Fighting Fire With Satire in Syria
As the Syrian regime continues to crack down on rebel fighters, people are fighting back with a wicked sense of humor, writes Ruby Russell. The Syrian leader himself has offered plenty of fodder, with his distinctive lisp and hyena-like laugh.
As the Syrian regime continues to crack down on its opponents in the 18-month uprising, Syrians have fought back with a wicked sense of humor that includes a "Top Goon" finger puppets series, cartoons, crank callers and comic sketches performed in bombed-out buildings.
The Syrian leader himself has offered plenty of fodder: Bashar al-Assad’s long neck and sloping eyebrows, as well as his distinctive lisp and strangely manic laugh, have become the butt of endless jokes by subversive comics since the first protests rocked Syria.
“When Assad gives speeches he may be particularly articulate and erudite in his delivery – he’s very calm and soothing and in control,” said Adel Iskandar, who specializes in Arab media at Georgetown University. “Yet when he laughs, he laughs in a very strange, goofy, hyena-esque way and for oppositional Syrians, they look at this and think it’s just utterly absurd.”
