I lived in Brussels until I was nine. One of my abiding memories is of a
school trip to the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, a vast, grandiose
building built by King Leopold II, who also ordered the construction of the
equally outsized Palais de Justice, which became Hitler’s favourite
building.
Leopold II was in effect given the Congo to use as his personal fiefdom by a
conference of the European powers in 1885; even by the colonial standards of
the time, his disastrous rule in the Congo was so unbelievably cruel, bloody
and wicked that the Belgian government took it back in 1908 (to say things
didn’t improve much would be a masterpiece of understatement).
Anyway, my memory of the museum, which feels like false memory syndrome
because it now sounds horrible to the point of insanity, concerns a black
human leg used as an umbrella stand.
The museum, which contains extraordinary treasures looted from central Africa,
and the Congo specifically, is reinventing itself (in 2007!) and undergoing
renovation. It will reemerge, sanitised, in 2010, minus the commentary
explaining that Africans were ape-like, primitive folks – savages, really,
and not even noble ones – and the Belgians their warm-hearted, paternalistic
benefactors.
The point of this is that it took Belgium an exceptionally long time to accept
the fact that its colonial past was so appalling and mired in butchery that
it horrified other colonial powers. It apologised to the people of the Congo
in 2002 for its role in the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first
legally elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but
not for its support of Joseph Mobutu’s dictatorship – or for, well, the past
150 years.
When I was a child you never saw black people in Brussels, although there were
many refugees from the Congo. Like the Moroccans in another part of town –
and like medieval Jews – they lived in a ghetto from which they didn’t
venture. If you were an educated middle-class person, it was considered
acceptable to speak in a comedy African accent to illustrate some joke or
other.
When one of my Belgian cousins married a woman from Uganda a decade or so
later – the family gave the impression they would have preferred him to
express an interest in paedophilia – the death of a relative the couple had
argued with was solemnly blamed on long-distance “juju” and “voodoo” by my
family, who are generally perfectly nice people – bankers and lawyers, well
travelled, well read, not stupid. This was the 1980s.
On a trip to Brussels a fortnight ago I was glad to see that attitudes have
changed dramatically though I still wondered about the provenance of African
treasures in the antique shops.
I’m sharing this to give the furore over Tintin in the Congo, by the Belgian
artist Hergé, a bit of context. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has
backed a call for the book to be banned. French and Belgian children can
often quote from it – I know I can, as with Asterix – but it was published
in colour in Britain only in 2005, with a foreword explaining the colonial
attitudes prevalent at the time it was written, in 1931. The book was
redrawn in 1964 when Hergé removed several references to the Congo being a
Belgian colony.
In later years he spoke of his regret at aspects of the book, explaining that
he was echoing the ignorant views of the time. His views changed; by 1936
The Blue Lotus had a strong antiimperialist message.
Last week David Enright, a human rights lawyer whose wife is black, came
across the book in Borders and was outraged by what the CRE described as
“imagery and words of hideous racial prejudice, where the ‘savage natives’
look like monkeys and talk like imbeciles . . . It beggars belief that in
this day and age Borders would think it acceptable to sell and display it”.
Borders will now put the book in its adult comics section; Waterstone’s said
it would consider a similar move; WH Smith sells it on its website, with a
sticker recommending readers be 16 or over. Not good enough, says the CRE:
the only acceptable place for the book is in a museum, “with a big sign
saying old-fashioned, racist claptrap”.
I don’t agree. The museum in question would have to be awfully big with its
basic assumption being that people were so stupid that they had to be
protected from the content of cartoons written 80 years ago – that is,
protected from history on the grounds that some of it wasn’t nice. It would
contain a great deal of Hergé’s oeuvre – yellow Chinese people, bright red
Indians, sinister Soviets, creepy Incas, fat, hysterical women who never
stop singing, thick people, absent-minded professors, caricatured sailors.
You’d have to make room for all the Asterix books, where the languid, effete
British stop fighting in order to have a cup of hot water; where the anally
retentive Swiss are constantly cleaning, winding up cuckoo clocks and making
fondue; where the Belgians are pugilistic, food-obsessed oafs.
But why stop there? You could chuck in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, lots
of Kipling, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Evelyn Waugh and Anthony
Powell on class grounds; practically every novel written in the past 200
years on feminist ones; The Tiger Who Came to Tea because the mother is a
domestic drudge, a victim of paternalism, a pathetic role model and
bourgeois to boot. In fact you could make a huge bonfire and burn every book
that exists on the basis that you can guarantee someone will find it
offensive.
Or you could be intelligent, examine context, and use it as a springboard to
explain racism/colonialism/history/ misogyny/the class system to your
children. Just because something is unpalatable doesn’t mean it has to be
erased. Erasing it only serves to make it outré and desirable - sales have
since rocketed by 3,800% on Amazon.
Tintin in the Congo is a product of its time. It correctly represents
attitudes that were prevalent in 1931 (and, in Belgium, well beyond it).
Nobody is denying those attitudes were grotesquely offensive, or that
literature – and art in general – doesn’t contain an embarrassment of
material that causes any brown or black-skinned adult to cringe, or any
brown or black-skinned child to feel miserably sad. But that doesn’t mean
the sensible thing to do with such material is to wipe it out and pretend it
never existed.
Books stand as testament to the errors and horrors of history. They are
vitally important. The CRE’s reaction is misguided.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt through having a child with special needs, it is not to judge other people in a similar boat
I've grown up reading Tintin, in fact the books taught me to read, as I found standard Ladybird reading books so boring, Tintin was a revelation.
As a child I never found them offensive, the ethnic references were within context, any racial slurs were made by the ignorant baddies so you knew straight away that they were wrong.
The books are period pieces and should be taken that way, Herge was no racist and the critics should stop huffing and puffing and comment on real issues. I'm now 30 and my two sons have all the books and are growing up with a balanced view of the world...just like I did.
Matthew Wevill, London, UK
I live in South Africa where racism WAS the politics of the day. The new government are removing all traces of race oriented items, but what they forget is that people are born different colours every day, It's time to celebrate our differences and enjoy them. Banning old world views does not eradicate their ever existing, it only adds fuel to the inquisitive who might like to expand on those views. Why not ban all germans because of the holocaust, why not ban all Muslims because of their part in the Black slave trade, why not ban all blacks because of the savage inter tribal warfare, why not ban the internet because of the few who misuse it, why not ban humans because of their effect on the environment etc etc. I too grew up with Tintin & never allowed it to affect my relationships with Blacks. Accepting our past, no matter how sordid, allows a platform from which to enjoy the future. Paul, Cape Town.
Paul Shaw, Cape Town, South Africa
Yep I agree totally , the colonial Europeans were all into mischievious evil trade where Africa was concerned ....
Taking from it everything they could get , the resources , the wealth.
They were engaged in making a rich mans sporting industry of destroying it's ecosystems by, means of Big Game and trophy collecting .
They sold it's people for slaves to the new America at that time , and were involved in mass shipment of Blacks .
Let me ask you , can the Europeans still lay blame on the United States for currently acting in a noble manner to provide liberty , peace , and democracy to third world countries after intimitely viewing their own heritage of greed , inhumanity , and evil ?
Thats some food for thought !
JP , Amsterdam ,
Ban books! That makes about as much sense as banning the CRE! The CRE has to find racism in everything, otherwise there would be no need for it. Therefore racism will always exist whilst the CRE remains in existence....well I know it is disappearing soon isn't it? and turning into someother 1984 thought-police institution that will try to influence us so that we think in the correct way.
I wish people would open up a copy of the Geographical magazine from the 1940s and remind themselves that the world was a very different place 60 to 70 years ago.
Jon, England,
I agree entirely with your views, though you were a bit too generous to Leopold and his country; the Belgian government didn't actually take the Congo back. After a decade of intense international pressure, it paid for the privilege of relieving Leopold of his personal possession.
Otherwise a brilliant article!
Arthur Welles, London,
I grew up in the 60's in a very racist part of Canada. I remember waiting very impatiently for the next Tintin book in my school library . I read everyone and loved them. Even though my childhood was very full of racist events and items, these things molded me and my family in to the opposite. We had a piece of fish cannery equipment called the iron chink because it replaced the chinese people that did that job. The Japanese lived in the mickey house. The native people were locked behind iron gates each night by the night watchman. I have stories that make my children's eyes widen in disbelief. Do I stop telling them the stories of how people behaved. No I think not, in fact I think I to will order a Tintin book from amazon.
sue, canada, canada
What's the fuss? Racially biassed material by black people and Islamics against the West are allowed freely and even excused by this spineless government. Surely we're mature enough to let people read comics from several decades back or else we'll be opening the door to the pc police censoring every book from Robinson Crusoe onwards.
David Bennington, Ruislip, UK
RW of Madrid makes an excellent point; if the CRE really wants to burn books, surely they should begin by raiding bookshops selling inflammatory material designed to incite religious hatred? Obviously offensive remarks in "the other direction" don't count...
James McQuaid, Stoke-on-Trent, England
David Enright and the CRE are the emotionally imature ones and their attitudes promote racism indirectly.To imply that people have not got the maturity to recognise a 70-80 year story for what it is,is an insult in itself and some action should be taken against them.Maybe from the "international bugger off stupid committee" or "stuff off and get a life committee".I've bought most of the Tin Tin books for my son when he was young(5-10 years) and found them a great window to the past and quint and excentric characters.Treat the books for what they are and you find them very educational-as all books are.View books with your own hangups and baggage-then you get the decisions like david enright and the CRE make.So grow up Davo,the world is not BLACK and white
matt , wodonga, australia
Sometime its worth reflecting on the journey which has been travelled in relation to equality and diversity if for no other reason than to appreciate where we have arrived. After all, it wasn’t that long ago when it was considered necessary to pass a law which made it illegal to discriminate against people (meaning women, I think) on grounds of their marriage.
Therefore, I think it is probably worth allowing the availability of such relics as Tintin in the Congo just so that current and future generations can see how far we have come. After all, people in our society are sophisticated enough to make their own mind up about what is and what is not racist.
Karamat Iqbal, Birmingham,
That guy what's his face head of the CRE is turning out to be a bit of an annoying wally. Not enough black people in the Cabinet, he thinks. Tintin is a racist. Why stop there? Why is all milk so white? What kind of message is that sending to our young people? Some of our milk should be brown and some should be black, surely?
Seb Carroll, West Brompton, London
I find the CRE offensive. Will they ban themselves?
I've never met these people, and I've probably never met anyone who has met them. Who the hell do they think they are deciding what I can or can't read? When I read an old copy of this Tintin book at 10 years old I recognised that the world-view it presented was out-of-date because it was written over 70 years ago.
From history books we should know what happens when an unelected body of pseudo-intellectuals that claims to stand for the people decides to ban books and control information. These books need to be read before the CRE decides it wants to ban them too!
James, Newcastle, Great Britain
Don't forget the charming reformers who destroyed our churches during the time of Henry. The delightful Puritans who killed a king and cancelled Christmas and stabled horses in what was left of the churches.
This strain of self-righteousness has now developed in other fanatical, dogma-driven lovleys. They destroyed the Buddahs in Afghanistan. They are trying to send innocents to meet God. A misapprehension is seen as the most sinful in their eyes.
'We don't agree so we think we ought to destroy'.
Compared to these mighty 'workers of God's will', a 1930's child's book is not that threatening - save to the puritans who want to change the world to agree with their vision yet again. It will never change!
Tariq, ashford,
The CRE must be run by people who think that their view is right. That's what I call racism!
Icejelly, Southampton,
If you think Tintin is something, read the novel The Variable Man by Hugh Walter Nelms . the contents of that novel will make you forget the racist vein of Tintin, because The Variable Man will cause your side to crack with laughter, though its contents are not at all racist, just ludicrous to a fault.
Sincerely,
Sylvia Jones, Forest Hills, USA.New York City
The CRE's approach reeks of censorship and elitism. I don't care how well intentioned their actions may be - those that usually engage in censorship believe that they are motivated by high principle. I am sure that the Nazis thought they were acting in the best interests of the German people.
I have today ordered a copy of Tin Tin in the Congo - no one tells me what I can and cannot read. Perhaps the CRE's attitude might be placed in a museum under a sign which reads 'Dangerous arrogance'.
PS. Most of us are also not so stupid as to know a set up when we see one - funny how our human rights lawyer visits the bookshop one day and the CRE responds within days thereafter.
Hugh, London,
Bingo !!!! It is not denying the fact that many of our well known and most readable, best seller classics reflect the overtones of racism, at times voicing the dissent with explicit or tacit view points.Be it the "nigger" or 'Jim Crow' of the Bible belt in American literature, or the "Brownie sahib" of the colonial Indian sub continent during the Raj days or the 'massa' and 'Big fat mamma' from the creoles of the Carribean isles.. Most eminent and laudable authors like Mark Twains', or Rudyard Kiplings' or even the purist like Samuel Johnsons', with a caustic aspersions for Scottish people, should resort to literary caperings and gamboling, all under the garb of chef-d'-oeuvre or magnum opus. Let us not criticize their folies, as those were the days of colonialisms, apartheid and coloured-rule and ethinic politics.Even cartoon strips and caricatured characters like Tintin, Blondie and Popeye could rant such feelings.Let us read them, unbiased like imaginary literary treasures.
Witty, New Delhi, India
Lester Powell, London "Tintin in the Congo should be banned from access to children! As simple as that! If you all cant understand that the mindset in a books such as Tintin in the Congo would be soaked up by children, then I would have to question your level of intelligence." I know that it sounds weird to suggest that exposure to bad things is actually the best way to develop good mindsets, but there are many who seriously believe this to be true. The contrary, which is an easy, and intuitive, thought-flow, is to conclude that children will go right by being prevented from going wrong. More difficult, but sworn by many to be correct, is the idea that habitual, sincere rightness will only result from a child choosing this path, of his own free will, after having rejected all the other options. Any discussion about Tintin must therefore be qualified by the fact that there is no proven social benefit from the censorship of childrens' literature.
Simon Stephenson, Windermere, UK
May I correct the final remark.
'The CRE's reaction is again misguided.'
Jack, Newtown, Powys
When I was around 10 years old ( in the 1950s) I found a fat hardback copy of the Boys Own Annual - 'the 46th Annual Volume for 1923-24', buried and forgotten in the attic of my parents house, and after dusting it off, started to read it.
Tales of colonial public school types in khaki topped off with ridiculous pith helmets - "He shot the charging negro at point blank range" - before, of course, ambling off to massacre a few dozen tigers and elephants, all before tea.
Graphically illustrated.
That book did more than any teachers or parents at the time ever could to shape my views - against racism, sexism, colonialism/empire building, hunting, war...
Kids ain't stupid.
I've still got the book, buried in my own attic, and occasionally I come across the disgusting thing and each time feel more horrified at the attitudes of the British of that time.
Give it to my Grandkids? Umm... no, I think not. Too embarrassed. If hey find it themselves after I've gone, uncensored, I trust them.
Colin Campbell, Fort William, Scotland
Well said, India Knight.
Jason, Auckland, New Zealand
Hitlers regime in the 1930´s banned and burned many good books because they lacked 'correctness' and now it seems that the CRE wants to do exactly the same. If all the politically correct organizations in the UK get their own way, soon the country will be reduced to a place lacking diversity, original thought or inventiveness.
Mike, Alicante, Spain
Amen!
Devaki Khanna, Delhi,
Denial of the past is the way to guarantee its re-emergence in an unhealthy way in the future.
Jerome Whitney, london, england
I am a Tintin fan since childhood but have never read ' Tintin in Congo' . I have read most of the other Tintin books and have to say that not a hint of racism comes through in any of the books.Quite the opposite in fact; for example in 'Tintin and the Blue Lotus' where Tintin confronts the racist Gibbons in Hong Kong. I do not believe for one bit that Herge was racist and that the comic book in question reflects stereotyped attitudes prevalent at the time. I belong to an ethnic minority but I'll still enjoy reading Tintin books and watching his movies. Surely we can forgive Georges Remi Herge for all the joy he has brought to millions of children and adults around the world ?
Bob Hazra, Edinburgh, U.K.
In Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s, like many other countries, we used to have censorship. Irish authors took a great deal of pride when their books were censored by the authorities and preferably banned outright. It was one helluva way to get free advertisment and surefire method of getting sales to go through the roof. If you were not censored, it meant your work was no bloody good. All colonial mindsets have versions of humanity in the lands they occupied. The mindsets say more about the colonial authorities than those who were colonised. People need to get a life about these things. I suppose the politically correct police have to have something to do though.
Michael, Dublin, Ireland
The Oxford English Dictionary should be the first tome on the bonfire, its got lots of naughty words in it ( init !) . Samuel Johnson hang your head in shame (well if you were alive you'd have to).
Simon, Leeds, U.K.
Tintin in the Congo should be banned from access to children!!
As simple as that! If you all cant understand that the mindset in a books such as Tintin in the Congo would be soaked up by children, then I would have to question your level of intelligence.
Those that argue against that are really only trying to make sure that their children continue the hate that seems to manifest in you all, naturally!
Lester powell, London,
"sales have since rocketed by 3,800% on Amazon"
Fascinating. How does one come by this information?
Dan Baynes, Barton Seagrave,
I thoroughly agree with the tone and suggestion of this article.
Goodness knows, there are books and magazines out there that can offend just about anyone at some time or another.
For example, I'm deeply offended by socialist claptrap, but I don't want to see it banned.
Frankly, it strikes me that the lawyer's wife who was so deeply offended needs to get out more often and to GROW UP.
Chris Palmer, Southampton,
Bar Tintin from bookshops? Sure - if we also bar the Koran, the Bible, Mein Kampf, Das Kapital and doubtless many other books that have material in them over which many will be able to feel offended. Attempting to sterilize history is foolish and dangerous. Leave Tintin as he is - or rather, as he was. I won't buy it for my "mixed race" kids, but that doesn't change the fact that it was written. CRE should focus on more important things: like the recent resurgence anti-Semitism.
Nick, Seattle, USA (ex-UK)
Reminds me of the time the National Party censors banned Black Beauty from public libraries in South Africa. It was pointed out to them that the story is about a horse (which I have to say was read to us by our teacher at primary school)! Political Correctness is Stalism of the mind. Orwell wrote about changing history in 1984 - we are going down that track. Freedom of speech is indivisible.
Ian Burgess, Bristol,
So the CRE finds Tintin offensive? Surely it is in the CRE's remit to ban books urging violence against another race or religion so will the CRE now ban the Koran for inciting violence against non-Muslims? Probably not.
RW, Madrid, Spain
Sadly, I’m no longer surprised when I hear stories of people that feel they can make entire segments of history disappear by banning the sale certain books or other materials. They take it upon themselves to make the determination of what is offensive not just for themselves, but for everyone else as well.
As an African American, I do still find it odd that one has to go back 80 years to an adventure comic book when there are so many modern examples of offensive/misogynist imagery in hip-hop/rap publications. Perhaps they should repackage the TinTin books and shelve them next to VIBE magazine.
Eric Green, Chicago, USA/IL
Denial of the past is the way to guarantee its re-emergence in an unhealthy way in the future.
Jerome Whitney, london, england
Once the book burning begins there is no end.
Ban the Merchant of Venice becuase of its imagery of Shylock. Censor Dickens to remove references to Fagin.
I have yet to meet a Jew who is offended by these characters but the do gooders "who speak on their behalf" must have their day
Stop this evil nonsense perpetrated in the name of political correctness before it starts
Jeff Hyman, Peyia, Cyprus
Tintin was a product of 'his time' but aren't we all? Such a facile argument says nothing. We should just be able to enjoy Tintin's adventures without feeling guilty or having to indulge in self excoriating analysis.
Derek, London, UK
Just purchased a copy of 'Tintin in the Congo' from Amazon, wouldn't have considered it unless pointed in that direction by the commission for racial equality, thanks. Now I can introduce these lovely old stories to my children.
Steve, Salisbury, UK
Asterix deals with foreign cultures always as an equal - generally as a kind of third world savage (see Obelix and co or Masions of the Gods) while Tintin is always the superior European guiding the foreigners. In short I don't think Asterix is in anyway racist, it admirably manages to laugh at national charateristics without offending. In contrast you should check out Herge's war record - he carried on publishing Tintin though the Nazi occupation.
Jonathan Lowenstein, tel-aviv, Israel
well...the year is 2007, and even in this day and age not a single black nation has a stable gov't, can feed its population without assistance, or can even mass produce the wheel let alone cars, computers, etc. I mean come on, the wheel? its 2007! Fact is most "racist" comments are grounded in reality not fiction.
mike, connecticut, usa
Putting Huckleberry Finn on the list is a common mistake. It does contain a lot of racist material and many racist characters, but in the end it is an anti-racist book. The author sets up the anti-black and pro-slavery norms of the society, then shows the main character turning his back on them because of his friendship with a black man. The black man, a runaway slave, is one of the very few responsible adults in the story.
It's a difficult book to teach to children who haven't yet learned to distinguish the viewpoint of a character from the viewpoint of the author or of the book as a whole, but it isn't a racist caricature by any means. Unless the target is white people, that is, which it may well be. The awfulness of white people in a racist society is shown in great detail.
M.C., Washington DC, USA
Let alone comics, try reading "Descent of Man" by Charles Darwin, one of the greatest intellectuals and scientists of all time. Many comments relate to savages, uncivilized men, etc etc which is essentially "Non Europeans". But he was still hundreds of years ahead of his time and was one of the most progressive people of his time. Abraham Lincoln, Darwin, Huxley will all be seen as blatant racists, if you use today's yardstick. That doesn't mean you have to ban their books.
Tughlaq, Sheffield,
An excellent article.
It seems absolutely wrong to attempt to erase aspects of history which now appear to be unpalatable to a more enlightened generation.
Attitudes of the past can hardly be understood or serve as material for better learnings if evidence of them is selectively removed, and consigned to the correctness tip.
Although the concept of rewriting history, along with statistics was foretold in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four, and may have been in practical use for a while since, it seems essentially fraudulent to attempt to manage truth in this way, especially if a rich literary heritage including the writers mentioned, together with others, such as Saki, is to be purged by the thought police.
dr venables preller, Warminster, UK
Refreshing common sense
Peter FitzGerald-Morris, Rochester, England
Watching the rerun of "The Dambusters" on Channel last night, I noticed that they'd edited out reference to the word "Nigger" - the name of Guy Gibson's dog & the code word for the destruction of the Moehne dam.
Is all of history to be similarly rewritten?
Phil Early, Coventry, UK
Great article. We probably have attitudes today that people in the early 22nd century will find offensive, so let's not think of ourselves as the sole arbiter of correct thinking.
Racism is horrible and disgusting, but to beat it we need to understand it. Burning books is not the answer.
Kevin Elliott, Oxford, UK
This is a well-written and well-balanced article that hits the nail on the head. Tintin in the Congo is a product of its time and it is clearly farcical to modern readers.
However, to call for it to be banned is foolish, not only because of the authoritarian attitudes it displays, but also because of the damage it does to the CRE by showing it up as an institution that is so petty and insecure that it needs to attack a 70 year-old comic that no-one was taking seriously anyway.
I would however like to take this opportunity to encourage readers to pick up later Tintin albums. In particular, my favourites: Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. Classic story telling.
Bob Smith, London,
There is an old french adage that says, "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed are kings".
The goverment here is building up a DNA database from all Police arrests and 'sus' section 16 stop and searches of the public. 25 % of those samples held on the database are from non-whites and this reflects the true policing strategy with respect to non-whites.
Common sense tells those who are neither blind or one-eyed that in the future the crimes solved using the DNA database will solve predominantly non-white crime because of the racist manner in which the police are creating the database. They have always said blacks are responsible for crime, and they want to 'fix' the evidence against the usual suspects.
The CRE are right to oppose the sale of tintin, a racist agenda lives in the system and the evidence of it can be seen in the judicial statistics and records.
Don't read 'tintin', read the band engraved around the house of Parliament, it is my Father's house, so do His thing in it.
Ian, London,
To ban the book is an orwellian attempt to rewrite history.
That said I have never read Tintin and am unlilely ever to. Used to enjoy the TV series as a kid though.
Neil Murphy, cromer,
I always thought Tintin was a comic book character. However, literature, in all its forms, has the ability, because of the storyline, the twist in the tale or the political, economic, social or racial leanings and the moral, ethical or even religious values of the writer, to, sometimes, irritate and annoy at the very least. But, instead of picking away at a sore the best that can be done is to leave it alone and let it heal without rubbing and causing more irritation. If the CRE, and other writers on the adventures of Herge's Tintin or Rene Goscinny's Asterix and Obelisk, left the matter alone it might subside. The difference appears to be that in some books of the former, written more than 75 years ago, reference is made to different races and in the latter, written less than 50 years ago, the clash is between a number of white European races and especially the comic antics of the Gauls against Roman occupation. I wonder if humour and tolerance might be part of the equation?
Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England
"When one of my Belgian cousins married a woman from Uganda a decade or so later – the family gave the impression they would have preferred him to express an interest in paedophilia – the death of a relative the couple had argued with was solemnly blamed on long-distance “juju†and “voodoo†by my family, who are generally perfectly nice people – bankers and lawyers, well travelled, well read, not stupid. This was the 1980s."
Sorry to break umcomfortable news, but bankers or lawyers or whatever, they were stupid. Your assumption that belonging to certain professions is an antidote against stupidity is not very intelligent either.
I.Rodriguez, London,
What power the CRE must imagine they have to
censor or perhaps burn books in the street. The
CRE and all the other strutting socialists are our
true enemies. The Voltaire principle for free speech
should always be paramount - it is the CRE that is
not good enough and does not in any way improve race relations in the uk.
rod, sydney, Australia
The devil makes work for idle hands.
The problem with Britain is we have too many quangos and organisations dedicated to fighting prejudice of some form or other. Anti-racism is just another mushrooming industry, employing countless self-seeking, bureaucrats in nice cushy office jobs which need to be justified..
So what do they do, when we no longer burn crosses, or form rallies when a black family moves in next door? Or employers stop refusing to hire coloured people?
They look for racism in all kinds of hidden corners. Something is bound to upset somebody somewhere. Yes, today Tin Tin, tomorrow Kipling, Shakespeare...
It's time we all said enough's enough! Before we all become dumbed down to the level of benefits-dependant, labour voting chavs. If we really want to end racism in this country, we could begin by closing down such pointless and wasteful socially engineered quangos like the CRE, who need racism to thrive.
RW, London,
You are completely correct. In my experience, it's the challenging of first impressions that is educationally powerful, not the censoring of them. The most important thing it achieves is that children learn that nothing is one-sided, and that true judgment rests upon our willingness to question what we are told.
This, to me, is what a truly social upbringing should be all about; that the acceptance of harmonised existence is more likely to result from intellectual dismissal of the alternative than from coercion and censorship.
Maybe I'm wrong. I know there are many who disagree vehemently with this point of view. Can they prove they are right? Or are they just in a majority, which, to many, is demonstration enough of their correctness.
Simon Stephenson, Windermere, UK
Were tintin a true racist, his books would not belong in libraries or schools to influence children, although I hope we never reach the point as a society of banning books altogether. But Tintin is not a racist. The accusation is about as silly as calling 'Little Black Sambo,' a charming and delightful book for young children, racist..
JOHN CHUCKMAN, Toronto, Canada
Although physically Tintin remains ostensibly the same age throughout Hergé's oeuvre, clearly he evolves in terms of his political consciousness, and this overall growth is shown much more powerfully if we see his earliest work - which treats Russia in scarcely more flattering terms in this overall context. Tintin is a journalist, explorer and discoverer of the world he lived in, and we travel with him through that developing cultural landscape, knowing all the time from the style of the graphics itself that this is hardly the world of today, and that attitudes inevitably change. Much of the charm and appeal of Tintin's adventures is their invitation to escape into a more straightforward world which only fools could confuse with ours.
Alban Morley, Farnham, UK
Ms Knight gives the point of view of an adult white person; but how would a black child feel about this book ?
Indar Picton-Howell, London,
Well said. Only the foolish don't learn from mistakes, wiping out our history just because it does not fit with todays politically-correct viewpoint is foolishness in the extreme.
Les, Southport, England