Interview with Asher Hurowitz, the young American author of a comic strip about the struggle and sacrifices of the Kurdish people. With this artistic endeavor, he denounces Trump’s immense betrayal.
Interview by Gilles Hertzog.
How long have you been cartooning and what got you interested in it?
It’s been a life-long passion. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. It’s something I’ve grown up with as I have an artistic family and so there was some kind of impulse to draw from very early on.
Are there any cartoonists you particularly admire?
Definitely. Among the pioneers, I’d have to mention William Pitt the Younger, actually, and also Richard Outcault.
Then, of course, there’s Charles M. Schulz, Reg Smythe, Dik Browne, and Jack Kirby. I’d say Bill Watterson was another amazing artist, and definitely Rene Goscinny, Albert Uderzo, as well as Hergé are fabulous. Among newer cartoonists I love Randall Munroe and Bill Amend.
How you came to follow the Kurdish issue?
I was studying current events in the Middle East and came across the Kurds. I was fascinated by their rich culture and their specific predicament. Then I saw Bernard-Henri Lévy’s films, Peshmerga and the Fall of Mosul, and it inspired me to do much more research into their struggle for nationhood. Also, their love for liberal democracy and the freedoms associated with it is quite wonderful.
If you were to meet Trump and speak to him about the Kurds and their war against ISIS, what would you say?
I would probably just tell him the facts about the Kurdish people, how much they support the United States and their interests in the region, what a great fighting force they are, what great allies they are. I was sure up until recently, based on that alone and if his attention was merely brought to it, he would become an advocate of the Kurds, but recent shocking statements about compensation in the region clearly show the magnitude of work that must be done to reach him.
What led you to draw this particular cartoon?
Well, after the fall of ISIS, it seems that after all this work and sacrifice that these incredible men and women did to destroy such a looming specter, Trump, I guess, either didn’t know about them or just forgot about them in general, and as usual, credited himself solely for the victory.
This is quite frustrating to the countless men and women who fought and laid down their lives, in some cases, to destroy this great threat to civilization. They also did not achieve a state which they dreamed of and really earned. It was kind of a slap in the face to the Kurdish community and, in some ways, to the United States because a Kurdish state would really do so much for our interests in the region.
So I decided to spread awareness about this and put pen to paper and illustrate ,to the best of my ability, what I imagine must be the frustration of the Kurdish people at this outrage.