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Shaden Fakih, Bassem Youssef, and Alaa Abu Diab
Article informationAuthor, Joey SlimRole, BBC News Arabic – Beirut
33 minutes ago
Comedy in the Arab world has never escaped the grip of governmental or societal censorship, especially when it approaches the famous taboo triangle: religion, politics and sex, which is largely steadfast in the face of criticism and ridicule.
It can be said that the arts of satire and humor, in their Arab context, are like walking in a minefield, and one of them finally exploded in the face of the Lebanese stand-up comedian Nour Hajjar after he was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department in Beirut, against the background of a video clip from an old show, which was considered to contain offense. In the Islamic religion.
The joke that was part of the show, which dates back to 2018, angered many, as well as the Lebanese Dar Al-Fatwa, and a campaign was launched against Hajjar that included insults and threats, which prompted the artist to issue a statement in which he apologized to “any person who was harmed by the video,” stressing that he could not “in any way.” Intentionally hurting the religious feelings of believers.
The publication of the aforementioned video came the day after Hajjar was summoned to investigate another case by the military police in Beirut, against the background of a joke he made about the work of members of the Lebanese army in a food delivery service after the exacerbation of the economic crisis in the country.
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The Lebanese comedian, Nour Hajjar, was recently pursued and investigated
The old discussion about sarcasm, its limits, and its relationship to taboos is always renewed, whether in terms of using humor as a tool for political change, or because sarcasm’s relationship to blasphemy or contempt for religions takes on a sharp polemical dimension.
On the one hand, there is a camp that emphasizes the necessity of respecting religious beliefs and the feelings of believers and not provoking them, and another that adheres to criticism of religious beliefs, ridicule and the “right to blasphemy.”
Added to this is the debate that has become more urgent over the past years about the political correctness of satire, with marginalized or vulnerable groups feeling that the joke may be a weapon of hatred, while many reject this and talk about a tendency to kill the joke with a style of clean comedy.
All of this poses challenges for Arab comedians. So what are the “limits of irony” and does it impede their creative work or not? BBC News Arabic posed these questions to three Arab stand-up comedians.
Bassem Youssef: Consensus between the artist and the audience
Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef believes that comedy in Lebanon is a precedent over other Arab countries, in terms of themes and language used.
However, the campaign that Nour Hajjar was recently exposed to showed that these differences between Arab countries and their audiences fade when this same comic content becomes available on the Internet for everyone.
Youssef explains that campaigns against stand-up artists ignore the obvious fact that for every show an audience pays a ticket in return for attending it in a theater or indoor venue.
He says, “There is a consensual process between the artist and the audience, who willingly choose to pay for watching an entertainment show. But when the show itself or clips from it are published on the Internet, the material reaches people outside this consensual duality, and problems begin.”
image copyrightBassem Youssef
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In Bassem Youssef’s opinion, social networking sites have given people a “terrifying entitlement.”
In the stand-up shows that were presented in Arabic after other shows in English, Youssef concludes, at the beginning of each show, something like a contract with the audience inside the theater.
He warns them from the outset that the show, which is not intended for people under the age of eighteen, according to what was mentioned in the advertisement, will include words and expressions that are, for some, “disgraceful to shame.”
He repeats this several times and asks them to repeat something similar to chanting by saying, “We are an obscene audience” (impolite) and goes on with that a little, so as to give room for those who are disturbed by the matter from those present to leave the show and avoid any feeling of offense or provocation.
Youssef had clashed with the Egyptian authorities, who banned his famous program “The Program” in June 2014, following the arrival of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to power, then he left Egypt permanently.
In his opinion, social networking sites have given people a “terrifying entitlement.”
“Today, someone in an Arab country can watch a show in Washington and give his opinion about it and demand that it be banned and that the artist’s blood be shed if he wanted. Even though the show was not originally directed at him and he should not be concerned with it in the first place.” In his opinion, it is like those who demand the closure of porn sites when they can simply not visit those sites.
He gives an example of a clip he recently posted on social media from a show he gave in the Canadian city of Edmonton, showing the class differences between the city and its neighbor, Calgary.
The audience present in the theater, who interacts with laughter and applause, admires this, while criticism and insults from people living in Egypt reached the Internet, who described the clip as not funny.
Here is the difference between a target audience for whom the satirical material was originally written, and a distant person who will not find it relevant.
Youssef says that in another case, these viewers will not find a problem with attacking and threatening the artist, instead of ignoring what he did not like and moving on to something else.
Alaa Abu Diab: It is a joke, not a weapon
image copyrightAlaa Abu Diab
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Alaa Abu Diab does not like to make fun of a weak person or group, and he believes that comedy was created to do the exact opposite.
For Palestinian stand-up artist Alaa Abu Diab, what happened with Nour Hajjar is “terrifying, and there is no less word to describe it.”
He tells BBC News Arabic: “Suddenly someone may cut out a joke you made five years ago in order to ruin your life.”
Nevertheless, the artist, Al-Maqdisi, who lives in Sweden, believes that there are no limits to sarcasm: “You can tell the joke you want, and the recipient may not like it. Everyone is free, and in the end it is a joke, not a weapon.”
But he adds that he personally does not like to make fun of a weak person or group, and he believes that comedy was found to do the exact opposite.
In response to a question about how he deals with the sensitivities of the Arab public, Abu Diab says that he is “walking in a minefield.”
“You try not to deal with consuming and boring topics, and also not to explode your sense of humor, as happened with Nour Hajjar.”
Abu Diab, who moved at record speed from presenting videos on social media to staging stand-up shows on theaters around the world, says that he is used to adapting what he presents to different environments, “because I sometimes perform in conservative cities and in theaters that are usually more disciplined.” From comedy clubs, so I used to pay more attention and learned to dodge.”
The artist, who will present his latest show “Mish Abyad” in Beirut next week, believes that the spaces that show comedy in Lebanon “as great and comfortable as they are and create a unique atmosphere in the Arab world, can sometimes be harmful, because they make you think that you are capable of delving into all topics.” Just because the audience who attended a few shows back-to-back happened to be receptive and tolerant. But the reality is different.”
And he adds, “If the artist forgets this matter, he may lack the skill to compose jokes with a lower ceiling of freedom than the one he offers in the bubble of comedy clubs.”
Shaden Fakih: I don’t want to die because of a joke
image copyrightShaden Fakih
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“People have to understand that there are thousands of religions and I may not believe in any of them, and that is normal.”
For her part, the Lebanese comedian Shaden Fakih says that the campaign against her colleague Nour Hajjar greatly affected her and her work.
Fakih was previously accused by the Lebanese Public Prosecution of the crime of “insulting the institution of the Internal Security Forces” because of a satirical video clip she filmed at the beginning of the general closure with the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, before she appeared before the Military Court in June 2022 in the same case.
Likewise, she is always subjected to insults and threats on social media, as she deals with political issues in a way that supporters of Lebanese parties do not like within the current polarization scene.
In light of the recent campaign against her colleague, Fakih says: “In the end, I do not want to die or for my family to be harmed. I am not with the idea of martyrdom, in fact I am fighting to live.”
For this, she explains that she has made changes to her current offers, but that does not mean that she will stop touching on the topics she wants to talk about, as she confirms.
“I am now trying to change the style and the way I formulate jokes, but there will be no taboo or red line in my content.”
She explains that she will deal with religious issues, for example, from a philosophical area, and, “But people have to understand that there are thousands of religions and I may not believe in one of them, and that is normal. People have to accept criticism and ridicule of a faith or belief, because I am not obligated to believe in what you believe.” .
She adds, “Lebanon is not an Islamic country, but a country that is supposed to be governed by a constitution that guarantees freedom of belief and expression, and I have the right to criticize ideas as long as they do not discriminate against people or groups.”
And she added, “But the reality is different from this ideal, as these angry people think that they have power over others, and they may threaten their lives for that.”
“Maybe we should try saying things another way” for safety from the traps set for comedy.
And Fakih concludes by saying: “People think that we provide this content for entertainment or to be, according to the famous saying: disobedience is known. But what they do not know is that through this mockery we confront the authorities that suffocate us. We are only trying to survive through them.”
