Political Satire History

Political Satire, in general, is a very important part of Satire which mainly aims

to poking fun of authority, and ridiculing politicians. For centuries, satirists over the

world have been struggling against Undemocratic Authorities and people of

Religion, in order to have their rights for free speech, and to have Satire protected by

law, as a significant tool of logical dissent. However, when we compare Satire in the

West and in the Middle East, we can see that creating a sphere where people are free

to speak, has nothing to do with cultures and religions’ differences. And like Jon

Stewart said once in an interview: “if your regime is not strong enough to handle

Satire, then you don’t have a regime.” Albernameg - Episode 28. (2013, June 21). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFh7hDy6tbY

Therefore, some countries in the West have realized this truth, while some countries in

the Middle East are still not yet aware of the importance of Satire.

Political Satire is believed to have existed throughout history, but the oldest

Satirical works that survived until today go back to Ancient Greece. and one of the

well-known Greek satirists is Aristophanes. The son of a wealthy family was very

educated in literature. Aristophanes used to express his dissent using humor and the

format of plays with beautiful rhythmic poetry. “LYSISTRATA”, for example, reveals

the story of a lady, called Lysistrata, who worked alongside women of town to stop

the war, by refusing to sleep with their husbands. She claims that men have no

pleasure in bed when they have to force you. Lysistrata: The Perpetual Protest and

Satire. (2009, February 11). Retrieved from https://leiabray.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/lysistrata-satire-and-protest.

Using Comedy, Aristophanes had shown his oppose to the Peloponnesian War

between Athens and The Spartans. However, after the victory of the Spartans, Athens

Fell under control of the their army. As a result, Satire was no more practiced freely,

and satirists like Aristophanes had to hold to Their tongues, and Political Satire in the

west changed from being open to being covert. Aristophanes Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Aristophanes.html

Comedy and the sense of humor didn’t disappear, but it was a risk to criticize a man

of power right then, that one could have his head cut. The same thing happened later

In Iraq, and exactly in the Abbasid era, there was a number of poets who wrote

satirical poems where they criticized their authorities and poked fun of the social

issues. They used to write freely, and not having to be afraid of being taken to the

court. Despite the truth that the Abbasid Khalifas were men of religion, and were very

severe, they enjoyed a big sense of humor. To clarify, poems like Abou-Nawass, were

free to speak about men in power. For instance, Once in the Abbasid royal palace,

Abou-Nawass poked fun of one of the Khalifa’s followers who was very mean, and he

said: “I saw Al-Fadl eating some fish. He became sad when he saw me, but when I

told him that I’m fasting, he smiled.” Political Satire In The Abbasid Era. (2010, August 13). Retrieved from http://www.algomhoriah.net/newsweekarticle.php?sid=117360

Similarly to what happened in Athens after the war, the Abbasid era ended in the

thirteenth century, when the TATARS colonized Iraq. They murdered the Khalifa and

his followers, and of course, Satire had no place in such sphere.

For a long time, Satire was performed in the formats of plays and poems until the

Sixteenth century. In Britain, Satire twisted from verbal to visual. With the

technological development, the Protestant Reformation started the print-based

anti-Papal visual Satire. However, the new visual satire was only flourishing the most

In the eighteenth century, when Britain right then was living a complete absence of

absolutism. Freedom of speech was a right, and the press enjoyed a wide liberty of

criticizing and publishing caricatures poking fun of King George III himself. James

Gillray, a cartoonist from Chelsea, AKA “The Father Of Political Cartoon”, was one

of cartoonists who developed this art, and later on, it became a worldwide art. James

Gillray. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gillray

It was only in the 21st century when the first Arabic satirical newspaper was

Published in Syria, which was called “AL-DOMARI”. The newspaper was

specialized in criticizing the regime’s mistakes with caricatures drawn by the

the Syrian cartoonist: Ali Farzat. Unfortunately, the news paper was shutdown

By the government, and Ali was forced to leave the country. While this was

happening in the Middle East, Satire in the West had already become a settled law.

And not only that, since the 20th century, there started to be Satirical TV programs.

For example, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”. This Satirical type of fake news

Has been very popular in the western world in the modern time. The former host of

The show, Jon Stewart, has spent fifteen years criticizing the governement, the

politicians and Fox News, but has never been charged or taken to the court for

practicing satire. Furthermore, his last guest in the show was the President Obama

Himself, and he criticized him sarcastically face to face. However, he left the show

With his own will, but the show continued with a different host. As I said, this

type of satirical shows is common in many other western countries, But never in the

Middle East until 2011. During the “The Arab Spring”, an Egyptian Heart Surgeon,

Called: Bassem Youssef, made the first Satirical Show in Arabic, on Youtube. Similar

to Jon Stewart’s show, Bassem youssef was ridiculing the way that the Egyptian

Media was attacking the revolutionists in the streets. Because it was the first time

Egyptians Watch such a show, it gained a very wide popularity that it later became a

TV show called “Albernameg”, and it was watched by Millions around the world.

However, the country was not 100 percent stable, and Bassem Youssef was taken to

the court for imitating President Mohamed Morsi, but he was freed in the same day.

But after the Military Coup in 2013 that was lead by the General Abdelfatah Sisi,

Bassem was no more allowed To criticize directly as he used to. And a few months

later, his show was shutdown and Bassem was exciled from Egypt. Bassem Youssef: Egypt's Jon Stewart on Arab Spring satire I The Feed. (2015, November 9). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zGO_QHwes4

To sum up, Satire, as we’ve seen, has always been an effective tool, not only for

Poking fun, but also to oppose the authority in different cultures, from the West and

the Middle East. So, as a conclusion, we can say that it doesn’t matter what culture

you belong to, or what religion you believe. Only when the regime is strong, Freedom

Of speech is allowed.