No, seriously, guys: Egypt's Jon Stewart probes love-hate relationship with US
Bassem Youssef's 'America in Arabic' comes at a sensitive time for US-Egypt ties.
A bodyguard secures popular Egyptian television satirist Bassem Youssef, who has come to be known as Egypt's Jon Stewart, as he enters Egypt's state prosecutors office to face accusations of insulting Islam and the country's Islamist leader in Cairo, March 31.
Amr Nabil/AP/File
Cairo
Bassem Youssef, Egypt鈥檚 answer to Jon Stewart, doesn鈥檛 get it: If Egyptians hate American policies so much, why do they stand in line for hours in front of the American embassy to pay $115 for a visa to the land of the free 鈥� or even decide to move there permanently?
鈥淥ur relationship with America is a relationship of people who don鈥檛 know what they want,鈥� muses Dr. Youssef in the 聽of his new series "America in Arabic," describing his people as 鈥渟chizophrenic.鈥� 鈥淣o one knows whether we love or hate the States.鈥�
So during this Ramadan season, the popular comedian with 1.8 million Twitter followers is examining this fundamental contradiction on air. The series runs the gamut from tears to hearty laughs, from the World Trade Centers going up in smoke on 9/11 to Jon Stewart welcoming Youssef on his show 鈥� and includes rather sober conclusions for a man more widely known for wisecracks.
The series, with more than 20 episodes already aired, comes at a delicate time. While Egyptians have long resented America鈥檚 policy toward Egypt, especially its support of Hosni Mubarak鈥檚 autocratic rule over three decades, anti-American sentiment has grown much more pronounced. Opponents of deposed President Mohammed Morsi have been protesting in the streets with matching posters of him and US Ambassador Anne Patterson crossed out with big red Xs, painting her as a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, while others blame the Obama administration for not denouncing the July 3 military coup. Even in Tahrir Square, a symbol of freedom in the new Egypt, security guards were turning away Americans last week out of fear they would be harassed or beaten up.
But it鈥檚 not just Americans who are distrusted, notes Youssef, pictured throughout the series at a dusty old typewriter in a basement library.
鈥淲hat I want to write about is why we don鈥檛 trust the West, and why we don鈥檛 even trust the Arabs who live in the West,鈥� he says in the opening episode, looking bookish in a smart waistcoat with a watch chain dangling out of the breast pocket.
Much of the show, therefore, focuses on Arabs 鈥� particularly Egyptians 鈥� living in America.
鈥淓veryone in Egypt is beautiful, we are proud of Egypt, but there was so much injustice there,鈥� says one man, virtually sobbing. 鈥淚f the past 30 years would have gone the right way, we never would have thought of going to the US.鈥�
Others find humor in the discrimination they face, both in the US and from Arabs back home, many of whom suspect Arabs in America of being spies or even traitors who have been corrupted by Western money and culture.
In one satirical scene on a bench in Central Park, Youssef asks a fellow Egyptian what he鈥檚 doing in New York.
鈥淚鈥檓 working on a film,鈥� he responds. 鈥淥f course, on the side I鈥檓 going to the Masonic worship center and taking money from the US government.鈥�
Youssef both criticizes US interference in Egyptian politics and takes a frank look at the discrimination Arabs still face in America a dozen years after 9/11, including the intense opposition they often encounter just to build a mosque 鈥撀燼 problem they never had before. But he also points out to his fellow citizens the positive role they can play in the US, bolstered by interviews with everyone from a democracy activist to a Syrian rapper in Los Angeles.
鈥淗ere [in Egypt], we鈥檙e influenced by the States,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ut there we鈥檙e the ones who influence them.鈥�