Can you joke about ISIS? An Iraqi news satire show, the Albasheer Show, is doing just that. And winning over viewers, even in ISIS occupied areas where the show has been banned. The show’s creator and moderator, Ahmed Al-Basheer, explains why people are willing to take huge risks just for a laugh, and why satire is so important in a time of war. 

In democratic societies, satire is usually protected by the constitution or falls under freedom of speech. But authoritarian leaders and extremists tend to see it as a thorn in their sides. Religious fanatics also tend to want to outlaw humor and ridicule, making satire a life-threatening act of rebellion. 

Satire is a wonderful way to hold a mirror up to a society, and give politicians a good slap on the wrist. It can be more effective than classic journalism, according to Iraqi Ahmed Al-Basheer, who has been winning the hearts of his countrymen and women with his satire show since 2012. And the laughs keep coming, at the expense of politicians, big business, the quirks of Iraqi society, and even violent militias and ISIS. 

Ahmed, before you started your show, you worked as a correspondent for several national and international satellite channels. You left the news business in 2012 though. What happened?
Many of my relatives were killed during the war years in Iraq. My brother was hit by a mortar shell in 2006, my father was kidnapped and tortured to death in 2007, and my cousin and my uncle died in 2010 and 2013. This is normal in Iraq: I’m just another Iraqi who has lost family members. Many people take up guns to exact their revenge, but this has never been my idea. Violence generates nothing but more violence. I wanted to start something that would tackle the source of the problem, which is bad governance and the bad behaviour of politicians. 

The first video of your show was produced in Jordan though, not Iraq. 
Yes. I wouldn’t have been able to make satire while I was in Iraq. After being injured by a suicide attack in 2011, I decided to move to Jordan – this is where I started the show in 2012.

“I’m just another Iraqi who has lost family members.”

Where do you think your country is heading?
To be honest, I am not very hopeful. The situation gets worse every year, and the divide between Iraqis is growing. I hope they will wake up one day and recognise that it’s time to unite again and to tear down the walls between us. Then we might see a better future. But that is not going to happen given the current situation. 

What do you mean when you say people are becoming more and more divided?
There is a divide between the sexes, there’s sectarianism and the religious divide, and the resentment felt towards people from other provinces or cities. All these generate violence.

Do you think that your show could help overcome such divides?
We’re doing our best, and we hope to succeed, but it’s a very hard mission. We always try to emphasize the many things that we as Iraqis have in common, and we do small sketches about unity and living peacefully with one other. 

What are these sketches like?
They could be about the kind of food we eat, about how we travel, or how we get married. It’s funny – but these are things we all do the same way. The Sunni, Shiite, Sahabi and Kurd people all act and think the same way.

And you have an audience in all of these groups?
Yes.

What has your most successful sketch been so far?
The episode about sectarianism is among the most viewed on Youtube. I talked about how politicians use sectarianism to drive Iraqis apart, and how we should stop them. And I stated that we can only live together if we see each other as Iraqis or as humans, not if we judge each other based on our backgrounds. 

“We can only live together if we see each other as Iraqis or as humans.”

(This interview was recorded in July 2016).