Drawing a black character, no matter how positive and PC it was, not good enough. Censored!
So a hardcore Leftist artist feels the ax of the PC censorship brigade. By their own standard and (ill) logic, he should now be considered an irredeemable racist who must be shunned from till eternity. He friend Pertti Jarla at the time defended him, but now he’s swung over to the side of censorship.
H/T: Vasarahammer
Comic character censored as racist: Mämmilän Mukku must not star in the advertising poster – Pertti Jarla commends the decision
The dark-skinned figure Muhammed Al-Zomal of Mämmilä comic was criticized by the Tampere Kuplii comic festival by removing its advertising poster.
The good-feeling for the cartoon festival Tampere Kuplii came to the brink because of its advertising poster. Critical feedback over the dark-skinned figure, Muhammad Al-Zomal, in the advertising poster. Mukku is a well-known figure from Mämmilä’s comic strip by Tarmo Koivisto, a Helsinki-based comic artist, who has been published in various magazines since 1975.
On the Facebook page of the event, the Mukku character was considered racist.
– Not very good for a “good-feeling cartoon festivals” that has a racist caricature on the poster. Such a catalog does not create a good feeling. This is probably an old comic, but it would be hoped that in 2019, in a Finnish comic book, there would be an understanding of the negative prejudices that caricatures of that style can cause. Is there anyone here been thinking about this before we start advertising the festivals with that picture? This was immediately asked in the first comment.
Not everyone has signed the criticism, but there were also defenders.
– The Muhammed Al-Zomal, or Mukku, on the poster is a person in Mämmila. In the comic, he is described very positively, and more, in the series, laughing at the locals who are afraid of a foreigner. Maybe only white Finns should be represented in Koivisto’s production? the comment chain asks.
The comic festival reacts to the criticism it has received by censorship. The weekend’s public feedback was answered on Monday with regret and removal of the poster.
– Tampere Kuplii thanks for the relevant feedback that the poster has caused. Our sincere apologies to everyone. The original poster has been removed and a new poster will be released as soon as possible, event organizers will announce.
Comic book artist Pertti Jarla , a colleague of Tarmo Koivisto, also participated in the discussion , and has strongly defended freedom of expression in his art. But now Jarla defends censorship.
– What is essential is how the dark-skinned people themselves feel, and as far as I heard from them, thought that the poster wasn’t pleasant. So good it’s good to come up with a new one, Jarla commented.
The Mämmilä comic was published regularly in various magazines between 1975 and 1996 and 2006-2008. Between the episodes, Koivisto drew the storyline www.mammila.fi , which was released as an album in 2002.
Mämmilä has often been described as a Finnish society in miniature; it has mirrored the impact of structural changes, time flows and economic upturns on Finnish life.
The series has sought to describe life in an ordinary Finnish parish through the ordinary life stories of ordinary Finnish people.
