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Featured Speaker
Bassem Youssef
The Middle Eastern Monologues
This special event for UBC students will provide an opportunity to connect with Bassem Youssef during an interactive question and answer session.
Monday, March 2, 2020, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Jack Poole Hall, Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre 6163 University Boulevard (Map)
Tickets: Free Students are asked to please come prepared with questions. Please bring your valid UBC identification to show at entry.
Registration is now closed.
Freedom
About the Speaker
In 2011 during the Arab Spring, Bassem Youssef started a five-minute show on YouTube that satirized the state-run media. Al-Bernameg became the most watched show in the history of Egyptian TV with an average of 40 million viewers every week, in addition to over 2 million subscribers on YouTube.
Youssef’s popularity with the Egyptian people didn’t go over so well with the people in power. The Muslim Brotherhood issued a warrant for his arrest and when the Egyptian military took over, his show was cancelled twice. Threats and harassment forced Youssef to flee to the United States, where he now lives in Los Angeles. Youssef’s bestselling book, Revolution for Dummies, chronicles his journey and offers insight into the Arab Spring, the Egyptian Revolution, and the turmoil of the modern Middle East.
In 2013, Bassem made TIME magazine’s list of most influential people. The same year, the Committee to Protect Journalists awarded him an International Press Freedom Award. And in 2015, Youssef hosted the International Emmy Awards in New York City as the first non-American, non-European personality to ever host such an event.
