Brazilcartoon is born !

The website Brazilcartoon has just been launched! This website is growing very fast. The quantity and quality of information presented everyday is very impressive. You will find international and Brazilian cartoon news, cartoon galleries, exhibitions, results of contests, news about worldwide festivals... There is even a page that reminds the whole cartoon history and a chat! This site might well become one of the leading cartoon platforms ever. Congratulations to them.

As you know Brazil plays an important role in world cartoon. Here are a reference of 40 great Brazilian cartoonists and their biographies. You can also see some of them introduced on Brazilcartoon.

.
My gallery on Brazilcartoon

Marcio Leite, Brazilcartoon's president
.

.
(click on the image below to enlarge it)
.

Marcio Leite is Brazilian, 30 years old, a cartoonist, journalist and publisher. He lives in Montes Claros – Minas Gerais – Brazil. He publishes Gag cartoons on the “Jornal de notícias do Norte de Minas” and on the magazine “Tempo”. He was a cooperator of the newspaper “O Pasquim 21”. Contact:cartunistaleite@hotmail.com or marcioleite@maispropaganda.com

Mohammed Omer

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)

Artist's Hands
.

Graphic art by Marcin Bondarowicz
.

Abidjan
.

Graphic art by Marcin Bondarowicz

Abidjan (Ivory Coast) is the town where I was born and lived 7 years, most of my early childhood. Thanks to Marcin Bondarowicz for creating this very surprising drawing. :)
.

Super Imperialism

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)

Hoverstop
.

This company (Hoverstop) has created an ergonomic mouse that helps to avoid RSI (Repetitive Stress Injuries) when working with a computer. If you are not using the Hoverstop mouse for more than 10 seconds, it will vibrate softly to remind you to take your hand away and relax!

Above are some graphic ideas (good Hoverstop mouse and bad non ergonomic mouse...) I created for a Website, a game and an animation, which are still in construction. The main purpose is to help children (and alternatively adults) to understand the importance of the ergonomic mouse. I hope to be able to post the final work on this Blog soon.

.
------------------
.

--> See previous posts about Hoverstop : 1, 2
--> Visit Hoverstop's Website
.

Waiting Again
.

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)
.
Waiting
.
By Eileen Ramage
.
You are from a world I used to know
Things moved at the speed of light
In that place there was no slow
For those like us it was just right

Now here we are on planet Earth
Where everything takes so long
We even wait nine months for birth
I wish I knew where we went wrong

How did we get in such a state
Always waiting in some line
What have we done to bring such fate
I know it's not a choice of mine

Waiting for food, service and men
Waiting for red lights to turn green
Here we are now waiting again
I really don't think it's our scene

Do we slow down just like the rest
Living life at a slower pace?
No! I Think I'll give it my best
And be ahead of the Human Race

----------------------

--> Poem's source: venicehousepizza.com

Hear The Cries Of My Children

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)
.

Wails Of Mother Africa
By Midarstouch

Oh Great Africa, Oh Mother
Hear The Cries Of Your Mother
The Pride Of Her Children
Oh Africa My Africa
My Family Of Big Bold And Black Children

Who Has Done These To My Chldren
Is This The Fruit Of Cvilisaton
If It Is My Children,throw It Back To The Whites
What Good Is A Toy When It Is Broken ?
Oh! Africa Who Assails Thee!!!

Liberia Has Just Stopped Crying From The Pang Of War
Now Sierra Leone Is Bleeding From An Internal Wound
There Are Tales Of Woes Here And There
But There Is One Grief That Is The Loudest
Amongst My Children.........aids

The Wailing Of My Children Spans
The Whole Lenght And Breath Of The Land
From Senegal To Somalia
From Cape Town To Alexandria
It Is Filled With The Wails Of My Children
Dying Of Aids
Oh! Aids Why Have You Turned
The Strongest Of Men To Weaklings

You Know No Boundary,neither Color Nor Race
You Take Parents Away From Their Children
The Children From Thier Parent
The Men From Their Women
The Women From Their Men
Oh Aids!! How Cruel Thou Are

With Your Double Edged Sword
You Slew Both The Guilty And The Innocent
You Do Not Answer To The White Mans Medicine
Only Time Can Stop Your Onslaught
Only God Can Say How Long
Oh!! Hear The Cries Of My Children
.
------------------
.
Poem's source : unicef.org

***

AIDS
by Boniface Kinywa
(12-year-old AIDS orphan)
.

AIDS oh AIDS,
The mention of your name, scares me out the darkness.
You crept in and swept our continent.
From North to South and from East to West
Thousands and thousands you've killed,
Spoiled the beauty of our continent curse no meaning to life
Yet you are no sacrifice.

AIDS do you have Mercy?

AIDS, oh AIDS,
You are a deadly monster,
you've taken our fathers, mothers,
brothers and sisters, homes left full of grace,
why?
Just because of Mr. Slim.
Others call me Mr. Kill me quick,
Scientists have gone to the moon,
made nuclear weapons,
yet you are no sacrifice.

AIDS, do you have mercy?

Dear brothers and sisters,
Friends and relatives,
Sons and daughters
And my loving parents,
Lend me your ears
And get this message right,
With your broken heart I am asking you,
Please take care of the youth,
Stop bad habits, be faithful to each other.
This monster never sleeps, there is no cure

For AIDS, oh AIDS, do you have mercy?
.
------------------
.
--> Boniface Kinywa is a 12-year-old AIDS orphan. Writing and reciting poetry is one way children at an LWR-funded orphanage in Kenya deal with the sorrow and chaos that HIV/AIDS wages on their lives.
--> Poem's source : standwithafrica.org

.

Peace Trace

Ben Heine by Cival Einstein

Above is the portrait Cival Einstein (Brazilian graphic artist) did of me. Read the interview I had with him and which was posted on this Blog a few days ago "Peace Trace" is the title Cival gave to the portrait.

Thank you Cival, I’m so much honoured. You have a unique style in all your artworks: Perfect lines, perfect colours and very deep message. Just amazing. And in this particular portrait, you described brilliantly the difficult situation I'm often in: trying to talk about Peace in war times. My intention is to criticize, through my political cartoons, all kinds of injustices towards mankind and continue to draw what the oppressors don't want to see. I sincerely hope we can one day reach this peaceful world we all dream of.

Cival Einstein was born in 1982, in Fortaleza-Ceara,

Brazil

. He is cartoonist and caricaturist. He published his work in several books (books of poetry, Para didactic books, reviews…). He exhibited his work in

Brazil

Turkey

Iran

France

Portugal

Serbia

Montenegro

Romania

and participated to several worldwide cartoon contests. You can reach him at einsteincival@gmail.com or einsteincartuuns@yahoo.com.br.

See more artworks by Cival Einstein :

On Brazilcartoon
On Caricatura
On Syriacartoon
On Sadurski
On nosorog
On Artija
On Fabricarica
On Tabrizcartoons

Basescu Seeks Return to Office
.

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)

Traian Basescu, Romania’s suspended president, will on Saturday seek to return to office following an impeachment referendum that has focused concerns about his country’s ability to fulfil promises it made when it joined the European Union at the start of this year.

While the populist president is expected to win Saturday’s vote, few observers believe a victory for Mr Basescu will stem the growing sense in Brussels and other EU capitals that political turmoil and a failure to continue fighting corruption in Romania and neighbouring Bulgaria have exposed the EU’s enlargement process as badly flawed.

--> Read the full article
.

Interview with Cival Einstein

“People think better
when they laugh"

Cival Einstein was born in 1982, in Fortaleza-Ceara, Brazil. He is cartoonist and caricaturist. He published his work in several books (books of poetry, Para didactic books, reviews…). He exhibited his work in Brazil, Turkey, France, Portugal, Serbia & Montenegro, Romania and participated to several worldwide cartoon contests. You can reach him at einsteincival@gmail.com or einsteincartuuns@yahoo.com.br.

- How did you come to draw professionally?

I had different artistic phases. I started to illustrate books and worked in the advertisement field for periodicals.

- Which papers, magazines and Internet sites do you work for?

I illustrate books and collaborate with local companies. I also work with the online magazine Don Quichotte. I have some cartoon galleries on some sites specialized in the cartoon art.

- What is it in the political language that inspires you the most?

Social inequality, dictatorship, arrogance, intolerance and violence.

- Should there be any limitation to freedom of speech whatsoever?

I think that ethics in certain moments has its importance. The cartoon is an intelligent message but it is difficult to find the right equilibrium. We live in a world full of active dictators. Therefore, we must “shoot” the right targets, at the right moment. Courage is needed in such occasions.

- Is there, according to you, one single form of freedom of speech or are there several?

I think there are different ones. It really depends on how this freedom is used. Cartoonists have to denounce what they think is wrong through visual gestures and varied expressions.

- What do you think of the Holocaust cartoon contest arranged by the Iranian daily Hamshari in response to the caricatures of Mohammed published in various European dailies?

This contest was mainly a reply to the Muhammad caricatures in Denmark.

- Have any of your drawings been censured? If yes, then why and under what circumstances?

I have only received anonymous threats via the Internet. But I haven’t been the victim of real censorship.

- Are you practicing self-censorship? Which are the most difficult topics to depict?

I do have self-censorship on specific issues dealing with religion and racism. These sorts of subjects require prudence and intelligence. Then only you will be able to affect the people who see your work.

- Do you think the drawing is a political power able to change people’s behaviour?

I don’t consider myself as political, but more as a defender of the truth. Our mission is to remind the necessity of equal rights between people. The cartoon medium is very original. It has the power to “print” ideas in the conscience of people.

- Do you think that the satirical drawer is an artist or rather a journalist, or even both?

The cartoonist is also a journalist when he seeks the elements of information that he will use in his graphic works.

-According to you, is the role of the drawer to make people laugh or to think?

I think that the force of the cartoon is to be a satire that makes think. People think better when they laugh.

- Which situation or person do you think is hardest to draw?

It really depends on each situation.

--------------------

--> You can see some of Cival’s works on these links :
Caricatura
Fabricarica
--> Interview by Benjamin Heine
.

New cartoon gallery on Greekartoon

--> Visit the other cartoonists' galleries

Deep Outside
.

Breathing deep inside
Breathing deep outside
Outside into reality
To be a victim of morality
.
On the wonderings of the soul
Leave the shackles of our mortal selves
And escape into the wilderness
And become a nightlife creature

Free to be what you want to be
Kiss the stars and steal a pocket full
And when you want to wish a wish
Set one free while the full moon blooms

Arise to a sweet and golden dawn
Watch the beauty of a red rose grow
And when it blooms, smell its sweet aroma
Leaving your skin stained with beauty

Breathing deep inside
Breathing deep outside
Dreamless, sleepless
Open your eyes to a beautiful day

--------------------

--> Poem's source : lovepoems.net

Tony Blair to Leave Office
.

Free Speech
.

By Judy Aita
.

United Nations -- The Internet is a key component of press freedom in the 21st century, yet Internet journalists and bloggers increasingly are coming under attack by repressive regimes trying to block the free flow of information and expression, say journalists and activists.

"Free thought, particularly expressed on the Internet is becoming more and more dangerous," says Bridget Johnson, Los Angeles Daily News columnist and blogger. "The Committee to Protect Journalists has been tracking the detention of Internet writers since 1997 and the 2006 figure is the highest the group has ever recorded. Now, one in three jailed journalists is a blogger, online editor, or Web-based reporter." According to CPJ, 134 journalists were jailed in 2006; of that number, 49 worked on the Internet.

U.S. efforts to promote the free flow of information range from monitoring Internet access in countries around the world and including the data in the annual State Department Country Reports on Human Rights to financing Internet projects in developing countries. Since 2004, the United States has given $250 million to projects that include assisting with Web site design, providing computers and training technicians to keep systems operating.

Johnson and other bloggers and activists discussed the growing challenges to free speech on the Internet at a World Press Freedom Day panel May 3 entitled "The Citizen Journalist: The Internet as a Tool for Freedom of Speech." The panel was hosted by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and included bloggers from countries with press restrictions and representatives of nongovernmental organizations ( NGOs ). The press fosters debate, provides a forum for expressing different points of view and keeps governments accountable for the decisions they make, said Jeffrey Krilla, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. "The increasing challenges the press face around the world are challenges to democracy and freedom."

One of the great opportunities for spreading freedom of expression is the Internet, Krilla said. "The Internet holds enormous promise particularly for the developing world and efforts to blunt the Internet's transformational power need to be countered by governments, NGOs, and by citizens worldwide."

Tala Dowlatshahi, New York director of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, said that the ongoing debate among some media representatives and lawmakers over whether bloggers are journalists and to what freedoms bloggers are entitled "is a waste of time." "It is high time we set aside the blogger-versus-journalist polemic and acknowledge that they are there fighting side-by-side in many countries to defend freedom of expression," she said.

"In legal terms, a media professional is not entitled to better protection than a blogger," Dowlatshahi said. "Freedom of expression, at least in theory, is something everyone is entitled to regardless of their status. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underscores this basic principle."

INTERNET FREEDOM AND REPRESSIVE REGIMES

The Internet has caused major upheavals in countries that do not permit freedom of expression, Dowlatshahi said. Bloggers can be pivotal in repressive environments where the media live in constant fear of the political leadership. In Egypt, she pointed out, it was a blogger who revealed that torture was being carried out in detention centers.

China is the worst place for cyberdissidents, but other countries --including Vietnam, Syria, Tunisia, Libya and Iran -- are not far behind, Dowlatshahi said. Watson Meng, founder of Boxun News, and Drexel University marketing professor Frank Xie, a blogger on Boxun News, talked about the problems facing Chinese bloggers. In China, citizen journalists are important, said Meng. Official information is not reliable and people are looking for good Web sites with reliable information. Since Boxun was founded in 2000, it has been the Number 1 online Chinese news service.

Governments ( including that of China ), NGOs, journalists and ordinary citizens make up the audience for the Boxun Web site, which contains news and 1,400 blogs. But, Meng said, his big problem is "the great firewall" the Chinese government uses to block his site. Xie added that China uses the best technology for its firewall and is exporting it free to Cuba, North Korea and Sudan.

There are about 137 million Internet users in China ( 10.5 percent of the population ), according to Xie. One of the problems is the cost of Internet access, he said. Xie predicted that if the cost of access were reduced, the number of Internet users in China would surpass the 210 million people in the United States who now use the Internet.

Bloggers "need international support at this moment, on International Press Freedom Day," said Nora Younis, an Egyptian blogger and activist. "We need the international support of other bloggers, scholars, journalists, intellectuals and civil society."

With an estimated 8 million Internet users in Egypt, blogging has become an increasingly important means of expression for a country with a young population. Nevertheless, Younis said, new government restrictions are forcing young bloggers to censor their own writings -- which they never had to do before -- or quit altogether.

Echoing the sentiments of the other panelists, Younis said, "We as young people do not want to go to prison. We want to write, we want to engage."

-------------------
.
--> This article originally appeared on media-newswire.com
.

Europe Fails to Live up to its Promises

In 2005, European Member States promised to give 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) to developing countries across the world. However, a recent NGO report shows that European governments are not delivering on these promises. Many of them are inflating their aid figures with debt cancellation and money spent on refugees and foreign students' education in Europe. In 2006, these inflated figures accounted for almost 1/3 of European aid. Development NGOs across Europe are monitoring the quality and quantity of genuine aid and are advocating for an end to fabricated figures. The report - "Hold the applause! European governments risk breaking aid promises" - has been produced by CONCORD, the European NGO confederation for Relief and Development : http://www.concordeurope.org/

For the second year in a row, an unprecedented number of European development NGOs have come together from all the major networks, national NGOs and NGO platforms from 27 EU countries to produce a report called "Hold the Applause! EU governments risk breaking aid promises", under the umbrella of CONCORD, the European NGO confederation for relief and development. Following the release of OECD aid figures for 2006, NGOs from across Europe are calculating how much European governments and Commission have effectively given. First figures show that they are over inflating their aid figures and failing to live up to their promises. The European Union has only spent 0.30% of its Gross National Income (GNI) on genuine aid in 2006 missing their collective target for 2006 of 0.39% of GNI. Close to one third of EU development assistance in 2006 did not deliver any fresh resources for poor countries. Of this:

Nearly €11 billion euros reported as ODA was in fact debt cancellation - primarily for Iraq and Nigeria.
€1.6 billion went on educating foreign students in Europe and
€1 billion was spent on housing refugees in Europe.

NGOs want European governments to:

Provide genuine increases in European aid
Agree clear and binding year-on-year timetables to reach, at a minimum, the 2010 and 2015 targets with genuine aid resources
Stop including refugee, student costs and debt relief in official aid reporting
Improve transparency in aid reporting
End all tied aid
Ensure aid is focused on helping the world’s poor
Take further steps to make aid more effective

Press activities

Click here to see information on the launch of the report in Brussels on 11th May

Symbolic demonstration on 14th May from 9am to 10 am

CONCORD will lead a "mocking" demonstration at the arrival of the Development Ministers in front of the Council of the European Union in Brussels (métro: Schuman). The participants will wear a mocking mask with the face of the Finance Ministers of the European Union. Development Ministers will be asked to put pressure on their finance colleagues to improve aid to developing countries.

BBC show around CONCORD report

On Monday 14th May, the BBC s building its show "THE RECORD Europe" around CONCORD report. Watch it it at 11.30 (Brussels time - 10.30 GMT) on BBC World, News 24 and BBC Parliament. Find more on BBC website

Sending a protestation letter to the politicians

NGOs and citizens from all over Europe will be writing from all over Europe to the Ministers for Finance, Foreign Affairs and/or Development regarding progress towards aid commitments and targets. Click here for a proposal of letter

THE FULL REPORT WILL BE UNVEILED TO PUBLIC ON FRIDAY 11th OF MAY 2007