A Tale of Tale of Two Cities: Alexandria, Egypt
// October 23rd, 2005 // World Issues
CAIRO (Reuters) – “Three demonstrators were killed when thousands of people protested on Friday near a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria over the staging of a play they said was offensive to Islam, security sources said.
The demonstrators were killed during clashes between police and the more than 5,000-strong crowd which had gathered near St. George’s Coptic church in the Mediterranean port city after Muslim prayers, the sources said.
Police used teargas to try to disperse the crowd, which had pelted police with stones and which regrouped on several occasions after prayer times through the day and evening, the sources said. They said protests continued late into the night… It was the second mass protest over the play in the past week and came two days after a young man stabbed a nun and a man. Their injuries were not serious and the attacker was arrested, the security sources said.”
None of the news sources, Reuters, New York Times or Al Jazeera, claim to have even seen the play or have any credible sources as to what it contains. The only factoid presented is that it was performed once two years ago by some young people. That is until it was released by some random guys on the internet and inflamed by editorials in two local papers recently- with strong suggestions of political manipulation.
I rebuke the New York Times for publishing inflammatory and uninformed perspectives like -
“No one will stop until they give a formal apology,” Mr. Abdo said, adding that he heard the play denied a central tenet of the Islamic faith – that Muhammad was God’s prophet.”"
Mr Abdo, being a local shoemaker; a profession well known for their education and objective insights into social forces. And by the way, Christianity does deny Muhammad was God’s Prophet- that’s central to Islam being a different religion, just as Judaism denies Jesus being the son of God. NYT why are you interviewing and presenting the views of ignorance?
Then from the Christian side they present the views of a local man “who was selling fruit on a street corner not far from the church”. I suppose they balanced the interview by finally sharing the views of one of his unnamed customers. What is this? They grabbed the first three people they could find so as not to miss lunch at the club? Shame on you NYT. Cheap, cheap high school journalism.
While people were getting themselves arrested, injured and even killed while protesting over rumors they had been spun, 30 minutes away a very different scene was taking place. 180 Egyptian university students; from Alexandria and Cairo, from public universities and private, where planting the seeds of a vision for the future of their country. As the chair for this conference, AIESEC Egypt’s National Leadership Development Seminar, I had the opportunity to spend three days working with these young people- and the one thing that struck me was the unity. There was no divide between the religions, between the economic backgrounds, between those who had lived abroad and those who hadn’t, between the spectrum of colors that makes up the Egyptian population. They were one group facing the challenges and opportunities of one world. They worked together, ate and sang together, and never once did I see, hear or feel discrimination between those who were Coptic and those who Muslim.
These two scenes present a choice for Egypt’s future; will it be determined through manipulating the prejudices of the ignorant mob? Or will it lay with those who wish to learn from diversity, who seek peace and prosperity for all Egyptians and who dare to walk this path towards a better tomorrow?
