Stanford University

Bassem Youssef on politics and satire

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Hosted by the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at CDDRL, Bassem Youssef spoke on politics and satire with the Stanford community on Monday, September 28. Youssef, famously known as the Jon Stewart of the Arab world, reflected on his journey to fame and the challenges he encountered in launching his award winning show Al-Bernameg. With much humor and wit, he reflected on the developments that contributed to the decline of Egypt’s January 25 Revolution, as well as the struggles currently confronting advocates of democratic change in the country.

The event was co-sponsored by the Abbasi Program on Islamic Studies, OpenXChange at Stanford and Stanford in Government.

Related Media:

29 Sept. 2015. Bassem Youssef speaks at CEMEX as part of OpenXChange. The Stanford Daily.

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Bassem Youssef speaks to a large audience at Stanford University. | Christian Ollano
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Amr Hamzawy

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Amr Hamzawy is the director of the Carnegie Middle East Program. He studied political science and developmental studies in Cairo, The Hague, and Berlin. He was previously an associate professor of political science at Cairo University and a professor of public policy at the American University in Cairo.

His research and teaching interests as well as his academic publications focus on democratization processes in Egypt, tensions between freedom and repression in the Egyptian public space, political movements and civil society in Egypt, contemporary debates in Arab political thought, and human rights and governance in the Arab world. His new book On The Habits of Neoauthoritarianism – Politics in Egypt Between 2013 and 2019 appeared in Arabic in September 2019.

Hamzawy is a former member of the People’s Assembly after being elected in the first Parliamentary elections in Egypt after the January 25, 2011 revolution. He is also a former member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights. Hamzawy contributes a weekly op-ed to the Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi.

 

Former Senior Research Scholar, CDDRL

On Politics and Satire: A Conversation with Bassem Youssef

Tickets are no longer available for this event. If you are interested in signing up for the notifications list, please visit the Stanford Ticket Office.  

This is a ticketed event, only guests with tickets will be admitted. Directions and parking information is available below. This event is hosted by the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and co-sponsored by OpenXChange, Stanford in Government and the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies.  

 

 

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International media sensation and Egyptian political satirist Bassem Youssef, also known as the “Arab Jon Stewart,” will share with the Stanford community his thoughts on why political satire has come to embody an important element of modern day politics. He will also reflect on his own experience as the co-founder and host of the internationally acclaimed political satire talk show “Al-Bernameg.” Youssef will discuss the challenges and obstacles he faced in providing the Egyptian public alternative viewpoints on politics not represented by the mainstream news media.

 

Speaker Bio

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Named one of TIME’s “100 most influential people in the world” in 2013, Bassem Youssef is an Egyptian satirist, columnist, and talk show host. A cardiac surgeon by training, Youssef turned to comedy after he was inspired by the Egyptian revolution. He uploaded the first episode of his homemade newscast, “The B+ Show,” to YouTube in May 2011. After it garnered more than 5 million views in three months, Youssef was named the host of “Al-Bernameg,” a satirical newscast modeled after Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” Youssef’s bold, intelligent, and humorous critiques of Egyptian politics quickly became a hit with audiences in the country and garnered more than 40 million viewers. In 2012, Mohamed Morsi’s government pursued charges against Youssef for "insulting the president," “insulting Islam," and “reporting false news.” In March 2013, Youssef was briefly detained, released on bail, and fined. CBC suspended the broadcast of “Al-Bernameg” in November 2013. In 2014, Youssef announced that he was ending the program due to the dangerous political climate in Egypt. In the spring of 2015 Youssef served as a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has recently been announced as the host of the International Emmy Awards gala of 2015.

 

Directions 

Via I-280 (north or south): LINK

From the east bay via CA-92 (San Mateo Bridge): LINK

Via US 101 (north or south): LINK

Additional directions are available here. 

 

Parking 

Parking Structure 7 offers underground parking at the Knight Management Center. Permits are required and enforced Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4 pm. Click here to access Campus Maps.

One-day visitor permits (called “scratchers”) allow for parking in any pay-and-display or metered space, and are available for purchase at the Parking and Transportation Services (P&TS) office for $12 each. Be sure to scratch off the correct date and hang your permit facing outward from your rear-view mirror. "A," "C," and "shared" resident/commuter lots are enforced Monday-Friday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. You are free to park in these areas after enforcement hours.

You can also pay for parking using the pay-by-space kiosks located in Structure 7. Simply enter the number for your parking space and pay with cash or card. You do not need to display your receipt in your vehicle. The receipt is not valid in any other location.

Other nearby parking locations include:

  • Parking lot at Bonair Siding Rd. and Serra St. — coin-meter spaces, two-minute walk
  • Parking lot at Memorial Way and Galvez St. — pay-and-display machine, five-minute walk
  • Visitor Center parking lot at 295 Galvez St. — pay-and-display machine, ten-minute walk
  • Parking Structure 6 at Campus Dr. East and Wilbur Way — pay-and-display machine, ten-minute walk

Meters are generally enforced 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., unless otherwise posted. You are free to park in these areas after enforcement hours.

More parking and permit information is available here.

We honor any state's disabled person placards in nearly all marked parking spaces on campus. Please visit the Persons with Disabilities page for more information.

Event Flyer
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Cemex Auditorium, Knight Management Center

655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305

Bassem Youssef Egyptian Political Satirist Egyptian Political Satirist
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GWU scholar examines links between neoliberalism and Islamic charity in Egypt [VIDEO]

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As part of the Arab Reform and Democracy Program's speaker series, George Washington University scholar Mona Atia discussed her book Building a House in Heaven: Pious Neoliberalism and Islamic Charity in Egypt. Islamic charities occupied a critical space in Mubarak-era Egypt. While there are a plethora of organizational types and activities, Atia's book describes a particular type of work performed by Islamic charities as a merging of religious and capitalist subjectivity, or pious neoliberalism. Pious neoliberalism describes how Islamism works in conjunction with neoliberalism rather than as an alternative to it. It represents a new compatibility between business and piety that is not specific to any religion, but rather is a result of the ways in which religion and economy interact in the contemporary moment. In Egypt, pious neoliberalism produces new institutions, systems of knowledge production and subjectivities. The lecture explored the relationship between Islamic charity and Egypt’s variegated religious landscape. The author discussed how Islamic charities helped spread Islamic practices outside the space of the mosque and into everyday life/spaces and their impact on development in Egypt.

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Paul Amar examines social militarization in Egypt and Brazil [VIDEO]

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As part of the Arab Reform and Democracy Program's speaker series, UC Santa Barbara Political Scientist Paul Amar discussed his book The Security Archipelago, winner of the 2014 Charles Taylor Book Award of the American Political Science Association. The book provides an alternative historical and theoretical framing of the refashioning of free-market states and the rise of humanitarian security regimes in the Global South by examining the pivotal, trendsetting cases of Brazil and Egypt. Addressing gaps in the study of neoliberalism and biopolitics, Amar describes how coercive security operations and cultural rescue campaigns confronting waves of resistance have appropriated progressive, antimarket discourses around morality, sexuality, and labor. Homing in on Cairo and Rio de Janeiro, Amar reveals the innovative resistances and unexpected alliances that have coalesced in new polities emerging from the Arab Spring and South America's Pink Tide. These have generated a shared modern governance model that he terms the "human-security state."

 

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