The cover story of the June’ issue of Harper’s belongs to Art Spiegelman. The Pulitzer prizing-winning cartoonist casts a critical over the Danish “cartoon war” — a debacle which resulted in more than a hundred deaths, more than 800 injuries and too many “F” words: fires Fatwahs, editorial firings and the fettering of free speech — not to mention an expensive boycott of Danish products throughout much of the Arab world. As Spiegelman so dryly put it:
I’m sure the Danish cartoonists involved would all agree that it was a mistake to enter the “Draw the Prophet and win a prize” talent contest, but they at least managed to demonstrate the capacity of cartoons to bring urgent issues into high relief.
Spiegelman takes time to rap the knuckles of North American newspapers, both for refusing to run any of the infamous cartoons and for not drawing more attention to the fact that al Jazeera and other non-U.S. television networks regularly broadcast images of torture. He complains that many college students have seen neither the Danish cartoons nor the torture imagery that is being broadcast outside of North America.
The meat of the article, however, consists of a detailed — and somewhat raucous — critique of the offending material. Of course, this provides an excuse to republish the actual cartoons (though they are not exactly hard to find on the net) and leads to Spiegelman’s biggest complaint: most of the cartoons have nothing to say and are pedestrian in their execution. The cartoons do not “speak truth to power”, but simply “afflict the afflicted” — just like traditional hate literature.
Spiegelman is clear in his view that jarring — and offensive — cartoons have an important role to play in the world, but at the same time he argues they should not be taken too seriously. His astute deconstruction of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons should be enough to rob them of any sting they may have had. Although, not a signatory of the “MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism“, Spiegelman’s critique is an elegant, peaceful illustration of how that group hopes to defuse the “totalitarian global threat: Islamism”.
Actually, Spiegelman’s commentary is much more fun than the Manifesto, but it is just about as potent.