Sword of Laban
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 Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:41 am Post subject: AVOID MUSLIM EGYPT |
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Fragile Muslim-Christian peace crumbles in Egypt
29 September 2008
By Jack Shenker in Cairo
News.scotsman.com
IN THE shadows of the Moqattam cliffs that tower over Cairo's eastern
fringes, Safwat Nazeem is picking his way through tens of thousands of
empty plastic bottles.
Safwat, like his father before him, is one of the Zabaleen, Egypt's
invisible army of refuse collectors who gather the urban waste around
them and welcome it into their homes. Their neighbourhood, known as
Garbage City, overflows with rubbish all waiting to be sifted and
recycled. And after a recent spate of national violence and media
intrigue, the Zabaleen have become a community on the defensive.
Like the vast majority of Garbage City's residents, Safwat is a Coptic
Christian – part of an eight million-strong religious minority in
Egypt that predates the presence of Islam in the country by over 500
years.
In the past months, the country's fragile sectarian balance has been
rocked by violent clashes, accusations of discrimination on both sides
and rumours of "special interests" spreading disruption from abroad.
In late May, four Christians were gunned down in a Cairene jewellery
shop. The government dismissed it as a robbery, neglecting to explain
why nothing was taken. Pope Shenouda, the ageing patriarch of the
Coptic Church, opted to stay quiet and maintained his silence even
when a similar attack took place on a Coptic jeweller in Alexandria a
few days later.
But he was forced to speak out on 31 May when a serene Coptic outpost,
the 1,700-year-old monastery of Abo Fana, was besieged by dozens of
Muslims following a land dispute with local farmers. Although the Abo
Fana controversy occurred 300 miles south of the Egyptian capital, its
impact was felt throughout the country.
Copts have consistently complained that archaic building regulations
hamper the repair or expansion of their churches, strangling the
ancient faith with bureaucracy. They also claim they are denied access
to key positions in government because of their religion.
Muslim commentators have argued that most Copts are better off than
their Muslim counterparts, and that the Christian faithful are being
manipulated by external forces using the guise of "minority rights" to
interfere with Egypt's internal affairs. Critics on both sides of the
divide agree that the potential for sectarian violence is growing.
Safwat shares the fears of many Christians that the changing political
landscape in Egypt is threatening his way of life.
Glancing up at a figurine of the Virgin Mary, he sighs: "Islam is the
solution is their slogan. But there is no place for Christians in
that, no place for anyone else."
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