Africa Is a Country

Suing Tintin

Suing Tintin

By
Tom Devriendt

It’s been a long time coming. The case that was opened in 2007 by Bienvenu Mbutu Mondono against the publishers of Hergé’s ‘Tintin in the Congo’ (published in some languages as ‘Tintin in Africa’) finally got its hearing at the Brussels court yesterday. “The problem is not Hergé’s,” Mondono’s lawyer told the press. “The problem is the commercialisation of a comic manifestly spreading ideas that are based on racial superiority.” The publisher’s lawyer warned a ban would be like opening Pandora’s Box. “What with the anti-Semitic passages in Dickens’s work? Mark Twain? The Bible?” It’s unlikely the judge will forbid the future publishing of the comic outright. Settling for a warning (like the English editions carry these days) sounds more probable. After being postponed several times, the case should come to a close later this year. That’s when Spielberg’s Hollywood version of Tintin will hit the theatres here. Timing is everything.

Further Reading

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Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.