Thought up by the French cartoonist Plantu, Cartooning for Peace is an initiative born on 16 October 2006 at UN headquarters in New York. A two-day conference organised by Kofi Annan, the then Secretary General of the United Nations, brought together the twelve best-known political cartoonists in the world for "unlearning intolerance".
An exhibition was staged at the same time as the meeting.
A movement was born!
Learning materials for use with primary and secondary schoolchildren accompany some of our exhibitions.
The youngest students can thus widen their overall understanding of the exhibitions and be made aware of some of the main themes of the Cartooning for Peace action.
The Caen Memorial has elected to support Cartooning for Peace and is presenting Opinion Spots, an audacious exhibition of a selection of cartoons from all five continents which recalls the importance of maintaining the utmost vigilance of opinion and judgement in an increasingly complex and threatened world.
Italian cartoonist Mauro Biani received the 1st Prize for "Vignette per l'Europa" (cartoons for Europe) at the latest edition of the "Festival Internazionale" in Ferrara (Italy).
Cartooning for Peace pay tribute to the Arab revolutions with the album "Dégage!" (Get out!). 16 international cartoonists took part in the project, through cartoons and comics to deal with these events.
Syria continues to descend into chaos and civil war.
Observers of the Arab League have recently decided to leave Syria following the upsurge of violence. The UN has tried to vote last week a text condemning repression by Bashar Assad, in vain. Russia and China continue to impose their veto any UN resolution. Meanwhile, the violence are growing, the army deployed its tanks, sending shells, torture and kill.
The situation is absolutely dramatic and international tension is to its peak.
The end of the year marks the time for balance. Eventful, including the revolutions that shook the Arab world since the beginning of the year, 2011 will also be remembered for the European economic crisis that disrupts global economy while the famine continues to spread.
This year freedom of expression has unfortunately been the target of many attacks, such as the aggression of the Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat and the burning of the Charlie Hebdo weekly in Paris.
And good news in all this? Cartooning for Peace blew its first five candles out, it can count, at today, on a hundred cartoonists from around the world and continues to export its exhibitions worldwide.
Wishes for 2012? The word “peace” can finally be among the events of the end of next year. And if for somebody it is an utopia, we must continue to hope.
Two prestigious awards recently honoured the commitment of Ali Ferzat, Syrian cartoonist and opponent of the regime.
The 2011 Prize for Press Freedom was anounced by Reporters Without Borders and newspaper Le Monde, on Wednesday, December 7.  Ali Ferzat was unable to attend, he is staying in Kuwait after being seriously wounded by Syrian security forces. Plantu read a letter from his Syrian counterpart: “I would have liked to have been with you … to take part in this beautiful event, he said, I dedicate this award to the martyrs, to those who have been injured and to those who struggle for freedom . ”
Since 1992, Reporters Without Borders prize honors the work of journalists and media who have contributed significantly to the freedom of the press. The weekly Burmese Weekly Eleven News was also awarded this year by the jury.
On December 14, Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament in Strasbourg solemnly presented the Sakharov Prize to Ali Ferzat and four other activists of the Arab Spring. Ali Ferzat sent a video message to the audience.
For 20 years, the Sakharov Prize, named after the physicist and Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, is awarded each year to defenders of human rights. It was created by the European Parliament.
In the aftermath of Arab revolutions, new elections took place in Tunisia (October 23), Morocco (November 25) and Egypt (November 29).
Each time, Islamist political parties took power :
-Â Â Â in Tunisia, the party Ennahda, led by Hamadi Jebali, was the indisputable winner
-Â Â Â in Morocco, the Justice and Development Party won the simple majority, behind its General Secretary Abdelilah Benkirane,
-Â Â Â In Egypt, the Liberty and Justice Party, political organ of Muslim Brotherhood, would have won the election, followed by Hizb Al Nour, the Salafi party.
Silvio Berlusconi resigned as President of the Council (Prime Minister), on saturday, November 12. Mario Monti was appointed as his successor by President Giorgio Napolitano, to form a new government, while crowds celebrated outside the Quirinal Presidential Palace. However, Silvio Berlusconi keeps his seat as a member of Parliament.
The head office of the satyrical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was burnt last night, because of the editorial choice of the week : the newspaper renamed “Charia Hebdo” and Mohammed appointed “editor-in-chief”.
5 years after the affair of Mohammed’s caricatures, history repeats itself.
Tonight at around 1:00, one or two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the editorial offices, partly destroying equipment. Today’s frontpage had circulated on social networks, including Twitter. Charlie Hedbo received threats on its Facebook page at the beginning of the week, and its website was hacked last night.
On the occasion of the 22nd Press at School week, the Cartooning for Peace cartoonists and Visa pour l'Image photographers are supporting CLEMI. The organisation is this year covering the news through photography and cartoon in an action taking place from 21 to 26 March 2011.
One of the spearheads of Cartooning for Peace is its involvement in the Near East. On several occasions Cartooning for Peace has hung up its hat and exposed cartoonists to opinions, confessions and diverging commitments; they have, however, known how to share a common goal without animosity.
