Hit Contra-regime Cartoons Take Syria by Storm

Kafr Nabel may have been a little unknown city in the east of Syria before March 2011 but it’s famous now.

The popular uprising made the city near the border with Turkey among the most popular in the revolution because of its comic and creative cartoons and banners.

 

For Ahmad Jalal, who follows the news carefully, the inspiration for the cartoons comes from brainstorming sessions between the residents and displaced persons who have sought refuge in Kafr Nabel.

 

Jalal says the simpler the cartoon, the more powerful it is.

[Khaled Ahmad Jalal, Syrian Cartoonist]:

''The shorter it is the better. You can see it on TV if it is long, but you won't be able to read it. So it has to be abbreviated as much as possible. Sometimes we get nice ideas but the execution is complicated so we don't do it. The idea has to be simple.''

It is the same story in Zabadani, near the capital Damascus, which has witnessed some of the biggest protests against Assad and a strong presence of the rebel Free Syria Army.

[Cartoonist in Zabadani]:

"I think the banners in Syria have become the revolution itself. When the regime resorted to bombarding the cities and the civilians to fight the phenomenon of demonstrations and going out to protest, activists who used to write banners and hold them during these demonstrations to express their views, turned to writing banners and photographing them only and sending them through social media."

Another cartoonist in Zabadani explains the reason why he draws cartoons despite the risk to his life.

[Cartoonist in Zabadani]:

"We are dying with bullets that we paid the price of for 40 years. The regime used to steal our money to buy bullets, and the saddest thing is that those same bullets are killing us now.''

Some 16 months into the uprising, the fighting between rebels and Assad's forces has reached the capital Damascus. But as the phenomenon of the acclaimed cartoons shows, the fronts in the battle against the regime in Syria are many.