A Year of Drawing Morsi

Photograph by Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty.

From the day that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi took office, on June 30, 2012, opposition cartoonists have been brazen in their attacks on him. Most newspaper editors refrained from mockery of Morsi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, during his thirty-year reign, but in the new Egypt, things are different. A law against “insulting” the President remains in the penal code, but illustrators unabashedly lampoon Morsi on a daily basis.

Morsi is drawn as a cowboy, as Godzilla attacking Cairo’s skyline, and, of course, as a pharaoh. He is a cleric in Muslim Brotherhood regalia. He sends a Tweet from his cell phone to the Egyptian people, as he sits on the toilet, pants dropped. He orders carryout: “I’d like the revolutionary platter…and hold the opposition.” And those are just a few of the gems from dissenting newspapers.

There is something distinctly Egyptian about cartoons; one researcher has even traced the art form to ancient hieroglyphs, which featured gags mocking the pharaohs. They were an important part of the 2011 revolution against Mubarak, and as cartoonists entered Tahrir Square many saw their illustrations on placards. Some broadsheets publish as many as eight editorial cartoons on a given day. “Drawings reach people faster, are more direct, and reach a broader spectrum of people,” said cartoonist Doaa El Adl. “Events happen very quickly, and the artist isn’t supposed to explain events but is supposed to have a vision—and sometimes predict what might happen.”

This weekend, as the first anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration approaches, there is tension in Cairo again. Thousands of anti-Morsi demonstrators took to Tahrir Square on Friday, as pro-Morsi protesters gathered on the other side of the city. The streets were empty, save for demonstrators and people stuck in long lines at gas stations. In anticipation of the actual anniversary on Sunday, residents have been stocking up on staples, and banks have set withdrawal limits for A.T.M.s.

Below, a selection of eight cartoons by six artists, chosen because of their audacity, their simplicity, and their punch lines. They capture the sentiments of a citizenry angered by a leader who has bounced from crisis to crisis without an inclusive and unifying vision for Egypt. (The same cartoonists, by the way, have drawn highly critical cartoons of opposition leaders, too). Thanks to the seemingly endless economic crisis and political conflict in the country right now, cartoonists might have more material than any time in Egyptian history. As eighty-seven-year-old cartoonist Ahmed Toughan—who drew under Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak—told me, Morsi “is not lucky.”