TEHRAN – Iran’s Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization has organized an international cartoon, caricature and poster contest to show solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.

In a press conference held at the bureau on Tuesday, Art Bureau director Mohammad-Mehdi Dadman and the director of the bureau’s Visual Arts Office, Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai, elaborated on different aspects of the Palestine Is Not Alone International Cartoon, Caricature and Poster Contest. 

Dadman said that the contest is slated as a forerunner for the new activities of the bureau to help develop its international activities.

He added that the bureau is ready to provide artists who are active on the resistance frontline with all the knowledge and experience the bureau has accumulated over the past 40 years.

He also said that the bureau will make its best efforts to help establish an artistic movement against the Zionist regime so that the Palestinian artists can better form an artistic battle.

Shojaei-Tabatabai also for his part pointed to the recent republication of cartoons insulting Prophet Muhammad (S) by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and said that they are intended to create and promote hatred, and hurt the hearts of millions of Muslims across the world.

“The issue of Palestine and its identity is one of the major topics during these days when deals between some Arab states and Israel are being framed to look normal, while people and artists from the countries whose governments are trying to normalize their relations, disagree with these relations,” he explained.

“We will be making the most use of the potentials and are also planning to establish public movements,” he added.

Additional information will be available on the Irancartoon website, he remarked.

Several international cartoonists and artists will be judging the final works in the contest. 

Moroccan cartoonist Naji Benaji, who is also a founding member of a caricature school in the Tunisian city of Sfax, Brazilian cartoonist Silvano Mello and Indonesian cartoonist Jitet Kustana are the jury members of the contest.

Shojaei-Tabatabai next added that due to the high risk of spreading the coronavirus, the contest will be held online, and each submitted work will be uploaded on the Irancartoon website.

Photo: Art Bureau director Mohammad-Mehdi Dadman (L) and cartoonist Masud Shojaei-Tabatabai attend a press conference on the Palestine Is Not Alone International Cartoon, Caricature and Poster Contest on September 22, 2020.

RM/MMS/YAW