2009 ACA cartoonist of the year Peter Broelman weighs in on racism, hypocrisy and cartoons
How soft have the Victorian police force and our politicians become? Hardened by years of the spectre that was Underbelly, it now takes a simple cartoon published on the sub-continent to get under the skin of Victoria's finest and Julia Gillard.
Last week Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard's life was threatened by Jihadists in Denmark. His cartoon, one of twelve published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005, caused riots and deaths in Islamic hotspots around the world. Many Westerners justified it all as freedom of speech.
Fast forward to 2010 and the shoe is on the other foot. Indian cartoonist Prasad has depicted Victorian police as Klu Klux Klan, a silly cartoon but one designed to make an impact - and impact it did. It's just as provocative as Westergaard's efforts but suddenly the mantra of freedom of speech is thrown out the window as our Acting Prime Minister throws her weight behind the outrage expressed by those in Victoria.
It was only a couple of years ago that an Indonesian cartoonist drew John Howard and Alexander Downer as two fornicating dingos over Papua. That too received a fair bit of press. As a cartoonist I found the response funnier than the cartoons.
If anyone had any doubts about the power of the cartoon in the press that would surely have evaporated under the heat of condemnation and outrage. Now a KKK cartoon has incurred the wrath of an intellectual jihad. Whether Australia is racist is up for debate; "hypocritical" is something we can all agree with.
Peter Broelman's cartoons can be found at www.broelman.com.au
