Naji al-Ali: Encyclopedia II - Naji al-Ali - Career as a cartoonist and journalist

Naji al-Ali - Career as a cartoonist and journalist

In 1959 Naji al-Ali returned to Lebanon, and that year he joined the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), but was expelled four times in the space of a year for lack of party discipline. Between 1960 and 1961, along with comrades from the ANM, he published a handwritten political journal entitled Al-Sarkha ('the cry').

In 1960, he entered the Art Academy of Lebanon, but was unable to continue his studies there as he was imprisoned for political reasons soon afterwards. After his release he moved to Tyre, where he worked as a drawing instructor in the Ja'fariya College.

The writer and political activist Ghassan Kanafani saw some of Naji al-Ali's cartoons on a visit to Ain al-Hilweh and printed the artist's first published drawings along with an accompanying article in Al-Hurriya no. 88 on 25 September 1961.

In 1963 Naji al-Ali moved to Kuwait, hoping to save money so as to be able to study art in Cairo or Rome. There he worked as an editor, cartoonist, designer and newspaper producer on the Arab nationalist Al-Tali'a newspaper. From 1968 on he worked for Al-Siyasa. In the course of these years he returned to Lebanon several times. In 1974 he started working for the Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir, which permitted him to return to Lebanon for a longer period. During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, he was briefly detained by the occupying forces along with other residents of Ain al-Hilweh. In 1983 he once more moved to Kuwait to work for Al-Qabas and in 1985 moved to London where he worked for its international edition until his death.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Career as a cartoonist and journalist", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki