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Posts tagged with: Cartoon

Pink Hitler irks Sicilians

A series of billboards have been placed across the city of Palermo in Sicily with the image of Adolf Hitler dressed in Pink with the caption “Change your style. Don’t follow your leader” while the swastika on Hitler’s armband has been replaced by a heart. It seems this has sparked a row across Italy many and a local association of wartime resistance fighters were offended by this billboard asking for an immediate withdrawl.

The leader of the World War II veterans association said “We do not understand how the city authorities could have allowed such a billboard to be installed, and we demand its immediate withdrawal, the posters were a “serious” offense against all those who fought fascism, and violate our democratic and constitutional principles.”

The advertising agency behind the posters told Italian media the aim was to ridicule Hitler, not minimize his crimes. It is a very interesting way to rebuke a concept touching a sensitive nerve within the Muslim community, most Muslims will give a knowing smile to say “Back at ya” in light of the controversial facebook Draw Mohammed Day cartoon issue.

Maybe instead of banning the entire facebook and 600 more websites in Pakistan, the Muslim community could have engaged in such forms of counter intelligence where funny posters of the swastika could have been place around the world showing that its not funny to make fun of sensitive issue, even at the cost of freedom of expression, one cannot blatantly ridicule the sentiments of people



PRESS CONFERENCE: Protest Against Nationwide Government Ban of Facebook

For Immediate Release

Defenders of Internet Freedom Protest Against Nationwide Government Ban of Facebook

On Wednesday 19th May 2010, the Lahore High Court ordered the banning of Facebook across Pakistan. Facebook is the world’s most popular social media network and is used by over 400 million globally. In Pakistan, over 2 million people use Facebook to stay in touch with their friends and family, conduct business, manage events, and share photos, news, and other content. A few days ago, a page called “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” was created on Facebook asking users to submit drawings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on 20th May 2010. This page, interpreted as blasphemous, has triggered a nationwide ban on the entire Facebook domain.

While we recognize that sites on the Internet are used to spew hatred and incite violence, we steadfastly believe that governments have no right to control access to information. We believe that every citizen has an inalienable right to freely access information and by censoring Facebook, the Government of Pakistan has taken away that right. This action will have a very negative impact on Pakistan, especially considering that countless small businesses, nonprofit organizations, restaurants, art galleries, magazines, and media outlets use Facebook to conduct day-to-day business and share information with their stakeholders.

In 2006, the Supreme Court of Pakistan banned the entire blogspot.com domain for over 18 months over a similar incident where only one blog carried blasphemous cartoons. Thousands of Pakistani bloggers were deprived of the freedom to express themselves and interact with others. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority now has the ability to block specific pages on the Internet and could have banned just the single blasphemous page. As members of civil society and professionals who depend on social media networks for our daily communications, we demand the immediate restoration of Facebook and an end to Internet censorship by the Government of Pakistan.

We would like to invite you to a press conference to discuss the worrying trend of Internet censorship and the resulting impact on civil liberties and the free and unfettered exchange of ideas and information.

Date: 20th May 2010
Time: 5:00 pm
Venue: Karachi Press Club

PS attempts are being made to live stream the event from the Press Club, follow this space for updates, if we are able to pull this off


Draw Muhammad Day – The Muslim Response

I fully support the suggestion of this response to the Draw Muhammed Facebook page controversy, makes a compelling argument to strive for peace and tolerance. This issue was previously discussed previously on this blog

Join the Facebook Group page to Honour the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) and also the Fan Page here, not in reaction, but more as a proactive step trying to show the world religious tolerance and the the fact that how Islam preaches peace, tolerance and respect

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0v3-3yCbr8[/youtube]



Brazilian cartoonist on Gaza Genocide

[singlepic id=1005 w=100 h=240 float=right]Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff creates artworks that call on the world to condemn Israeli holocaust of Gaza. 

IT IS CALLED GENOCIDE.
AND THE WORLD REMAINS SILENT….!

Carlos Latuff’s statement on his Deviant Art website

I’d like to beg all viewers to spread this image anywhere, as a way to expose Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. Use it on t-shirts, posters, banners. Reproduce it in zines, papers, magazines, and make it visible everywhere. Here is the high-resolution version for printing purposes: link]    

Thank you in the name of every suffering Palestinian.