Carlos Latuff (born 30 November 1968) is a Brazilian political cartoonist. His work deals with themes such as

anti-Western sentiment Anti-Western sentiment, also known as anti-Atlanticism or Westernophobia, refers to broad opposition, bias, or hostility towards the people, culture, or policies of the Western world. This sentiment is found worldwide. It often stems from ant ...

anti-capitalism Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism with an alternati ...

, and opposition to U.S. military intervention in foreign countries. He is best known for his images depicting the

Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about Territory, land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation ...

and the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

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

Early life

Latuff was born in the São Cristóvão neighbourhood of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and is of Lebanese descent. He has stated that his "

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

roots" are what drive him to advocate for Arab causes, including the Palestinian cause.

History

Latuff's career began in 1990, 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 A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

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. Latuff won second place in the 2006 Iranian International Holocaust Cartoon Competition. 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 Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, this helped him become "a hero of the tumultuous

with rapid-fire satirical sketches". Latuff has been arrested at least three times in Brazil for his cartoons about the Brazilian police, whom he has criticized for

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

Published works

Latuff's works have often been self-published on Indymedia websites and private blogs. He is a weekly cartoonist for '' The Globe Post'' and some of his cartoons have been featured in magazines such as the Brazilian edition of '' Mad'', '' Le Monde Diplomatique'' and the '' Mondoweiss'' website. 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. Additionally, Latuff also contributes to several Middle Eastern newspapers, including ''Alquds Alarabi'', ''Huna Sotak'' and the ''Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project – IRDP.'' 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.

Themes

Latuff has produced numerous cartoons related to the

, which assumed significance for the cartoonist after a visit to the region in the late 1990s. His cartoons are highly critical of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. 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. File:IsraHellburningbuses.png File:Arielsharonsecretlove.png File:BabyKillerZiombies.png File:ArielSharon.png File:Rafah offensive by Carlos Latuff.jpg File:Uncle Sam wants you DEAD.png File:Israeli Palestinian sides.jpg File:September 11 1973 by Latuff2.jpg File:Carlos Latuffs Cartoon in Tahrir Square on January 25 2011.jpg File:Cry-wolf.png File:TheGreatSatan a.gif File:Double Standard.png File:GazaVerboten.jpg File:Israeli Apartheid Week 2009 poster.jpg File:WelcometoIsraHELL.png File:Erdogan waving flag of Palestine to get simpathy of his voters while keep Turkey's ties with Israel & US.gif Since the end of 2010, he has been engaged in producing cartoons about the

in which he sided with the revolutionaries. His cartoons on the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 were enlarged and carried by the Egyptian demonstrators. 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.

Allegations of antisemitism

In 2002 the Swiss-based

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universall ...

' organization Aktion Kinder des Holocaust sued the Indymedia of Switzerland on the charge of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

for publishing Latuff's cartoon titled ''We are all Palestinians'' series in their website, which depicted a Jewish boy in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

saying: "I am Palestinian." The criminal proceedings were suspended by Swiss court. Eddy Portnoy, in ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

'', 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." 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." German historian Juliane Wetzel wrote in 2017 that Latuff "employs classic antisemitic motifs in order to discredit Israel" in his cartoons. 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. Israeli cartoonist

Michel Kichka Michel Kichka (; born 1954) is an Israeli cartoonist and illustrator of Belgian origin. His father was Holocaust survivor Henri Kichka. Biography Michel Kichka was born in Belgium to Henri Kichka, a Holocaust survivor, and his wife, Lucia (née � ...

described Latuff in 2012 as "a good cartoonist, not very subtle. And a well-know antisemite." British scholar of antisemitism David Hirsh also identified Latuff as an antisemite, in 2015. Ship to Gaza by Latuff

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.

Latuff's response

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:

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 A national symbol is a manifestation of a nation or community, serving as a representation of their National identity, identity and values. National symbols may be not only applied to sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of ...
, such as the Knesset Menorah or the
Star of David The Star of David (, , ) is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the Seal of Solomon was used for decora ...
in killing-machines like
F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...
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. Latuff was included in

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

's 2012 Top Ten Anti-Israel/Anti-Semitic Slurs list being placed third for depicting Israeli premier

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

squeezing votes out of a dead Arab child. Latuff told Brazil's ''Opera Mundi'' newspaper that he considered the award "a joke worthy of a

Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...

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 James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

were also accused of being antisemitic, saying that he was "in good company".

Publications

* ''Drawing attention to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Political Cartoons by Carlos Latuff,'' 2019, .

References

External links

Official blog

Latuff's official page
on Twitpic
Latuff's official page
on DeviantArt {{DEFAULTSORT:Latuff, Carlos 1968 births Living people Brazilian anti-capitalists Brazilian political artists Brazilian editorial cartoonists Brazilian magazine cartoonists Brazilian socialists Brazilian people of Lebanese descent Artists from Rio de Janeiro (city) Anti-Zionism in South America Left-wing politics in Brazil Anti-imperialists Anti-American sentiment in South America Anti-Western sentiment Nazi analogies Controversies in Brazil Political controversies Race-related controversies in comics Activists for Palestinian solidarity Brazilian anti-Zionists