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Comic Strips that Combat Ideology
an article by Lynda Graba for El Moudjahid (excerpts)
The conference room of the esplanade of Riadh el Feth hosted last Wednesday as part of the activities of the FIBDA 2011 (The Algerian International Federation of Comic Strips), a conference presented by a media specialist from the Congo who studied at the Catholic University of Belgium, Mr Hilaire Mbiye, along with the journalist Ameziane Ferhani.
click on photo to enlarge
The speaker dealt extensively with the ideological impact of comic strips as a means of diffusing the culture of peace through albums published in Africa. This specialist in communication, who has now participated three times in the annual festival, directed his remarks toward the major theme of this edition, "Peace through balloons". He showed how the conference organizers could appreciate and show to the public the 9th art as a vector of humanist ideas and peace.
He demonstrated, with the assistance of comic strip artists and journalists from Algeria, Europe and Africa, how the comic strip can function in situations of crisis to clarify the concepts of peace through the negative sense of this word which means the absence of conflict or through its positive sense as a series of peaceful behaviors and processes that establish a culture of confidence among the people. Instead of the violent language of arms, "Peace is a way to resolve conflicts to attain social integration. This is not just an abstract idea, but to the contrary, an action for the education of the common people, an action that has been recognized by UNESCO," he affirmed in his opening remarks. In his view, the role of the media assumes a system of communication of messages, of knowledge, and of cultural and political practices. "They can be 'made to order thoughts' but often they remain sufficiently ambivalent and capable of conveying the best or the worst. They play upon the emotions and privilege the sensational" . . .
Comic strips are considered in Africa as a true educational medium. "It is an instrument of pedagogy that contributed during the 1950's to the struggle against disease, for conserving the environment and for peaceful coexistence" . . . The speaker mentioned examples ... in Senegal, Congo and sub-Saharan Africa on the themes of inter-religious dialogue, cultural identity, unity as a force for peace in Rwanda and Burundi or consciousness-raising for cultural diversity among ethnic groups such as Tutsi and Hutu, sensibilization about child-soldiers, sexual violence, etc. ...
"Better a simple image than a long discourse and the comic strip fights for the dignity that mankind needs to regain," he concluded.
(Click here for a French version of this article)
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
Can popular art help us in the quest for truth and justice?,
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by program area
