Democracy and Satire

Democracy permits satire - at its own risk.

Satirists are always at their own risk.

Lebanon is the Middle East's most democratic country, well, relatively speaking:

Mr. Khalil shrugs it off. “We are completely free here compared with other Arab countries,” he said, sitting at a desk in his cozy, wood-paneled studio office just north of Beirut. “Nothing is forbidden for satire except the president of the republic.”

Then he adds, with faint embarrassment, “and the army. And the judges, and religious leaders. And the presidents and kings of ‘sister and neighborly countries.’ ” All these are specifically protected from public ridicule under Lebanon’s media law, he says.

Still, that leaves scores of public figures and the leaders of Lebanon’s many political parties, who appear frequently in “Democracy” and in Mr. Khalil’s signature comedy sketch show, “Basmat Watan,” which translates as “The Smile of the Nation.”

Khalil is

Charbel Khalil, a small, round-faced and very brave man of 41. His new show, “Democracy,” which first went on the air in September, is the latest in a career-long series of comedic broadsides aimed at the vanities of Lebanese politics and society.

despite

Although direct political satire is virtually impossible in most of the Arab world

Good luck, Khalil.