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Sacramento Review

September 27, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Over the past few days I gathered in Sacramento with editorial cartoonist colleagues at the annual conference of the AAEC (Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.) How wonderful it was to get together with old friends and make new ones.

Beyond the collegial atmosphere found in the cocktail lounges, there was a packed schedule of presentations from across the editorial cartoon spectrum.  Our friends in New Zealand were in full force led by Kiwi powerhouse Sharon Murdoch, and backed up by Rod Emmerson, Nigel Buchanan, and Toby Morris.

I turned 50 during the convention, and was presented this wonderful caricature drawn by the great Brian Gable of the Globe & Mail. It was followed by a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday by convention attendees!

We Canadians took to the podium, first by our godfather, Terry Mosher AKA Aislin, who extolled the virtues of the slate of Canuck cartoonists and our perspectives of the U.S.A. satirizing in the era of Donald Trump.

Yours truly, alongside ACC (Association of Canadian Cartoonists) President Wes Tyrell, presented a short documentary praising the importance of local cartoons. We included a slideshow featuring the need for regional cartoons, and as an example, the recent repeal of the sex-ed curriculum in Ontario was highlighted.

Ward Sutton, the true man behind the Onion’s parody editorial cartoonist Stan Kelly had the audience rolling with laughter with his genius cartoons and his rise to stardom.

Another highlight was a presentation entitled, “Evil Editors & Pandering Publishers”, by Rob Rogers, formerly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The 25 year veteran of that newspaper was unceremoniously terminated after he refused to water down his criticism of the Trump administration. A series of his cartoons were spiked by editors leading to an ugly divorce and an insulting severance package. Rob, standing by his principles, has been suffering considerably, and while he knows the newspaper’s brand has received damage, he leaves many friends still working in the newsroom whom he wishes no ill-will.

A very emotional slide-show was presented by California graphic novel cartoonist Brian Fies who chronicled the tragedy of his home burning down during one of that state’s horrendous brush fires. “A Fire Story” is a compelling short documentary which won an Emmy Award. As Brian stated to our gathering, “it’s great to win an Emmy, but I’d rather have my old house back.”

AWARDS

Nicaraguan cartoonist Pedro Molina was presented with the Courage in Cartooning Award, on behalf of the CRNI (Cartoonists Rights Network International) by Malaysian editorial cartoonist Zunar. The Locher Award for aspiring editorial cartoonist went to the talented Charis Jackson Barrios of NYC. In recognition of those whose cartoons are rejected by editors, a competition ensues among members for the Golden Spike Award. This years’ recipient was Rob Rogers, for obvious reasons, and was awarded a giant golden spike. This year an inaugural award called “the Gable”, was issued by the ACC to an American cartoonist who embodies the most Canadian qualities in terms of world outlook. The 2018 recognition goes to Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes.  

The icing on the cake at the closing gala at this extraordinary convention was being awarded the 2018 George Townsend Award, or “Townsie”. Since 2015, the Association of Canadian Cartoonists has presented the George Townsend Award, named after the first Canadian cartoonist, to two members (one English, another French) of the association it deems to have created the best drawing of the year. I was presented this award for a cartoon I drew February 3, 2017, commenting on the saturation of news related to President Donald Trump. What a huge honour for which I am truly humbled.

Graeme MacKay and ACC President Wes Tyrell at the awards ceremony

Big thanks goes to my friend, and the host of this convention, Jack Ohman, the very talented editorial cartoonist at the Sacramento Bee (also the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner!)  Much of the pull to bring our Canadian bodies down to the California capital was due to his charm, but also to the dynamic enthusiasm of Canada’s Association President Wes Tyrell, whose leadership has energized our group in such difficult times facing our craft. A big tip of the hat goes to these two gentlemen, and we look forward to the next joint gathering of our two associations in Ottawa in 2020.

Posted in: Cartooning Tagged: aaec, ACC, convention, editorial cartoonists, George Townsend, Sacramento, Townsie

#ACC2016 Convention Review

May 9, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

ACC2016-baseball

 

As conventions come and go it’s nice to take stock and review the highlights of such events. This past weekend’s gathering of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists in Toronto was packed full of great venues and intriguing discussions. Tip of the hat goes to Wes Tyrell, whose energy and passion fuelled the conference like no other before this. Here are some of the sights and delights of #ACC2016.

Ryerson University

Photo by Nik Kowsar

Gathering with cartoonists and willingly herding ourselves into classrooms should go quite counter to our very beings. Doubly amazing is the fact that even with a table full of Tim Horton’s coffee and baked items in the back of the classroom, nary a trouble maker abandoned themselves from the stimulating talks to linger around near the exit. During the Friday sessions we were updated by free expression champions CNRI Dan Murphy, crocodile Nik Kowsar, and No-Fly Shahid Mahmood. Preservation superhero Christian Vachon reported on the repatriation chronology of a hoard of Duncan MacPherson cartoons from an American college to the permanent collection of the McCord Gallery in Montreal. Robert LaFontaine extolled the virtues of Quebec’s 1001 Visage Caricature festival, which won over the crowd, and will play host to the next gathering of the ACC in 2018.

Beginning the Saturday morning session a passionate trio of fine art scholars, Josée Desforges, Julie-Anne Godin-Laverdiere, Nancy Perron Rogers, and Professor Dominic Hardy of UQAM dove into a facsinating presentation on Quebec illustration, and in particular, how art influences cartoons.  One of the students recalled the time in 1965, when a Department Store donated to a Montreal shopping centre an exact replica of Michelangelo‘s Statue of David. There was a public outcry from some people, and a public debate ensued about the appropriateness of such a display of male nudity in a shopping plaza. Veteran Toronto cartoonist Mike Constable made a rare appearance and showed off some of his quirky digital animations. Philip Burke took to the stage after a slick short documentary of his life made its debut. The amazing Buffalo born illustrator whose art has graced Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Time, to name a few answered a few questions in advance of his afternoon live painting at the Bedford Academy (see below). Ann Telnaes of the Washington Post and Jack (P-word) Ohman of the Sacromento Bee showed their work reflecting the state of U.S. politics with everything Donald Trump, and presented some of their animations. Jack’s very personal long form comic strip chronicled his dad’s final years and left many eyes in the room wet.



My little YouTube Movie “The Life of An Editorial Cartoonist” made this venue its world public premiere

And this delightful video by the wonderful and clever Dan Murphy, made its debut,

Zoomer Studios, Liberty Village

Friday afternoon was spent at Moses Znaimer‘s Zoomerplex in the west end where the topic of editorial cartoonists and the work that we do was featured for an upcoming issue. The show was moderated by Faith Goldy, peppered with the commentary of her sidekick, and longtime target of satire, Lord Conrad Black, Baron of Crossharbour. Pictured below at the Zoomer roundtable are L-R: Sue Dewar (Toronto Sun), Conrad Black, Terry Mosher (Montreal Gazette), Faith Goldy, Wes Tyrell (Zoomer Mag & ACC President), Michael de Adder (Halifax Chronicle Herald), Andy Donato (Toronto Sun), and Malcolm Mayes (Edmonton Journal). A game of musical chairs happened in-between ads when visiting U.S. cartoonists, Jack Ohman (Sacramento Bee), Kevin Kallaugher (Baltimore Sun), and Ann Telnaes (Washington Post) added their own take on politics to the south as the 2016 appears to be shaping up to be a Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump contest.

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Royal Ontario Museum

Our Friday evening was spent at the big old building on University Avenue famous for its ancient mummies and Grecian urns. It began with a nicely attended public panel called Drawing the Line: Conversations on Press Freedoms. It included two of North America’s great editorial cartoonists, Canada’s Brian Gable of the Globe & Mail, and from the United States, Kevin (Kal) Kallaugher of the Baltimore Sun, and the Economist magazine. Both presented slide shows of their past cartoons and even gave the audience some how-to-draw lessons. Brian taught the gathering how to draw Justing Trudeau, Kevin meanwhile showed the amused crowd how to draw Donald Trump. The third panelist was Mohamed Fahmy who drew nothing, because he had to make a hasty exit, in order to catch a flight… the next morning. If he stayed around he could have joined convention attendees who made their way down the hall to the museum atrium which had been turned into a nightclub where music boomed and food and cocktails lubed the assembled partiers. The theme of the night was called “Punchline” and it featured a recurring show of our editorial cartoons projected on a wall opposite the Futalognkosaurus skeleton. See the short clip below to get a feel for this unique event.

ROM-ScottBurns-ACC2001


For a sense of our evening entertainment here’s a YouTube clip filmed by Wes Tyrell from “Punchline” featuring the work of cartoonists

Philip Burke at the Bedford Academy

What a treat ACC convention attendees experienced when the the upstairs of the Bedford Academy of Yorkville became the venue for a Saturday afternoon show by Philip Burke who painted a spectacular portrait of Wes Tyrell. All the while, we downed pints and ate finger foods while Philip worked his magic and Wes had to sit very still, for 4 hours. This moment was the culmination of year long blossoming friendship by the two that all began because of a simple FB compliment Wes delivered to Philip after being dazzled by the works on exhibit at Buffalo’s Burchfield Penney Art Centre from April 10 – September 13, 2015. Philip’s a very kind soul and is the latest illustrator to associate himself with a group which was traditionally been made up of just editorial cartoonists. He joins other notables such as Anita Kunz, Barry Blitt, and Matt Diffee, as an effort to broaden our scope to involve more like-minded satire artists. All part of the reason we now call ourselves the ACC, formerly the ACEC, the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists.

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Encapsulating the afternoon here’s another YouTube clip by Nik Kowsar

The Bata Shoe Museum

The final evening of the Toronto convention was spent across from the Bloor Street hotel at the Bata Shoe Museum. There, Premier Kathleen Wynne and her partner Jane Rounthwaite joined in to celebrate the lifetime careers of Andy Donato, of the Toronto Sun, and Terry Mosher of the Montreal Gazette. Newspaper big wigs including Andrew Phillips, Lorrie Goldstein joined Post Media grand poobah Paul Godfrey to toast the combined 100 years worth of cartoon stardom. Wes Tyrell, on the eve of his being reappointed for a record 3rd term as Association President wore a splendid pac-man styled suit, which was warmly acknowledged by the Premier in her opening remarks. The occasion was also used to announce the 2016 winner of the ACC Townsie award. Dale Cummings won for his english language submissions, while Christian (Fleg) Daigle won for his French language entry. The final hours were spent trying on some of the wacky shoes and making the most of a tremendous convention. Hats off to Wes and the Toronto team for a great job. Now looking forward to Val David in 2018.

 BATA-ScottBurns-ACC3058




Photos courtesy of the following, Christian Vachon, Scott Burns, Tim Snyder, Wes Tyrell, Jennifer Jones, and Nik Kowsar. For more precise descriptions of each photo please visit this album on Graeme MacKay’s Flickr Account

The Toronto Sun sent a reporter to the Bata Shoe Museum reception. Here’s the text of their coverage:

Donato’s 50 years of work celebrated – even by premier

Wynne says she holds no grudges for criticisms

BY JENNY YUEN, TORONTO SUN

Veteran Toronto Sun cartoonist Andy Donato draws it the way he sees it.

In one of his memorable pieces, Donato drew Hamilton East voters with “butt heads” after the city re-elected then-beleaguered Liberal MP Sheila Copps in 1988.

BATA-1297553654427_ORIGINALThe mayor of Steeltown threw a fit and immediately got on the horn with Postmedia’s CEO Paul Godfrey, who was publisher of the Toronto Sun at the time.

“He said, ‘Mr. Godfrey, it’s the mayor. Your paper with that guy Donato embarrassed us like never before. I know how many calls I’ve had. I know how many calls I’m getting. I want Donato fired and a pledge that you’ll never do that again to the people of Hamilton,’” Godfrey recalled Saturday night at the Bata Shoe Museum, where Donato was honoured for his 50 years of work.

When Godfrey and the mayor agreed to speak off the record, Godfrey asked if he thought the cartoon was funny.

“He basically said, ‘You promise you won’t tell anyone? I found it hilarious,’” he said, as Godfrey’s audience erupted in laughter. “I told him, ‘When you hang up, you tell your people you called me as the publisher of the newspaper and you demanded all those things. That will let you off the hook.’ He hung up. Two minutes later, he calls back. ‘When this fury does down, can I get your original?’”

The Association of Canadian Cartoonists honoured Donato, 79, and prolific Montreal cartoonist Terry Mosher by presenting them with personalized hockey jerseys.

“It’s a great honour,” Donato said at the awards ceremony. “I’m just kind of knocked out that the premier is here. I’ve been tough on her and she’s a delight. That’s the problem with this business is we attack these people. I’m still going to criticize her, but that’s part of the job.”

Donato said he is proud of the aforementioned Hamilton cartoon, but also the drawing of “The American Dream” in 1979, depicting the soldiers raising the Iwo Jima flag from the backside of Ayatollah Khomeini, which won an award as best editorial cartoon in the world the following year.

“We had posters printed out, it was on T-shirts,” he said. “All the customs guys at the airport had buttons.”

King Wes Tyrell

King Wes Tyrell

Wes Tyrell, president of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists, said Donato continues to thrive, even in the digital age.

“He has been able to consistently deliver when many careers for many other cartoonists would last for five or 10 years, Andy has proved he is trans-generational,” Tyrell said. “That’s not an easy thing. That’s an element that gets a lot of respect from cartoonists.”

Premier Kathleen Wynne expressed gratitude for editorial cartoonists.

“I will just start by saying, I hold no grudges,” she said. “The work you do is so important. It does make us laugh, but I know you’re very serious about what you do. You’re speaking truth to power and your cartoons really capture where we’re at as a society.” (Source: Toronto Sun)

 

Posted in: Cartooning Tagged: ACC, acec, cartooning, convention, editorial cartoonists, political, Toronto

Why @HarpersGotaGos GotaGo

August 12, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

HarpersGotaGoUnknownIt’s election time in Canada and with it comes a golden period of time when satirists are busy skewering the very folks begging for our votes. Social media websites and apps have enabled anyone with a political sense the ability to satirize and join a realm once dominated mostly by newspaper columnists and editorial cartoonists. One doesn’t have to search far on the world wide web to find altered zinger photos of well known celebrities or politicians meant to mock them. Some are hilarious and great, some not so much. In almost every case these funnies often have no source and there is never any credit given to the author or photographer whose work was used in the humor.

Increasingly, the satirical value of editorial cartoons are being re-posted on social media by individuals or action groups determined to score points against political opponents. Because we cartoonists sign these cartoons with our monikers the source citations are automatic. Based on the number of shares, retweets and re-postings that editorial cartoons generally receive online it isn’t hard to argue that the Internet has boosted this form of satire immensely and kept their shelf life going way longer compared to when audiences only read them on newsprint. Which leads us naturally to the 21th century lament that if only each artist/musician were paid for each time their work was viewed/heard online, we’d live in a perfect world, but let’s leave that discussion for another time. By in large, sharing editorial cartoons is encouraged by cartoonists. It keeps the art form relevant and very much alive, and even though compensation is low or non-existent, artists hope that eventually a fair pricing system will  be worked out sometime in the not so distant future.

I make it very easy to share my work since I post cartoons to this site, on Facebook, on Twitter. My newspaper, the Hamilton Spectator, post them to spec.com, and my syndicate Artizans.com post them for sale on its site, and then numerous newspapers and aggregators will pick up my cartoons and re-post to theirs. So after one cartoon has been uploaded to the internet it gets duplicated many multiple times as it’s sent out in various directions without any of the artist’s control thereafter.

Twitter-HarpersGotaGoEventually, some of those orphaned copies end up in the dark recesses of the cyber sewer when they appear on the screens of dubious characters nicely stereotyped as social misfit adults living in the basements of their mothers, and clad only in their underwear with their photo apps busy chopping away. That’s the picture I began to see of the person I had brief encounter with on Twitter with an account that goes by @HarpersGotaGo (@HGG).

Editorial cartoonists, like me, have been performing some voluntary service for our craft by policing the rising popularity of sharing editorial cartoons on the Internet. Those who rip off other cartoonists ideas are monitored, and those who alter cartoons to fit their own agenda are immediately called out. It’s quite easy to pin down authentic work from anonymous satirists based on their propensity to use the font Comic Sans, as this Washington Post story points out. Here’s a recent example of a Bob Englehart cartoon on the June 2015 Confederate flag controversy that was altered by a group celebrating the US Supreme Court’s decision to uphold marriage equality – perhaps for noble intent to get a message out, but a definite no-no since permission was never granted by the artist.

Harpersgotago1   Harpersgotago5When @HGG, whose true identity remains a mystery, tweeted me a cartoon that was so obviously reworded with the moniker of the artist erased out an alarm bell went off in my head. The cartoon had the familiar style of Malcolm Mayes, longtime editorial cartoonist at the Edmonton Journal. I called the account holder out on it and then he/she got lippy.  Further inspection of @HGG’s photo archive found various examples of unauthorized hatchet jobs on cartoons by Tim Dolighan, Patrick LaMontagne, Greg Perry, Steve Nease, and recent National Newspaper Award winning cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon from the Halifax Chronicle Herald. One thing editorial cartoonists have in common is the keen ability to tell one cartoonist’s style from another even when the moniker is rubbed out. For the record, none of my work was posted, intact or altered.

Harpersgotago2 Harpersgotago4 Harpersgotago3
Still, I nicely eluded to @HGG with my limited tweet abilities that the alterations were breaches of copyright, and with the erasing of monikers and hosting of the cartoons on the account @HGG was essentially guilty of plagiarism.

Then I was blocked, as were the other cartoonists I cc’d and whose work was altered without permission.

It’s ironic that the account holder @HGG, who has every right to satirize the Prime Minister for unethical behavior, proves to have his/her own unethical behavior by plagiarizing the true foot soldiers of Canadian satire. Some may ask why bother paying attention to this character, he/she doesn’t have much of a following, but the account holder seems to have no problem allowing these altered copies to remain on their photo feed making them available to whomever wants to retweet them. Shame on @HGG, and if anything @HarpersGotaGosGotaGo.


HarpersGotaGo

What does it say about people that this image got 11 retweets!

Update – Despite being reported to Twitter administration by several affected cartoonists nothing has been done to discipline @HarpersGotaGo (@HGG). Reporting, and indeed this blog entry would not have even been necessary were it not for @HGG’s passive reaction to being called out for altering editorial cartoons and his/her stubborn refusal to remove the above examples. Usually, when I politely point out unauthorized altered cartoons people are generally apologetic, and take the offending images down, and everyone moves on. Not @@HGG! It’s like a virtual staring contest, and admittedly it has become personal. Yes, the above images were finally cleared from the archives after the public shaming began, and there has been an attempt by @HarpersGotoGo to create original content (despite poor spelling and grammar – see right). Yet, even a week later, after being called out, the icon bearing a drawing of Stephen Harper by Malcolm Mayes remains on this account (cropped from one of these cartoons), and I’ve been labelled a troll for persisting in the shaming by this obstinate character. Another twitter user was threatened by @@HGG to have his computer hacked into for daring to call the plagiarism out. Meanwhile, @HGG tweets continue to rail against the evil Prime Minister, while paying no mind to the unethical reuse of intellectual property. We could all do cartoonists a favour by schooling this individual and his/her blind followers on Twitter. Thanks to websites like the Daily Cartoonist, the message is getting out.

HarpersGotaGo-banner

If there is one good that comes from the poor behaviour of one bullheaded user on Twitter it is that they become a useful example of how hijacking intellectual property serves as a warning to others. Way to go @HarpersGotaGo!


Update, Oct 2017: RIP @HarpersGotaGo. It was renamed Justin’sPromise after Harper’s Conservatives lost in the 2015 election and the Twitter handle appears to be abandoned. The last tweet being sent out Feb 8, 2016.




Social Media

 

Cartoonist Graeme MacKay exposes Twitter account altering cartoons for political purposes http://t.co/z24cEwdKOm via @dailycartoonist

— CRNI (@CRNetInt) August 15, 2015

Graeme MacKay exposes Twitter account altering cartoons for political purposes http://t.co/RSQvsqsQG5

— Alan Gardner (@dailycartoonist) August 14, 2015

 

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Posted in: Cartooning Tagged: cartoon, copyright, editorial cartoonists, plagiarism, SMDA

When cartoonists think alike

July 22, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

2014-07-22-INT

The above cartoon marks the moment the proverbial earthquake rocked my afternoon yesterday and stopped time altogether.

My challenge was to come up with something on the tragic events unfolding in eastern Ukraine following the horrific Malaysia Air jet plane crash, allegedly brought down by a missile launched in the war torn region. There are many angles to comment on the story, and my pen was pointed towards the main actor in the area where the world’s fingers were also pointing at in growing numbers. Vladimir Putin’s well known skills at outdoor sport and hunting was a natural visual to begin with followed by something distasteful to comment on in the end result.  I thought the idea was weird enough that no one had yet depicted it.

Throughout my day while drawing cartoons I often check in on the world through my eye on Facebook, Twitter, and various news websites to get up to speed with the half hour by half hour events. By 3pm yesterday afternoon as I was just starting to add colour to my scanned ink drawing the first image to pop up on my Facebook feed was this dazzling cartoon by the British cartoonist Peter Brookes. The exact same story, although much better executed by Mr. Brookes with the array of trophy heads, and to top it off it looks like he drew it last Friday for the Saturday paper:

PeterBrookes

The options I had before me given the situation was to: a) try to forget I saw it, and continue on; or b) Stop and come up with another plan. I chose b, and avoided the humiliation. I ended up drawing this and getting the subject off my back and thereby satisfying me enough to move on to other global catastrophes.

Incidentally, the cartoon I was working on for my Saturday paper was one on the news of numerous RCMP charges against Mike Duffy. Coupled with that, was another story suggesting sharks were spotted in Lake Ontario, which were later revealed to be pranks by an attention seeking PR promotion:

Saturday July 19, 2014

The Globe & Mail’s David Parkins went for a similar gag, obviously seeing the same resemblance I’ve seen in Mike Duffy between the shape of his head and that of a beluga whale:

Parkins

Both of us would’ve been working on the same cartoon the previous Friday. It all goes to show that the same ideas do enter the minds of different cartoonists at the same time. Too often we cartoonists are quick to scream “copy cat” when we think our ideas are being ripped off. Sure, it happens, but most of the time it’s just our weird brains working in tandem. The trick to avoiding it from happening at all is to strive to do weirder stuff.

Posted in: Cartooning Tagged: cartooning, David Parkins, editorial cartoonists, Peter Brookes

Reflections on our time in Cuba

May 24, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

ACEC/ACDE Poster Art, Havana 2014Español  | Français |  English

When my professional group, the long winded sounding The Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists (ACEC), gets together every couple of years, we normally meet in some Canadian city, talk a bit of shop, drink beer and listen to a few of us who bring along harmonicas while others strum guitars. The odd time we play host to a few foreign cartoonists who were oppressed in their countries, although the American Association does a better job of hosting foreign cartoonists with help from the Cartoonists Rights Network. Never before have we gone to another country where governments have a record of repressing free expressionists by clamping down on political satire directed their way.  We changed that this year.  In May, 16 cartoonists plus approximately 10 associates ventured to Havana, Cuba, for the cartoonist convention.  This visit included whirlwind tours of UNESCO World Heritage protected-towns of Trinidad and Cienfuegos.

Cuba-WPF

Updated in 2020 (Cuba has slipped to 171/280)

When I returned to the office after a 10 day visit to Cuba, I was met with a bit of grumpiness by a couple of my colleagues.  I was reminded of this recent column and the association choosing a place where press freedom ranked #170 out of 180 countries. So with that came digs about when we were planning to host future conventions in places like North Korea or Nigeria.

The ranking is quite disturbing, as it just barely scores better than Iran, Syria and North Korea, which is dead last on the list. Interestingly,  the mammoth nation of China, which has increasingly become quite trade-chummy over the past decade with Western governments (Canada included) ranks behind Cuba at #175. Canada, by the way, is #18, the USA is #46, and toping the list at #1 is Finland.

(The Poster Studio) Estudio Taller Babalu Aye, Havana Cuba

(The Poster Studio) Estudio Taller Babalu Aye, Havana Cuba

Go further in the ranking of Cuba and one will find that the island country is near the bottom of the list for open markets, regulatory efficiency, limited government, and the rule of law. Raul Castro rules over the state in a rather quieter bureaucratic way than his brother Fidel, nonetheless, he is firmly in control of the state levers and the Cuban Communist Party.  Agriculture, the public service, mining, wages, and productivity are all at the bottom of the barrel, and there’s no arguing against the facts spelled out in the bar graphs and pie charts — Cuba’s economic and political freedoms are squarely mired in a deep hell hole.

Illustration by Adán, Havana

Illustration by Adán, Havana

The American trade embargo certainly does not help matters, and it is often brought up by the locals as the main source of woe that Cuba endures. Their government successfully uses the pain of the embargo to give reason to anything that goes wrong in Cuba. Although, even that is wearing thin on weary Cubans as they openly question creative reasoning by their masters to blame the Yanks for Cuba’s corruption, and the lack of freedoms and rule of law so engrained in the machine that runs the country. We Canadians look to our friends in the USA wondering why they fuss so grudgingly about isolating a harmless country long deserted by an extinct Soviet cold warrior. At the same time, it’s kind of nice to find an oasis on Earth that hasn’t been polluted by the over-commercialization we find everywhere in the West from golden arch restaurants to monstrous box stores selling the goods from international sweat shops.

Yet the island country endures and chugs along against a current of western values that are clearly polar opposite to their own. The consequence are a people who fully and whole-heartedly embrace art, be it music, visual, and/or performance art, and it spills out of doorways and on to the streets like no other place in the 21st century.

Cuba-Canada_gathering

ByAndez

By Andez, Cienfuegos

What we discovered in Cuba is a very robust, diverse, and creative group of illustrators and cartoonists. Together we mounted a nice exhibit of our illustrations and cartoons at the Vitrina de Valonia Gallery in the heart of old Havana.  No, they aren’t allowed to directly skewer their governments to the degree in which we in the North have the freedom to do, but they are keenly aware about how much they can push the envelope to the furthest edges which won’t find them locked away in prison. If I drew the kind of sex cartoons Chisp@ of Cienfuegos gets away with in Cuba, for example, I may not be thrown in jail, but it wouldn’t take long before my bosses would send me packing from the Spectator. Perhaps it’s simply typical of  tropical societies, but clearly the culture of the naked form is better tolerated in Cuban illustrations than in cold Canada, so long as it doesn’t cross the line into pornography, because possession of that will find one behind prison bars!

Los niños de la Guerra by Alfredo Martirena

Los niños de la Guerra by Alfredo Martirena

Much of the Cuban editorial cartoons I came across are directed quite predictably at the United States, and not necessarily obsessing against the embargo. The folks I met are very much aware of news events beyond their shores, and are way more up to speed than I can ever be on the latest movies and Netflix mini-series. They may not all have the Internet feeding into their home computers, but they certainly have access to it through their cell phones, tablets and office computers.  They have e-mail, they’re on Facebook, and they’re very much aware of the challenging economic times their mighty neighbour to the north is going through.

The housing crisis, the occupy movement, and the Obamacare mess have provided Cubans a front row seat to view the parade of pitfalls of capitalism and the widening gap between the super rich and the growing poor. Today’s hardships have darkened the once colourful picture Cubans had of the USA, making people I met wonder how pathetically desperate fellow countrymen must be to board rafts bound for the the shores of Florida in the 21st century.

by Ramses Morales Izquierdo

by Ramses Morales Izquierdo

Ramses Morales Izquierdo found out from the internationally known Cuban illustrator Ares, that a bunch of us cartoonists were staying in Cuba after our general convention wrapped up in Havana.  Not even a minute had gone by during the time I was checking out my room at the Iberostar Hotel in the beautiful old town of Trinidad that the phone rang with Ramses on the line, welcoming me. From that moment on, he became our pal and he guided us behind the scenes into the town’s archives where his gallery is based.  He showed us parts of his beloved town that aren’t the usual stops for tourists. He came along with us to the newer and bigger city of Cienfuegos, and, along with the very talented Angel Fernandez Quintana (Andez), organized an impromptu gathering of local illustrators near our Hotel Jagua.

AresIllustration

By Aristides E. Hernandez Guerrero (Ares)

Growing up, Ramses’ mother advised him that he was going to learn English, unlike the rest of the kids in his school who were taught Russian as a second language. The consequence of that decision is someone who is extremely well read and informed about the world around him. He is very passionate about his town and country and speaks with an intensity that is very honest about Cuba.  He is quite optimistic about its future. Ramses is very insistent that his country be regarded as a multicultural one belonging to the first world, and an integral part of North America.

(Update: In 2015, Ramses was featured in this CBC news report (beginning at the 1:09 min mark) when the U.S. and Cuba were negotiating an end to a half century of distrust and suspicion.)  

Raul Castro has somewhat loosened the government’s grip on private investment. Reports say the reforms aren’t going so well. Evidently however, free-enterprise is cropping up in the form of family run Paladar restaurants and B&Bs. There are obvious signs of entrepreneurship and visitors can see it in the clothes people wear, and in their watches and accessories. There are the haves, and have-nots, and it’s not based on how connected one is to the regime, but how hard one works. There’s also push-back towards the new free enterprise. Off the main square of Plaza Carillo in Trinidad is the Bar Floridita. This is not the one made famous by Ernest Hemingway that includes a statue of him at the end of a bar where tourists get their photo taken, but a replica of the place.  It’s one of several that have opened up across the island serving drinks with the same prices one would pay if they were at a Kelsey’s franchise in Canada. It’s all great for tourists, but to Ramses, it’s akin to Starbucks moving in and running the old cafe across the street out of business.

Click here for a full gallery of photos

What I’ve learned from this trip was this is not our grandfather’s Cuba.  It’s only a matter of time before Starbucks and the big box stores make their way to the shores of Cuba.  And it will make big news just like when the first McDonald’s opened years ago in Moscow and Beijing.  It is with hope that Cuba takes a page out of China’s book of how to expand its free markets for greater prosperity. Finally, here’s hoping our friends south of the 49th Parallel will soon rethink their relationship with this beautiful, historic country and its people and let them choose their own destiny unencumbered by old grievances and greedy ex-pat descendants from the Batista era.

Update, January 28, 2015: Adrienne Arsenault of the CBC reports on US/Cuban negotiations to normalize relations. In the video attached to this link.

SOCIAL MEDIA

This article was posted to the DailyCartoonist.com, a terrific website covering news about professional cartoonists, webcomics, movies and animation, and magazine gag cartoonists. It bills itself as the source for industry news for the professional cartoonist. Click here to see the rantings of a genuine 21st century American cold warrior reacting to our tour.

Super Special ACEC Action Cards ***Uncle Sam Edition***, by Wes Tyrell

ACEC player cards

 Message from ACEC President Wes Tyrell, May 25, 2014

At this time most of our cartoonist adventurers have returned to the homeland (Dan Murphy may be setting up a studio in the SierraMaestra as we speak and will only be available via wireless from now on).

Our ACEC/ACDE Conference was by any standard a terrific endeavour and I think now most are in agreement that conferences can be held quite successfully in foreign countries. Our hosts proved to be the most charming of individuals, a delightful blend of veterans and youngsters, all with great admiration and curiosity for the northern invaders.

If anything was learned by meeting these people it was that their desire to observe and create is ceaseless and is that not the most inspirational of elements one hopes to come away with while visiting new colleagues?

The sights and sounds will reverberate for a long time and hopefully will pop up in strange and interesting fashions in your work. Our new friends there including Ares, Adan, Laz, Falco, Martirena, Ramses, Angel and the rest have at the same time learned a little about what it means to be Canadian and how our brand of cartooning can perhaps teach them some different approaches.

Our conversations to this affect were, in that Canadian way, not heavy handed or intimidating and they all thanked us for a velvet approach. Cartooning in Cuba presents many challenges and these characters are savvy navigators, able to satisfy their own instincts while presenting socially palatable work.

Many new friends; a very successful gallery exhibit; some comedic presentations made more unusual with the three language translation magic of our friend Michele; old car tours; great eating and drinking – memories were just piled one on top of the other for all.

I hope members will be encouraged to share photos and videos as well as sketches so we can compile an ibook or equivalent as a terrific memento of this fine time.

Our momentum going forward is strong and our next endeavour will look to bring together cartoonists from all over Canada and the globe in my hometown of Toronto in 2016. This will give us an opportunity to gather members and friends who were unable to join us at this year’s conference as we put on a show that promotes the excellence of Canadian cartooning. This is really the first strength of our association and something you should all be proud of.

Our Ontario members starting with the great Donato, Gable, Mou, Dewar, MacKay and their respective papers will be encouraged to participate in order to remind everyone that cartooning is alive and well in the beautiful city of Toronto.

 

Posted in: Canada, Cartooning, Cuba, International Tagged: ACC, acec, cartoonists, Cuba, Daily Cartoonist, editorial cartoonists, freedom of expression, travel
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This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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