Horst Haitzinger, Joe Szabo, and S C Opatha. In another age, when newspapers were not crammed with colourful photographs and TV channels did not offer everything from back-to-back nature programming to 24-hour music videos, their names might have rung a bell. But few would be able to identify them these days, let alone their work.
According to Hong Kong-based Sri Lankan Sara Seneviratne, however, they are among the most famous political cartoonists today. If they are not household names, it is because of the manifold problems - among them falling newspaper circulations and syndication of work, from which contributing artists are paid a pittance - that have turned this form of social commentary into a 'dying art'. But political cartoons still have an important role to play, especially in the field of human rights, Seneviratne reckons, which is why he has decided to publish Funworld magazine, 'the world's most outrageously funny monthly' showcasing the works of cartoonists (both published and unpublished) and satirists that allows them to 'speak out against human rights abuses, wherever they occur'.
'We started this to help fellow journalists and cartoonists all over the world,' he explained, pointing out that professionals from both groups have been threatened, injured and killed because of their work. India's Irfan Hussein, for instance, was killed in March, Seneviratne believes, because of opposition to his political stance.
'I've joined a lot of human rights groups, from Washington to London. But I've felt there's something lacking in most of these organisations - they're just talk. They don't have the financial backing to help people affected,' he said.
Having sunk about US$50,000 (about HK$390,000) of his own money into the magazine, and planning to donate up to 50 per cent of earnings to human rights organisations and other worthy causes, Seneviratne describes it as the 'baby' he has been dreaming about for the past 25 years - probably from the very beginning of his career when he had his first taste of censorship. At 17, when he started drawing political cartoons for an English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka, his work was banned.
'I've had to run away from Sri Lanka many times because of political pressure, because I criticised the government,' he said, giving a rundown of his resume, which has included cartooning and advertising jobs in not only his home country but also Russia, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong, where he has been based for 12 years and worked for the Hong Kong Standard, Asiaweek and the now defunct Window.