Zapiro Vs. Zuma Controversy Throws Spotlight On Speech Legislation



The political and journalistic reaction to a cartoon by Jonathan "Zapiro" Shapiro depicting various South African political entities holding down the justice system to be raped by ANC political leader Jacob Zuma -- an earlier strip with the same visuals as the one shown above -- has reached the opinion-article stage in most cases, particularly in light of Zuma's very good week politically in having groups rally to his support, the fact that some have criticized Zapiro's use of rape as a political metaphor, and Zuma being absolved of his latest round of legal troubles. However, some issues are just now being brought to light. An article by Frans Conje suggests that legislation designed to combat child pornography could actually have a huge impact on the type of free expression used by Zapiro in having work like his Zuma cartoon published. It's a story worth watching for its effect on the prominent international cartoonist and for its mirror in various attempts in the United States to pass anti-child porn legislation with a chilling or outright harmful effect on political speech.

Also, it's hard to track, but it looks like Zapiro has been having a creative field day with the original image and the resulting furor, including the strip above riffing on the original and this cartoon more explicitly and obviously engaging the issue. Considering the heat accompanying the way this has been made a political issue and what I would agree really does look like manufactured outrage on the part of those originally tagged by Zapiro, it's awesome to see an artist hold his ground with equally adamant fury. One thing that always kills me about media criticism of this kind is that the issues become equivalent when, to take this case as the example, if one side is right the judicial system has been assaulted, and if the other side is right somebody may have made a bad cartoon.
 
posted 8:10 am PST | Permalink
 

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