After NYT, Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper takes an ‘incredibly racist’ dig at Indians
An obtuse attempt at depicting the poverty in India in lieu of the recent climate talks has left veteran artist Bill Leak of The Australian red-faced, as a cartoon drawn by him has garnered a lot of criticism.
The cartoon, which was termed as ”unequivocally racist”, shows skinny Indian men clad in turbans and dhotis huddled around UN-issued solar panels, breaking them apart and throwing them away as ”they are no good” because ”they can’t be eaten”.
The cartoon, by Bill Leak, that featured in The Australian recently. (Source)
The cartoon incredibly goes further on to show an elderly man applying mango-chutney to the panels in order to make them edible.
The cartoon attracted widespread anger and disdain from within Australia and the rest of the world alike.
This is not the first time a major news publication came under the radar for their depiction of the climate change negotiations. A cartoon published by the New York Times last week that portrayed India as an elephant stalling a train depicting climate change talks, also received a lot of criticism.
A cartoon that featured in the New York Times last week.
India took a tough stand in the recently concluded climate talks in Paris and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had publically stated that it would be ”morally wrong” to not put the lion’s share of the financial burden on the developed nations based on their historic emissions.
The cartoons, alongside other such articles in reputed media houses in developed nations seem to be backlash against India’s stand at the climate talks.
Here’s how Twitterati reacted to this:
Shame on the @australian for printing racist cartoon against India showing Indians eating solar panels. #COP21Parispic.twitter.com/Llq5Rl5FKV— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) December 14, 2015
Appallingly racist unfunny cartoon in Australian newspaper considering India has more solar PV installed than Austr. pic.twitter.com/lw9ezLZkcp— Musca vetustissima (@Mvetustissima) December 14, 2015
How on earth can this be real? This is at least as racist as the LeLievre cartoon everyone lost it over. https://t.co/KCCZW6tDOS— Away in an Osmanger (@oz_f) December 13, 2015
Nasty little racist cartoon from Murdoch's @Australian on #COP21. They can eat coal, can they? MT @BLeakEksplaynedpic.twitter.com/zvZ5thXlKt— The Daily Rupert (@TheMurdochTimes) December 13, 2015
Last year, NYT invited widespread criticism for publishing a cartoon on India’s low-cost space program.
DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.
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