Arabic Comics and Conflicts:
Ideological indoctrination
vs individual need for change
American University of
Beirut, 2016
Comics as a genre reflects usually social, political, and economic changes. In our region (Israel put aside since it’s not in our topic) these factors and the players behind comics publications never hid their goals or intentions. A thorough overview of comics’ production which was and still is mainly for children, leads to an accurate timeline of these developments, with one specific paradox: when inter-state conflicts emerge, the production of the comic is used as a tool of indoctrination and becomes part of the “war efforts” even after the cessation of hostilities, and hence a production where innovation, creativity, and quality of form and content are not taken into account. In contrast, when a wave of internal turmoil occurs, (such as social conflicts, uprisings, civil wars, etc…) this popular art becomes more liberal in its expression, more open, creative, and in our recent times individualistic and provocative as opposed to the mono-ideological authority.
Since the beginning the
political agendas were set: Aware of the powerful influence of the genre,
illustrative magazines started emerging in early 1900, targeting the newly recruited students into public schools, giving them a western education, in
contradiction to the local Islamic Madrassa ones. That was one of the
objectives of Al-Awlad (1923) the 1st fully
illustrated commercial magazine to adapt, (and badly copy) western comics such
as “Charlie Chaplin”, the “katzenjammer kids”, among others.
Al-Bulbul (1946) tried to be more focused. While it
continued the tradition of publishing western comics such as “Laurel &
Hardy”, “Old Mother Riley”, or “Abbud & Costello”, It
tried to create local characters and series such as “Sikoko” and
“Bulbul the kid” but stayed under the patronage of the monarchy. The
cover of the 1st issue was a full photograph of the princesses Firyal
and Fawziyya, and the section of “Great Figures in History” was
about Kings, Emperors or Kaisers, among them King Abdul-Aziz ibn Saoud
praising his “wisdom” (if there was any!), or the “historic” Queen
Marie-Antoinette according to the magazine!
The revolution of July 1952
led by the “Free Officers Movement”, the abolition of the monarchy, and
the events that followed marked a turning point: although Illustrative
publications preserved their status as independent businesses they slowly fell
under the direct supervision of the new authorities. “Ali Baba”, who
emerged during the “Palestine war” of 1948 (a major cause of popular
dissatisfaction within the Arab populations) didn’t hesitate to take a stand in
support of the new regime, targeting the British military presence in Egypt. This
line of thought was clearly expressed throughout its pages from the covers
mostly representing political statements (beautifully drawn by Al-Hussein Fawzi
unfairly forgotten by historians) to the comic strips (that became abundant),
or editorials and the choice of stories or even games.
The 1930s “conservative” in look, design, and choice of themes such as the editorial “why do we fast?” in BABA SADEK (1934), was replaced by a clearly secular content, with a sarcastic tone towards religious authorities such as the section of “Sheikh Taltamis Speech” TALTAMIS means literally « idiot ».
The previous “Motherhood, and how it should be” section and I quote: the “most sacred obligation (for the mother) and the reason she was born for, is to spend her time working for what is beneficial to the family (…)” with ALI BABA this changed into calls for equality of genders and “women political rights” to be part of the new constitution.
Soon after Gamal Abdel-Nasser seized the power in a coup in 1956, putting General Muhamad Neguib in house arrest, comics magazines became part of the official propaganda policy, aiming at indoctrinating the children into the new pan-Arab nationalistic and socialist ideology.
“Sindbad” a magazine
sponsored by the Ministry of education used to buy 27000 copies weekly
for distribution in public schools, was the first to expand out of the
Egyptian borders. It was an effective tool of indoctrination especially through
a network of clubs “ندوات سندباد” spread throughout the Arabic countries,
gathering young readers around themes such as “the fight against colonialism
and Zionism”, or glorifying “the Arabic-Islamic victorious past”.
The content became more politically charged especially after the “Canal of
Suez crisis” that followed Nasser's Nationalization policy the same year.
Series and heroes were created in support of the regime such as “Hazem wa
Hatem”, while others were converted to fulfill the same goal such as “Busbus
wa Furfur” (Tom & Jerry).
It is with the launch of SAMIR
(15
April 1956, Dar al-Hilâl) that the
situation adjusted itself giving the way to more entertainment in its pages.
Preceded by a heavy advertising campaign in newspapers, the 1st
issue of SAMIR long-awaited sold its 50,000 copies the same day of
its launch. Part of its success was the adaptation of a modern format
simulating magazines formats such as TINTIN and SPIROU and the
decision of giving more place to entertain. This renewal granted a major
place to Comics within its pages and introduced local heroes who became
popular and part of the new pan-Arab collective memory.
This wave of innovation
received a huge step back with the Arabic-Israeli war of 1967. Arabic
Comics entered a dark age that extended for decades and was marked by the
direct governmental and military control of all media and press, including
juvenile publications. Only one message should spread out: the indisputable
endorsement of the “military resistance” and the “unbreakable
will” to fight the enemy. A period that affiliated the production of comics
to the state policy of war. The funny heroes were sent to the battlefields
raising the slogan “all for popular resistance” and “all against
Israeli-Zionist aggression”.
Samir, Tahtah, Zaghloul
Effendi, Tanabilat al-Subian, lost
their innocence and through this metamorphosis lost the interest of young
readers repelled by the excess of ideological propaganda. Even Mickey
Copywrite by Disney couldn’t but drop a tear on the death of General Nasser “the
spirit and soul of Egypt”.
The war of 1967 and what
followed opened the way and set the
sample for other countries falling under military dictatorships for decades to
come: Majallati and Al-Mizmar in Iraq, Oussama in Syria,
and others in Libya, Sudan, and so on. Or to other monarchies in
the area.
It is with the civil war in
Lebanon that comics went into a different path claiming a personal expression
and targeting an adult audience. “CARNAVAL” (in 1980) (a personal
narrative of the Lebanese civil war), marked the birth of the 1st
comic book (comics publication being through magazines and newspapers).
Followed the same year by the ABU SHANAB character in the pages of a local newspaper and continued different platforms. 1983, in Arabic “SIGMUND FREUD” (accounts from the
life of the Jewish thinker, that tackled the issue of minorities, and
tolerance, a major unresolved issue in Lebanon at that time and in the Arab
world till now), followed in 1984 by the series of “SHEHRAZAD 1001 nights, ألف ليلى وليلى” a twisted adaptation of the traditional narrative structure
based on stories of different women named Leyla (Leyla “night”, and ليلى. The name of a
woman has the same pronunciation in Arabic. Unfortunately, these publications
were banned in the Arabic countries: Carnaval because it criticized
authoritative systems, Freud, because of non-Islamic religious symbols
and sexual content, and 1001 nights for the sexual visual provocative
content.
A parenthesis for the
Lebanese French-speaking comics (specificity of the Lebanese bilingual
cultural identity), another eminent figure played a key role in the Lebanese
comics scene at that time and is still doing it: Michèle Standjofski.
From a comics critic to an artist, author of the famous Abu-Antoun character in
“Beyrouth Déroute” comic strips published in L’Orient-Le Jour. Her album
“Toutes les mers” is the outcome of all her experience. Standjofski’s
major merit though is in establishing an academic comics program at “Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts” (ALBA), the only program of its kind in the region,
fueling the market with French-speaking adult comics and young artists
dedicated to this new Art. Among the names who are now major contributors: The
skilled Ralph Doumit, the talented and sensitive Joseph Kaï, the
sarcastic intellectual Kamal Hakim, Ghadi Ghosn, and the list can go on.
The civil war also witnessed
in the mid-80s the emergence of the 1st collective under the name of
JADWORKSHOP. its manifesto (that became like a guideline for later adult
comics) focused on issues that might seem trivial today but not evident 30
years ago, insisting on the exclusivity of adult production, personal
themes with no religious, political, social, or any restriction or
self-censorship, the exclusivity of the use of Arabic colloquial
language. And the prominent role to the visuals at the expense of story
narratives.
JADWORKSHOP experience extended for 8 years and was like a voice
with no echo. If it failed to create a movement or to trigger pan-Arab
parallelism, it succeeded at least in imposing Comics as an Art Genre within
the intellectual scene of Beirut.
In the new millennium,
Internal conflicts and political turmoil witnessed 2 parallel events that
reshaped the comics scenes in Lebanon and Egypt: SAMANDAL magazine in Beirut,
and Magdi El-Shafei “Metro” graphic novel in Cairo.
Samandal (2008) went out of the box acknowledging
COMICS as an ART form. It started as a collective of young artists and writers
passionate about comics, trying to publish their own production, and came up
with the brilliant idea of creating an NGO for funding purposes. Since
its start, SAMANDAL insisted on being different. Arabic language comics
done by Arabs weren’t its vocation. The focus was on “stories from here
and there” as they put it, by artists, who can push the limits of
experimentation in the field of “Visual narrative” (Comics terminology
vanished).
Nevertheless, the major
pan-Arab event in graphic novels came from Egypt in (2008) and hit the
Arab world. One of the most mediatized Comics in the press, media, and online,
the 1st of its kind in Egypt METRO Magdi Al-Shafei shook
the lazy Comics scene and turned the focus again to EGYPT. The new Graphic
novel book is born. With a high
quality of drawings (authentic Egyptian characters and sets), a smart treatment
of the story, and a fluidity in sequential narration, MAGDY Shafei made us feel and smell the streets of Cairo and the turmoil within predicting
the explosion to come.
From a historic point of view, it is early to talk about trends and characteristics of contemporary Arabic
Comics, but some ideas can always be developed and explored:
1- The most important is that adult comics publications
are not run, controlled, or sponsored by governmental authorities or political
or religious institutions. These independent magazines adopted the formula of collectives,
founded, and run by the artists themselves in each country. All these magazines
are driven by the common passion of the founders that goes beyond market or
economic studies or rules. The continuation of some is due in part to funding
programs in the case of Samandal, Toc-Toc, or Garage…),
others continue running by pure philanthropy (Skef-Kef, Massaha,
etc…). A situation that makes it difficult to assess their success in the market and questions their continuity if deprived of the original funding
source. Samandal edition went down from being a quarterly magazine to a
yearly one or “when the funds are there”. Al-Fan Al-Tase3 stopped
after the 5th issue, Massaha according to its founders “will
continue for free until we run out of money”. The market doesn’t help
either: after being a wide pan-Arab one it is fragmented into local markets
contained within the borders of each country already struggling with their
internal conflicts after the “Arab Spring”.
2- 2nd the fact that Artists are mainly behind
the launch of these magazines, the content is focused on personal expressions. For
the 1st time since the 80s, social taboos regarding issues such as
sexuality or religion are broken and become explicit: nudity can be found in
pages of Toc-Toc or lab 691, Samandal went far in its last
issue gathered around the theme of “sexuality and poetry within the young
generation”.
The first comics publications Ali Baba and Sindbad came on the eve of the 1952 revolution in Egypt. Tok-Tok magazine made a huge change in the comics scene and came at the same time as the 2nd revolution in Egypt. The new Lebanese comics was born in the civil war in the early 80s, and Samandal saw the light right after the political turmoil that followed prime minister Rafic Hariri’s assassination and the Israeli war in Lebanon in 2006 and as if Comics’ faith has always been to witness, reflect, participate or instigate social and political changes. My fears are that these adventures of today could be recuperated and abducted by emerging totalitarian ideologies like their previous ones. But also, my hopes are in these young guys I’m discovering every day, who have a different texture, wider dreams, and unbreakable will.
Young women and young men are making history today.
