Members of the AAPA met with the editorial cartoonist Jean Plantu, whose political cartoons have illustrated the pages of Le Monde newspaper for the last fifty years, at the Maison des Photographes in Paris.
Himself accompanied by a security agent, Plantu discussed the threats to the freedom of expression faced by cartoonists, not only from authoritarian regimes or religious fanatics, but also within our own Western “liberal” societies.
The art of caricature and humoristic expression has become increasingly difficult, he opined, with the advent of social media where the diffusion of drawings is no longer constrained by national or language barriers.
He confirmed the adage expressed by French comic, Pierre Desproges: “We can laugh at everything, but not with everyone.”
Following the controversy surrounding the publication of caricatures of Muhammad by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, Plantu co-founded in 2006, with Kofi Annan, Cartooning for Peace, a world-wide organization that promotes freedom of expression and dialogue between diverse cultures.