Cartoon Movement calls for new images of Peace

By John Freeman on September 18, 2012

Images via the World Peace Foundation

On Friday the Cartoon Movement web site will be launching a new project titled ‘Reinventing Peace for the 21st Century’.

Working in partnership with the World Peace Foundation (part of Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University) the plan is to create a series of cartoons about peace in the 21st century, inspired by the visuals used by the international peace movement in the early 20th century.

“One hundred years ago, the international peace movement believed that war between states could be definitivelyended,” notes the internet’s Number One publishing platform for high quality political cartoons. “Guided by this animating vision, advocates argued that the world needed to renounce war, to educate youth about the benefits of peace, to disarm, and to create new institutions for resolving disputes.

“The outbreak of World War I in 1914 shattered such idealism. Post-war efforts to regain ground faltered in the crescendo of violence that was World War II. Nonetheless, in the postwar era, many of the instruments advocated by the peace movement were created, even if the vision for peace was dismissed as hopelessly nave.

“Today, we reap the benefits of the peace movement. Across the globe, not only are the instances of armed conflict fewer in our day than at any other point in history, but the conflicts also tend to be less lethal. “Yet, we do not live in a world at peace. War remains a reality for too many and too serious a threat to be dismissed. Further, the dominant patterns of conflict have changed: violence is more determined by non-state actors, globalized communications, commercial interests (licit or illicit), and sub-national disputes, proving remarkably intractable to the tools of conflict resolution.

“To respond to today s conflicts, we not only need new instruments and tools we need a new vision of peace. “Our challenge is to reinvent peace for the next hundred years.”

On 21st September 2012, the International Day of Peace, the Cartoon Movement will launch a newsroom asking their cartoonists to translate the visuals that were used 100 years ago to the reality of the 21st century. The cartoons will be used in an exhibition at the World Peace Foundation.

• The full announcement, which includes more images provided by the World Peace Foundation, is here on the Cartoon Movement web site

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.