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Thursday hijacked. Click to see complete
Front cover of the magazine El Jueves 1.573 with drawing by Guillermo and script by Manel
A cover for (shameful) history
The cover of the 1.573rd issue of"El Jueves" will surely be the most viewed in the history of this magazine, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. I have no problem writing another 30 years about the absurdity of the measure of hijacking the magazine, so this will be a longpost.
In the image and under a red text that reads "2,500 euros per child ", alluding to the aid that the Government will grant to the families of children born from now on, there is a caricature of Felipe practicing the "doggy style" with Letizia while he comments to her:
"Do you realise? If you get pregnant? This is going to be the closest thing to work
I've ever done in my life!"
I will treasure my original. An exclusive piece of evidence of the coronary heart disease in this country. I have already deposited my magazine in the safe and made myself strong at home to keep the kidnappers out.
Destroying "the mould", it all looks like a cartoon from El Jueves
Judge del Olmo has asked for the "mould" of the cover to be destroyed so that it cannot be reproduced again, the judge believes that the cartoons are drawn with a chisel on marble, which has brought millions of visits to the magazine's website and has ensured the full sale of next week's edition and maybe two or three more. A master of the viral.
Download Preliminary Proceedings Order(PDF)
Guillermo Torres (resident in Seville), author of the drawing with script by Manel Fontdevila (author of "La parejita") has answered the 43 questions of the readers in a digital meeting in El Mundo that curiously has given a very complete coverage to the matter. (I sent a couple of questions but there was a long queue)
Del Olmo, that great publicist, has been spared the kidnapping as it has sold out at all points of sale in just 20 seconds.
Hijacking
The Spanish constitution forbids prior censorshipof publications, but allows for seizure once on the street if a judge determines that it violates certain fundamental rights.
Prosecutor Miguel Angel Carballo, who has acted at the behest of the Attorney General's Office, plans this afternoon to extend the request for the magazine's withdrawal to websites and wherever it is displayed.
If they intend to remove it from the internet, they should start hiring people because I fear they have work for years, the image is being reproduced at breakneck speed.
The reactions follow one after the other on the web, which once again gives a lesson in monitoring the traditional media and barely gives time to follow them. Thus the veteran Mauro Entrialgo in his El País blog, as well as creating this great cartoon on the issue of the "mould", was very active in blogs and communities adding his point of view.
Reactions
José María Varona, vice-president of FECO Spain, the national branch of the federation of European cartoonists, believes that the magazine "has gone too far" with the cover and that "it is in bad taste", an expression that has been repeated by many media in an attempt to stay looking from afar but taking advantage of the media's pull in the hunt for readers, listeners or viewers, but yes, all of them showing the cover.
Varona also adds:
"I contacted my colleagues at El Jueves when I found out what they had done and told them that, in my opinion, they had gone too far, that the cover was vulgar. The President of the Government and his wife, for example, and any of us and our families would not like to be depicted in a situation like the one in which the Prince and Princess of Asturias appear"
These statements by Jose Maria Varona, FECO vice-president, leave his partners and pencil-pushing colleagues in a very bad place. Not only for turning their backs on them, but also because I believe they have not been consulted, (See Malagón's e-mail to FECO asking if these statements are from FECO or a personal opinion). Whether you belong to FECO or not, I suggest you take a stand on these statements by leaving Malagón your opinion on the communiqué on his blog.
FECO finally replies to Malagón by issuing this statement that closes this matter.
Official FECO statement
The undersigned, members of FECO SPAIN, declare:
That the opinion of Mr. José-Mª Varona, 2nd Vice-President of FECO ESPAÑA, in relation to the kidnapping of the magazine "El Jueves", published in "El Pais" last Friday does not represent at all the feeling of this Federation of Cartoonists, being a totally particular opinion.
That freedom of expression is a constitutional right and the seizure of the satirical magazine "El Jueves" is a clear attack on it. That the limits to freedom of expression are the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That this attack takes us back to times we considered to be past and causes us shame and embarrassment.
Enrique Pérez Penedo "ENRIQUE" President of FECO SPAIN
Juli Sanchis Aguado "HARCA" 1st Vice-president
Marçal Abellà "MARÇAL" Marçal Abellà "MARÇAL" Marçal Abellà
Antonio Marrugat "MARRUGAT" Antonio Marrugat "MARRUGAT" Ermengol Tolsà "MARRUGAT
Ermengol Tolsà "ERMENGOL" Ermengol Tolsà "ERMENGOL" Jesus Zulet "ZULET
Jesús Zulet "ZULET
Xaquin Marín "X.MARIN" Xaquin Marín "X.MARIN" Joaquin Aldeguer "ALDEGER
Joaquin Aldeguer "ALDEGUER" Joaquin Aldeguer "ALDEGUER" Melchor Prats "MELCHOR PRATS
Melchor Prats "MEL"
"MALAGON"
Press release from Ficomic on the hijacking of the magazine.
Varona on FECO's communiqué to El País:
ATTENTION: CORRESPONDENT OF "EL PAÍS"
Dear friend:
Following our telephone conversation this afternoon, I am sending you the requested note with the request that you send it to the newspaper's website.
In relation to the news item that appeared yesterday in elpais.com, about the cover of the latest issue of El Jueves, I would like to inform you of the following:
That at no time have I spoken on behalf of FECO ESPAÑA (member of the International Federation of Cartoonists) or any other cartoonists' association to which I belong.
Any statement that I have made or may make on the matter, are exclusively private, as other colleagues have done.
That at no time did I use the word "foul", although I did express my disagreement with scenes such as the one published -and with that one in particular-, in which members of the royal family, the government or any of us may appear -out of respect for the human condition-.
That at all times I have stated that I am against the kidnapping, firstly because it is useless, since it has multiplied by a thousand what it was intended to repair, given the national and international coverage of this affair, and especially because I am a fervent defender of freedom of expression.
It is the same position I adopted when it came to the Muhammad cartoons.
At no time did I claim that on this occasion I had called the colleagues of El Jueves. I did say, however, that on a certain occasion I had approached a colleague from that magazine to comment on certain content.
I think that the lady who phoned me must have made a mess of everything, probably without bad intentions, and ended up mixing up concepts, giving rise to a text with which I cannot agree.
With best regards
José María Varona
Other stragglers, such as El Listo, showed their solidarity in a funny attempt to call on Judge Del Olmo to "publicise" his cartoon in support of the magazine.Statement by the AACE (Spanish Association of Comic Book Authors)
El Listo explains it like this:
"Hey, you may have heard by now that Judge Del Olmo has ordered the withdrawal of a humour magazine because he didn't like the cover, as in those wonderful years.
Today's comic, rather than a comic, is a little parida as a tribute and provocation, lest this also works for us and we suddenly get more visits"
That's why a group of fellow cartoonists in a common blog started to compile them: http://comicsenblog.blogspot.com/search/label/el%20jueves and among others you can see vignettes like this one by Runtime-error, who on his page invites anyone who wants to use it on his blog to do so freely:
The friends of the magazine CRETINO publish this "tuning"
of the cover of the discord adding new identities and script to the cartoon giving it a touch of actuality not yet "exploited" by the multiple versions that already circulate around.
In case you don't read the text properly:
"Imagine, my dear, with this money..."
"The number of limpet bombs we're going to be able to buy"
There is also a succession of "political" reactions as Eduardo Madina, PSOE deputy also defends El Jueves although he takes the opportunity to ask Del Olmo to act against Jimenez Losantos
for an article published in Libertad Digital, entitled EL GOLPE DE ESTADO DEL PSOE y ERC (THE COUP OF STATE OF THE PSOE AND ERC)
It seems that there is a disguised unwritten pact to abandon the kidnapped to their fate, as if not wanting to get involved... it seems ugly, very ugly to me.
However, I have been able to obtain some statements from the Royal Household on the kidnapping decision which I reproduce verbatim here:
The seizure of publications by order of the judges after Franco's death for information related to the Crown considered injurious is nothing new, although the last time it happened for this reason was more than 20 years ago.
In the media
It is assumed that all media editors already have their opinions well thought out, but...
Arsernio Escolar, 20 Minutos: "I don't think there are grounds for the prosecutor's request, nor for the judge's decision" ,adding that the magazine has been subjected to a huge marketing campaign
José Luís Rodríguez Zarzalejos, ABC: The cover of 'El Jueves' is 'absolutely denigrating, not only because it is a caricatured representation of the Princes, but also because they are two citizens who have the right to privacy and to their own image and honour, which this cartoon violates in a crude and explicit way'.
"Moreover, being the heir to the Crown, there is 'an additional reason that the Penal Code includes as insults to the Crown" promise an editorial on 21 July (we have to make some money)
La Razón , for the same reason as ABC did not even want to make statements to EFE and reserves them for its editorial on 21 July.
El Mundo does the same, although it already anticipates that the kidnapping measure "seems wrong to it"
The 21st dawns with the police removing the magazine from the newsstands , as for example in the Basque Country
It is hypocritical, imagine that instead of showing such an explicit stance there would have been the same sandwiches but with the image of both of them under the sheets and "with the light off" for sure nobody would be talking about this now.
As an example, I take this cartoon from 30 April, although it is one of those of "dressed people" when making children did not yet have a "pedrea"
The cartoonists are one more piece, just as necessary as the rest of those who move the community, I have a strange feeling that for some time now, there are too many people who have lost their sense of humour or who never had it.
It's backward and solemn nonsense to hijack a humour magazine with all the really important issues we have to solve.
My cat, who is very royalist, has also bought the magazine and read it at siesta time:
Attention cartoons:
It is strictly forbidden to be too "royal"
We can make all the jokes we want but the kidnapping is very bad news, today freedom of expression does not exist.
Internet against censorship
This subject will continue and will continue to generate debates, reflections, news and campaigns, but for the time being, we are left with the magazine's communiqué published on its web page, which is once again operative, although the public prosecutor's office has also asked the judge to close the "El Jueves" web page
The magazine's website, which is still open, shows the cover of the controversial issue and a communiqué.
However, the internet is already mobilised against the censorship and more and more websites and blogs are joining the protest. At this address you can find a large number of reactions and even a link to download the complete magazine in case you have not been able to get hold of it by the traditional means.
The mobilisations against the kidnapping already have a date and time in the street, a rally in front of the Audiencia Nacional at 8pm (Saturday 21 July).
The anonymous call sent by email and mainly by sms calls for the demonstration:
"Saturday 8pm, Republican rally against the kidnapping of El Jueves, in front of the Audiencia Nacional (Plaza de la Villa de París, next to c/ Génova, metro Colón) take the tricolour and a copy of the front page. Pass it on"
Chronicle of the rally in front of the Audiencia Nacional against the kidnapping of "El Jueves"with photos and video
Closure and downfall of the website
The closure of the website is effective to no avail, on Saturday 20 July the website of El Jueves is CLOSED. Those responsible for the publication delayed the closure of the website until they received the final order, but on Saturday the website was no longer accessible.
Óscar Nebreda, co-editor of the publication, declares that he hopes to be able to remove the image in order to reopen the website. During Friday 21 July the intermittent downtime was caused by excessive traffic, although on Saturday morning the site was still accessible.
While this was going on Ebay withdrew the copies that were on auction as "prohibited or restricted items", some had reached the price of 100 €, there was even one with a starting price of 1000 (one thousand) €, although bids at that price hardly appeared.
Ebay sends this email to users who bid trying to get their hands on a copy of the item
But there is always someone who invents a way to turn it around and ...
Although today Sunday 22 July at 23:27 there are some copies available on Ebay
On the sale of copies at 2500 euros in Clarín: Spain: they are asking more than 3 thousand dollars for a copy of the magazine that satirized the princes.
There is no news or confirmation that anyone has paid these amounts for one of these copies, I even believe that those who have bought it have no intention of selling it, but as we know, in troubled waters: to auction fast and expensive, in case the confusion is not enough
Another curious initiative that soon appears is that of self-incrimination. On Menéame, the user hugomab suggests that you fill out the complaint form for the Public Prosecutor's Office, explaining that you have published the image of the cover on your blog and that you deserve the same punishment as those on Thursday.
It's Monday 23 July and everything is moving, the website is back online and shows the notification from the Audiencia Nacional
On Monday 23 July the SPM issues this communiqué:
Servimedia. Madrid, 23 July 2007
El Jueves. The Madrid Journalists' Union considers that the seizure of a publication corresponds to pre-democratic times
The Madrid Journalists' Union (SPM) today rejected the decision of Judge Juan del Olmo. He ordered the withdrawal from newsstands of the magazine "El Jueves", for the cartoon in which the Prince and Princess of Asturias have sexual relations, as well as the "blackout" of its website.
Sources from this organisation told Servimedia that, in their opinion, the seizure of a publication is a measure that "corresponds more to pre-democratic times" and that "is out of place in these times", and "even more so in the case of a humorous magazine".
"The measure is disproportionate, since it affects an entire publication and, therefore, the right to information, when in the case of a hypothetical crime, it could only be attributed to individuals", he added.
"Even if there had been an excess of authority, or a possible breach of honour, or a possible offence of offence, the appropriate route would be a legal action, never the seizure of a publication", the sources added.
The union considers that a case such as this would be better dealt with if there were an Information or Communication Council in Spain which would analyse, in the first instance, whether there had been a violation of constitutional rights and, furthermore, whether or not these collide with the constitutional right to information.
The vice-president of the government also declared today that she considers that the seizure of publications is obsolete.
Manel Fontdevila, the cover writer, on his return from his holidays, comments on the matter and quite rightly believes that the reactions have been very mild and suggests that there has been no in-depth debate on what the hijacking of the magazine really means (an opinion I share).
In this thread there is also a friction with El Roto for his "position" on the issue.
Guillermo Torres and Manel Fontdevila are summoned to testify at the Audiencia Nacional on Wednesday.
Today the media are already reporting on the issue they are preparing on Tele 5, I have seen the Runtime-error cartoon and those of other well-known people who are sure to be added to the issue, and I even know the cover in which the princes will once again have explicit sexual contact.
But this time it will be rated for all audiences as it is a bee fluttering a flower with the text: "We rectify, this is how the princes reproduce " . From what has been seen in the images of Telecinco they are giving away a book for the beach (so we are left again without a blow-up doll) see video in Telecinco
Issue nº 1574 is out
21:30 Monday 23/07/07 the web opens and we can already see the cover of the magazine that comes out the day after tomorrow, although the sentence that some people suggested would appear has changed a bit.
Now everyone will have their say on whether it is a good answer as a cover. We'll have to wait to see the special that will be dedicated to the closure. The cartoons are not signed but you can guess the author, although I won't take any risk in case I give anyone away. We never know what "bug" might bite any judge.
Now, with children's aesthetics, they will no longer be able to say that it is crude, vulgar, in bad taste, X-rated and explicit. The kind where you can't show your mother-in-law.
Innocent everything, with a yellow background so that it can be seen from afar when it hangs in the kiosks. Surely it is not the one that more than one in the editorial staff would have wished for when they were deciding on it.
Many will be disappointed, it's a nice little joke with no bad jokes, come on, the Mayan bee was much more hardcore, but it's a clever joke with a lot of message (for those who know and want to see it).
By the way, the book by Lalo Kubala (that cosmonaut...) that accompanies this issue is very nice, but needs "a bit" of a magnifying glass to be read.
But the message is what matters:
A monkey-faced bee is going to drop a piece of pollen on the little flower with the big nipple.
Anyway, the good one will be the 1 August issue (no. 1574), which will be dedicated to the kidnapping.
Soon the website starts to fill up with messages from readers and parachuting visitors. Maybe the site will fall again now that it has been too successful. This image indicates that they have not been able to do what they would have liked to do. The weather has nothing to do with the zips...
But for the work they have put in here, under the name of Libertad SIEMPRE, República YA, Punto Rojo's campaign, you will find a website dedicated to compiling all the movements, statements, image galleries, etc. that are appearing on the issue of the magazine's kidnapping.
Another section is dedicated to support Jaume D'urgell and a third one where you can add your photos with your Thursday's issue or in support of Jaume to share them with the visitors. To learn about and discuss the reasons for the campaign, you can go to the campaign forum.
Protest calls
And now there is ANOTHER rally in Madrid, the third one to be organised (two in Madrid and one in Malaga)
New rally against the kidnapping of El Jueves
Tuesday, 24 July, at 20h, in front of the Audiencia Nacional, Calle Génova nº26. Metro Colón or Alonso Martínez
Other initiatives on the net:
This blog http://stjueves.blogspot.com/ by the same author of paxarada also compiles vignettes by different authors on the issue, I am sure that very soon someone will work on compiling them as happened with the photoshop montages of the royal family's Christmas greeting.
One of them is this one by Bernal
And here is another blog that warns us in the comments with quite a few montages, some of them very good for a good laugh
And another one that compiles them and adds some new ones.
In the statistics I start to find interesting links, bloggers from other countries like this German blogger already write about the issue and link to this post and also cite the initiative of Cadenapeco.com
The prices on Ebay are heating up (as you can see it was uncertain that they had been withdrawn) and there is already one for 4000€ and several for 3000€ and a lot of 2500, 2000, 1000 and 1500 and a lot of more "reasonable" prices. I am not even thinking of selling mine at the moment, I would only do it to a collector and for real need.
The media have filled their mouths saying that it was selling for 2500 or 3000 euros and it is completely false. Antena3, in their line of not looking beyond their noses, don't realise that nobody bids for the price copies. I don't think they do either. It is possible that they don't even know how Ebay works.
24/07/07 - 23:28. As expected and as they admitted in an interview I remember, the website wasn't "used" to the traffic it is starting to get. Either they keep adding changes to their new design, the thing is that once again they are back to being without all their content. If we add to this the "I just found out about it now" effect that is also occurring, it is likely that the transfer has gone bust. Not long ago it wouldn't open without the www, now it has been fixed.
25/07/07 On the website www.eljueves.es they are starting to add news on how the matter is going, so this post is starting to lose its meaning.
Today Guillermo and Manel have declared and the most likely thing to happen (I hope) is this:
Judge (starlet) del Olmo is ready to close the case "El Jueves without charges"
26/06/07. El Jueves talks on its website about the hypocrisy of some of the talking heads and busts on TV. The news that arrives is that the prosecutor maintains the accusation of slander against the authors of the cartoon in El Jueves.
However, he has finally withdrawn the charge of insulting the Prince in the exercise of his institutional function, which provided for up to two years' imprisonment.
In short, he is trying to set aside the figure of the prince and princess to avoid the debate surrounding Felipe and Letizia in order to "take it to the Crown". In the end, it will lead to the same thing we all know.
In other words, what could happen is the fine (it would be nice if it were 2,500 euros) while waiting for the matter to be closed. They thank the readers for their support during these days.
On 30 July the cover of what will in fact be the special issue is already known. We are sure to have a review of the reactions.
I hope they will put in their place more than one of those real little hairy ones who have been walking around the media playing the media lackey. No doubt this will be a special issue without waste, and I've been told it will feature some of the work and expressions of support that have appeared on the web.
Curiously enough, the text "The magazine that gets hijacked on Fridays" appears in it
01/08/2007 - The special on the kidnapping comes out with 80 pages. My colleague Pepe, the newsagent, asks me: " Why have they brought so many more thanusual ?
He doesn't sell even half of the more than 15 magazines he receives. This special does disappoint me a bit, they have forgotten about the internet. Curiously, they give a lot of space to the negative reviews in the mainstream media. Very little, almost nothing to the multiple collective and individual support campaigns that have moved and are moving on the internet.
The first 11 pages are photos of readers with the cover in their hands but self-censored with the silhouette of their buffoon to cover it up.
Even so, it is a complicit and habitual wink in the pages of the "En familia" section to those who read and/or buy it.
The cartoons that appear interspersed in these pages by "external" cartoonists are because they have been sent to them (and there aren't that many)They are by Javi García (which is in this post), a very old one by Kalvellido, another by Orcajo that I saw recently in Lakodorniz, another by Jate, by josé Tomás, Muñoz and others.
95% of them are vignettes in which the magazine's jester appears. Guillermo signs a faldoncito with an illustration published with the permission of his colleagues Cretinos who have already published it on their blog.
The content is good, quite good. A lot of criticism and they seem annoyed. They seem to be trying to avoid being noticed for being called rude and all that rubbish that the media repeats. A lot of self-promotion camouflaged as humility, trying to give an image of a close, modest magazine, but they don't forget to add the OJD data
For my taste they "waste" a lot of space (5 pages) on headline clippings, opinions of columnists and press contributors and TV clips.
They devote about 35% of the total content to the kidnapping issue
Once again, the best thing is the cartoonists in this special, there are some real gems, such as the two pages by Pedro Vera
The approach of the magazine's management is very much "we are the best" and it's not like that.
It's good, yes, but there's no other (and that's bad, very bad for a country as laughable as this one is)
Many people still think that if the kidnapping had been carried out under a pepero government, God or Mohammed would have been in trouble. They also think that the magazine has remained in its perpetual anti-pp roll and that it will not come out of it.
The age of the readers and of those who make it is rising and this is very noticeable in its contents. It seems complicated to change the register and many are already demanding it, but of course, in the end it is just another product and it has to be sold.
Before criticising it, start a magazine and then come back and tell me about it.
The issue was weak in terms of the company's response, but good in terms of humorous content. I think they have missed a good opportunity to say two or three things that have been left... where have they been left?
Yet another embarrassing curiosity for the 30th of July
Did you "miss" the 1,573rd cover of the Google images results?
Google images, at least in its searches for Spain, does not show any cover of the 1573rd issue. Although in the comments of the post alluding to the subject in Sigt.net someone says that in Google images Mexico it does appear, I can't find it
The colleagues at Cadenapeco.com, who are on the side of freedom of expression, as well as inviting debate, encourage us to put up one of these banners that I have made from the one illustrating this post and to which they add a message.
The banner is the header of El Jueves, which I also add here in case anyone wants to protest on their blog or website.
REMEMBER NOT TO LINK THEM FROM HERE. Download them and upload them to your site or to a free image hosting and link them wherever you want, the important thing is the message.
Official communiqué from El Jueves:
20 July 2007?
We are writing this note on Friday, 20 July 2007, at 7pm. The newsroom is full of media asking us why the magazine has been hijacked.
We don't know how to answer them. El Jueves has published dozens, hundreds of cartoons about the royal family (and about politicians, celebrities, ETA and everything that moves). We have even published a book, TOCANDO LOS BORBONES, a 350-page tome compiling the funniest drawings.
We are graphic humorists and we work aware of our obligation. What readers ask of us is to explore the limits of freedom of expression. We can accept that, on occasion, we may even cross it. It's an occupational hazard.
If we go too far, that's what the courts are for, but... a kidnapping? The police going round newsstands all over the country withdrawing our magazine? Did we really write this on 20 July 2007?
A lot of documentaries about cartoonists:
