Tecknaruppropet (The Cartoonists' Petition), originally launched as MOMENT 2022, is a Swedish cartoonists' and illustrators' collective founded in March 2022 in defense of Sweden's long-standing tradition of military non-alignment and in protest of the government's refusal to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It began as an open petition initiated by the satirical cartoonist Karin Z. Sunvisson, who continues to lead it.
By 2024 the petition had attracted more than 200 signatories from the Swedish illustration and political-cartooning professions. The collective has produced an anthology with (2022), founded the free satirical magazine LARM (2023), and published further anthologies in solidarity with Palestine. Its work has been exhibited in galleries, libraries and museums across Sweden.
In 2024 Tecknaruppropet was awarded the Eldh-Ekblad Peace Prize by the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society.
Origins and the petition In the spring of 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish government applied for NATO membership and declined to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In March 2022 Tecknaruppropet published its first drawing on Instagram under the title MOMENT 2022 – Nej till kärnvapen. Nej till NATO. The full petition appeared in the online newspaper Aftonbladet on 21 April 2022, signed by 71 cartoonists. It opens:
The petition argues that joining NATO would end Sweden's two-century tradition of non-alignment and undermine its ability to act as a mediator in international conflicts; that security cannot be built on nuclear deterrence; and it calls on Sweden to reject NATO membership and to sign the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons. The signatory list, drawn entirely from the Swedish illustration and political-cartooning professions, grew quickly: by August 2022 it had attracted more than 130 signatories, and by 2024 it had passed 200. Signatories include some of the country's most widely known satirists and children's-book illustrators, among them Sven Nordqvist, Jan Lööf, Cecilia Torudd, , , Anna-Clara Tidholm, Lasse Åberg, Max Andersson, Martin Ander, Ulf Lundkvist, , and .
Publications
The collective's art is produced on a voluntary basis, with proceeds donated to peace and solidarity organizations.
Tecknaruppropet mot kärnvapen och Nato (The Cartoonists' Petition against Nuclear Weapons and NATO; Galago, August 2022). 135-page anthology presenting a curated selection of drawings from some 94 contributing cartoonists; edited and designed by Karin Z. Sunvisson, with an afterword on illustrators' historical engagement with peace movements by Andreas Berg, professor of illustration. The book sold out and is held in 72 Swedish libraries. LARM ("alarm" or "popular din"; July 2023–), free satirical magazine. The first issue was distributed in nearly 20,000 copies as an insert in Pax, the membership magazine of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, with publication timed to the 2023 Vilnius summit, the NATO heads-of-state meeting at which Turkey lifted its objection to Sweden's accession. The title intentionally echoes the French satirical journal Le Charivari (a French word for "protest noise"). Later themed issues have followed the unfolding NATO processes. Bildbank för Palestina (Image Bank for Palestine; November 2023), an open-access online archive of drawings for use on placards and posters in solidarity actions for Palestine. Palestinaboken – Tecknare i solidaritet (The Palestine Book – Cartoonists in Solidarity; November 2024; second edition March 2025). Anthology of 140 drawings by 140 cartoonists, with a foreword by the Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Saba'aneh. The full sale price was donated to the Swedish solidarity organization ("the Palestine Groups in Sweden") and to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Kampen fortsätter. Befria Palestina! (The Struggle Continues. Free Palestine!; 2025), third Palestine anthology, in continued solidarity with Gaza.
Exhibitions Släpp freden fri! (Set peace free!), book-launch exhibition at the Mint gallery, , Stockholm (September 2022). Touring exhibitions at , Gothenburg, and at venues in Örebro and Kumla (2022–23). En tiger tiger inte (A tiger does not stay silent), (the Swedish Labor Movement's Archives and Library), Stockholm (12 December 2023 – 29 February 2024). Nato på allas läppar – Tecknaruppropet i retrospektiv (NATO on everyone's lips: Tecknaruppropet in retrospect), Museum of Work, Norrköping (31 August 2024 – 9 February 2025). A retrospective drawn from the collective's image archive.
Awards On 18 May 2024 Tecknaruppropet was awarded the Eldh-Ekblads fredspris at the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society's 141st congress in Örebro. The same year, Tecknaruppropet received an honorary mention from the EWK Prize, established in 2000 to honor cartoonists working in the spirit of Ewert Karlsson.
See also Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Political cartoon
Notes
References
External links Tecknaruppropet – official website Tecknaruppropet on Instagram