scheduled, only for it to be pushed back to a later date. In the meantime, “Sanitary Panels” continues to comment on society and politics, but with the extra sense of caution imposed by these events.
The tedious and convoluted process is a source of constant anxiety for the accused and sends a repressive message to every other cartoonist [see HATE SPEECH: “online violence is real-wold violence”] and all women in the country, chilling their freedom of expression.
Censorship: From Bad to Worse
This report encompasses many troubling instances of cartoonist censorship. We would raise the following trends as being of special concern over the period
interventions from political leaders, including ambassadors to foreign nations, that act as “dog whistles” for further harassment, whether “trolling” (see ONLINE CHALLENGES below) or other forms of pressure such as the demands made by China’s embassies over cartoons published in Belgium, Denmark (see the cartoon opposite)18 and The Netherlands at the onset of the pandemic,19 or in Italy20 and the Czech Republic over exhibitions by Badiucao in 2021 and 2022
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| Niels Bo BOJESEN, (Denmark) |
• the extent to which patently absurd and disproportionate accusations of criminality, supported by inconsistent and vague laws have been accepted uncritically in some quarters (see our sidebars on Fahmi Reza, Rachita Taneja, and the cartoonists of elTOQUE for more on cartoonists facing sustained censorious campaigns against them in their own countries)
• the emergence of (yet more) locations were freely expressed political cartooning either became markedly more difficult or was rendered impossible at a stroke; in addition to Hong Kong mentioned above we may cite Russia, Myanmar, and the Philippines21, but most of all Afghanistan
But the most pressing threat to the free expression of cartoonists is authoritarianism. In regions all over the world, populist and nationalist governments have sought to conflate acts of protest with crime, even terrorism.22 Wherever the most natural impulse of conscience – to voice dissatisfaction with one’s own government – is regarded with suspicion and framed as harmful to the fabric of the state, cartoonists’ careers will face an existential threat.
Indeed, the chief anxiety of those in Cartoonists Rights’ network or regional representatives23, and the problem facing the majority of cartoonists featured in Cartooning for Peace’s alerts24 over the last three years is the prospect of legal action. And that possibility increases greatly if their output is mischaracterised as HATE SPEECH
Cartoonist in Focus
Fahmi REHZA (Malaysia)
In terms of sheer volume, few artists can claim as many interactions with police and prosecutors as Mohd Fahmi Reza Mohd Zarin, known as Fahmi Reza, of Malaysia. And few have exhibited such resolute, even gleeful resistance
First prosecuted and sentenced to jail in 2016 for a cartoon that depicted then Prime Minister Najib Razak as a clown (the sentence being suspended after a successful appeal), in recent years Reza has been repeatedly arrested by police in Kuala Lumpur25. At the time of writing there are numerous open investigations naming him26. The most serious incident stems from April 2021 when his home was raided, and he was accused of sedition. Reza was also subjected to a travel ban, since lifted.
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| Fahmi REZA, (Malaysia) |
The basis for prosecution is, for the most part, attributed to specific cartoons that Reza has posted to social media, and allegations have been made of “obscenity” and “insult” to ministers and other figures of authority. The hypersensitivity displayed is almost comical: evidence cited for sedition was the title Reza gave to a Spotify playlist.
Taken together the series of arrests, summons, interrogations, and searches can only be interpreted as a campaign of intimidation, a sustained effort to discourage and ultimately terminate Reza’s activities as an activist, artist, and educator.
"A lot of people are afraid to be called in for questioning by the police, because we have so many cases of people who died in police custody. People always think that he police can do anything, but we do have rights. Every time I get arrested, I will always use that as an opportunity to educate people about their rights and send a message that we should not be afraid." Fahmi REZA (Malaysia)27
(there is more..)
