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| (Photo: Ali Ferzat) |
"Once
my fingers have healed, I'll go back," says the renowned Syrian cartoonist
Ali Ferzat. In a physical attack in August his hands were severely injured,
making it temporarily impossible to draw cartoons. Earlier this month Mr Ferzat
won the European Sakharov Prize for freedom of speech.
Born in
1951, Ferzat Ali has been working for thirty years as a cartoonist in Syria. He
has won several prizes for his work, including the Dutch Prince Claus Award in
2003. Until early 2011 his cartoons used symbols to represent the powerful. But
since April, he has drawn recognizable caricatures of the president and other
leaders.
"Times
have changed," says Mr Ferzat by telephone from Kuwait. "Before,
people had time at home to think about the symbols that we used. Since the
people have taken to the streets, we should be more direct."
Wall of
fear
''Fear
dominated the people, including me, "continues Mr Ferzat. However, a year
ago he decided, 'to break the wall of fear.' "I was the first person who
had drawn caricatures of the president, security officers and ministers since
1963."
That
courage nearly cost him his life on 25 August 2011. Mr Ferzat left his office
as usual and got into his car. On his way home, a car with tinted windows
blocked the road. He knew that type of car was used by the security services.
The men kidnapped and assaulted him, aiming specifically at his face and hands.
According to Mr Ferzat they had batons with them "like the police
use."
Eventually
he was thrown out of a moving car on the way to the airport, about fifty miles
from his home in Damascus. "Nobody stopped to pick me up because I looked
so gruesome and bloody." When a truckload of workers stopped with a flat
tyre, he was able to get back into town. At the moment Ali Ferzat is still
recovering in Kuwait.
Old friends
Mr Ferzat
and Bashar al-Assad are old friends. The cartoonist has worked for various
state media and knows the president personally. "Before Bashar al-Assad
came to power, he had discussions with intellectuals and artists. We could
propose solutions to the problems we encountered."
When Bashar
took over the reins from his deceased father Hafez al-Assad in 2000, according to
Mr Ferzat he talked about freedom and modernization. Encouraged by the
president, the cartoonist started the independent magazine Al-Domari (the lamp
igniter), which is considered as the first independent magazine since the Baath
Party came to power.
Censorship
But the fun
was soon over. "The same president who had encouraged me to tackle the
economic mafia in the country, was absent when they declared war on me."
When the regime realised after a few months that Al-Domari was not afraid of
publishing sharp criticism, the censorship got worse.
"Sometimes
we published white pages instead of the censored articles," says Mr
Ferzat. With some irony, he adds: "The white copies sold better than the
printed ones." The distribution was taken over by the regime, "so
that they had the freedom not to publish the magazine." After two years
Al-Domari came to an end.
Mr Ferzat
is convinced that the insurgents in Syria will win. "The response of
repression and security that the regime has chosen, has failed. Now, people
face the deadly weapons with bare chests."
Return to
Syria
Mr Ferzat
is busy retraining his fingers. Once he has recovered, the cartoonist will
return to Syria. That's not a choice, he says. "I don't own a supermarket
that I can freely open and close. Drawing cartoons is my only profession. The
art is a gift from God, and I must continue to bring my message."
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