{"id":3488,"date":"2012-12-10T08:49:21","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T08:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=3488"},"modified":"2012-12-10T08:49:21","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T08:49:21","slug":"tintin-in-the-congo-not-racist-belgian-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=3488","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Tintin in the Congo\u2019 not racist, Belgian court rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Brussels court has rejected a legal bid to ban \u201cTintin in the Congo\u201d, the second adventure of Belgian writer Herg\u00e9\u2019s globe-trotting boy reporter. Black associations in the country claimed the book contained racist stereotypes.<\/p>\n

\u201cTintin in the Congo<\/a>\u201d – a classic 1920s comic strip about Belgium’s celebrated fictional boy reporter – is not racist, a Brussels court ruled on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Brussels Appeals Court upheld a 2011 ruling against Congolese immigrant Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo and the Belgian Council of Black Associations, who wanted the book banned.<\/p>\n

In 2010 Mbutu, who lives in Belgium, Congo\u2019s former colonial ruler, said Tintin employed a little black helper who was seen as \u201cstupid and without qualities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes people think that blacks have not evolved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In one scene, a black woman prostrates herself before Tintin, saying: \u201cWhite man very great. White mister is big juju man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Gentle and candid humour\u2019<\/p>\n

Alain Amici, lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the court in 2011: \u201cThe negative stereotypes portrayed in this book are still read by a significant number of children. They have an impact on their behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not so, said Brussels judges, for whom \u201cTintin in the Congo\u201d is full of \u201cgentle and candid humour\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cartoon strip, written in the late 1920s, was Belgian writer Herg\u00e9\u2019s second Tintin adventure. It was followed by stories in which the author tried to add greater realism and historical accuracy.<\/p>\n

Herg\u00e9 himself recognised that \u201cTintin in the Congo\u201d was a \u201cyouthful sin\u201d that reflected the prejudices of the time.<\/p>\n

In 2007 a British court ruled that \u201cTintin in the Congo\u201d should be sold with a warning that it includes racist content.<\/p>\n

Mbutu has also tried to have the cartoon banned in France, unsuccessfully. – France24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Brussels court has rejected a legal bid to ban \u201cTintin in the Congo\u201d, the second adventure of Belgian writer Herg\u00e9\u2019s globe-trotting boy reporter. Black associations in the country claimed the book contained racist stereotypes. \u201cTintin in the Congo\u201d – a classic 1920s comic strip about Belgium’s celebrated fictional boy reporter – is not racist, … Continue reading “\u2018Tintin in the Congo\u2019 not racist, Belgian court rules”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,3,123],"tags":[2302,513,2304,2301,225,1588,2300,2305,1818,2303,2298,2299],"class_list":["post-3488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-news","category-world","tag-belgian-council-of-black-associations","tag-belgium","tag-brussels","tag-brussels-appeals-court","tag-colonialism","tag-congo","tag-herge","tag-racial-stereotypes","tag-racist","tag-racist-cartoon","tag-tin-tin","tag-tintin-in-the-congo"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/tintin_au_congo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3488"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3491,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3488\/revisions\/3491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}