There are bigger, more charismatic wars being fought. There’s beef with the pope. Attention spans are short. But that the nations of the world allowed this is something worth never forgetting. Something worth never forgiving. This is ethnic cleansing, right in front of you, right now. Remember it.
Will Israel get away with doing ethnic cleansing in South Lebanon? Probably, at least for a while. It’s hard to move back home when your house has been flattened by a bulldozer, your communities are under foreign military occupation, and your neighbors have been told (under threat) to expel you.
Israel occupies nearly 10 percent of Lebanese territory. Lebanon endured a 15-year civil war fought between and within communities that live side-by-side in the South. Israel knows what it is doing when it demands that these communities expel their neighbors. This is ethnic cleansing.
Rubio's brokering talks today with Israel and Lebanon. Call me cynical that I don’t think they’ll pan out. There’s no popular pressure, no protests. The world’s eyes are on the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Israeli settlement of South Lebanon is getting mainstreamed:
SLA was a proxy puppet militia that would become notorious for its policy of mass torture and killing at Khiam Detention Center. When I lived in Beirut in 2005 and traveled to the South to visit Khiam, memory of Israeli control was fresh. They're not remembered fondly. www.hrw.org/news/1999/10...
This has happened before. Israel occupied South Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. They propped up a statelet there run by the brutal South Lebanon Army, or SLA.
You can say this invasion is about Hezbollah and the safety of northern Israel, but this faction of the Israeli far right saw a chance to enact their project and they are taking it. As with all ethnonationalist irredentist projects, Greater Israel fundamentally requires ethic cleansing.
For the irredentist fringe in Israel “Greater Israel” means a permanent occupation of South Lebanon, from the Israeli-Lebanese border to the Litani River in South Lebanon, all of the historic Galilee region.
2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past six weeks. 40,000 homes have been flattened, often by bulldozers. 1.2 million Lebanese have fled the violence in the South. 350,000 of them are children. South Lebanon is now one of the world's fastest growing refugee crisis.
Last Wednesday, after the “cease fire”, 357 people were killed in a single day as Israel carpet bombed Lebanese neighborhoods across the south and in Beirut. 100 bombs were dropped in 10 minutes. Trump’s beef with the Pope generated more outrage than dead Lebanese children in collapsed apartments.
Why now for this ethnic cleansing? Because the leaders of Israel made a bet that the world cares more about Qatari gas refineries and the price at the pump. Turns out Israel bet right.
This is not disputed by Israel. Their defense minister stated that South Lebanese fleeing the bombing “will be completely prohibited” from returning. Singling out Shiites, one of the indigenous communities of South Lebanon, he said they would *never* be allowed to return:
Israel is targeting Shia villages and bulldozing them to the ground. When the Shia population seeks refuge with neighboring Christian and Druze, Israel has threatened these groups with the same annihilation unless they expel their now-homeless neighbors. A source:
A map of Lebanon showing the religious diversity of the country, and how South Lebanon has a high concentration of Shia Muslims, mixed with populations of Melkite Catholic and Maronite Catholic Christians, as well as Druze
South Lebanon is and always has been a multiethnic, multi-religious community. The indigenous communities of South Lebanon are mostly Shia, Christian and Druze, and the big coastal cities are quite mixed. It is Israel’s explicit and stated goal to destroy the very fabric of this society.
Israel is doing ethnic cleansing in South Lebanon while the world frets about oil prices.
Image is an ad for COMIX-4100-1, a class that will be taught to undergrads by Professor Andy Warner at the California College of the Arts. A simplified stick figure wearing a shirt and tie is sweating and pulling at his shirt collar nervously. THere is an image of a treacherous path with a sign that says "Art Career!" with a sun and rainbow at the end of the horizon. Finally, there is a drawing of a stick figure teacher discussing a white board that says "Act 3" to a student stick figure listening. The image says: "Hey you! Take a class in Professional Practice! Learn how to navigate your career and how to survive and thrive as a working artist. Open to non-comics majors/minors. COMIX 4100-1 Tues 9:00AM - 11:30 AM."
CCA Undergrads - learn how to thrive in the industry in COMIX 4100-1 this Fall from the experienced @andycomics.bsky.social ! Professor Warner has done it all: published several books, freelance work, editor roles and more. Come learn how to do it! Open to all majors, register before May!
I’m doing a reading with my great friend Shay Mirk tonight in SF at 7pm! Come on by to hear them talk about nonfiction comics and me talk about aliens.
Style imitation of Randy Newman's single cover of I LOVE LA with the author in cartoon form. Text says: COMIC ARTS L.A. / DEC 14-15 / TABLE 63A
CALA The Realities of Making Graphic Novels What does it actually take to create a full-length graphic novel? This panel offers an honest look at the day-to-day realities behind long-form comics work. Moderated by Kane Lynch and Mary Shyne, a group of graphic novelists will discuss their creative routines, the hurdles they've faced, and the strategies that helped them push through to the finish line. Featuring Karen Czap, Andy Warner, Kane Lynch, and Mary Shyne. 1PM to 2Pm, December 14 (Sunday)
LOS ANGELES!! I'll be at @comicartsla.bsky.social this weekend at table 63A! And on Sunday I'll be moderating a panel about the grind of graphic novels with @kaneicaruslynch.bsky.social @charmgardens.com and @andycomics.bsky.social!
PORTLAND: go see Joe Sacco in conversation with Kate Kelp-Stebbins, discussing Sacco’s new book. Tuesday 12/2 at Powell’s on Burnside. @powells.bsky.social www.powells.com/events/joe-s... #pdxcomics
A picture of a frog on a leaf with the SICB and Skype a Scientist logos on the bottom right with the following words on top: "Call for Artists!" Learn about the latest animal research adn create art inspired by the science at the SICB meeting in Portland, OR. Deadline to apply: dec 12, Project dates Jan 3-7, Stipend $1000"
ARTISTS!
I need your help!
In collab. w/the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology, I'm organizing a group of artists to come to our Jan. meeting! We're looking for artists to create based on what they learn at the conference. $1000 stipend.
Application is V short! forms.gle/ah1i8KwNJinZ...
Daniel and Kelly are joined by Andy Warner, the co-author and illustrator of Daniel's new book, Do Aliens Speak Physics, and talk about how we might chat about science with aliens.
Our new book is out today! @andycomics.bsky.social
SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS! Announcing the Newberry Medieval Minicomic Prize: two juried mini-grants of $250.00 each to support emerging artists l for the creation of a new minicomic that engages with medieval culture. More details available here:
www.newberry.org/calendar/new...
I have a new book!!! This one's about aliens and science and the Universe. Normal cartoon things. I think you'll like it. It's called Do Aliens Speak Physics. 👽
wwnorton.com/books/978132...
This fall, The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) will host a series of low-cost ($5), 90-minute webinars that are open to the public. @andycomics.bsky.social is next up with High Contrast Comics. Sign up: www.cartoonstudies.org/workshops/we...
I've got a new comic in a kids comics magazine called Hullabaloo that just launched its kickstarter:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
Hooray for kids comics!
My anthology is nominated for an Ignatz. Go vote for it.
The 2025 MFA in Comics Anthology is here, and it looks fantastic! Our 15 graduating students each contributed a 10-20 page excerpt on their thesis comics, making for one killer 280 page volume. Thank you to editor @andycomics.bsky.social and book designer GB Tran for making this such a success!
the cover of SIMPLICITY: the main character of the story, Lucius, getting pulled down and off the page by glowing vines. A pair of hands from a robed figure reaches for him.
my new book is out today. it's about separatism and utopia and bodily autonomy and cults and capital and love and revolution and nature and sex and all the things we owe to each other. I'm so proud and excited and nervous for you to read it. i hope you do. simplicitybook.xyz
Another absolutely badass comic by celebrated cartoonist @andycomics.bsky.social exposing absolute sadist Scott Lively.
We let this guy get way too far, and walk away with way too much.
We did not "defeat" Scott Lively. He's still out there, and you bet he supports our current administration.
