Latest news with #politicalcartoon
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Typhoon Wipha and AI girlfriends: cartoonist Harry Harrison's humorous takes in July
Check out the captivating world of Harry Harrison, the SCMP's award-winning political cartoonist, in these Harry's View cartoons from July. If you would like to see more opinions on the big issues of the day, please consider subscribing
The Guardian
24-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Controversy is always good fodder': Uganda's cartoonists turn their pens on president's provocative son
A bulky man wearing a baggy green army uniform urinates on the ground. Another man, wearing sandals, stands in the puddle, looks down and says: 'I've never seen such beautiful susu (urine).' In the scatological cartoon, which appeared on Facebook, the sycophantic man with wet feet is supposed to be Balaam Ateenyi, a Ugandan government minister. The man relieving himself is Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, head of the military, provocative social media poster and the presumptive heir to his father, President Yoweri Museveni. 'Ateenyi has a habit of praising everything Kainerugaba does, even when he tweets all that nonsense,' said the cartoon's creator, Jimmy Spire Ssentongo. 'So I drew a cartoon depicting the infantile nature of his praise.' In a country where freedom of expression is often curtailed, Spire is among a number of political cartoonists who have used satire to critique the authoritarian Museveni administration. Increasingly their target is Kainerugaba. 'He has dominated news and events … both locally and regionally,' said the cartoonist Chrisogon Atukwasize, who signs his work as Ogon. 'He's controversial and that's always good fodder for cartooning.' In one cartoon, Ogon depicts Kainerugaba as a child graffitiing a wall with messages in support of his father, who is standing nearby. 'He's always been like this?!?' queries a white man portraying William Popp, the US ambassador to Uganda, asks Museveni. 'Certainly,' he responds. 'He loves me so much, he's my avenger.' The cartoon appeared shortly after Kainerugaba, whose first name means 'avenger' in the Runyankore language, had threatened to expel Popp from Uganda. Kainerugaba is Museveni's eldest child and a graduate of Sandhurst, the British army's officer training centre. Observers have long suspected that Museveni, who has ruled the country for nearly four decades, is grooming him as his successor. Though the president has denied it, Kainerugaba has not shied away from displaying his own political ambitions, including by holding rallies even though Ugandan law prevents military officers from taking part in politics. The 51-year-old has also raised eyebrows with inflammatory social media takes on myriad topics, including politics, society, security and foreign policy. Kainerugaba's X page reads like an intimidation manual. This year alone, he has threatened to castrate the opposition activist Eddie Mutwe, behead the politician Bobi Wine, and attack a town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2022, it appeared that he had gone too far with a threat to invade Kenya, which prompted his father to sack him from his role as commander of Uganda's land forces. Fifteen months later he was back, in the elevated position of head of the military. Isaac Tibasiima, a lecturer in the department of literature at Makerere University, said Uganda's political cartoonists were playing a nuanced societal role. 'The cartoonist becomes a social commentator to help us understand that this is actually something that we can laugh at, but in laughing at it we are both laughing at ourselves and at the systems that are being critiqued,' he said. Ogon mainly draws images on democracy, governance and human rights at the Daily Monitor, where he's an editorial cartoonist. But Kainerugaba's theatrics have provided material for plenty of his work in recent years. 'When you factor in his ambition and outrageousness, the things he does online, it is easy to see why he's the most dominant topic in our work,' he said. 'There was Museveni and [opposition politician Kizza] Besigye until like 2018, then Bobi Wine came in,' Ogon added. 'But now the new kid on the block post-Covid is the president's son.' Spire's cartoons often cover themes of repression and corruption. Kainerugaba has increasingly become a regular feature of his work, Spire said, observing that he seemed to be 'filling' much of the space that the 80-year-old Museveni was 'ceding' as he grew older. Spire, who used to work at the Observer, a Ugandan weekly publication, but now primarily posts his work on Facebook, said he drew more cartoons of Kainerugaba not only because of his 'interest in power' but also because his social media posts were 'mostly incredible'. He also highlighted the general's actions because he found them concerning. 'It is really scary that a person of this calibre is getting more and more power,' he said. 'What is he likely to do when he … is totally in charge?' Spire and Ogon's work adds to a body of cartooning that goes back as far as the 1960s, when Uganda became independent. Many who tackled political subjects self-censored under the repressive regimes of Milton Obote and Idi Amin. However, political cartoonists started becoming bolder when Museveni came to power. Initially, his administration regularly harassed cartoonists who were critical of government officials but the authorities shifted their focus to TV, radio and newspapers. That's made it possible for cartoonists to provide comparatively more daring and stinging political commentary. Spire and Ogon hope their cartoons can create a valuable space for political discourse. 'Many Ugandans fear talking about certain people,' said Spire. 'But when they see them drawn in a cartoon, somehow it brings them down a level.'
CTV News
22-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Local political cartoonist on his unique career
Ottawa Watch What goes into making and selecting a political cartoon? And what is the role of the political cartoonist in today's fast-paced 24-hour news cycle?
Telegraph
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Zarah Sultana accuses Observer cartoon of ‘brownfacing'
Zarah Sultana has accused a cartoonist for The Observer of 'brownfacing'. The independent MP, who resigned from Labour earlier this month, attacked cartoonist Saffron Swire over her depiction of Ms Sultana on the front of a raisin box. She accused the artist, who is the daughter of Sir Hugo Swire, the former Tory MP, of nepotism and being a 'Right-wing hack'. For The Observer's cartoon of the week, Ms Swire produced a mock invite to Jeremy Corbyn's party, complete with the former Labour leader dressed in a bright red Soviet 70s jumpsuit. 'Let's paint the town red!' a speech bubble reads, while the RSVP address lists the House of Commons. Ms Sultana, who had the Labour whip suspended in July 2024 after voting to scrap the two child benefit cap, resigned from Labour this month to form a breakaway hard-Left political party. She announced that Mr Corbyn would co-lead the new party, which still has no name, though reports suggested the move had caught the Islington North MP off guard. Ms Swire's cartoon invitation also promises goodie bags 'for the many (not the few)', emblazoned with a hammer and sickle. The bags are shown to contain a box of 'Zarah Sultanas', modelled in the style of a Sun-Maid red raisin box, and a copy of Karl Marx's Das Kapital. Responding to the cartoon published on X, the MP for Coventry South wrote: 'Brownfacing a box of raisins and mocking my surname. Brownfacing a box of raisins and mocking my surname. Exactly what you'd expect from a right-wing hack who is the daughter of an aristocrat and ex-Tory MP. — Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) July 20, 2025 'Exactly what you'd expect from a Right-wing hack who is the daughter of an aristocrat and ex-Tory MP.' Sir Hugo, the former Minister for Northern Ireland Office under David Cameron, was appointed as a life peer in 2022, becoming Baron Swire of Down St Mary in County Devon. The former MP served as representative for East Devon from 2001 to 2019. His daughter, Saffron, has written or produced cartoons for Prospect, Tortoise, The Economist, Art UK and the New European, as well as The Spectator. Sun-Maid, founded in California in 1912, has become the world's most recognisable raisin brand. The woman wearing a red bonnet holding a pallet of grapes was based on a painting of model Lorraine Collett by artist Fanny Scafford. Ms Sultana was born in Birmingham to a family which had migrated from Kashmir. She set up her hitherto unnamed Left-wing party on July 3, vowing to lead a cohort of independent MPs and activists against Sir Keir Starmer's benefit cuts and against what she described as 'genocide' in Gaza. Leading Corbynites rule themselves out Leading Corbynites John McDonnell and Diane Abbott were swift to rule themselves out, while the former Labour leader took his time to offer lukewarm praise for Ms Sultana's bravery in breaking away but neglected to directly confirm his co-leadership. Last week, Ms Abbott was suspended again from the Labour party after she doubled down on her claim that Jews experience racism differently to black people. The hard-Left MP had been suspended in March 2023 for claiming that 'white people with points of difference' such as Jewish people, Travellers or Irish people are not 'all their lives subject to racism'. Last week, Ms Abbott said, in an interview with the BBC, that it was 'silly' to liken racism based on skin colour to racism faced by Jewish and Traveller communities. Responding to Ms Abbott's suspension, Ms Sultana said: 'I stand with Diane Abbott'. The Guardian, which sold The Observer to Tortoise in December 2024, was previously accused of racism for its cartoonist Martin Rowson's depiction of outgoing BBC boss Richard Sharp. The Left-wing newspaper was forced to apologise and remove the cartoonist's impression after it was widely condemned as antisemitic.
Fox News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
NY paper's 'vile' political cartoon draws outrage for appearing to mock Trump-voting Texas flood victims
A political cartoonist for Buffalo News spurred outrage for appearing to mock victims of the devastating flash floods in Texas on Monday with a cartoon depicting a drowning Trump supporter. "Historic flash floods have struck Southern Texas, with at least 82 deaths and dozens more missing," a caption for the cartoon read. The image showed a man wearing a red MAGA hat being submerged under floodwaters in Kerr County, Texas, while holding a "HELP" sign. There is also a speech bubble of the man saying, "Gov't is the problem not the solution." Text at the top of the cartoon read, "Swept Away..." Buffalo News' editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis seemed to clarify that this text was in reference to Trump supporters' arguments for smaller government being "swept away" after the flood in an Instagram post. "Tomorrow's lines… that argument's gone in a flash," Zyglis wrote when posting his cartoon on Monday. He also included tags for "noaa," "national weather service," "doge," "cuts" and "maga." Several liberal media figures and Democratic Party members have come under fire for similarly politicizing the flash floods and blaming President Donald Trump and DOGE for causing the tragedy, despite reports that the National Weather Service office in the area had extra staff on duty at the time of the flooding. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson attacked liberals for their comments on Monday and pointed out that their accusations have been repeatedly debunked by experts. "It's shameful and disgusting that in the wake of tragedy, the left's first instinct is to lie and politicize a disaster to target their political opponents," she told Fox News Digital. "False claims about the NWS have been repeatedly debunked by meteorologists, experts, and other public reporting. The NWS did their job, even issuing a flood watch more than 12 hours in advance. The Trump Administration is grateful to the first responders who sprang into action to save hundreds lives during this catastrophe, and will continue to help the great state of Texas in their recovery efforts." The cartoon faced backlash on social media. Erie County Republican Committee Chairman Michael Kracker wrote, "@TheBuffaloNews ran a cartoon mocking Texas families who lost loved ones in a tragedy, just because they might've voted Republican. Twisted, vile, and shameful. They owe those families an apology and should pull this filth immediately." "DISGRACE: @TheBuffaloNews runs a VILE cartoon by artist Adam Zyglis, appearing to mock Texas families affected by the floods because they voted for Trump," Libs of TikTok wrote. Author Oli London reported, "Cartoonist working for The Buffalo News sparks outrage for his cartoon depicting drowning Texas flood victim wearing a MAGA hat. Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Adam Zygis drew the cartoon for the New York news outlets website with the words 'Swept Away…'" Fox News Digital reached out to Zyglis and Buffalo News for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
