The Arab Week in Paris themed 'Laughter the Arab way' (Rire à l’heure arabe), demonstrated that humour has become the best weapon to expose stupidity and extremism in the countries of the Arab Spring as well as a way to relieve anger and frustration.
"To laugh is proper to man," François Rabelais, French humanist of the 15th century wrote in Gargantua. But the concept of laughter and humour was tackled by writers and thinkers across the centuries, from Aristotle to modern times. Along the same lines, the festival held from 12 and 25 April highlighted that the importance of laughter and humour in Arab culture is undeniable.
Annoying to governments, laughter is becoming an instrument of protest and resistance.
At the entrance on the high school campus (Ecole Normale Superieure) where the Arab Week was held, the visitor is greeted with Willis From Tunis, a cartoon series depicting a cat, born on 13 January 2011, the Ben Ali's last speech
Its author, Nadia Khiari, cartoonist and artist, is known for her wry humour which she uses to give insights on the Tunisian government and religious extremists. While doing so, Khiari tackles taboos without compromise. Her drawings, published daily on Facebook, form a kind of chronicle of black humour aligned with the Tunisian daily realities, becoming more than just political statements; the designs are weapons of protest.
Bassem Youssef, sarcasm and truth
But in terms of political satire, there is no stronger personality than Egyptian BassemYoussef, who was a guest of the Arab week where he spoke about his concept of sarcasm and the January 2011 Revolution. Originally a cardiologist, Youssef became internationally known comedian hosting a political satire television show, Al-Bernameg, aired every Friday and attracting 30 million viewers.
Time Magazine has placed Bassem Youssef among 100 most influential people in the world. Judging on the crowds attending his public conference in Paris, his popularity is unprecedented.
From almost the beginning the comedian launched hilarious remarks with natural ease. Within a few moments, he conquers the audience with his comedic charm. Funny and balanced at the same time, Youssef opened the conference by explaining origins of the word sarcasm: "Sarcasm comes from Greek sacrasmos, which literally means 'to cut the flesh'."
This is what the satirists do: they scratch and peel to get to the truth.
"But beware," Youssef continued. "Sarcasm does not necessarily lead to laughter. Sometimes, instead of laughter, it is a feeling of sadness, a sensation of pain that touches the viewer watching Al-Bernameg."
"The purpose of sarcasm is not to provoke laughter at all costs; this would keep people away from reality, as if anaesthetised." For the comedian, the more oppressive regime is, the more powerful sarcasm becomes. "An oppressive regime is used to a blind obedience. The humour puts the oppressive force in a state of imbalance, as it can never tame humour or sarcasm."
Guignol? A noble role...
His critics accuse him of being a mere aragoz or karokoz (a traditional puppet in Egyptian popular culture): a clown, or a guignol (known French puppet with witty character).
"Those descriptions give me honour," replies Bassem Youssef.
Since the Ottoman period, people on the streets would make puppets called karokoz talk on their behalf, oftentimes to denounce the government.
"These puppets were fighting against the authority through humour," he adds. Today aragoz continue to play a "noble role," that is to ridicule the oppressive authority that terrifies the people. "And when the leader or authority becomes funny, it frightens no more," Youssef explained.
And this is precisely what authority fears "especially those who claim to represent the religion, while they have nothing to do with it." When they are exposed and ridiculed, they lose their credibility. They seek to, at all costs, "suppress the imagination and creativity because the latter one would lead to questions they cannot answer, as they only operate with the responses in the form of formulas."
The humour becomes a threat, a danger. It is therefore punished. Bassem Youssef explains that his detractors find nothing else to say than to accuse people like him of the worst vices: infidelity and blasphemy. But Youssef underlines loudly, time and again, that he is a practicing Muslim who simply seeks to reclaim religion that extremists are trying to usurp.
But in vain... Bassem Youssef is asked to pay for his jokes: lawsuits, with all kinds of accusations, multiply against him. Ironically, they make him even more popular.
Nevertheless, he remains confident: "The man on the street is not a fool."
People who claim to represent Islam and who criticise his programme have lost what Youssef calls "the will of artificial religious sanctity. They have become questionable and this is already a gain."
But at what price? Death threats against Youssef are increasing. Is he afraid? His answer is unequivocal: "If I choose to keep quiet today, tomorrow I will not have that choice, I will be forced to shut up."
Laughter, an anger catalyst
"What a great mistake to suppress laughter," protests Manal Omar, another Egyptian guest of the Arab Week. Omar, who has a PhD in psychology, underlines that listening to a joke or watching a satirical program can in fact absorb the anger of the people, decreasing the chances for it to be expressed in some other way. "The authorities should understand that humour and political satirists are useful to them," Omar said.
"But nothing works. They fail to distinguish between a joke, a review and an insult. They have a real problem in understanding those notions, "she adds.
To understand laughter, Omar speaks of humour as a mechanism of "displacement." When someone is humiliated, he moves his anger against someone weaker than him. "This is an immature and negative mechanism," says Omar. Sarcasm, however, is "a positive and mature mechanism because anger is not directed to the weaker but to the stronger," against the government, for example.
Having a sense of humour and mastering sarcasm is a true gift. The psychologist explained that, according to studies of satire, those with a higher sense of humour have high cognitive development and, therefore, have a better ability to analyse the events that surround them. They have also better social skills and greater sensitivity towards the others.
Arabs continue to laugh and humour continues to bother the authorities with its power and strength. Because the humour is simple, issues that it tackles are absorbed better than others. And in the most difficult situations, laughter becomes an escape from the realities, which are too hard to bear. Isn't it better to laugh than cry?
Humour as reconciliation
In the heart of Paris, Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) presents the Arab world allowing the attendees to discover a rich culture, often misunderstood in the West. Humour becomes a way of creating bridges between different cultures. The humour brought closer to the French audiences was among several other activities held throughout the Arab Week.
The week also included film screenings: When Pigs Have Wings by Sylvain Estibal and The Virgin, the Copts and Me by Namir Abdel Messeeh, among others.
A series of workshops ranging from belly dancing to Arab cuisine, introduced the attendees to the variety of aspects of Arab culture.
The calligraphy workshop was led by Iraqi Abdul Ghani Alani, while Wassim Ismail gave a concert on oud. The event brought also an electro-shaabi DJ called Amr Haha from Cairo.
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