“Cartoons make us laugh. Without them, our lives would be much sadder. But they are no laughing matter: they have the power to inform, and also to offend.”

 Kofi Annan, at the inaugural “Cartooning for Peace” seminar, Oct. 16, 2006

From Nov. 12-15, 2007, The Halle Institute brought ten leading cartoonists from around the world to Emory and Atlanta for public events and lectures on “Cartooning for Peace.” The week-long series of events featured six public panel discussions on a variety of topics including: women in cartooning, the conflict in the Middle East, manga and Japanese cartooning, political leadership, global health, and the art of controversy. To view the panels, click here.

From Oct. 27, 2007 to Feb. 27, 2008, an expanded version of the “Cartooning for Peace” traveling exhibition that was unveiled at the United Nations (UN) headquarters is on display at the Schatten Gallery, featuring over 100 new cartoons and drawings by the visiting cartoonists. The collection represents a wide range of issues such as peace, conflict, leadership, and the environment. The exhibition also includes cartoons related to important global health issues as a result of the enormous concentration of expertise at Emory University and Atlanta in this field.

“Cartooning for Peace” is the brainchild of Plantu, the French daily newspaper Le Monde’s editorial cartoonist. The idea for the project was born in 1991 at an exhibition in Tunisia, 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, 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.

Plantu once again realized the power cartoons hold when, in 2006, the world erupted in anger and divisive debate over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. “This sudden interest in political cartooning made me think that this polemic presented quite possibly an opportunity to cartoonists-above all, an opportunity to start an intellectual debate,” Plantu remembered.

As a forum for such debate, “Cartooning for Peace” launched that same year with a seminar with opening remarks by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and an exhibition of cartoons, co-sponsored by The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning, at the UN in New York.

"Cartooning for Peace" is sponsored by The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning. We are grateful to Dr. Raymond Schinazi for co-sponsoring the cartoons on global health issues. The Halle Institute also thanks the Hightower Fund and the following departments, programs, and diplomatic co-sponsors:
Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Institute of African Studies, Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies, the Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, English, Art History, Political Science, and Women's Studies Departments, Candler School of Theology, Rollins School of Public Health, Alliance Française of Atlanta, Consulate General of France, Consulate General of Israel, Consulate General of Japan, Consulate General of Turkey, and Le Salon International du Dessin de Presse et D’Humour