Cartoon Derides India on Climate Change, Twitterati Go Berserk

NEW DELHI: A day after world leaders signed a treaty to tackle climate change in Paris, an Australian newspaper faced a barrage of criticism as it published a cartoon depicting starving Indians chopping up and eating solar panels.

In the cartoon published by The Australian, one emaciated looking Indian tells another: “It’s no good, you can’t eat them.” “Hang on, let me try one with a bit of mango chutney,” responds the second character.

Critics have described the cartoon as “shocking ... and unequivocally racist, drawing on base stereotypes of third world people.”

The cartoon was drawn by veteran cartoonist Bill Leak as a response to the climate deal signed in Paris.

It has been condemned by all quarters, with the Twitterati leading the attack.

 

Others pointed out the Bill Leak has drawn arguably racist cartoons in the past.

Angry internet users even tampered will Bill Leak’s Wikipedia page, adding racism as a characteristic.

India is the world’s third largest carbon emitter and has been seen as a direct challenge to a global climate treaty, as Indian officials resisted announcing a peaking year. This position culminated in another cartoon focusing on India, where the country is symbolised as an elephant that is holding up any progress on arriving at a consensus on tackling climate change.

The cartoon was published by the New York Times, titled ‘India at the Paris Climate Conference.’ The cartoon did not go down well in India, as evinced by headlines such as “NYT affronts India again, this time with a cartoon on climate change” in leading Indian newspapers.