Here are my new cartoons for the week! Even as Americans rage against their government and everyday injustices here at home, I think we have it pretty good. There are few places in the world where I could annoy politicians, in the way I do, with the impunity I enjoy with my rights as an American (yes, England, Australia, Canada, France, some other places) but, by and large, even though I have nothing good to say in my cartoons, I’m in a good place in the USA, and I appreciate that.
All the news is the run up to war with Syria – except that we had a charming interruption with Miley Cyrus and her twerking. I may draw another Miley cartoon – she is a gift to cartoonists.
The next one is a little trite, but accurate, I think. There are no good guys in Syria, and I’m not sure it is a bad thing if Assad wins his civil war over the other devils. Presidents always feel the need to meddle in these things. It is a presidential disease.
Here’s my most recent one, with Obama ready to take a blood bath. There have been so many cartoon about Syria and blood, I had to join in.
Violence continues to flare up in Syria, where the government, led by the bloody and brutal tactics of President Bashar al-Assad, have repressed a nearly 1-year-old uprising. According to opposition groups, government forces shelled the city of Homs, killing more than 200 people.
We have lots of cartoonists from across the globe that contribute to our site, and most have weighed in on this tragedy. Check out what they have done in our Syria Crackdown cartoon collection.
Famed Arab cartoonist Ali Ferzat is recovering in the hospital after he was beaten by pro-Assad thugs in Damascus late last week, as part of a brutal crackdown of the Syrian Uprising that has killed over 2,200 people since anti-government protests began five months ago.
A recent Ferzat cartoon, showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attempting to hitch a ride with Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.
According to reports, Ferzat was forced out of his car and beaten in Damascus by four masked men. The regime’s thugs focused their attention on Ferzat’s hands, beating them furiously and breaking two fingers on his left hand – a clear message that he should stop drawing. Farzat’s assailants also broke his right arm and bruised his left eye before dumping him on the side of the road. The American Embassy in Damascus called it “a government-sponsored, targeted, brutal attack.”
“They are afraid of giving symbols to the Syrian uprising,” said Murhaf Jouejati, the Professor of Middle East Studies at George Washington University. “This is reflective of their fear of losing power, which is why they want to take out anybody who can carry large audiences.”
Ferzat’s cartoons have been deeply critical of the harsh suppression of the five-month uprising in Syria. Just last week, he published a cartoon on his website showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hitch-hiking a ride out of town with a fleeing Muamar Gadhafi. Many of his cartoons directly criticize President al-Assad, even though caricatures of the president are forbidden in Syria.
While making empty promises about having a dialogue with the Syrian people, the Assad regime continues to carry out brutal attacks against protesters. According to Sebastian Usher, the BBC’s Arab affair’s analyst, Ferzat’s beating is a sign that the Syrian authorities “tolerance for dissent is touching zero.” Just a month ago, Ibrahim al-Qashoush, the composer of a popular anti-regime song, was found dead with his vocal chords removed.
Here’s a video from Al-Jazeera English where you can see pictures of Ferzat, as well as some of his cartoons:
Cartoonists from across the world are coming to the aid of Ferzat, drawing their own cartoons in response to the brutal crackdown. I’ll post them here as we receive them.
Daryl Cagle / msnbc.comBill Day / Cagle CartoonsOlle Johansson / Cagle CartoonsJiho / Cagle CartoonsRick McKee / Augusta ChronicleGilmarSherif Arafa / Alittihad NewspaperNate Beeler / Washington ExaminerPedro Molina/ El Nuevo Diario (Nicaragua)Giacomo Cardelli / Italy
