Mounir Samuel

About Mounir Samuel

Mounir Samuel operates at the intersections of media, art, and culture as a political scientist, journalist, publicist, author, performer, trainer, and cultural entrepreneur. He gracefully navigates between different worlds and seamlessly connects the most diverse disciplines.

His life is also free from boxes. Mounir is of Egyptian-Dutch descent, delved into Islam as a devout Christian, traveled the world as a correspondent, and experienced a public coming out twice. He was honored as changemaker of the decade in the 100th issue of Winq (December 2019). Earlier, he won the Colorful Prize in 2012, with the jury calling him “the personification of change, courage, and freedom of expression.”

Mounir studied political science at Leiden University and UC San Diego and took additional courses in American foreign policy, defense studies, history of Southwest Asia (formerly the Middle East), and Islamic law. In 2012, he completed the two-year post-initial master’s in International Relations and Diplomacy at Leiden University and the Clingendael Institute. However, his greatest learning took place outside the classroom through life and travel beyond any defined boundary or framework.

Mounir’s public career began early. At the age of seventeen, he appeared on TV after winning the El Hizjra literature prize twice. During the 18-day popular uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (2011), he made a name for himself as a Southwest Asia expert and the youngest opinion maker in the Netherlands. Over the years, he has published hundreds of articles, columns, reports, and long reads in various national newspapers and magazines. Additionally, he has authored thirteen books.

Mounir was awarded the Dick Scherpenzeel Encouragement Prize for the greatest foreign journalism talent in the Netherlands and Flanders (2012), was nominated for the Bob den Uyl Prize and the Sex in the Media Award, and won the Lira Correspondent Prize for the greatest journalism talent under thirty (2015).

In his work, he focuses on social revolutions and societal change across the lines of geography, community, gender, religion, or orientation. He seeks to formulate answers to the big questions of our time, unafraid of taboo and discomfort. In his much-discussed book ‘Jona zonder walvis – een profetie voor Nederland’ (Nieuw Amsterdam Publishers, 2022), he shows the direct impact of the climate disaster and presents a comprehensive action plan on how to survive it with as many people and animals as possible. He concretely defines big terms like sustainability and system change per sector and profession and proposes a radical plan for climate justice.

In his book ‘Je mag ook niets meer zeggen – een nieuwe taal voor een nieuwe tijd’ (Nieuw Amsterdam Publishers, 2023), he offers, through fifteen values, the blueprint for a safe, inclusive, and accessible language for and by everyone and teaches the reader to engage in the difficult, necessary conversations of our time. Through language, he dissects the major issues of our time and highlights the daily impact of issues such as gender inequality, institutional racism, colonial history, labeling, educational level, and inaccessibility.

As a response to the major diversity and inclusion issue that reinforces existing identity thinking, he developed a societal and organizational model he calls ‘diversity skills.’ Mounir facilitates government, companies, social institutions, and the art and culture sector in sustainable societal change and value-driven leadership.

Mounir Samuel provides lectures, training sessions, workshops, stand-up comedy, spoken word performances, chairing, debates, and presentations both domestically and internationally.