How a Suicide Bomber Changed Comedian Ahmed Albasheer’s Life

AMANPOUR:

Now we turn to Iraq with thousands of people continue to rally against government corruption in the capital Baghdad. I might have al-Bashir he’s a comedian and host of his own popular political satire television program are by sheer told our Harry Srinivasan about transforming his own life after being wounded by a suicide bombing and his mission to fight extremism with humor.

SREENIVASAN:
Why are you doing this show?

ALBASHEER:
We’re trying actually. The short is just, it’s my job. I’m telling the people the reality because in Iraq there is no independent media. All the media in Iraq institution are connected to some politicians or agendas or other countries. So, uh, we’re doing the show just to tell the people what’s going on and to tell this new generation specifically, which, which is 65% of all Iraqis because 65% of this generation of Iraq, Saudi is between 15 to 35. Wow. So it’s a majority in Iraq. So we’re trying to explain to this generation what’s happening to their political system, what’s happening to their politicians, how do they still need the money? So in the next elections they go and vote, but since they don’t trust the elections and they believe that there is a fraud and their votes won’t go to the right people who they voted for, this is why they’re doing a revolution. This is why they are demanding the democracy that they’ve dreamed of. This is why they are demanding an election under the supervision of the international community.

SREENIVASAN:
You worked as a journalist for awhile. Yeah. Was there a turning point? Was there a moment when you decided this route would be more effective or what, what made you change your mind?

ALBASHEER:
Lots of things. Actually. One of them is, um, it was on 2011 I had a suicide bomber explode themselves next to me and he killed seven of my closest friends. And, uh, then I realized that I don’t want to be an Ember, uh, on the, I don’t want to be just a number of, of casualties in the news. Uh, so I decided to do something at that point. So I moved to a month and I started a a comedy show because I believe that news are very boring and I need some way, uh, to, to give the news from without being bought and to, to, to know what’s happening for 16 years following the us invasion of our country. We have tried to build a democracy from the ground up. We have tried to bring freedom and dignity to the Iraqi people. We have tried to provide liberties such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press that I assemble and the right to disagree with the government without being waterboarded or having electrodes attached to our testicles again. And I know lots of this generation thinks the same. So this is what I did. I, we moved, like we took the script of the news, the same script, which is in [inaudible]. It was high means the, uh, uh, like the F the official language of the TV stations and the news. And we turned it into a slang language with adding some jokes on it. People start to like it and people start to watch it to know about. So now I can see, I can, I can see lots of youth watching the show and they’re learning about their politicians. And for me, it’s amazing.

SREENIVASAN:
It’s amazing how casual you were with the fact that a suicide bomber blew himself up next to you. I mean, it’s a, I think it’s a level of violence in the West that we’re so unfamiliar with that if that’s not the craziest thing that’s happened in your life. Right. And it hasn’t been. And what are the kinds of things that you’ve experienced that have just been normal to you? That when you get to a place like the United States or any of the other countries you’ve lived in, you realize that’s not normal? What, what have you been through?

ALBASHEER:
No, I realize this is not normal. When I was living in Iraq trust, uh, I lost my brother. I lost my father, I lost my uncle, I lost my cousin. I was kidnapped. Uh, lots of my friends were killed in sectarian war. Uh, I, I lived all the things that I think lots of Iraqis lived just like me. This is why this show was very important to me because for me, it’s, um, it’s a, it’s a way to stop the killing from the source. It’s a way to prevent more death and more, more blood spilled on the ground of Iraq because I believe we had enough. So this is the show gives hope and the same time gives you, uh, uh, maybe a better future. Uh, I w w w, w we’re interviewing lots of people who are inspiring to Iraqis and we believe that, uh, with, with this generation, they will stop the killing from the source. And this is exactly what’s happening now. They’re demanding to stop the killing from the source.

SREENIVASAN:
So this new generation, are these the people who have been protesting since October?

ALBASHEER:
Yes. These are the same people.

SREENIVASAN:
And do you know that your work is actually being seen by these people? Are they watching this on their cell phones out on the streets?

ALBASHEER:
Actually, they do watch the show on the, on a big screens in the square as well. While they’re protesting. So this is a, for me, it’s a huge responsibility. One of the things that has unfortunately been undercovered in the United States is the protest that had been going on since October.

SREENIVASAN:
What are the goals of the people that are on the streets now?

ALBASHEER:
Their demand is to, is to regain their own democracy. They wanted a real democracy. They want their votes to go to the right people. They don’t want a fraud. They don’t want militia as they, they don’t want, uh, weapons and guns, uh, uh, outside the control of the government. They want a strong army. They want good relationship with all the countries. Uh, no influence from other countries. And they want, they want friendship actually with everyone else in the world.

SREENIVASAN:
One of the things you say that is a significant cause of concern is the corruption that’s happening inside of Iraq today. In fact, on one of the English episodes that you had a, I want to play a clip you, you talk about in Muhasasa, which is part of the problem. Let’s take a look.

ALBASHEER:
Do you know when Bakker was asked about why he was qualified to be the minister of the interior or to take any of these positions for that matter? Do you know what he said? Yes, that’s right. He got his expertise and statecraft and security from watching the count of Monte Cristo as a child. Yes. So don’t worry everyone tonight I’m going to go home and watch frozen and I learn what I have to learn and then tomorrow I’ll enact some policies that can solve climate change. Don’t worry, I’ve got it from here guys. Gretta let’s. Okay, I’m very qualified now. Go home. Just, just go home.

SREENIVASAN:
is it really that bad?

ALBASHEER:
The Muhasasa? It’s awful actually. They put someone as a minister just because he belongs to some sect. It’s not because he’s qualified. Not because he understand that something, this bucket is the way D he was a minister of interior. He literally said that I was reading for Agatha Christie and I learned how to control the security, uh, for the, for the photo country. He was there just because he belongs to some sect. And of course the some speaker or the speaker of the parliament also was there just because he’s suddenly, but Zubaydah was there just because he’s, she doesn’t, there’s lots of people who can take this job much, much better. I couldn’t do much better than this job, but they want to put them,

SREENIVASAN:
Do the protestors on the ground today, do they want a secular state?

ALBASHEER:
This is exactly one of the, uh, uh, the, the things that the, the protestors are chanting, they are demanding to separate religion from the state. This is one of their demands. They say that religion is respected and we respect that religion and that respect clerics. But clerics and religion shouldn’t interfere in the business of the government because it said diverse country. It’s not a one religion or one sect country. So someone needs to be secular there to control that country, uh, to, to, uh, to rule the country actually. So, um, this is one of their demands. This is why this new generation, this is why these politicians are afraid. They’re afraid from this generation because they don’t believe that they will get their votes by playing on their minds that they will, they’re there to defend their sex or their religion. These things, this generation will never buy it.

SREENIVASAN:
Is this a new Arab spring?

ALBASHEER:
I believe it’s an Iraqi spring. It’s not Arab spring. Iraqis created this, uh, uh, this, this kind of protest. I mean, because when you look at the last one, um, Egypt got the Muslim brotherhood, LCC, um, didn’t work out very well for Syria. Libya. Yeah. Men got into civil Wars. This is now a protracted fight. At what point do you think the Iraqi government says enough is enough? I mean, you’ve already had almost, almost 500 people killed. 600, 600, almost 40, 2000 injured 3000. Armed with the, they will live with their injury for the rest of their lives. And lots of, uh, lots of Protestants lost their eyes actually because they were shooting tear guys on their heads. Um, I believe, um, it’s, it’s not the same because the protesters on the ground are demanding for the Islamic brotherhood brothers, uh, and the other countries to leave.

ALBASHEER:
So we had these people already. We had the Islamic, we had the religion, uh, parties already, uh, and we had the dictatorship before. So since 2003, we, we, we ha we have no dictatorship and we tried these parties, Islamic religion parties. So it’s different. It’s not going to be the same. I think the next, the next step will be the Iraqis who are secular to control the country or to rule the country. Uh, with the good constitution, with the good law, with a strong military, we will, we will be able to be a good sample for the middle East and for the world.

SREENIVASAN:
Did the people on the street, did they support the action that the United States States took against Soleimani?

ALBASHEER:
I w I wouldn’t say that they support the actions. Of course no one wants, uh, as a country to be breached by another two countries. Uh, our [inaudible] was breached by Iran and the us. Uh, we want, we want, uh, we don’t want the war to happen on, on our, our don’t want the act to become an arena for the, for the battle between Iran and the U S we like go fight anywhere in the ocean. We don’t care. Don’t make Iraq pays for what is doing. Actually. This is what Iraqis exactly are doing. They are asking and demanding the militias to stop attacking anyone and they are demanding the Americans to stop attacking anyone. We want a good relation between the U S and between Iran, between Saudi Arabia, between Kuwait, between all the countries. We want a good friendship relation, not a boy and not a father and a boy. A relation, not like sometimes the us or the Iran deal.

SREENIVASAN:
There wasn’t a incomplete parliamentary vote. But after the killing of Somali Solemani, there was a display by the Iraqi parliament that said, we want all foreign troops out of this country. Do the protesters on the streets want the United States to stick around?

SREENIVASAN:
The protesters on the streets want a stable country. And they know definitely that Iraq is not ready yet to take the challenges against ISIS or extremist or malicious. All what happens if the United States leaves, uh, Iraqis are afraid from, from, uh, uh, putting Iraq and Iran in the same, uh, in the same corner. Let’s see. And, uh, he’s, uh, people are afraid of from being, being, um, deal. Just the way that the Iranian people are dealt with. Uh, they don’t want to be, um, sanctioned. They, they don’t want to lose the connections with the world and definitely they don’t want to be in war against any country, uh, or, or hated by any country or, uh, or, uh, uh, international community. Do you hold the U S responsible for making things worse? Definitely. Yeah. The invasion was a disaster and the draw was a more, uh, disaster other than the innovation because the country wasn’t ready at that time. So they, us came and destroyed everything and destroyed all the country. And, uh, and they brought some people who don’t understand anything about the people or the government sectarian people and that they were hungry for money and power, lots of them. And then, uh, they left with them controlling the government and the country. And this is why ISIS actually, uh, uh, occupied cities because the government was weak, the government wasn’t ready. And also, uh, the Americans and they was, was responsible for losing hope of the people in democracy.

SREENIVASAN:
Yeah. You also chose to take on ISIS at a time when they were controlling a third of the country, really at one of the Heights of their power. Well, what happened?

ALBASHEER:
W we were the first in Iraq that mocks ISIS. It was in 2014. Just just after they controlled Mosul. And for that point, we just wanted the people to understand that ISIS is not a, uh, super, uh, people who cannot be fought. Like they’re normal people. You can’t, you can’t, you can fight and you can defeat easily. And for the propaganda that they’ve done when they occupied three cities, three provinces in Iraq, lots of people were terrified of vices believing that these people are invincible. You can’t, you can’t, you can’t defeat them. So we made them a joke telling them the, telling the people that these are just regular people you can make fun of. Uh, we broke the hallowed that they created for themselves.

SREENIVASAN:
This doesn’t come without consequence. Uh, recently you had a death threat because you mentioned McDonnell solder. This is, this is real, right? It just looks limited. Doc. Yeah.

ALBASHEER:
Bullet. That costs a half dollar. That will be enough to end my life.

SREENIVASAN:
How do you feel about that? I mean, that’s your home and eh, right now there’s no real safe way for you to go back.

ALBASHEER:
No, there’s no, there’s no, this is not the only threat, by the way. I’ve got lots of threats also from other militias. So why continue? This is my job. This is what I have to do. Someone needs to tell the people what’s going on with these people. Someone needs to explain to them because all the media are connected to them. Eventually they control everything in the media. This is [inaudible] is the only institution that it’s independent. It doesn’t relate to any politician. And thanks to Dutch Avila, the German TV who gives us that space because if wasn’t, if we’re on the Dutch, Dorchester was there, we will never be able to broadcast this show. We’re banned from every Iraqi TV station by the way.

SREENIVASAN:
The show was carried initially on Iraqi TV. And then what each of those were told not to run you anymore?

ALBASHEER:
Yes. Actually one was stopped by um, the government and the second word were threatened and they were scared.

SREENIVASAN:
And so you make this from outside of Iraq. Yup. Right. And as you go around to these different communities where you make the shows, do you find support there? Do you find Iraqis there that are upset that you’re making this?

ALBASHEER:
Yeah. Not upset. No. No. All the people I meet is the people who support what I, what I, what I’m doing. I see. Like only the people who are upset. I see them on social media and lots of them are funded by political parties because all the Iraqis share the same problems. She had the same, same disasters. They feel the same pain. So no one, no Iraqi will will stand against what I’m doing.

SREENIVASAN:
Tell me a bit about where you grew up. What was it like?

ALBASHEER:
I grew up in a religious family and a very religious family and I had always, like, since I was a child, since I was a teenager, since I started to understand things about life, I was always in them. Um, let’s say, uh, we are two sides. It’s like I am the left and they’re the right. So you are clashing with your parents? My dad. Not your dad. Yeah. Specifically my dad was a believes that I should wake up at 5:00 AM to go to the mosque. I have to memorize all these stuff. So he’s a very strict father. A very religious, yes. Okay. Yeah. And he believed that I should, uh, I shouldn’t have a girlfriend. I shouldn’t call a girls. Uh, talk to girls. I shouldn’t go to uh, let’s say social clubs. We are big family, seven brothers and sisters. Eight actually, uh, no concern for any of their safety because of what you do. All of them are outside. They like all of them are left. All of them because of me left all of them. They have dreams in their home, they have a, they want to stay there. They want to serve their country. Some of them, uh, want to do something for the country, but they can’t. They left and now they’re doing nothing outside the country waiting for the moment to go back and to live like normal people. Just because I’m saying things on TV, they’re almost banned from going to Iraq. You feel responsible for that? Yes, I do. Yeah. But more than four millions heirarchies left the country and all of them for the same reason as I do that they’re searching for freedom and I don’t believe someone free who can live under militias. And that is this regime. This is why protesters are on the streets now.