Cartooning for Peace uses the powerful educational value of editorial cartoons to raise awareness, with a smile, amongst young and old alike, of major social issues. This new school year promises to be another one full of encounters and debates.
On 24 September, Cartooning for Peace celebrates its 20th anniversary! The theme is ‘Democracy under pressure: drawing to resist’.
To mark the occasion, the organisation is taking over the Théâtre de la Concorde for a major, festive community event dedicated to the fight for democracy, and will give young people a voice through the creation of a collective mural.
In 2025, with the support of the BNP Paribas Foundation and the Ministry of Culture, Cartooning for Peace developed this educational resource, which explores the potential impacts of AI on human rights (work, creativity, the environment, data protection, discrimination, etc.).
In the second half of 2026, as part of this partnership, a series of initiatives will be rolled out around this exhibition in collaboration with organisations from two of the BNP Paribas Foundation’s partner networks: the network of local missions in Paris and the network of ‘Second Chance’ schools (in the 75th, 92nd and 93rd departments). The programme includes: two training sessions for education professionals, 14 double workshops for young people, and two showcase events with young people from each network, featuring an exhibition of the drawings produced during the workshops.
Activities (combined workshops, discussions and practical sessions) in 15 prisons throughout the year, centred around the exhibitions “All Migrants!”, “Draw Me Ecology” and “Cartooning for Peace”.
This project is being run again this year as part of the exhibition “Artificial Intelligence: Rights First!”, and is taking place in 14 media libraries across the department. Two training sessions for education professionals and 14 dual-session workshops (discussion and practical activities) will be organised throughout the year.
In November 2026, Cartooning for Peace will be visiting Taiwan, with Kak (President of CFP) and Stellina, a Franco-Taiwanese cartoonist and member of the Cartooning for Peace network, to lead a training course on teaching through editorial cartoons for Taiwanese teachers of French. They will also be meeting with secondary school pupils.
Stellina will also lead workshops in Seoul as part of International French Teachers’ Day.
Other projects are currently being renewed:
A project centred on the exhibitions ‘We’re All Migrants!’ and ‘Draw Me Gender Equality’, involving leisure centres, secondary schools in the town, the local youth employment initiative and others: training, joint workshops and a showcase to highlight the young people’s work.
This project is organised as part of the ‘Dessins & Libertés’ programme, which promotes civic education through culture and freedom of expression, and forms part of the new ‘Parcours Citoyens’ initiative organised by the Yvelines Department. Press cartoonists will meet secondary school pupils in the Yvelines during workshops, discussions and practical sessions on press cartooning.
Centred around the ‘Drawings for Peace’ exhibition, the project involves making the exhibition available to one school in the city of Toulouse for one month, giving all teachers the opportunity to use it to work with their pupils on the themes addressed by the drawings – fundamental freedoms, human rights, discrimination – as well as three workshop-discussions for three classes.
During these sessions of discussion and exchange, participants discover what editorial cartoons are, learn to interpret and analyse them, whilst comparing their different interpretations. This creates a space for discussion in which everyone can express their opinion, be open to the views of others and develop their own thinking. These sessions are led by a political cartoonist, who shares their experience, the essentials of their craft and their commitment to the cause.
In a year marked by key democratic milestones, these educational initiatives seem more necessary than ever to sustain a calm debate and foster critical thinking.
Illustration credit: Safaa Odah (Palestine)
