Origins of "Cartooning"

The power and the responsibility of political cartooning were illustrated by the Prophet Mohammad cartoon debacle and the controversial cartoon exhibition on the Holocaust in Iran.

Conceived by the French cartoonist Plantu, ‘Cartooning for Peace’ is an initiative born on October 16, 2006 at the UN Headquarters in New York. Twelve of the most renowned political cartoonists from all over the world participated in a two-day conference to help us ‘Unlearn intolerance’. The conference was accompanied by an exhibition.

A movement was born.

  The French Ministry of Culture hosted the third ‘Cartooning’ event in Paris on April 11, 2007.

The fourth edition of ‘Cartooning’ took place in Brussels to coincide with World Press Freedom day (3 May). The event was hosted by the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) and the Belgian Center for Comic-Strip Art (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée).

On May 4, the cartoonists participated in a Policy Spotlight debate at the Brussels think-tank ‘Friends of Europe’.

The fifth edition of "Cartooning for Peace" took place in Antibes, France from 20 October 2007 to 30 March at the Peynet Museum (Musée Peynet et du Dessin humoristique, Place nationale, Antibes). A debate with the cartoonists was held on 19 October. Plantu and fifteen other cartoonists from 10 countries participated in the exhibition organized by the Salon International de la Caricature, du Dessin de Presse et d’Humour de Saint-Just-Le-Martel.

The sixth edition was held at Emory University in Atlanta (Georgia) from 27 October to 5 December 2007.

A special edition under the title "Cartooning for Human Rights" was held in Rome from 10 to 12 December 2007 to coincide with the Human Rights Day.

Since Rome, Cartooning to Peace has continued its journey around the world, from Ramallah in Palestine to Wellington in New-Zealand (2008).

A selection of Cartoons, further galleries are available on www.CartooningforPeace.org