Student sues for racist Tintin book

A Congolese student in Brussels is suing the publishers of the comic, Tintin in the Congo, claiming the book violated Belgium's anti-racism laws and is asking that it be banned.

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Bienvenu Mondondo says the African sidekick in the book is portrayed as a 'little black helper, stupid and without qualities'.

"It's a natural reaction. We cannot accept something like this in the 21st century. We cannot allow these things like we allowed them before," said Mr Mondondo.

In one scene a black woman is featured bowing before Tintin and exclaiming: 'White man very great. White mister is big juju man!'

When Tintin is chased by a villain and nearly fed to crocodiles, his saviour is a white Belgian missionary.


Mr Mondondo brought criminal charges against publishing company, Herge Foundation Moulinsart in 2007.

However,after getting frustrated with the lack of progress, he began a parallel civil case which included the publisher, Casterman.

The Commission for Racial Equality has backed calls for the book to be banned.

But the legal team representing Herge's estate says the case is a slight against freedom of expression.. and will open a Pandora's Box.

"Tomorrow we will demand a ban on Dickens for his works that contain anti-Semitic elements, along with Mark Twain and the Bible," said Alain Berenboom, lawyer for the publishers.

Incidentally, Twain's Huckleberry Finn, went through a makeover earlier this year.

In an effort to get re-introduce the novel back into school curricula, one American edition replaced the word "nigger" with "slave".

Hergé publishers redrew the Tintin in the Congo for a colour edition in the 1940s and made many changes, including excising a scene where Tintin killed a rhinoceros by blowing it up with dynamite.

The book also dropped all references to the "Belgian Congo", and changed a geography lesson Tintin gave about Belgium to a maths lesson.

Despite the changes, the book remains equally offensive to race equality and many animal rights campaigners.

Ironically, days after the book was labelled racist in 2007, online sales of the book soared.

It climbed from 4,343rd place to fifth on the Amazon bestseller list.


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By Kumi Taguchi
Source: SBS

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Student sues for racist Tintin book | SBS News