Book Event: Deployed by Kevin De Cock
March 9, 2026 • 4:00 – 6:00 pm EDT
Hosted by Global Health Policy Center
Doodling Dissent: Political Cartoons in the Arab World
Political satire has a long Arab history, and much of it has been through cartooning.
Soon after the fourth anniversary of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, a cartoon appeared online showing the date “January 25” in handcuffs. Another evoked the footage of Islamic State militants burning Jordanian pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh—but those caged were Egyptian journalists and protesters, and the man holding the torch was labeled “Sisi’s judges.”
Political satire has a long Arab history, and much of it has been through cartooning. The Egyptian satirical journal Abu Nadhara did to Egyptian political figures what Thomas Nast did to Boss Tweed in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Lebanese political cartoonists famously took on regional leaders like Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s and Lebanese warlords in the 1970s and 1980s.
Since 2011, governments have increasingly targeted those who dissent through drawing. Syrian security forces crushed cartoonist Ali Ferzat’s fingers in 2011 days after he drew Assad struggling to stay on top of a chair whose springs had burst through the seat. Though Ferzat had been subtly critiquing Syrian politics and society for over forty years, the government judged his bold satire as too great a threat amidst Syria’s uprising.
The rise of online publication has fueled a new audience for political cartoons. Egypt’s As7abe Sarcasm Society posts anonymous amateur comics often directly critical of the Sisi government on a Facebook page followed by over 8 million people. It remains unclear how much governments know about who follows the cartoons. It is also unclear how much the readers care.
This piece is a part of Mezze, a monthly short article series spotlighting societal trends across the region. It originally appeared in the Middle East Program's monthly newsletter, Middle East Notes and Comment. For more information and to receive our mailings, please contact the Middle East Program.
Political satire has a long Arab history, and much of it has been through cartooning. The Egyptian satirical journal Abu Nadhara did to Egyptian political figures what Thomas Nast did to Boss Tweed in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Lebanese political cartoonists famously took on regional leaders like Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s and Lebanese warlords in the 1970s and 1980s.
Since 2011, governments have increasingly targeted those who dissent through drawing. Syrian security forces crushed cartoonist Ali Ferzat’s fingers in 2011 days after he drew Assad struggling to stay on top of a chair whose springs had burst through the seat. Though Ferzat had been subtly critiquing Syrian politics and society for over forty years, the government judged his bold satire as too great a threat amidst Syria’s uprising.
The rise of online publication has fueled a new audience for political cartoons. Egypt’s As7abe Sarcasm Society posts anonymous amateur comics often directly critical of the Sisi government on a Facebook page followed by over 8 million people. It remains unclear how much governments know about who follows the cartoons. It is also unclear how much the readers care.
This piece is a part of Mezze, a monthly short article series spotlighting societal trends across the region. It originally appeared in the Middle East Program's monthly newsletter, Middle East Notes and Comment. For more information and to receive our mailings, please contact the Middle East Program.