A United Nations seminar for political cartoonists from around the world
 
     
   
     
     
  On October 16 2006, Emory University’s Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning presented “Cartooning for Peace: The Responsibility of Political Cartoonists as Journalists,” at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York.

Part of the UN Department of Public Information’s (DPI) “Unlearning Intolerance” seminar series, the one-day seminar took place at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan opened the seminar and Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor introduced and moderated the event.

Participating cartoonists came from countries around the world including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Palestine, Switzerland, and the United States. Click here for a list of cartoonists and their bios.

The morning panel addressed the question “Should the Cartoonist Educate?” and the afternoon panel explored the issue of “Should Responsibilities Abridge Rights?” A live webcast of the seminar is available at www.un.org/webcast.

The “Unlearning Intolerance” series, launched by DPI, explores different manifestations of intolerance, as well as means to promote respect and understanding among peoples. The four previous seminars have included “Confronting anti-Semitism,” “Confronting Islamophobia,” “Fanning the Flame of Tolerance: The Role of the Media,” and “Critical Perspectives in Combating Genocide.” The series offers opportunities to discuss how intolerance, wherever it exists and for whatever reason, can be “unlearned” through education, inclusion, and example.

The “Cartooning for Peace” seminar is the brainchild of Plantu, the French daily newspaper Le Monde’s political cartoonist. The idea for the gathering was born in 1991, when Plantu met former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who drew the Star of David for one of Plantu’s drawings and signed it. “At that time, Yasser Arafat could not say, ‘I recognize the State of Israel,’ and yet, with a blue felt tip pen he drew the Star of David on the Israeli flag,” said Plantu. The following year, Plantu traveled to Israel and convinced then-Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres to sign the same drawing. It was the first time that signatures from both the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization had been affixed to the same document prior to the 1993 Oslo Accords. “Since that time, I have thought a great deal about the role of newspaper cartoonists,” Plantu said.
  
     
   
  Gado, Kenya