2016 has proven to be one of the most disturbing and tragic years in recent decades, and it is only July.
The ‘stars’ on the earth seem to be fading – from celebrity greats such as David Bowie and Muhammad Ali who promoted equality through their passions and professions, to the stars of unity on national and international flags. In the West, the United States of America is tearing itself apart in the wake of the upcoming presidential election; Great Britain gashed a hole in the European project. Tensions between nations in the far East are tighter than ever, and the ongoing refugee crisis is only getting worse. It would simply be an impossibility to mention all of the unrest occurring in the world right now, as well as illustrating these horrors in one single cartoon. Yet there is a single word that strongly links all the unrest together, and it is that of ‘borders’.
From literal borders of walls and barbed wire; to economic barriers of entry, immigration borders and those that side with the personal; it is these borders that ooze hatred throughout the world. In these uncertain and dark times, it’s easy to become cynical and turn to satire in order to create our own individual peace with global anxieties. Yet only a year ago, we laughed at the possibility of Trump becoming the chosen presidential candidate for the Republican party in the US. Today this is no laughing matter, and I find it simply impossible to draw a laugh out of this deeply-disturbed world.
