Khalid Albaih is a Sudanese political cartoonist and civil rights activist. He has earned international recognition as one of the most influential political cartoonists. His fight has no frontiers and his goal has never changed: using art to make the world a better place, as he told The Dialogue.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Next, on the Dialogue, we meet a cartoonist and champion of free speech and mutual respect.
00:07 My name is Khaled Elbey. I`m a Sudanese political cartoonist.
00:13 His work has been adopted by many as images that convey their struggles, which in turn
00:20 has helped open up conversations on human rights throughout the world.
00:26 And every day I try to do something new. Every day I try to ask a question, start a conversation,
00:33 because I don`t want to let hope die, because we all have to work together.
00:37 Khaled`s work has evolved over the past few years. He`s become a global force for promoting
00:44 art as a means of emancipation.
00:53 Khaled, thanks so much for joining us. Now, you are Sudanese. You were born in Romania.
01:00 You have lived a lot of your life in Qatar, and now you also live in Norway.
01:13 Where would you say you`re actually from?
01:15 I mean, I thought about that a lot, obviously. But, you know, I really think the place where
01:21 I spent most of my time is the Internet. I`m there all the time. This is where my work
01:26 is. And this is where I`ve learned and talked about a lot of things.
01:33 And your work has inspired millions throughout the world, from the Arab Spring to Colin Kaepernick
01:39 taking the knee in support of Black Lives Matter. How does it feel to know that the
01:46 art that you`ve created is now part of those movements?
01:50 I mean, I create the art to be part of it, you know. For me, it`s about being part of
01:57 these movements and showing solidarity, because I think this is, you know, really about showing
02:03 the connections between all these movements that I`ve worked with, whether it`s the Arab
02:08 Spring or the Black Lives Matter movement or the Rohingya. For me, we`re all fighting
02:14 for one cause, which is injustice. So, I really feel proud, and that`s why I take these things
02:21 personally, because I am part of it. We`re all part of it.
02:32 You said that freedom of speech is a great power, and with that power comes great responsibility.
02:39 And you encourage people, don`t you, to think about what they do with that great power?
02:45 Yes, absolutely. I mean, because for a long time, I kept thinking, can I do this? What
02:56 would the effects have on me, on my friends, on my family? So, when I moved to Europe and
03:03 saw other cartoonists and how they deal with things, and that everything is just, you know,
03:11 I can do whatever I want. But the question always becomes, what are you doing with it,
03:15 though? Are you building bridges with that power?
03:18 I think many people are scared to comment publicly these days, fearful of online trolls,
03:26 and scrutiny that comes with council culture, for example, let alone the kind of persecution
03:33 that you`ve experienced. How far does the pursuit of justice for others impact your
03:41 own life, your family life, for example?
03:44 It`s a very scary thing. And, you know, you hear about it. But when you face it, you really
03:51 start, you know, the question really comes to life, is it, was this worth it? I have
03:57 a family, I have children, I need to make a living. And you really need to believe in
04:02 what you`re doing. And you really need to believe in asking questions and pushing the
04:09 line and pushing the boundaries. And now, you know, you`re not only facing government
04:15 restrictions, you`re also facing things like, of course, like, you know, council culture,
04:20 you`re facing trolls, of course, that, you know, that you need to also think about. And
04:24 especially online, because it`s just endless. It`s all the time. And people online are more
04:31 vicious because they hide behind the screen.
04:37 We`ve spoken about power. When did you first become aware of the power of cartoons?
04:44 I think since I was a child, I loved comics. And as a teenager, when I discovered political
04:51 cartooning and that world, these worlds collided for me, and then I discovered my favorite
05:00 cartoonists. You know, I mean, you know, I discovered Najel Ali, who was a Palestinian
05:07 cartoonist that got assassinated in London. And his work totally changed my life, because
05:13 his work wasn`t only about the joke. It wasn`t only about how good the art is. It was about
05:20 the idea.
05:22 Something else I know that is incredibly important to you is your work in Sudan, in particular
05:29 the Sudan Arts and Design Library. Can you tell us a bit about that project, how it works,
05:37 just what it means so much to you?
05:39 We started in 2017, and we were trying to do a book about the history and the future
05:46 of Sudan. And the one thing was missing was references. And that started the idea of why
05:54 don`t we do a proper library then? But it focuses on arts and design. And by the time
06:00 I tried to convince people with that, it was basically COVID happened. So everything shut
06:07 down. And then by the time people got convinced again, it was the coup. And then everything
06:12 shut down in Sudan. And then we said, all right, we don`t want a building. We`re trying
06:17 to make a mobile library, because we`re trying to reach people around Sudan. And then we
06:20 had a full program of screenings and books and workshops and all of that. And we had
06:26 a great team. And then the war happened, a day before we were supposed to start.
06:32 So this is, you know, I always tell this example, because this is how hard it is for us to start
06:38 anything that has to do with arts and culture in Sudan.
06:43 There`s a lot of negativity reported in the world, isn`t there? It`s hard, I guess, at
06:49 times not to get despondent. But do you also see hope for the things that you experience,
06:55 that you see that gives you hope about the future?
06:59 Actually, yes. Yes, I do. And even though it`s very hard, because, you know, working
07:03 in the news is, you know, you always see negative things, especially in social media, that you
07:08 see a lot of, you know, negative news just coming in, coming in, coming in, the replies.
07:12 And then you find yourself that you`re part of this cycle, right? But, you know, once
07:18 you step away from it and you realize that this is not what I`m supposed to do, I`m supposed
07:22 to discuss different things, I`m supposed to discuss it in a different way. And this
07:29 is when you discover that, you know, humans always found a way. The Internet kind of was
07:35 that way around it. And now it seems that it is the block and people are moving around
07:39 it to see what is the best way to use it. How can we be, you know, find ourselves again
07:46 and get out of that filter bubble and get out of that vicious circle.
07:49 Khaled, thanks so much for inviting us into your world.
07:52 Thank you.
07:53 Joining us on the Dialogue.
07:54 Thank you so much.
07:54 Thank you.
07:55 (upbeat music)
07:57 [MUSIC]