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Carlos Latuff

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Carlos Latuff
Latuff in 2012
Born (1968-11-30) 30 November 1968 (age 56)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Known forPolitical cartoons

Carlos Latuff (born 30 November 1968) [1] is a Brazilian political cartoonist.[2] His work deals with themes such as anti-Western sentiment, anti-capitalism, and opposition to U.S. military intervention in foreign countries. He is best known for his images depicting the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Arab Spring.[3]

Latuff's cartoons comparing Israel to Nazi Germany[4] have been labelled as antisemitic by some advocacy organisations and scholars. Latuff denies the characterization, considering it to be a dishonest defense of Israel.[5]

Early life

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Latuff was born in the São Cristóvão neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,[6] and is of Lebanese descent. He has stated that his "Arab roots" are what drive him to advocate for Arab causes, including the Palestinian cause.[2]

History

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Latuff's career began in 1990,[7] as a cartoonist for leftist publications in Brazil. After watching a 1997 documentary about the Zapatistas in Mexico, he sent a couple of cartoons to them, and received a positive response. He has stated that after this experience, he decided to start a website and engage in "artistic activism". Graham Fowell, ex-chairman of the Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain, has compared his work to that of Banksy, the English-based graffiti artist.[3]

Latuff won second place in the 2006 Iranian International Holocaust Cartoon Competition.[8][9]

In 2011, Latuff was contacted by activists in Egypt. Latuff has stated that he was encouraged when he saw some of his cartoons depicted in the January 25 Egyptian protests, a couple of days after he made them. According to Reuters, this helped him become "a hero of the tumultuous Arab Spring with rapid-fire satirical sketches".[10]

Latuff has been arrested at least three times in Brazil for his cartoons about the Brazilian police, whom he has criticized for police brutality.[3]

Published works

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Latuff's works have often been self-published on Indymedia websites and private blogs. He is a weekly cartoonist for The Globe Post[11] and some of his cartoons have been featured in magazines such as the Brazilian edition of Mad, Le Monde Diplomatique and the Mondoweiss website.[12][13] In addition, a few of his works were published on Arab websites and publications such as the Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance (JAMI) magazine, the Saudi magazine Character, the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar, among others.[14] Additionally, Latuff also contributes to several Middle Eastern newspapers, including Alquds Alarabi, Huna Sotak and the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project – IRDP.[15] In 2019 a selection of his cartoons was published in the book Drawing Attention to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Political Cartoons by Carlos Latuff. His work is also published on the Chinese Twitter account Valiant Panda heavily shared by Chinese state affiliated media, government officials, and embassies.[16][better source needed]

Themes

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Latuff has produced numerous cartoons related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which assumed significance for the cartoonist after a visit to the region in the late 1990s. His cartoons are highly critical of Israel.[17]

Latuff's work has also been critical of the US military action in Iraq and in Afghanistan. He began to publish his work on the web from the earliest stages of the invasion.[18]

Since the end of 2010, he has been engaged in producing cartoons about the Arab Spring in which he sided with the revolutionaries. His cartoons on the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 were enlarged and carried by the Egyptian demonstrators.[19] After the victory of revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya his cartoons about these countries have focused on the menace of counter-revolution or Western interference. Some of his cartoons have been displayed in mass demonstrations in Arab countries.[10][20][21]

Allegations of antisemitism

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Carlos Latuff's cartoon "Holocaust Remembrance Day". It was offered as material for teachers training on a website run by the Education Ministry of the Flemish Region in Belgium. It first appeared at a Holocaust denial conference in Tehran in 2009, according to Joods Actueel, who said it was removed shortly after their article was published.[22]

In 2002 the Swiss-based Holocaust survivors' organization Aktion Kinder des Holocaust sued the Indymedia of Switzerland on the charge of antisemitism for publishing Latuff's cartoon titled We are all Palestinians series in their website, which depicted a Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto saying: "I am Palestinian."[23][24][25] The criminal proceedings were suspended by Swiss court.[26][citation needed]

Eddy Portnoy, in The Forward, reviewing the book in 2008, wrote that Latuff's material is "often terribly obnoxious... but it is a stretch to categorize his cartoons as antisemitic."[17]

Rusi Jaspal cited Latuff as an example of political cartoonists who "make use of existing anti-Semitic social representations (e.g., that Jews are evil) in order to derogate Israelis."[27] German historian Juliane Wetzel wrote in 2017 that Latuff "employs classic antisemitic motifs in order to discredit Israel" in his cartoons.[28] Cary Nelson analyzed a cartoon of Latuff's depicting a distressed Palestinian woman facing a line of large coronaviruses, captioned "Israel and coronavirus unite against occupied native Palestinians", as an example of antisemitic conspiracism related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[29] Israeli cartoonist Michel Kichka described Latuff in 2012 as "a good cartoonist, not very subtle. And a well-know antisemite."[30] British scholar of antisemitism David Hirsh also identified Latuff as an antisemite, in 2015.[31]

The Israeli embassy in Egypt issued a complaint to an Egyptian newspaper that published this cartoon, identifying it as an antisemitic caricature.

In 2010, the Israeli embassy in Egypt sent a complaint to an Egyptian newspaper that published a cartoon by Latuff depicting the Gaza Freedom Flotilla "being grabbed by an octopus carrying an Israeli flag with a Nazi swastika in place of the Star of David symbol." A spokeswoman for the embassy described it as an antisemitic caricature.[32]

Latuff's response

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Cartoon by Carlos Latuff criticizing the flour massacre

Latuff, in an interview with the Jewish-American weekly newspaper The Forward in December 2008, responded to charges of antisemitism and the comparisons made between his cartoons and those published in Der Stürmer in Nazi Germany:[5]

My cartoons have no focus on the Jews or on Judaism. My focus is Israel as a political entity, as a government, their armed forces being a satellite of U.S. interests in the Middle East, and especially Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. It happens to be Israeli Jews that are the oppressors of Palestinians... My detractors say that the use of the Magen David in my Israel-related cartoons is irrefutable proof of antisemitism; however, it's not my fault if Israel chose sacred religious motifs as national symbols, such as the Knesset Menorah or the Star of David in killing-machines like F-16 jets.

Latuff also stated that antisemitism is real, that antisemites - like European neo-Nazis - "hijack" the Palestinian cause to bash Israel. However, to assert that anti-Zionism is antisemitic is, in his view, "a well-known tactic of intellectual dishonesty." He said that political cartoonists work by metaphors, and that similarities can be found between the IDF treatment of Palestinians and what Jews experienced under the Nazis.[5]

Latuff was included in Simon Wiesenthal Center's 2012 Top Ten Anti-Israel/Anti-Semitic Slurs list being placed third[13][33] for depicting Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu squeezing votes out of a dead Arab child.[34] Latuff told Brazil's Opera Mundi newspaper that he considered the award "a joke worthy of a Woody Allen movie". He also said that Zionist lobbying groups try to associate him with well-known extremists and racists in order to disqualify his criticism of the Israeli government. He also said figures such as José Saramago, Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter were also accused of being antisemitic, saying that he was "in good company".[35]

Publications

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  • Drawing attention to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Political Cartoons by Carlos Latuff, 2019, ISBN 9780993186646.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "PICTURE GALLERY: Brazilian Political Cartoonist, Carlos Latuff on Jan 25 - Visual Art - Arts & Culture".
  2. ^ a b Hosn, Dina Aboul (January 18, 2009). "Brazilian artist lives up to his promise". Gulf News. UAE. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Shenker, Jack (22 August 2011). "Carlos Latuff: The voice of Tripoli – live from Rio". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  4. ^ Simons, Andy (2019). Drawing Attention to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Hungry Eye Books. ISBN 9780993186646.
  5. ^ a b c Portnoy, Eddy; Latuff, Carlos (December 18, 2008). "Latuff: Cartoonist in Conversation". The Forward. Archived from the original on February 23, 2011.
  6. ^ Trigo, Luciano. "‘Imagens podem ser apropriadas por qualquer um’, diz Carlos Latuff." G1 (O Globo). 25 January 2013. Retrieved on June 18, 2014. "nascido no subúrbio carioca de São Cristóvão:" (Carioca means from Rio de Janeiro)
  7. ^ Mier, Brian (2 November 2017). "An interview with Carlos Latuff". Brasilwire. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  8. ^ Jaspal, Rusi (2014-05-04). "Delegitimizing Jews and Israel in Iran's International Holocaust Cartoon Contest". Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. 13 (2): 167–189. doi:10.1080/14725886.2014.919804. ISSN 1472-5886.
  9. ^ "The First Post-Nuclear Deal Holocaust Cartoon Contest Is Coming to Tehran". Tablet Magazine. 2016-05-12. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  10. ^ a b Grudgings, Stuart (29 August 2011). "Rio cartoonist inspires Arab rebellions from afar". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  11. ^ Carlos Latuff Cartoons, retrieved 25 August 2017
  12. ^ Lumish, Michael (20 August 2019). "The anti-Zionist 'Dynamic Duo' and the Brazilian Toxic Cartoonist". Jewish Press. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  13. ^ a b Marquardt-Bigman, Petra (December 30, 2012). "The SS-headache of Carlos Latuff". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  14. ^ Interview for JAMI magazine
    My cartoons in Saudi Arabia magazine
    Article about my art in the Lebanese newspaper "Al Akhbar"
    Cartoon reproduced in Iraqi magazine
  15. ^ Latuff, Carlos (2016). "Sur: International Journal on Human Rights". Sur: International Journal on Human Rights: 127–129.
  16. ^ Beijing Weaponizes Political Cartoons to Reach Western Audiences with Anti-U.S. Propaganda., 2023-11-22, retrieved 2023-11-22
  17. ^ a b Portnoy, Eddy (18 December 2008). "Simple, Offensive and Out There". The Forward. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  18. ^ Najjar, Orayb (2014). "The American media and the Iraq war at its tenth anniversary: Lessons for the coverage of future wars". International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies. 8: 15–34. doi:10.1386/ijcis.8.1.15_1.
  19. ^ Najjar, Orayb (2012). "Activist Cartoons without Borders: The Political Cartoons of Brazilian Artist Carlos Latuff". The Global Studies Journal. 4 (4). Champaign, Illinois, USA: Common Ground Research Networks. doi:10.18848/1835-4432/cgp. ISSN 1835-4432.
  20. ^ "Latuff's cartoon displayed in Tahrir Square". Twicsy.com. 1 August 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  21. ^ "Stop military tribunals". Arabawy.org. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  22. ^ "Belgian education ministry website publishes vicious cartoon". The Times of Israel. September 18, 2013.
  23. ^ "Is this cartoon by Latuff, published at indymedia-switzerland, anti-Semitic? An analysis". Aktion Kinder des Holocaust. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011.
  24. ^ Alex Schärer: Linke und Antisemitismus: Der Indymedia-Streit – Aufpassen, was im Kübel landet, Die Wochenzeitung, April 4, 2002
  25. ^ Junge Welt: Ärger im Internet: Wegen antisemitischer Beiträge hat Indymedia Schweiz den Betrieb gestoppt, February 25, 2002
  26. ^ Hamadeh, Anis (August 2002). "Jewish peace activists and Israeli violence". Archived from the original on August 16, 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  27. ^ Jaspal, Rusi (2014-05-04). "Delegitimizing Jews and Israel in Iran's International Holocaust Cartoon Contest". Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. 13 (2): 167–189. doi:10.1080/14725886.2014.919804. ISSN 1472-5886.
  28. ^ Wetzel, Juliane (2017), McElligott, Anthony; Herf, Jeffrey (eds.), "Soft Denial in Different Political and Social Areas on the Web", Antisemitism Before and Since the Holocaust: Altered Contexts and Recent Perspectives, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 305–331, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-48866-0_13, ISBN 978-3-319-48866-0, retrieved 2025-06-10
  29. ^ Nelson, Cary (April 2020). "A Pandemic of Anti-Zionist Signification: Exploiting Gaza for Ideological Gain". Fathom. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  30. ^ Kichka, Michel (2012-12-31). "Cartooning the conflict". Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (23). ISSN 2075-5287.
  31. ^ Hirsh, David (Autumn 2015). "The Corbyn left: the politics of position and the politics of reason". Fathom. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  32. ^ "Israeli mission complains over Egypt press cartoon". Reuters. 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  33. ^ "2012 Top Ten Anti-Israel/Anti-Semitic Slurs" (PDF). Simon Wiesenthal Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-15. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
  34. ^ Liphshiz, Cnaan (4 January 2013). "Brazilian cartoonist hits back at Simon Wiesenthal Center". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  35. ^ Mattar, Marina. "Cartunista brasileiro está no ranking dos "dez mais antissemitas" do mundo" (in Portuguese). Opera Mundi. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
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