Laughter fills the Zawaya Art Gallery in downtown Damascus. A packed crowd is chuckling uproariously at Syria’s first stand-up comedy show since Assad's fall in December, which they hope is the beginning of an new age of freedom for their art form.
“It turned out Bashar Al Assad was the greatest comedian out of us all, he’s been laughing at us for over half a century,” says Sharif Al Homsi, founder of Styria Comedy Club, among one of the most popular attractions in the Damascus social calendar.
Al Homsi says Al Assad’s mukhabarat (secret police) had closely watched Syria’s comedians for years, often rigorously interceding to stop specific punchlines being delivered or censor certain topics being used for content in the shows, which have grown increasingly popular in recent times.
The watchful eye of the Syrian security apparatus is no longer, Al Homsi tells The National. “There was fear that was felt all around. It’s a double-edged sword to make content on things you couldn’t do before. You sometimes forget the basics. We now have the freedom to say what we want and should never take that for granted.”
Styria is the country’s first successful comedy club, open to anyone who has wanted to do stand-up in the country. The subject matter ranges from satire, similar to Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef, to deeper, personal experiences of storytelling life in Syria, and now the reins are firmly off.
“I had a horrible experience with the Assad regime. Even the Ministry of Education opened a court case on me after one of our comedians mocked the regime's use of traffic signs," says Al Homsi.
“I was arrested by the regime and it was such a bad experience, but can you imagine the Syrian Ministry of Education, who couldn’t educate anyone, actually opened a court case against me, now that was so funny. But in the end, we had the last laugh.”
The comedian is leading a group of seasoned creatives into new political pastures. For many of them, stand-up is a novel field. “It’s the art of the streets, drawn from people’s problems and stories, it's real art and that type of communication is critical for the country now.”
Mary Obaid, a comedian and food blogger who goes by the name Meme Eats, believes comedy should now thrive in Syria.
“We can now perform with freedom. There was no freedom of expression in the time of Bashar Al Assad. Life is now much better and nicer. We can actually do what we want to do and say what we want without the fear of ending up in Sednaya Prison," says Obaid.
Rami Jbr of Homs, 43, is a veteran of the Syrian comedy scene. He started his session with several jokes about the number of security checkpoints he used to pass by to get into the city, after singing “Syria is Free” while coming on to the podium. Most of Styria’s comedians come from all over the country showcasing the diversity the group sports.
One of the centrepieces of the event was popular comedian Abu Amsha, otherwise known as Hussain Al-Rawi, 28, who comes from the city of Deir Ezzor on the Euphrates, and says the lack of censorship is something that could only dreamt of before the revolution.
“Stand-up is a free and safe space. There are boundaries with how far you can go, of course, but we have to raise the bar. It was different before. After the regime has gone, it’s a game-changer. There's freedom to talk. No one can stop it. We used to fear saying a phrase or a word, being arrested or disappearing behind the sun.”
Abu Amsha habitually makes fun of his weight problems. On stage, he pauses before saying, “and it’s pretty hard to disappear me behind the sun,” before delving into one of his new favourite jokes.
“One of my lines is about the money I paid to be exempt from military service,” says Abu Amsha, "the $3,000 which went into thin air because I'm overweight. They wouldn’t have been able to find a suitable use for me. I’ve lost my heart and soul with that $3,000. I should have eaten burgers with those funds instead.”
The Assad regime forced those who sought exemption from military service to pay hefty sums to escape the abhorred rough and dangerous army life, Abu Amsha says.
“What’s worse, I’d paid the exemption fee and it's not even updated on the regime system yet. So I was walking once in a district near Rukn al-Deen. At 1am one night, a Mukhabarat car came and took my ID card, I was detained, even though I’d paid the exemption fee three months earlier. I had to pay $12 on top of the $3,000 and that made me even more broke.”
Abu Amsha’s hometown was held by the opposition forces before the regime's fall, though the comedian now lives in Damascus. Nevertheless, the end of the regime still came as a shock.
“I went into the streets and people still couldn't believe that the regime was gone. All we needed was some electricity and if we got that, our happiness would lead to some crazy side effects," he says.
In the months leading up to Al Assad's fall, the regime had begun to crack down even harder on civil society, arresting a group of well-known Instagram influencers and pranksters, Abu Amsha says. The comedian believed he and his fellow stand-up comedians would be their next focal point.
“My bad experience was that we couldn’t talk. We were so frightened that we would say something that would end up at the security branches. We were oppressed. Before the regime fell, they were arresting all the bloggers, and we were next.”
The performers' final act at the opening of post-Assad Styria was to tell of what he saw with his own eyes when the Assad regime was collapsing, after living in the suburb town of Al Moadamiya in south-western Damascus which fell before the rest of the city.
“When the regime fell, I was unsure about what flag to put on my house. I needed counsel and guidance, so I knocked on the door of my devout Christian neighbour called George. George opened the door and said, 'it’s not George any more, please call me Abu Omar'," Abu Amsha jokes.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh135,000
Engine 1.6L turbo
Gearbox Six speed automatic with manual and sports mode
Power 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 240Nm @ 1,400rpm 0-100kph: 9.2 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
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The years Ramadan fell in May
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Zayed Sustainability Prize
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Analysis
Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.
The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement.
We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
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info-box
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Happy Tenant
Started: January 2019
Co-founders: Joe Moufarrej and Umar Rana
Based: Dubai
Sector: Technology, real-estate
Initial investment: Dh2.5 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 4,000
Related
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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MATCH INFO
Bayern Munich 2 Borussia Monchengladbach 1
Bayern: Zirkzee (26'), Goretzka (86')
Gladbach: Pavard (37' og)
Man of the Match: Breel Embolo (Borussia Monchengladbach)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
More coverage from the Future Forum
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
RESULTS
Women:
55kg brown-black belt: Amal Amjahid (BEL) bt Amanda Monteiro (BRA) via choke
62kg brown-black belt: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Ffion Davies (GBR) via referee’s decision (0-0, 2-2 adv)
70kg brown-black belt: Ana Carolina Vieira (BRA) bt Jessica Swanson (USA), 9-0
90kg brown-black belt: Angelica Galvao (USA) bt Marta Szarecka (POL) 8-2
Men:
62kg black belt: Joao Miyao (BRA) bt Wan Ki-chae (KOR), 7-2
69kg black belt: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Gianni Grippo (USA), 2-2 (1-0 adv)
77kg black belt: Espen Mathiesen (NOR) bt Jake Mackenzie (CAN)
85kg black belt: Isaque Braz (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE), 2-0
94kg black belt: Felipe Pena (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL), 4-0
110kg black belt final: Erberth Santos (BRA) bt Lucio Rodrigues (GBR) via rear naked choke
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
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More on Quran memorisation:
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
SERIES SCHEDULE
First Test, Galle International Stadium
July 26-30
Second Test, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
August 3-7
Third Test, Pallekele International Stadium
August 12-16
First ODI, Rangiri Dambulla Stadium
August 20
Second ODI, Pallekele International Stadium
August 24
Third ODI, Pallekele International Stadium
August 27
Fourth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
August 31
Fifth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
September 3
T20, R Premadasa Stadium
September 6
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ON%20TRACK
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Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
