Protest and Contention
The Arab world has recently witnessed a vibrant comics scene, with a boom of comics titles appearing in a variety of genres every year across the Arab world. These titles are published in a variety of languages ( Arabic, English and French), and in different formats (serials, magazines, graphic novels, digitally, etc.). A few notable serial publications include: Samandal (Lebanon), Toktok (Egypt), Mukhber 619 (Tunisia), and al Dushma (Egypt). A plethora of graphic novels and comic strips have also been published on a variety of topics (politics, biography, mystery, etc.), and illustrated in a variety of styles and techniques, e.g. Metro (Shafei, Egypt), La Mere (Kerbaj, Lebanon), Persepolis (Satrapi, Iran), Madina Mujawira lil Ard (Muhayya, Lebanon), etc.
A significant portion of these new titles are addressed to an adult audience: their dark humor and sharp commentaries on bleak and complex contemporary affairs make them very popular with a young Arab generation seeking change. Many graphic novel titles and serials are in fact directly related, dedicated to and/or inspired by the events of the recent uprisings throughout the Arab world (with a special emphasis on Egypt, Tunis and Libya). Many offer a powerful critique by oppositional groups of existing regimes.
With a biting sense of humor and irony at the fast and often absurd shifts on the socio-political scenes which have been taking place throughout many Arab countries, these publications continue to bear witness to the current state of affairs throughout the Arab world.
The tradition of using comics as tools in contentious politics did not start in the Arab world in 2011. As early as the mid-1960s, illustrator Ahmad Hijazi published in Samir a series titled “al-Tanabilah al-Sibyan / التنابلة الصبيان”. When Hijazi moved to Dar al-Fata al-Arabi in Beirut, he took the series with him and published the Dar’s first children comic book under the title “Tambul the First / تمبول الأول”, which featured the story of a popular revolution against a lazy and greedy king. The resonances between Hijazi's al-Tanabilah al-Sibyan, and some contemporary comics on the current events in Egypt are a fascinating testimony to the power of comics to mock, change, resist, laugh and inspire!
On to our present moment in Lebanon where the influx of Syrian refugees has sparked an unfortunate wave of xenophobia. Al Manshur, a magazine published by the Socialist Forum, recounts in this comic strip the stigmas around Syrian refugees in order to debunk them.
