Gazans lighten up with laughter
In light of the ongoing crises facing the Gaza Strip, some have turned to satire as a way of mitigating their suffering.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Authors, journalists and cartoonists take advantage of every crisis the Gaza Strip suffers to write or draw caricatures, and often make fun of these events or of those behind them to either mitigate these conflicts' impact or bring them to people’s attention.
Satirist Akram Sourani is one of the writers who has become popular during the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip and since the Palestinian division mid-June 2007, against the backdrop of successive crises that have hit the Strip.
Sourani, who writes in colloquial Arabic in his books and articles, told Al-Monitor that his writings are simple attempts at satirical political writing, which he took up in August 2009. “I believe I owe these events as they unexpectedly turned me into a writer. I published my first book, titled 'Watan Kharej al-Taghtiya' ['Country out of Coverage'] in February 2015 and my second, 'Watan Nos Com' ['Half-Sleeve Country'] in March,” he explained.
Sourani, who has a law degree from Al-Azhar University in Gaza, said his satirical works have been able to develop as a result of how the public interacts with them. “The only thing that pushes me to write is the citizens’ interaction and their problems, in addition to my friends in real life and online. My fans are my true supporters. A writer who has fans who are interested in and follow causes and general political affairs then turns these affairs into satirical positions in the street language to enlighten the people.”
