On 23 July 2020 Front Line Defenders launched the first edition of a very interesting new Monthly Digital Magazine: “Cypher – Comics as Eyewitness”.
This project advances the organization’s storytelling and narrative framing work in collaboration with and in support of human rights defenders (HRDs). Working with artists from around the world, including the awardwinning visual storyteller, Beldan Sezen, as creative director, the Magazine will be a monthly publication featuring 3 or 4 stories of HRDs and the challenges they face.
Each month, Front Line Defenders will collaborate with comics artists
from around the world, pairing them with HRDs to develop stories
that portray their work and the challenges, risks and threats they
face. The first edition features stories from:
Kenya (artist: Nomes Dee) – a profile of Ruth Mumbi’s efforts to defend the rights of evicted families in the Kairobangi neighborhood of Nairobi as the COVID-19 pandemic spread; [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2015/01/22/human-rights-defenders-in-york-programme-tell-their-story-ruth-mumbi/]
Pakistan (artist: anonymous for security reasons) – the story of the abduction enforced
disappearance of Pakistani HRD Idris Khattak, as told from the perspective of his daughter;
Lebanon (artist: Pascale Ghazaly) – with COVID-19 hitting, ongoing street protests against political and economic corruption and the collapse of the economy, Ethiopian domestic workers found themselves kicked out and abandoned, as even the embassy refused to help; a collective of domestic workers organized critical support;
Brazil (artist: Lyvia Emanuelly ) – transvesti HRD Rosa Luz is a social media and YouTube influencer and rap/hip hop musician; when she used her art to criticize political leaders, she faced intense backlash in the media and from politicians, including death threats, only returning to her public role after a hiatus to ensure her security.
Front Line Defenders comes to this project following a four-year process of developing, producing and disseminating the critically-acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel, La Lucha: The Story of Lucha Castro and Human Rights in Mexico.[see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2015/04/04/la-lucha-the-story-of-lucha-castro-and-human-rights-in-mexico-new-comics-book-out/
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/sites/default/files/cypher01final.pdf
