The newspaper’s decision follows lobbying by Peter Tatchell Foundation
Andrzej Krauze’s cartoons condemned as homophobic, racist & anti-Muslim
London, UK – 5 October 2020
The Guardian newspaper has terminated the contract of cartoonist, Andrzej Krauze, following lobbing by the Peter Tatchell Foundation. Krauze has been accused of drawing allegedly homophobic, racist and anti-Muslim cartoons for the Polish right-wing press.
The Guardian advised the foundation’s Director, Peter Tatchell, that “Andrzej Krauze’s work for the Guardian has come to an end.” His final Guardian cartoon was published last week.
“I thank the Guardian for listening to my concerns and those of Polish human rights defenders. Krauze stands accused of promoting far right extremism in Poland by drawing cartoons construed as homophobic, racist and anti-Muslim,” said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.
Examples of Krauze’s bigoted cartoons follow below.
Mr Tatchell continued:
“Krauze’s cartoon equating same-sex marriage to bestiality echoes the anti-Jewish cartoons published by Der Sturmer during the Nazi era. He is actively colluding with the intolerance that has fuelled Poland’s anti-LGBT+ witch-hunt, where a third of the country has been now declared a LGBT-free zone. Freedom of expression is important but not when it aids the denial of freedom to others,” added Mr Tatchell.
According to the Polish anti-racist ‘Never Again’ association:
“Krauze is well known in Poland for his homophobic and xenophobic views.”
Krauze has been described as the “court satirist of the Polish right.”
https://natemat.pl/57793,w-polsce-rasista-w-wielkiej-brytanii-artysta-podwojne-zycie-andrzeja-krauzego-nadwornego-satyryka-polskiej-prawicy
Krauze is reportedly a supporter of the Polish political right and his views echo those of the ruling Law and Justice Party which, together with other right-wing allies, is waging a campaign against LGBT+ people and against Polish liberals, artists and intellectuals.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The following are examples of Krauze’s cartoons that have been interpreted at homophobic, anti-Muslim and racist:
Homophobic cartoons
A particularly notorious cartoon by Krauze was first published in the daily Rzeczpospolita after the LGBT+ Pride march in Warsaw in 2009. Coinciding with a proposal to recognise same-sex relationships, it features two men getting married and another man talking to a goat, saying: “Let these gentlemen get married first, and then it’s our turn” (for a man to marry a goat).
https://twitter.com/trzymkowski/status/1268127848268791811?lang=en
This cartoon was interpreted as equating gay marriage with bestiality and implying that the legalisation of same-sex marriage will lead to the legalisation of zoophilia and the marriage of men and animals.
The same cartoon was tweeted on 3 June 2020 by the right-wing MP Tomasz Rzymkowski in the midst of a virulently anti-LGBT+ presidential election campaign, where the LGBT+ community was insulted, smeared and demonised by the governing Law and Justice party and the far right.
https://twitter.com/trzymkowski/status/1268127848268791811?lang=en
Tomasz Rzymkowski is a former member of the extreme-right Nationalist Movement (RN) and now is an MP for Law and Justice, which opposes LGBT+ rights. This shows how Krauze’s cartoon fuels a homophobic agenda and is exploited by and aids the far right.
Another anti-gay Krauze cartoon was published on the radical-right website polityce.pl on 18 March 2019:
https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/438441-znowu-chca-zrobic-z-nas-idiotow-oto-klasyka-iii-rp
The caption is: “What he didn’t accomplish during his membership of the PZPR [the ruling party of the communist dictatorship], he will continue by joining the LGBT ranks!” This implicitly associates LGBT+ rights with tyranny.
Some of his other perceived anti-LGBT+ cartoons were published in the right-wing weeklies Do Rzeczy and Sieci in the second half of 2018.One of them seems transphobic (at 2:49): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kCs5jrcmY8 The cartoon features a devil-like monster strangling a Polish citizen and the caption reads: “You are not a boy, you are not a girl, you are not it/them, you are a modern European!”
Another example is on the current website of the Polish right-wing propaganda channel PTV:
https://tygodnik.tvp.pl/34911396/komentuje-andrzej-krauze
Cartoon no. 77 has the caption: “A crash course of LGBT for the young ones!” (says the fox to the chicken, implying that education about LGBT+ issues and people is a threat and danger to children). In this compilation, Krauze’s bio at the top of the page uses his affiliation with The Guardian to legitimise him.
Anti-Muslim cartoon
Krauze is also accused of stirring anti-Muslim prejudice.
In June 2017, in Gosc Niedzielny weekly, during an intense national debate about whether Poland should accept refugees, Krause drew a cartoon depicting a Muslim man as a suicide bomber in the home of a seemingly frightened Polish family:
https://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/artykul/gosc-niedzielny-andrzej-krauze-skrytykowany-przez-tygodnik-powszechny-i-gazete-wyborcza-za-rysunek-o-muzulmaninie-zamachowcy-w-polsce
His cartoon was captioned with the words: “He moved in to commit suicide with us.”
Racist cartoon
A cartoon by Krauze concerning the 2013 visit to Nigeria by the then Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, published in the Rzeczpospolita daily, was condemned as racist by the commentator Tomasz Piątek, who wrote:
“How did Andrzej Krauze comment on the Nigerian visit? Two wild, black cannibals, each of whom has a nose decoratively pierced by a human tibia, carry the bound Prime Minister Tusk, and the latter thinks with horror: ‘We should have gone to Smolensk’ (in Poland). But never mind what he thinks. Everyone has the right to criticize the rulers, even if it is a criticism on the verge of insanity. It is unacceptable that on this occasion Krauze expressed his primitive racism, which is disgusting and offensive to Nigerians and all black people.”
The cartoon was so blatantly racist that it now appears to have been deleted to head off further criticism but without any apology by Krause.