Sudanese cartoonist: Censorship not just something in some far away land

Khalid Albaih found freedom of expression on the internet because there was nowhere else.

Khalid AlbaihKhalid Albaih (Source: Alejo Arango)

A Romanian-born, Sudanese cartoonist currently living in Copenhagen after spending many years in Doha, Qatar, Khalid Albaih is unsurprisingly reluctant to pigeonhole his identity.

“I’m Muslim, I’m black and I speak like a Harvard white guy; I gladly embrace all of these things. Identity should be a race to embrace as much as possible,” he told The Slovak Spectator.

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Albaih spoke at a panel discussion, Central European Forum: On the Freedom of Speech, on September 13 in Bratislava for [fjuzn], a multicultural festival that aims to build trust and understanding between Slovaks and foreigners in Slovakia, and which this year was on the theme of identity.

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He spoke exclusively to The Slovak Spectator about his beginnings as a cartoonist, forced exile from his homeland, the pernicious influence of social media and how he plans to build Sudan’s first ever public library.

A lot to say, nowhere to say it

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