"By drawing a few simple lines you can summarize a certain case, mock a political situation or expose lies"

On this website you will find political cartoons by 40 Syrian artists, with their short biographies and a picture or portrait. 

Syrian political cartoons were for a long time a ‘contradiction in terms’, because freedom of expression has been controlled by the Ba’ath party since the coup d’état in 1963.

It’s a cruel reality that for Syrian cartoonists freedom of expression goes together with exile, war, destruction and many victims. Like so many compatriots, most of them had to flee Syria.

Palestinian-Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan (1974-2013) was murdered in the beginning of the revolution. He died in prison, after being arrested and tortured by the Syrian regime for his cartoons about president Bashar al-Assad.

Activist Raed Fares (1972-2018) was also murdered, in his car with a companion. He was an important person in the nonviolent opposition and worked together with Ahmad Jalal in the city of Kafranbel (Idlib), were they made their world famous banners with protesting collectives.    

Political and editorial cartoons offer a running critique or lampooning of any government or political movement, no matter what their intentions. Cartoonists are dependent on freedom of expression or fighting for it.

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