ARAB POLITICAL CARTOONS-The 2006 Lebanon War

Abstract:
The essay seeks to gain a basic understanding of Arab political humor through the
examination of the Arab political cartoons of the 2006 Lebanon war. It is assumed
that political cartooning is a pop-cultural form of satire. The function of satire in
society is discussed, and the relationship between satire, Arab political humor and
Arab political cartoons is investigated. It is suggested that satire and political
humor are more relevant in conflict-ridden societies than in countries with a long
history of peace. Further, the conditions of political cartooning in the Arab world
are discussed, especially in regard to censorship and limited freedom of
expression. It is suggested that these factors greatly affect both cartoons and
cartoonists. It is further suggested that the regionalization of the Arab mass media
has steered the cartoons into focusing on regional and international issues rather
than domestic ones. A brief summary and timeline of the Lebanon war is provided
to establish the historical context of the political cartoons. The analysis searches
for common themes tackled by the cartoonists and the cartoons are divided into
categories according to these findings. An attempt is made at establishing the
messages the cartoonists are trying to convey. Concluding the essay, it is
suggested that political cartooning is a Western art form adopted by the Arabs;
political cartooning is thus aesthetically more related to the West than to the Arab
world. Arab cartooning further bears traces of the modernist cartoonists of the
1950s who strived for universality rather than to generate laughter. In some
respect Arab humorists of classical times had similar functions as the
contemporary Arab political cartoonists, and some aspects of Arab political jokes
reappear in the cartoons. As a form of pop-cultural satire, it is suggested that Arab
political cartoonists generally try to be mean and to the point, rather than funny. A
remarkable Arab solidarity is displayed in the cartoons, considering the
hibernating state of pan-Arabism at the political level. Due to press regulations,
ownership patterns of the mass media and the general political climate of the Arab
countries, however, Arab political cartoonists were not free to criticize and
ridicule whoever and whatever they wanted to during the war.
Keywords: Arab political cartoons, Arab political humor, satire, Lebanon,
Hezbollah, Israel
Characters (including spaces): 123 906
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Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................4
1.1 PURPOSE....................................................................................................5
1.2 METHOD, MATERIAL AND DISPOSITION ..........................................5
1.3 TRANSLITERATION.................................................................................7
1.4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................7
2. BACKGROUND................................................................................................8
2.1 SATIRE........................................................................................................8
2.2 ARAB POLITICAL HUMOUR................................................................10
2.2.1 Shu ara’, Udaba’, Z urafa’ and wise fools ........................................10
2.2.2 Jokes..................................................................................................13
2.3 POLITICAL CARTOONS ........................................................................18
2.3.1 Political cartoons?............................................................................19
2.3.2 Cartoons in the Middle East .............................................................20
2.3.3 Censorship ........................................................................................22
2.3.4 Important or insignificant?...............................................................23
2.3.5 Regionalization of Arab media .........................................................25
2.4 THE WAR .................................................................................................27
2.4.1 Summary ...........................................................................................27
2.4.2 Timeline.............................................................................................28
3. ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................32
3.1 RIDICULING THE ENEMY, GLORIFYING ONESELF .......................32
3.2 SELF CRITICISM.....................................................................................36
3.3 THE REGIONAL DIMENSION...............................................................37
3.4 THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION...................................................40
3.5 SYMBOLS.................................................................................................43
3.6 WOMEN AND CHILDREN.....................................................................50
3.7 OPERATION X.........................................................................................55
3.8 LANGUAGE .............................................................................................61
3.9 THE OUTCOME OF THE WAR..............................................................64
4. CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................................68
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................71
5.1 SOURCES..................................................................................................71
5.2 LITERATURE...........................................................................................72
4
1. INTRODUCTION
Cartoons can prove to be powerful symbols. I once walked into a bar in Amman,
wearing a H anz ala (Handala) T-shirt. Handala could perhaps be said to be an
Arab cartoon celebrity. The character was created by late Palestinian cartoonist
Najil-Ali, and has become a symbol of Palestinian suffering, endurance and
resistance.1 The T-shirt was given to me by a friend, as a souvenir present from
Jerusalem. I was already familiar with the character, but I had perhaps not
realized the full extent of its symbolic power. As soon as I had entered the bar, I
heard from a corner: “Handala!” I turned around and found a group of men sitting
there at a table. Apparently they were Palestinians. “So you like Palestine, yes!?”
I was obliged to say “Of course!”, whereupon the guy immediately exclaimed
“Welcome, my friend!” We talked about Palestine and I was offered free drinks
the rest of the night.
From my own experiences, I always thought of the Arabs as a warm,
friendly and good-humored people. Some years ago, my father and I were invited
by the Imam of the Yemeni Community in Liverpool for dinner at his house.
Considering him being a pious man, and us perhaps not as pious, we anticipated a
quite formal occasion and not the most relaxed of meals. To our surprise the man
was a political jokes aficionado, and he just would not stop telling us his
anecdotes and stories. At that time my Arabic was not good enough to follow all
the twists and turns of these, but my father translated some of them for me.
Apparently this Imam was a natural born entertainer, and his jokes were
everything but innocent.
Experiences like these gave me the notion that political humor and political
cartoons are common and popular phenomena in the Arab world. I felt they were
worth a closer look. Furthermore, Arab humor is an interesting subject today,
considering the media’s constant reports on religious fundamentalism, human
rights violations, terrorism and other problems. Upon hearing these things being
attributed to the Arabs, humor is not exactly the first word that comes to mind.
Studies of Arab humor then should be a welcome complement in the field of
Arabism. The Arab world must not be understood simply as a world of problems,
but as a world of problems in which people would not get by without humor.
On a general note, I was always fascinated by satire in pop-culture. Satirical
television series like Spitting Image, The Simpsons and South Park entertain their
audience by severely ridiculing people and issues in politics and society. It seems
that by labeling something satire, you can get away with a lot of things. As part of
my Arabic studies then, I could think of no better subject than to study the popcultural
satirical expression of Arab political cartoons.
It is interesting to see how this light form of entertainment treats something
as grave and tragic as a war. I followed closely the sad and perplexing Lebanon
war last summer by zapping between CNN and Al Jazeera. Just the difference of
these news channels’ coverage of the war would be ample material for a PHD
dissertation. My humble approach to the war, however, will be to examine what
the Arab political cartoonists had to say about it.
1 See for instance http://najialali.hanaa.net
5
1.1 PURPOSE
The main purpose of writing this essay is to get a basic understanding of Arab
political humor, in particular the way it was utilized in the Arab political cartoons
of the 2006 Lebanon War. The discussion is based on the assumption that political
cartooning is a form of pop-cultural satire, wherefore the word satire will run as a
main thread through the text. Satire, political humor and political cartoons are
thus related, and I will investigate this relationship in its Arabic context.
An additional question would be if satire, political humor and political
cartoons might have an extra dimension of relevance in the Arab world today
compared to for instance Sweden and Europe, and if that is the case, why?
1.2 METHOD, MATERIAL AND DISPOSITION
For the examination of Arab political cartoons, I chose the limited time span of
the 2006 Lebanon War (12 July to 14 August). The approximate month of
duration implied a reasonable amount of cartoons to go through. As background
to this examination I will be discussing the terms satire, Arab political humor and
political cartoons.
The founding chapter on satire is based mainly on the booklet, Finns det
inga gränser?: Om satir, massmedier och tryckfrihet, by Ricki Neuman. This
booklet is a survey of modern satire in Swedish media, and the author presents a
number of perspectives on the subject, some of which are relevant for the Middle
Eastern context, not least the function of satire in times of war.
For the study of Arab political humor, I was lucky to find Khalid
Kishtainy’s Arab Political Humour, both the English original and the Arabic
translation. The book is a treasure chest of political jokes and anecdotes, ranging
from the nineteen eighties all the way back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad.
I was provided with a historic overview of Arab/Turkish/Iranian political
cartoons in Political Cartoons in the Middle East, by Fatma Müge Göçek (Ed.).
The book’s focus is perhaps more on Turkish and Persian cartoons than on Arab
ones; still, the common history of the peoples of the Middle East, regarding for
instance European colonialism and imperialism, makes the book relevant for this
essay.
Quite a large portion of the background chapter revolves around censorship
and limited freedom of expression, since these are recurring issues in the writings
about published and broadcast media in the Arab world. Material for this
discussion is taken from the above mentioned texts, as well as additional
literature: Mass Media, Politics and Society in the Middle East, by Kai Hafez
(Ed.), and The Making of Arabic News, by Noha Mellor (Ed.), mostly focus on
broadcast media; however, there are interesting links to the published media.
Allen Douglas and Fedwa Malti-Douglas’s Arab Comic Strips: Politics of An
Emerging Mass Culture is mainly about Arab children’s comics, but censorship is
just as much an issue here as in other forms of pop-culture. Susan Slyomovics’s
article, “Sex, Lies and Television: Algerian and Moroccan Caricatures of the Gulf
War”, from the book Women and Power in the Middle East, (Slyomovics and
6
Suad Joseph, Eds.) was perhaps the spark that some years ago ignited my interest
for this subject.
To be able to historically contextualize the cartoons, I have assembled a
summary and timeline of the Lebanon war from some articles on the web
encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
There was no way for me to acquire all the Arab newspapers required for
the study of the Lebanon war cartoons. Instead the internet became my main place
of refuge. I managed to collect approximately three hundred cartoons from mainly
the following websites: 1) www.aljazeerah.info 2) arabcartoon.net, 3)
www.mahjoob.com, and 4) www.aawsat.com. Al-Jazeerah Peace Information
Center is a U.S. news and research web publication, not related to the Qatari TV
station. At the time of my research, it kept a daily updated archive of cartoons
from a variety of Arab newspapers, most of them well known. Arabcartoon.net
(Bayt al-Kartun) is a forum for Arab political cartoons and cartoonists. It keeps a
register of a number of cartoonists and the web addresses to those who have one.
The site publishes articles on cartoon related subjects and some of these contain
cartoon collections. Mahjoob.com is the website of Jordanian cartoonist Emad
Hajjaj. The site keeps an archive of both his political cartoons as well as his
locally popular cartoon series, Abu Mahjoob. The website of newspaper Al Sharq
Al Awsat keeps an archive of their main cartoonist, Amjad Rasmi.
Most of the cartoons in my analysis were published in large pan-Arab
newspapers, yet the collection should not be seen as representing the Arab world
as a whole, but as a sample of what was available on the web at the time of my
search. I am not using any specific theory for examining the cartoons. Firstly, I try
to understand them, which is some times easier said than done. It requires a
deconstruction of symbols, a deciphering of expressions and colloquial passages,
and an establishment of the historical context to understand what the cartoons are
commenting. Secondly, I look for recurring themes and categorize the cartoons
according to my findings. I will be interpreting the cartoons in an attempt to
establish the messages the cartoonists want to convey to their readers.
The thing that makes political cartoons both interesting and problematic as a
resource for studying social and historical topics is their overt subjectivity:
Day in and day out the cartoonist mirrors history; he reduces complex facts into
understandable and artistic terminology. He is a political commentator and at the
same time an artist.2
The artistic aspect means that the cartoonist is freer to express his personal views
than for instance the journalist who is under a moral oath to be as objective as
possible. By analyzing the cartoons I am trying to discover the cartoonists’
messages, not to project things that are not there onto them. In the end, however,
an analysis of art requires interpretation. There is hardly one sole correct way of
doing this, and one’s own outlooks and attitudes will undoubtedly influence the
analysis. I am trying hard to keep an objective distance to my subject; if I succeed
2 Art Wood, quoted in Gerdes, Louise I. (Ed.), Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The
Vietnam War, Greenhaven Press 2005: 4
7
is up to the reader to decide. I am taking this caution since I am dealing with
material that could be perceived by some as provocative.
1.3 TRANSLITERATION
As far as possible I have used Latin letter approximations of Arab names for
comfortable reading. Words and sentences, on the other hand, are transliterated
according to the standard model. In my research material, I frequently came
across variants such as Al Jazeera and Al Sharq Al Awsat. Thus, I use these forms
instead of al-jazira and ash-sharq al-’awsat. When it comes to proper nouns,
some artists seem to have standard “English” versions of their names, not least
those whose cartoons have reached English domains, on websites, in magazines
and newspapers. Emad Hajjaj ( Imad H ajjaj) and Amjad Rasmi (Amjad Rasmi)
are two examples. Others have apparently chosen a certain form, used for instance
in their internet addresses, and so there is no reason for me to write them
differently. When there does not seem to be a standard Latin letter version of an
artist’s name, I will approximate a transliteration in a similar fashion as the above.
1.4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My heartfelt thanks go to Emad Hajjaj, who was kind enough to personally
answer the questions I e-mailed to his website. Hajjaj was the one recommending
www.aljazeerah.info and arabcartoon.net, two websites that provided me with
several names of Arab cartoonists as well as many of the cartoons used for this
essay.
8
2. BACKGROUND
The background chapter consists of four parts. First, I briefly discuss satire, the
term that will be the common thread through the essay. The chapter begins with
the roots and meaning of the word, and continues with some definitions, views
and perspectives on satire, among them the legal perspective. I ask if the
conditions for satire are different in Sweden and Europe than in the Middle East.
Secondly, I look into Arab political humor as presented by the Iraqi author and Al
Sharq Al Awsat writer, Khalid Kishtainy. Thirdly, I discuss political cartoons,
both in general terms and in their Middle Eastern context. A large part of the
discussion revolves around censorship and limited freedom of expression. Finally,
before moving onto to the analysis of the cartoons, I offer a summary and timeline
of the Lebanon war, assembled from Wikipedia.
2.1 SATIRE
The roots of the word satire are to be found in Latin. Sátura was the feminine
form of an adjective that meant full or saturated. A meal of mixed dishes was also
called satura. Further, the term came to be used for a literary mix: poems
composed of differing contents, or a mix of poetry and prose. It was not until
poets such as Horace and Juvenal, that this literary style became what we today
refer to as satire.3 The current meaning of the word is approximately something
spoken, written or depicted, that in a witty and mean, often ironic or sarcastic
manner scourges or ridicules individuals, groups or conditions in the private or
public life.4 “Though it comes in many complex forms (broadside, caricature,
invective, lampoon, parody, travesty) and tones (from gentle and affectionate to
out-and-out furious to ice-cold and deadly) and can be aimed at any number of
targets, its purpose is always to ridicule.”5
Among its many requirements, according to Neuman, satire should be A)
mean, B) to the point and C) funny. Malice does not require as much talent as the
other two, but is nonetheless often the dominant component. In other words, it is
easier to smear than to be to the point and funny.6 Satire does not necessarily have
to be funny. The Swedish satirist Erik Blix said that “humor helps, but if I had to
choose between being to the point or being funny, without a doubt I would choose
the first”.7
According to Neuman, satire as a literary tradition enjoys a bad reputation
since old times:
3 Neuman,

In the literary hierarchy, satire remains at the bottom, as some sort of wildly grown
graffiti, filled with wrath and mostly bordering on the forbidden. It is often
regarded as something dirty and evil, something that needs to be educated, and
something that does not plead to our good or positive feelings, like love and
generosity, but rather provokes jealousy, envy and malicious pleasure.8
Satire is by its very nature controversial. Scott points to the fact that “the political
implications of satire are so strong that tyrannical and totalitarian regimes
throughout history have censored, exiled and even executed satirists”. Thus the
Roman poet Juvenal, the French satirist Voltaire and the satiric playwrights of
Czarist Russia have in common that they all went through a lot of trouble as a
result of their satirical works.9
Even in modern times, every now and then someone manages to cross the
thin line between satire and slander, whereupon the dispute between the satirist
and the offended has to be settled in court. Neuman provides some interesting
Swedish examples. Lawyer Hans Göran Frank defended a journalist who wrote a
satirical article in Aftonbladet 1978, picturing Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin
as a schizophrenic. In his closing arguments, Frank described satire as “joking,
ridiculing and sometimes frightening exaggerations which contain a core of
truth… There is no inherent claim in satire to be taken seriously, merely to find in
the exaggeration a core of truth”.10
From this and other examples we learn that framing satirists seems to be
easier said than done, at least in Sweden. In countries with relatively functional
legal systems, liberty of the press usually makes satire the winner. It might even
prove difficult to distinguish satire. Hans-Gunnar Axberger suggests that we can
say about satire what has been said about pornography: “nobody knows how to
define it, but one recognizes it upon seeing it”. The satirical message is hidden
until the moment of discovery. Satire thus belongs to the noble art of writing
between the lines, and “can not be explained without being volatilized or rather
trivialized”.11
Swedish society today is more pluralistic, culturally diverse and fragmented
than it used to be; there is no longer one big audience for satire, but rather a
number of sub audiences. Professor Dick Harrison, Swedish historian and scholar
of humor, envisions a kind of “inflation in satire”, i.e. more and more subgroups,
where artists, writers and people at the receiving end share similar views and
references. Satire is successful and understood as long as it is being circulated
inside such a subgroup. Problems do not arise until someone crosses the line,
from one subgroup to another, to partake in the “internal satire”. The outsider will
not be able to read between the lines, in the way that is intended, and there might
be misunderstandings, hurt feelings and legal suits. Conflicts of that type will
increase, predicts Harrison, but in such a battle, satire and freedom of expression
8 Ibid:

will always win, “because in the end it is about petty crimes, texts or drawings
that ridicule people, in other words no serious violations”.12
Harrison’s prediction concerned Swedish society. Will satire and freedom of
expression always win in Arabic societies too? We have seen the uproar the
Danish derogatory cartoons of the Prophet of Islam caused. Could this have been
a case of one subgroup crossing the line to partake in the “internal satire” of
another, but on an international scale? Perhaps cartoons are not seen as petty
crimes in the Arab world? If we turn the tables, could the satire of Arab political
cartoons be misinterpreted by outsiders? What do Arab cartoonists primarily aim
to be: mean, funny or to the point?
2.2 ARAB POLITICAL HUMOUR
This chapter is based on Khalid Kishtainy’s book, Arab Political Humour. I will
first look into the rich heritage of humor from the Golden Age of the Abbasid
Empire that, according to the author, laid the foundation for later Arab political
humor. Secondly, I will quote and discuss a sample of modern jokes from Arab
Political Humour that I thought of as representative examples, hoping to find
connections to Arab political cartooning.
2.2.1 Shu ara’, Udaba’, Z urafa’ and wise fools
[D]espite a rich and varied literature, the Arabs are not so readily associated in the
minds of Westerners with humour or wit, which usually makes up a sizeable chunk
of any nation’s literature and oral folklore. Indeed, one can perceive the opposite,
i.e. temper, ill-humour, melancholy, gloom, stern looks, etc., is the generally
accepted picture associated with the Arab character.13
Historically, it could have been Arab humor’s intimate relationship with the
Arabic language that tended to make it largely invisible to non-Arabs, as “the bulk
of Arabic literary and verbal genius depended on the beauty and force of the
words, their sounds, their arrangement, their rhythm and their association”.14 The
author emphasizes the central position of the Qur’an in the Arabic language. It
might be difficult for non-Arabs to understand just how revered the Qur’an is on a
linguistic level, as part of the “proof” of its divine origin rests in the greatness of
its language. According to Kishtainy, “to most Europeans, the Holy Qur’an,
translated into their own languages, is one of the most tedious, repetitive and
incomprehensible books”.15
Something similar could perhaps be said about humor in classical Arab
literature. Poetry was one of the genres that offered opportunities for the
humorous minded. For instance, there was the hija’, the satirical poem used as
weapon in verbal warfare between tribes, a continuation of traditions from pre-
12 Neuman 2004: 62-64
13 Kishtainy, Khalid, Arab Political Humour, London 1985: 11
14 Ibid: 12
15 Ibid: 12
11
Islamic times. Kishtainy quotes a particularly merciless poem by the famous al-
Mutanabbi (915-68), targeted at someone called Dhabba al-Atbi, which
eventually led to the murder of the poet. In English, this hija’ appears crude and
vulgar with its explicit sexual vocabulary and slander of al-Atbi’s mother. In
Arabic it is no less vulgar, but there is also elegance in the rhymes and
arrangement of the words that is lost in the translation.16 Thus, Kishtainy gives
credit to the poets (shu ara’), at least the witty among them, for being early
political humorists in Arabic society. Poetic humor depends to a large extent on
the rhymes, arrangement and associational power of the Arabic language, and is
therefore not easily accessible to the non-Arabic speaking.
A middle ages genre that naturally encompassed the use of humor is the
literature known as adab. Developed in the early Abbasid period, it consisted of
prose “intended to edify and to entertain”.17 The word adab is frequently used for
literature or letters, but also has other connotations such as culture, refinement,
good manners etc.18 The foremost practitioner of adab was Al-Jahiz (d. 869), “a
writer of exceptional range, and vividness of response, expressed in an exemplary
language”.19 Many of his books have become classics in Arabic literature and
they share “a preoccupation with the funny side of life”. His most famous book is
arguably Kitab al-Bukhala’ (The Book of Misers), in which the author included
“all kinds of anecdotes and epigrams about misers and miserliness underlining,
from a sociological point of view, the poverty of the masses, the obsession with
food and eating and the clash between the old Arab tradition of hospitality and
generosity with the new city modes of life based on thrift, wealth, accumulation
and security”.20 Al-Jahiz (Al-Jah iz ) was also famous for his ugliness (his name
indicates that he had protruding eyes), something he often made fun of himself.
The adab humor too was intimately linked to language. Some of the many Al-
Jahiz anecdotes might be hard for the non-Arabic speaking to understand due to
for instance Qur’anic references. Al-Jahiz and other leading udaba’ (men of
letters/authors) of his time, such as Ibn Abd Rabbih, advocated humor as a means
to educate their readers.21
Kishtainy uses the term z urafa’ (plural of z arif which means elegant,
charming or witty) to describe a certain kind of cultured wits of the elite of
Abbasid Baghdad. If he includes Al-Jahiz among these, is not clear.
Linguistically, the two terms udaba’ and z urafa’ have similar connotations. It
seems to me though that udaba’ is a somewhat more prestigious term than
z urafa’, since the former indicates authorship, whereas the latter is used as a
general term for wits and humorists. The z urafa’ of the classical era, however,
were reminiscent of the wits of seventeenth-century England, but more religiously
oriented, and known for their elegant lifestyles and sense of humor.22 Perhaps
16 Compare the two versions in Kishtainy 1985: 16; and Kishtainy, Khalid, As-sukhriya assiyasiya
al- arabiya, translated by Dr Kamal Al-Yazijy, Dar Al Saqi, Beirut/London 1988: 29
17 Hourani, Albert, A History of the Arab Peoples, Faber and Faber 1991: 52
18 Wehr, Hans, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Libraire du Liban 1980: 9
19 Hourani 1991: 52
20 Kishtainy 1985: 30
21 Ibid: 27
22 Ibid: 24
12
they are to be contrasted with their less humor-oriented colleagues, the ulama’
(the learned), since the z urafa’ loved to ridicule pedantry, or “the sacred cows of
Arab education, grammar, language, fiqh and jurisprudence”23, in other words all
those things the ulama’ were deeply serious about. Or they are to be contrasted
with the mutazammitun (the dogmatists) who objected to obscenity and use of
vulgar sexuality, something the z urafa’ had no problems with.24
[The z urafa’] often wrote and said things which no contemporary writer of our time
could dream of writing… Fortified by their apparent religiousness, probity and
integrity, and strengthened by their self-confidence, high breeding, education and
knowledge, they were like the seventeenth-century gallants of European literature
and showed similar greatness in self-criticism, irony, cynicism and satire, from
which not even their own professions and hobbies were free.25
Apparently, the z urafa’ hated hypocrisy; thus, literary theorist Ibn Qutayba (828-
89) wrote in his Uyun al-Akhbar:




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(This book is like a banqueting table on which is laid food with different flavours on
account of the different palates of the eaters. Should you come across some
account referring to private parts, vagina or a description of coitus, you should not,
out of piety or piosity, raise your eyebrow and look askance, for there is no sin in
mentioning the [sexual] organs. The sin is to defame honour, tell lies, give false
witness and devour people’s flesh in ignorance.)27
A fourth group of classic Arab humorists are the equivalents to the European
court jesters, characters such as Nu ayman and Ash ab the Greedy (d. 711).
Whereas Nu ayman was an early follower to the Prophet appreciated for his sense
of humor, Ash ab was “the first professional wit and comedian in Arab history”,
as he was hired as court jester by the second caliph, Uthman.28 Wits like these
are historical persons, but they also became folkloric legends that took on a life of
their own. Thus, they became comedians of the people. Of the folkloric legends,
the most famous funnyman of them all is undoubtedly Juha, the wise fool. “Al-
23 Ibid: 25
24 Ibid: 27
25 Ibid: 25
26 Kishtainy 1988: 41
27 Kishtainy 1985: 27
28 Ibid: 18-21
13
Jahiz wrote for the literate élite; Juha spoke for and to the general masses,
expressing their cynicism and frustration”.29 Ask any Arab, and he will tell you a
Juha story. In fact, Juha is famous all over the Islamic world, but goes under
different names: in Turkish he is known as Khawaja Nasrildin, and in Persian
Mullah Nasrildin. There might have been an Arab prototype for this character, but
no one seems to know for sure.30 Court jesters and wise fools, such as Juha,
Ash ab, Nu ayman, Abu Dulama, Abu Nu as, Muzabbid, Abu al-Harith Jamiz
and Abu Sadaqa became household names “around which endless stories and
witty remarks were woven and fabricated”.31
Thus, there is a heritage of humor that extends back to the shu ara’, udaba’,
z urafa’ and wise fools of the classical era. Indeed, “contemporary humorists,
politicians, caricaturists and columnists recycled, in varying degrees, the
humorous treasures of the past to serve the political slogans and aspirations of the
present”32, and oral and written folklore of the Arab world “were destined in more
recent history to become sources of inspiration in the field of contemporary
politics”.33
In other words, humor was a vital part of society back then, and has
remained so in modern times. Perhaps humor is more needed than ever today. The
following quote neatly sums up why:
In the contemporary world of the Arabs, we can find practically all the reasons
which make humour relevant to politics. There is the great gap between the earlier
promises and hopes, the sense of past glory, the rich resources, the strategic
position and the human potential on the one hand, and the political chaos, tyranny,
dismemberment, fratricide and successive failures and defeats on the other. It is a
perfect contrast between the conception and reality. What is more, the Arabs seem
to find themselves in an inescapable situation. So much has been invested in the
feud with Israel, yet they find themselves less and less capable of doing anything
about it. The promises of justice and welfare are frustrated by the centuries of
corruption and nepotism, and aspiration towards democracy and freedom is
blocked by an even longer history of despotic rule. Deprived of the channels for
free discussion, criticism and self expression, the citizen is left with nothing but
escapism. The skilled and qualified do it physically by emigration, the religious by
resorting to fundamentalism, the dissipated by indulging in sex, drugs and drink,
the rational and witty by laughing – and the poor by crying.34
2.2.2 Jokes
The collection of jokes and anecdotes in Arab Political Humour clearly reminded
me of the Imam of the Yemeni Community in Liverpool and his sense of humor.
Neither his nor Kishtainy’s jokes are necessarily of Arabic origin:
29 Ibid: 32
30 Ibid: 62-63
31 Ibid: 24
32 Ibid: 33
33 Ibid: 63
34 Ibid: 8
14
[T]he Arabs imported many of their jokes in the thirties and forties from western
Europe whereas eastern Europe became the source in the seventies and eighties,
signifying not only the fruition of the new contact with the socialist countries but
also disenchantment with socialism.35
Whatever the origin of individual jokes, reading Arab Political Humour made me
think I could discern some recurring themes in Arab political humor:
A) stupidity/foolishness
B) wordplay/”scriptplay”
C) sex/below-the-waist-humor
D) censorship/suppression of opinion
I will quote some jokes to give a sense of this Arab political humor. In many
cases the categories overlap each other. The idea is to see if the cartoons bear
traces of this type of humor, if there is a link between them, or if Arab political
cartoons perhaps originate from elsewhere.
No category of jokes seems to outnumber the one revolving around the
stupidity and uselessness of despotic rulers. Kishtainy talks about an explosion of
political humor during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser, and that this
explosion should be seen as “a classic example for the thesis that laughter
emanates from the discrepancy between reality and conception and the sudden
collapse of expectation”.36 Nasser’s failure to fulfill promises of “freedom,
dignity, prosperity and socialism” for the Arab nation, set the stage for the wits
and their creativity.37 Nasser was an admired leader by many, and the jokes about
him mostly ridiculed his regime, policies and methods; they rarely dared to touch
his person. The same can not be said about his successor, Anwar Sadat, who
became the butt of jokes that were “caustic, vicious and almost always personal
and scandalous”.38 A couple of Sadat jokes will serve the purpose of exemplifying
the “stupid leader” theme:
E* ?F * . & $ G& &7H F D CB A ? .(@ &% (' 9 ,
(No doubt that Abdel Nasser was stupid. How else can you explain his appointment
of an ass for a successor?)39
Donkeys and dogs are recurring animals in Arab Political Humour. Calling
someone a dog is a great insult in Arabic, whereas “donkey” perhaps is the milder
of the two. The second anecdote pictures Sadat as incompetent, even for being a
donkey:
35 Ibid: