Go, Read: Editorial Places Zunar’s Travails In Context

There's an intriguing editorial here by someone named Steve Oh about the various battles the cartoonist Zunar (full name Zulkiflee Anwar Hague) has had with the government in Malaysia over books collecting his political cartoons. By far the best thing about the piece -- which I almost blew by after a first scan -- is that it reminds us that places like Malaysia don't have a rich tradition of political satire that makes what cartoonists like Zunar do both understandable, and in many ways valuable, to the culture at large. The author borrows liberally from Western visual satire tradition including Thomas Nast to make this point. He also writes in encouraging fashion on why a country like Malaysia needs to embrace work of the kind Zunar makes, suggesting that even in times when there are high political stakes a culture needs to embrace self-criticism and intellectual inquiry as necessary tools.
 
posted 7:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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