Secret

This is a cartoon I drew last Summer, then never published because by the time I came out of my Summer break, the debate in Germany had shifted from what you can see above to something even more ignorant. Within weeks, mass surveillance of US and German citizens wasn’t the scandal anymore, because the NSA had also bugged the German chancellor’s phone!

I’ve been watching and reading spy stories since I was a kid – I’ve even written one myself. My extensive and very accurate knowledge of the spy world tells me that fishing for government secrets is basically what spies do, if they’re not too busy chasing other spies or outrageous villains. Nothing scandalous about that. Plus, if you’ve ever heard our chancellor talk, it has probably filled you with a deep sense of understanding towards anybody who resorts to shady methods in order to get a clear statement out of her for once. So excuse me if I can’t get worked up about that too much. Mass surveillance of whole countries, on the other hand? Still creepy.

So, for today’s International protest action, here’s my cartoon, facilitated by a call for cartoons from The Web We Want.