Satirists go into battle armed with laughter

USA Tired of World Domination - Leaves Planet Saudi Arabia Lifts Cycling Ban On Women Vegetarian Arrested For 'Queer Behaviour' Don't worry if none of these ridiculous headlines sounds like proper news. They're not. They are the titles to fake news stories written by a group of Egyptian writers who run an online magazine called El Koshary Today. Egypt's own version of the The Onion, the satirical American website that produces phoney news items mocking current events and the media's coverage of them, El Koshary Today is named after the carb coma-inducing national dish made of macaroni, lentils, chick peas, and tomato sauce.

The anonymous writers' bylines include Ward Zeyada (Extra Onion), Makarona (Macaroni), and Subar Lox (Extra Large - the biggest helping of koshary available). The stories they write can be hilarious. They poke fun at the absurdities of Egyptian life that people will recognise immediately, and many of them have a clever edge with an underlying message. Take the serious issue of sexual harassment in Cairo. Women of all sizes, shapes and dress code complain of the sometimes unbearable amount of harassment they encounter on the streets. El Koshary Today dealt with this acute social problem by crafting an article headlined: First Women-Only Cafe Opens In Attaba.

The story includes an interview with Fifi, the female owner of the cafe, who is asked why her women customers sitting at the tables insist on making cat-calls and hissing at the young males who walk past her establishment. Fifi says philosophically: "It's only natural. If a woman sees a man in revealing clothing, the normal thing to do is to let them know how much she appreciates his body." This is the sort of excuse you hear from Egyptian males whenever they are asked why they harass women in the street. It is simply turned on its head for a bit of pointed fun. (It goes without saying that Fifi's husband is reported to stay at home so he can take care of the cooking and cleaning, like a good, dutiful husband.)

The website has also tackled the class divide in Egypt. Cairo's super-rich live lives of mind-boggling luxury, with imported foods, luxury cars and multiple homes, often only a stone's throw from some of the largest slums in the world, where six-member families are forced to live in a one-bedroom hovel, with no electricity or running water. To highlight the issue, El Koshary Today ran a story headlined: Egypt's Elite Declares Independence From Egypt, with the subhead: Claim 'Only Way To End Class Divide'.

The article says that "the decision to withdraw from Egypt came after [an upper class housing compound] decided that the best way to end the unjust divide in Egypt between the 'haves' and 'have nots' was to give the 'haves' their own separate country". The internet has proved to be a huge social outlet for Arabs across the region, and particularly the youth. Online, many feel they have the freedom to criticise their government and society and comment on social issues such as sexism, poverty and poor education.

Bloggers in the region have provided real insights into the real lives of Egyptians as well as what they are thinking - areas often suppressed by strict censorship. The internet has become the arena in which activists and reform forces mobilise, exchange ideas, and learn about the world. El Koshary Today is one website among many that is making its mark in Egypt as an instrument of political and social commentary. Using humour, the website's mish-mash of news and satire allows it to make rapier-sharp political points while giving us all a chuckle at the same time.

Hadeel al Shalchi is a writer for the Associated Press, based in Cairo

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