The popularity of satirist Bassem Youssef may show that the government can’t stifle public debate
By Lee Smith|January 9, 2013
The Jon Stewart of Egypt, Bassem Youssef, is used to making headlines in Egypt for his popular late-night show. But in the past week the satirist has been in papers around the world for taking his criticism of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi too far. An Islamist lawyer has brought charges against Youssef for mocking the Egyptian president—describing him with epithets like pharaoh, or “SuperMorsi”—and he is now under investigation for “undermining” Morsi’s standing. In the episode in question, Youssef holds a red furry pillow stamped with Morsi’s likeness and speaks to it soothingly. “The president understands us,” says Youssef. “He understands us better than we understand ourselves.”
The Obama Administration has voiced its concerns over the legal action, as have other democracy advocates, seeing this, as well as a complaint that Morsi filed against the newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm, as a test case for the Muslim Brotherhood-led government. “[W]e continue to urge the Egyptian Government to respect freedom of expression,” said a State Department spokesperson, “which is a universal right as one of the harbingers of the kind of country they want to have going forward.”
Morsi insists he has nothing to do with the Youssef investigation. His office explained that the complaints against the TV host are “mainly individual initiatives” brought “by independent lawyers.” And indeed the lawyer who has instigated the proceedings is not a government employee. The peculiar reality of Egypt’s free-wheeling judicial system is that anyone can bring a case to court, regardless of how ludicrous the charges. Last year, the famous Egyptian actor Adel Imam was acquitted of blasphemy charges brought against him by an Islamist lawyer who objected to several roles in which Imam made fun of Islamists.
Since embarking on his media career in March 2011, in response to the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the 38-year-old Youssef has gone after the same crew. A cardiothoracic surgeon who still practices medicine when he is not filming his show, Youssef has won a huge audience that would have been unthinkable under the old regime, which frequently censored satirists, critics, and writers. And it wasn’t just Mubarak: The general tendency in Egypt, dating back almost 100 years, has been to freeze debates concerning major social issues, particularly the role of Islam. What the rise of Bassem Youssef indicates is certainly not that the Muslim Brotherhood is more tolerant, but rather that the government may no longer be able to stifle a debate that has long been in the making.
The question now is whether the consciousness raised by Youssef and his show can galvanize a political movement—or at least a debate about the future of an Egypt for all its citizens.
The Obama Administration has voiced its concerns over the legal action, as have other democracy advocates, seeing this, as well as a complaint that Morsi filed against the newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm, as a test case for the Muslim Brotherhood-led government. “[W]e continue to urge the Egyptian Government to respect freedom of expression,” said a State Department spokesperson, “which is a universal right as one of the harbingers of the kind of country they want to have going forward.”
Morsi insists he has nothing to do with the Youssef investigation. His office explained that the complaints against the TV host are “mainly individual initiatives” brought “by independent lawyers.” And indeed the lawyer who has instigated the proceedings is not a government employee. The peculiar reality of Egypt’s free-wheeling judicial system is that anyone can bring a case to court, regardless of how ludicrous the charges. Last year, the famous Egyptian actor Adel Imam was acquitted of blasphemy charges brought against him by an Islamist lawyer who objected to several roles in which Imam made fun of Islamists.
Since embarking on his media career in March 2011, in response to the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, the 38-year-old Youssef has gone after the same crew. A cardiothoracic surgeon who still practices medicine when he is not filming his show, Youssef has won a huge audience that would have been unthinkable under the old regime, which frequently censored satirists, critics, and writers. And it wasn’t just Mubarak: The general tendency in Egypt, dating back almost 100 years, has been to freeze debates concerning major social issues, particularly the role of Islam. What the rise of Bassem Youssef indicates is certainly not that the Muslim Brotherhood is more tolerant, but rather that the government may no longer be able to stifle a debate that has long been in the making.
The question now is whether the consciousness raised by Youssef and his show can galvanize a political movement—or at least a debate about the future of an Egypt for all its citizens.
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