Tintin Does Not Break Racism Law, Belgium Court Rules

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Belgian court has rejected an application to ban a colonial-era book about the Congolese adventures of cartoon character Tintin for breaching racism laws, court documents showed.

Brussels' court of first instance said it did not believe the 1946 edition of "Tintin in the Congo" was intended to incite racial hatred, a criteria when deciding if something breaks Belgium's racism laws. The decision was issued late on Friday.

The Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Herge, has gained renewed, global popularity in the past year after Hollywood director Stephen Spielberg made an animated film about the intrepid boy journalist and his little white dog Snowy.

Tintin in the Congo was the second book Herge produced, with the plot revolving around Tintin's escapades in the former Belgian colony, including encounters with diamond smugglers, big game hunters and wild animals.

In 2007, Congolese campaigner Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo launched legal proceedings to try to get the book banned, arguing that its portrayal of Africans was racist. Read on and comment » | Monday, February 13, 2012

Banning Tintin from Children's Shelves Is 'Politically Correct Lunacy', Says Vatican Newspaper

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: 'Tintin in the Congo', the comic banned from the children's shelves of British book shops, is an example of "politically correct lunacy", according to the Vatican's official newspaper.

L'Osservatore Romano hailed the Belgian boy reporter as a "Catholic hero" and said it was ridiculous that the comic book had been "wrapped up like a pornographic magazine and consigned to the adults-only section" of book shops in the UK.

The newspaper, which generally reflects the view of the Vatican, asked whether the act of censorship – on the grounds that the comic is racist – was "an appropriate protection of the defenceless children of Her Majesty, or politically correct lunacy in the shadow of Big Ben."

The book, published by Egmont, is being sold in Britain with a protective band around it, warning that its portrayal of Africans as wide-eyed simpletons would offend some readers and was based on "the bourgeois, paternalistic stereotypes of the period."

But an editorial in L'Osservatore Romano said: "It is essential to take into account the historical context to avoid entering the realm of the ridiculous," arguing that the book by Herge, the Belgian artist whose real name was George Remi, reflected the values prevalent in Europe between the wars.

"The comic book was published in the 1930s, and for that reason expresses the values of the era – but can it really perturb young Britons of today, raised as they are on the internet, video games and fish and chips?"

If retrospective political correctness was taken to its logical conclusion then scouting should be banned because the movement was founded by Lord Baden Powell, who as well as being "a military man and a writer was also a racist and a eugenicist," the newspaper said. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Tuesday, November 08, 2011

«Tintin au Congo» a été jugé raciste

Cette image grâce au Figaro

LE FIGARO: L’album «Tintin au Congo» a été jugé raciste par la commission britannique pour l'égalité raciale.

Désormais, pour lire «Tintin au Congo» outre-Manche, il faudra avoir plus de 18 ans. Le groupe britannique Borders, qui édite en Angleterre les aventures du reporter inventé par Hergé, vient de décider de classer cet album dans la rubrique «BD adultes».

La raison : une décision de la commission pour l’égalité raciale (CRE), saisie par un avocat britannique, David Enright, qui est tombé par hasard sur l’album en faisant du shopping. Pour lui, «Tintin au Congo» suggère que les Africains sont de sous-humains, que ce sont des imbéciles, à moitié sauvages». Tintin interdit aux mineurs en Grande-Bretagne (suivant)

Mark Alexander