Comics as Resistance
Sometimes, It’s the Only Way to Fight
NaoBun Project is not intended to be an explicitly political project. We are, rather strictly, a producer of family-friendly comics. But to deny involvement of all politics in our comics is absurd.
Our mission is to become the leading hub of comics for social transformation and progressive values, pushing for equality and awareness in all fronts — racial, gender, economic, environmental, and so on. We could never do this without awareness and immersion in historical and political praxis.
So let’s talk about what is currently happening in our base country, Indonesia.
First, there was the recent sentencing of a popular political figure to two years in prison under questionable blasphemy laws with obvious racial undertones. Second, these days mark the nineteenth anniversary of Indonesia’s May 1998 tragedy.
I learned of the former when I was visiting an SOS Children’s Village in Cibubur, exploring collaboration possibilities. I was with Widy, our Social Impact Designer and a founding member of our company’s management team. I told her what had happened. She could barely keep her jaw closed for minutes.
Naomi, our co-founder, wasn’t there. So I got on social media to see her reaction. It wasn’t pleasant. It devastated her much more than it did me, so much that she blacked out her Twitter avatar.
I messaged her to tell her I was sorry that this happened. Also that we should never lose hope.
“You know what I want to do right now?” I asked her. “I want to write comics.”
And that was true. I was overcome by irrational anger at myself that I could not be more productive and write all the stories I have in my head. I was angry that we have very few progressive entertainment for children that would keep them from all these prejudice.
It was naive, perhaps, and it was certainly irrational. There was no way that one person can make that much of a difference, and certainly not that quickly. But writers, I believe, are always at the forefront of social transformation — I have never had an ounce of doubt of why I do the things I do — so the thought could not help but linger. If only I could write all these things!
“Of course, Bonni,” said Naomi. “This is getting more and more crucial now, more than ever.”
“Comics is our way to fight,” said Widy.
Widy and I are lucky. We belong to the majority group of race and religion in Indonesia. Although we do not identify nor practice in any significant way, we can easily blend in with the majority.
Naomi is a Chinese Buddhist Indonesian woman. She has had first-hand experience of what it means to be discriminated due to your race, religion, and of course gender.
Nineteen years ago, around these days, she had to become a refugee in Malaysia for fear of racial violence. She witnessed her family in chaos and panic, unsure of what is happening, unsure of when she could come back to Jakarta. She was five.
This is Indonesia. A country where the late Gen-Y’ers and early Millennials are defined not only by their quick adoption of technology and their embrace of digital nomadism, but also by their direct identification with the May 1998 tragedy. It’s not uncommon for these young people to have first-hand experience of trauma.
Yet this is also a country where extremism is on the rise in schools. Where it’s technically illegal to marry someone of a different religion. Where no textbook teaches history properly, because so much is being censored by the government.
So what do we do? We make comics.
To this day, I still get weird looks when people know both sides of my expertise. Those who have read my body of work know that I’m well-versed on critical theory and philosophy, and yet I choose to do comics. I have had people look me in the eyes in disappointment, telling me how much I’m wasting my talents.
But here’s the thing. When you live in a country where so much is at stake, where children are being raised in environments that are practically very fertile grounds for prejudice and extremism, and where there is virtually zero local entertainment for children — books, cartoons, or otherwise — that provide more progressive and less racist ways of seeing the world, you cannot but gravitate towards the most obvious solution for resistance:
Make great comics.
So that’s what we decided to do.
The NaoBun Project is a Jakarta-based comic book studio, storytelling consultancy, and artists development initiative focused on social transformation. If you’re interested in collaborating with them, or just saying hello, shoot an e-mail over to hello@naobunproject.id.
Follow their exploits here on this Medium blog or sign up for their mailing list below, or on their website at http://naobunproject.id/. Don’t forget to ♥ this article if you think more people should read it!
