¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·

Speakers at the launch of a cartoon book in Dhaka said that cartoons questioning authority should continue as the fight was not over.

Organised by Drik on Thursday, the event unveils a collection of 200 cartoons created during the July 2024 mass uprising in Bangladesh titled Satire and Ridicule: Cartoons that Demolished a Dictator, at the DrikPath Bhaban at Panthapath in the capital.

The book was edited by Shahidul Alam and published jointly by Drik Picture Library, earki, and the Bangladesh Cartoonist Association.

The cartoons depict the fall of Sheikh Hasina and the July mass uprising in Bangladesh.

Professor Gitiara Nasreen of the mass communication and journalism department of Dhaka University, associate professor Samina Luthfa of the sociology department of DU and renowned cartoonist Mehedi Haque spoke at the event which was moderated by managing director of Drik Picture Library Shahidul Alam.

During the regime of fascist Sheikh Hasina renowned cartoonists of the country were silent even newspapers stopped publishing political cartoons but ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· continued to publish cartoons regularly through the mass uprising, Shahidul Alam said, adding that youths created and published them on social media and through graffiti.

‘This collection documents cartoons created during the July 2024 mass uprising in Bangladesh. We have planned to organise a mobile exhibition of the cartoons across the country,’ said Shahidul Alam.

‘We need to publish and patronise cartoons. This book documents the young cartoonists’ works which are excellent,’ said Mehedi Haque.

‘Songs, poems, jokes, satire and cartoons were the language of protests on walls of the streets and social media during the student-led mass uprising. Political cartoons are back in our culture through this movement which is documented by this collection,’ Gitiara Nasreen said, adding that without questioning the authority satire becomes clowning.

When the media was captured by the authorities the walls of the streets became the media of common people, Gitiara Nasreen said, adding, ‘We have to question authority because the fight is not over.’

‘Art not only depicts information, data and analysis but explores the emotions of the movement. Fascists were intolerable to accept any satire,’ said Samina Luthfa.  

July Shaheed Smriti Foundation secretary and martyred Mir Mugdho’s twin brother Mir Mahbubur Rahman Snigdho was present at the discussion and urged all to donate to provide immediate health care support to injured people.

‘I thank Bangladesh’s interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus for donating 1,800 books to raise funds for the foundation. I urge all to keep working to uphold the July revolution,’ said Snigdho.