Syria: Black Comedy of the Revolution · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.
Black comedy is one of the ways one deals with traumatic events. The recent events in Syria, while bloody and depressing to many people, have also brought about an explosion of blogs, Facebook pages and articles that try to satirize the events, and point out the absurdities in the official narrative – sometimes in very unorthodox ways.
One of the most popular and talked about of such attempts is the “The Chinese Revolution” Facebook group. The group tries to mirror the events in Syria, and satirize them as if they're happening in China. Through photos, videos and status updates, it mixes real-life Chinese individuals, officials and the names of places with Syrian ones that are made to look, and sound Chinese.
Banner for the satire Facebook group, "The Chinese Revolution"
One of their latest status updates mocks the government tours conducted for foreign media to show off the latest mass graves allegedly perpetrated by the armed gangs [Ar].
دامت دياركم عامرة بالمناسبات…..
May your lands be always filled with great occasions.
The page's popularity encouraged several spin-off pages based on it, satirizing the different Facebook groups that represent the different antagonists in the revolution, including CHANA (purportedly, the Chinese official news agency, based on Syria's SANA) and the Chinese Electronic Army, which satirizes the pro-regime group, the Syrian Electronic Army.
Another satire blog that has become very popular is Syrian Hashish. Written by a blogger who identifies himself as “a Syrian guy born and bred in Damascus, and now is doing his masters, looking for a job, and smoking marijuana in the decadent lands of the West.” His posts attempt to discuss and analyze serious topics related to the revolution, but with a colloquial language and in a mostly sarcastic tone.
In one of his recent posts, he addresses the president after his latest speech.
Al-Mundassah, (The Lurking Blog), which references in its name what the pro-government news agencies call the protestors, is another blog with a heavy reliance on light satire. Since the beginning of the protests, the website emerged as one of the largest group blogs and archives dedicated to the revolution. It mostly publishes reader contributions, both serious and satirical. This post satirizes the state of the so-called national dialogue in the country, before and after the revolution.
و يستمر الحوار..
And the dialogue continues…
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.