Europe talks about human rights but supports dictatorships, Bassem Yousseff, the star satirist from Egypt, has told the Global Media Forum.
Published : 15 Jun 2016, 05:54 PM
He made a surprise appearance on Tuesday, the second day of the annual media conference at Bonn, Germany where the winners of the Deutsche Welle's The Bobs award were honoured.
Yousseff, who once hosted the Al Bernameg, a popular news satire programme, took it off air after Army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi rose to become Egypt’s president in 2014.
In a speech to a largely Western audience, he urged them to scrutinise Europe's own role in supporting dictatorships.
"These Western governments are basically fine with these other governments because of oil or arms deals. That's not the Europe that we are used to.
"I hope you don't turn a blind eye to the reason why many of these dictatorships continue to exist and thrive," Yousseff said.
"We shouldn't turn a blind eye to European governments who enable Middle Eastern dictatorships."
The heart surgeon-turned-media personality spoke with good humour about Egypt when host Jaafar Abdul Karim asked about how it was to live there now.
"Egypt is amazing. We're living the best days of our lives. You can't complain."
"I mean - really - you can't complain," he said smiling.
The Bobs, Deutsche Welle’s award for online activism, was handed out to winners who topped 2,300 contestants across the globe.
Teams from India, Bangladesh, Iran and Germany won under four categories.
Its director, who himself is a blogger, chose to stay anonymous and has been ‘living abroad’ in fear of his security.
"I feel more responsibility to shed light on this situation, having received the award," he told DW, terming the event ‘emotional’.
He plans to show his film across Europe to raise more awareness about Bangladesh’s bloggers.
"One cannot live in this situation for good," he said, speaking of plans to return to Bangladesh someday.
The Indian project, Stop Acid Attacks, was awarded in social change category. Alok Dixit, when receiving the award, said he fell in love and married an acid attack survivor.
"Everyone says change, change the world, but I think you have to change yourself first."
Iranian app Gershad won the jury in the category of tech for good.
It relies on crowdsourcing to allow Iranians to dodge the Islamic Republic's ‘morality police’ who enforce Islamic dress and behaviour codes. The app marks checkpoints with a bearded-man icon on a Google map.
"Our optimistic hope is that one day our app will no longer be necessary and that maybe they can use it as a traffic reporting app," they said in a statement.
The Center for Political Beauty, a German art project, put the influx of Europe-bound refugees in spotlight through their latest project that won in the arts and culture category.
A thousand platforms each containing an aid kit and solar panel to rescue signals were put on the trail that refugees and migrants are using to enter the continent.