Tintin in the Congo not racist, court rules

An application by Congolese campaigner Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo to ban a controversial Tintin book has been rejected by a Belgian court.

The court ruled that it did not believe that the 1946 edition of Tintin in the Congo had the intention of inciting racial hatred.

Mr Mbutu began legal proceedings in 2007 to get the book banned. He said that its portrayal of Africans was racist and despite the ruling he plans to appeal.

The same year that Mr Mbutu began proceedings, the UK’s Commission for Racial Equality called for the book to be banned and Borders and Waterstones moved it to the adult graphic novels sections and published Egmont UK sold it in shrink wrap.

The book is currently published in the UK with a warning about its content.

The colonial-era book was written in the 1920s and tells of Tintin’s escapades in the former Belgian colony. In it, he encounters diamond smugglers, big game hunters and wild animals.

One of the most controversial scenes, and one which Tintin author Herge later admitted to being unhappy with, is a drawing of a Congolese woman bowing before Tintin saying: "White man very great. White mister is big juju man".

The court said it was created at a time when colonial ideas were dominant.

"It is clear that neither the story, nor the fact that it has been put on sale, has a goal to... create an intimidating, hostile, degrading or humiliating environment," the court said.

Mr Mbutu's lawyer told Reuters his client would "take this case as far as he can".

Tintin in the Congo has also attracted criticism for its treatment of native wildlife. Tintin shoots several antelope, kills and ape (and wears its skin), stones a buffalo and injures an elephant. In earlier editions he slays a rhinoceros with dynamite.