palestine_naji_al

ı My feet are torn,ı and homelessness has worn me out Park seats have left thier marks on my ribs.ı Policemen followed me with thier suspicious looks.ı I dragged myself from place to place,ı destitute except for ı day long memories of a home that yesterday , only yesterday,ı was mine and except for evening dreams of my dwelling there again (( Tawfiq Sayigh )) ı

Censorship
Strict censorship and high illiteracy rates exist in many middle eastern countries. ı
Between 1958 and 1963 Naji al-Ali was frequently detained by police and continually ıcensored. He is said to have received over one hundred death threats during his life. ıBecause of his work he was said to be one of the most wanted men in the Middle East ıand this forced him to leave Lebanon and work in Kuwait and London. ı
He emphatically refused to speak about his oppressors and those who might censor his ıwork; he drew them instead. ı
On Wednesday July 22nd, 1987 he was shot in the head by a lone gunman as he left the ıAl-Qabas offices in Ives Street, Chelsea. After five weeks in a coma on a life support ımachine in a St Stephen's and Charing Cross hospitals in London, he died at 5am on ıSaturday 30th August at the age of 49. ı
Apparently he had been warned by a telephone call from a friend, a senior member of the ıPalestine Liberation Organisation in Tunisia, that his life was in danger. The call, about ıtwo weeks before his death, came after the publication of a cartoon attacking a female ıfriend of Mr Yasser Arafat the PLO leader. "The cartoon was famous in the Arab ıcommunity". ı

Effectiveness & influence
ı"When I was younger I thought I would actually be able to help achieve all our ıaspirations for independence, unity, justice. Many died for those aspirations and things ıare only getting worse. That, certainly, can make one despair. But more than ever, I feel a ısense of duty to go on doing what I have to and can do." ı
ı"His cartoons are incredibly effective - and often quite offensive" - quote from a Kuwaiti ıjournalist. ı
He was posthumously awarded the annual Golden Pen award of the International ıFederation of Newspaper Publishers (FIEJ) in 1988. This award is given to recognise ıoutstanding actions in favour of freedom of expression and the jury was composed of ıpublishers from 28 member countries : Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, ıDenmark, The Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, ıIndia, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, ıPortugal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States. Individual ıpublishers in Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand and Pakistan are associate members ıas are 13 leading western news agencies. ı

References
i) Invaluable help was kindly provided by the late Naji al-Ali's son ı
ii) The quotes from Naji al-Ali are taken from an interview published in Index on ıCensorship in 1984, sub-titled 'From Lebanon to Kuwait, the cartoonist has so far ısurvived attempts to stop his work'. ı
iii) Details from reports in The Times newspaper 23/07/87, 24/07/87, 27/07/87 & ıı12/09/87. ı
iv) Witty World International Cartoon Magazine, No 16, Summer 1993 ı