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Bad times in Buenos Aires make for cartoon bonanza
( 2002-01-25 15:43 ) (7 )

Bad times in Buenos Aires are proving to be a bonanza for editorial cartoonists whose caustic humor has pummeled politicians.

After a four-year recession that has left a third of Argentina's 36 million people in poverty and over 18 percent unemployed, humorists are hard at work poking fun at the people managing Latin America's third-largest economy.

Far from being frightened by Argentina's trying times that sparked widespread protests and the resignation of two presidents within a month, Roberto Fontanarrosa, who draws for Clarin tabloid newspaper, said he believes tough times are the raw material of humor.

"Crises are generally rich soil for humor, because humor is always a counter-position to something and that means crises offer so many errors, so many contradictions that the issues grow richer," Fontanarrosa told Reuters.

Cristian Zwonik of La Nacion, a sober broadsheet, takes an unpitying aim at politicians.

"It is never straight-forward making jokes in times of crisis, and in Argentina's current crisis it is even less so," said Zwonik, who is known by the pen name Nik.

In addition to cartoons, Nik's fans scour La Nacion daily for "the talking photo." One of the latest jokes shows a photo of President Eduardo Duhalde touching his nose with the caption: "This can't be, in no more than a week in power your nose is already growing."

PUTTING ON A BRAVE FACE IN BAD TIMES

Over at Pagina 12, a left-wing tabloid modeled on Paris' Liberation, cartoonist Rudy said" "What changes a bit is how people take the joke. I feel people have the need to feel accompanied and humor is one avenue for that," the 45-year-old said.

"Melancholy humor that yearns for times past, but also humor loaded with sarcasm (and) irony has served Argentines during the crisis as an escape valve," Rudy added.

Renowned psychoanalyst Leonardo Wender, former president of the Buenos Aires Psychoanalytic Association, said humor has channeled citizens' discontent.

"All the cartoons are dark humor, the characters are satirized and it is more than good humor, it is aggressive sarcasm. Rather than something that makes one smile, this humor has transformed into an expression of anger," he said.

Voters in last October's mid-term legislative election cast spoiled ballots en masse carrying the image of one popular cartoon character "Clemente" -- a black and yellow figure with no arms -- with the caption "maybe he will not steal."

A WARNING SOUNDED

Plumbing lows in public opinion polls, politicians are@than ever an easy target for editorial cartoonists. Nik ventured a warning, however" "Humor was and is by definition a criticism of the establishment, but in the current crisis harsh criticism of a government can further destabilize a very weak system."

In the final months of the presidency of Fernando De la Rua, who was ousted amid looting and riots on Dec. 20, press and television depictions ridiculed his torpor in coming to grips with the situation -- often showing him in pajamas or with a pillow tied to his head.

The weeks that followed were marked by deeper uncertainty as Argentines were unsure who their next president would be and violent incidents and street protests continued.

"This situation completely changed the rules of the game for humorists, at least in my case. We have enormous difficulty in making jokes," Nik said.

"Historically, the best time for political humor is when there is a crisis. But in the current one, with political instability and economic collapse, it is an unhealthy cocktail for humor," he added.