AMERICAN EMBASSY KINSHASA NEWSLETTER | DECEMBER 2, 2010
Tintin in the Congo (French: Tintin au Congo) is the second of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It appeared between June 1930 and June 1931 in Le Petit Vingtième (the children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle). The story was published as an album in 1931, in black and white form. It was re-drawn in 1946, with additional changes in 1975.
Jacques Van Melkebeke (1904-1983) was a Belgian journalist, writer, comic strips writer. Friend of Hergé, he took part in a semi-official way in the development of some of the story lines of The Adventures of Tintin, adding a number of cultural references. He also wrote a fake letter to Hergé demanding that an insult Haddock uses "Pneumothorax" be removed. It was allegedly from a father whose boy was a great fan of Tintin and also a heavy tuberculosis sufferer who had experienced a collapsed lung. According to the letter, the boy was devastated that his favourite comic made fun of his own condition. Hergé wrote an apology and removed the word from the comic.
In this Edition
2 Tintin in Congo Storyline 3 Tintin in Congo Controversy 5 Tintin sculpture in Kinshasa 6 CLO’s Line 7 FLO Weekly Update 8 AERWA News 9 From DPO 10 Human Resources 11 The Medical Unit 12 What’s Going On 14 Classifieds 15 Calendar
SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA http://www.en.wikipedi.org/wiki/Tintin_in_the_Congo
City Room – A library Approach the Books that Offend By Alison Leigh Cowan, New York Time; Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Tintin est-il raciste ? Par Olivier Faure, publié le 03/05/2010 à 11:00, SOURCEL L’EXPRESS http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/europe/tintin-est-ilraciste_889962.html
FRANCE 24 International news http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20100512tintin-guilty-racism-let-congolese-decide-herge-congohearing-belgium?page=1
It has provoked controversy, particularly in modern times, with complaints from people who feel the depiction of Africans is racist, and from animal rights groups who feel Tintin engages in cruel behaviour. Hergé later said that he was influenced by the naïve, colonialist views of the time. At the time he was much influenced by his employer, Wallez, who decided that the Belgian youth needed to know more about the values of colonialism. Hergé was very young and only in the beginnings of his career when he drew this volume, later describing it as "the sin of his youth." Hergé himself did not intend to be offensive or malicious towards the people of the Congo.
Storyline Tintin in the Congo begins with Tintin and Snowy departing from Antwerp on a ship bound for the Belgian Congo. Snowy has several accidents on board the ship, including an encounter with a stowaway, but eventually they arrive safe and well at Matadi. Here, they rent a Ford Model T and hire a guide named Coco. They set out into the depths of the Congo, where Tintin hunts numerous animals. Upon returning to Coco, Tintin finds that his car has been stolen by a man whom Snowy recognizes as the stowaway. They recover the car but the man escapes. Later on, Tintin, Snowy, and Coco find their way to a village. However, the man who stole the car joins forces with the village doctor, and unsuccessfully tries to dispose of Tintin several times. In his last attempt, the criminal (Tom) tries to hang Tintin above a river full of crocodiles so that they can eat him, but Tintin is rescued by a Belgian missionary. Tintin and Snowy are taken to a mission station where the ever-persistent Tom once again tries to get at Tintin, who resolves to end this, and in their final struggle, it is Tom that is eaten by crocodiles, though that was not what Tintin intended. Tintin finds a letter giving Tom instructions to kill him. The letter is signed A.C., which stands for Al Capone, who is operating a diamond smuggling ring in the Congo. Tintin reveals the operation, and the gang is captured. Finally, Tintin can get back to enjoying the Congolese wildlife. However, he and Snowy end up getting chased by a herd of buffalo. Before they are trampled, a plane swoops down and saves them. They are to be taken home in order to prepare for their next adventure, Tintin in America. The African people build totems to Tintin. CONGO BONGO | DECEMBER 2, 2010
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Controversy Tintin in the Congo has often been
criticized as having racist and colonialist or imperialist views, as well as several scenes of violence against animals. Hergé later said that he was portraying the naïve, colonialist views of the time. Hergé regarded it as a "youthful bit of fun" The depiction of Africans was felt by some to be racist, as they have exaggerated features and show signs of ignorance of Europeans, shown in one case in their perception of European warfare, although some simply perceive this as humour derived from stereotypes, which Hergé employs frequently throughout the series with Europeans as well. When the book was redrawn in 1946, Hergé removed several references to the fact that the Congo was at that time a Belgian colony: a lesson in Belgian geography was replaced by one in mathematics. When the album was to be published in Denmark and Sweden in the 1970s, the publishers objected to a scene on page 56 of the colour book, in which Tintin blows up a rhinoceros with a stick of dynamite. However, hunting game— particularly exotic animals—was a common practice in that era. They asked that the page be redrawn, and Hergé complied. In July 2007, the UK's equal-rights body, the Commission for Racial Equality, called on high -street shops to remove the book from shelves after a complaint by David Enright, a human rights lawyer who came across the book in the children's section of the highstreet chain Borders while shopping with his African wife and two sons. The shop later moved the book from the children's section to the area reserved for adult graphic novels. Borders said that it was committed to let its "customers make the choice." The retailer WHSmith said that the book was sold on its Web site but with a label that recommended it for readers aged 16 and over. By 14 July, following widespread media coverage, sales of the book rocketed by 3,800%, with the book having climbed to 5th place on Amazon.co.uk's best-seller list, up from 4,343rd four days earlier.
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Controversy City Room – A library Approach the Books that Offend by Alison Leigh Cowan New York Time Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The cartoonist Hergé is popular again, as is his adventurous reporter Tintin, who will be featured in a Steven Spielberg movie due out in 2011. But if you go to the Brooklyn Public Library seeking a copy of “Tintin au Congo,” Hergé’s second book in a series, prepare to make an appointment and wait days to see the book. The book, published 79 years ago, was moved in 2007 from the public area of the library to a back room where it is held under lock and key. The move came after a patron objected, as others have, to the way Africans are depicted in the book. “The content is racially offensive to black people”. In particular, the patron took issue with illustrations that she felt had the Africans “looking like monkeys”. Libraries often have policies that allow patrons to complain about content they find objectionable. New York City libraries have received almost two dozen written objections since 2005. But the book about Tintin (pronounced Tantan in his native Brussels) was the only challenged item to have been removed from the shelves, library officials said. The decision to get rid of a book, or restrict access to it, goes to the very heart of a public library. “Policies should not unjustly exclude materials and resources even if they are offensive to the librarian or the user,’’ says the Web site of the American Library Association, which adds, “Toleration is meaningless without tolerance for what some may consider detestable.” In Tintin’s Congo adventure, recent versions have revised panels in which the hero had lectured the natives on their colonial ties to Belgium. Now he teaches them arithmetic. It’s too early to tell whether queasiness about the stories will have any effect on the Spielberg movie (2011), whose makers say their work will not draw from
Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo accuse Tintin in Congo fo racism has spread prejudices against Africans.
Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, 41, is taking legal action claiming Hergé's controversial Tintin In The Congo is propaganda for colonialism and amounts to "racism and xenophobia". "Tintin's little (black) helper is seen as stupid and without qualities. It makes people think that blacks have not evolved," he said. Mr Mbutu Mondondo launched a case in Belgium two years ago for symbolic damages of one euro from Tintin's Belgian publishers Moulinsart, and demanded the book be withdrawn from the market. But since then his lawyer, Claude Ndjakanyi, said there had been no response from Belgian justice. "Our request to access the dossier was judged premature even though the investigation has been running for two years," he said. Tintin and his dog Snowy are a rare unifying symbol in Belgium – a divided nation where postcolonial guilt over Belgian's record in the Congo still runs high. Georges Remi, the Tintin cartoonist who worked under the Hergé penname, reworked the book in 1946 to remove references to Congo as Belgian colony. But it still contained images such as a black woman bowing to Tintin and saying: "White man very great White mister is big juju man!" Moulinsart, Tintin's publishers, argued that the whole row was "silly" and that book must be seen in its historical context: "To read in the 21st century a Tintin album dating back to 1931 requires a minimum of intellectual honesty," it said. "If one applied the 'politically correct' filter to great artists or writers, we could no longer publish certain novels of Balzac, Jules Verne, or even some CONGO BONGO | DECEMBER 2, 2010
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TINTIN SCULPTURES IN KINSHASA
Our most famous artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo is Auguy Kakase. He has been making toys since 1995 and says his late grandfather gave him the inspiration to become an artist but he learnt his craft from other artisans – and, in turn, teaches newcomers the art of creating something spectacular out of plain wood. He works together with his team of apprentices in the grounds of the old French Embassy in the Kinshasa, with few formal tools and with little supporting infrastructure. Says Auguy, "When I started with the Tintin toys I didn’t really dare to believe in the project. My girlfriend, when she saw all this odd looking stuff in my house, took me for a maker of fetishes! But I could’ve given up my art on account of this kind of discouragement. And others, including my brother, Dario, who is lawyer, have always encouraged me in the direciton I have chosen." There are many, many collectors, both in South Africa and beyond, who are certainly grateful that Auguy has stuck to his creative vision – his artworks (because that is what they really are) are full of life, quirky at times, always beautiful crafted and truly lifelong collectables.
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