Why Egypt? 伊斯蘭教徒跟伊斯蘭國家有甚麼仇厚？(expanded edition)

【本文原為上一篇『Why London？』之下的其中一段回應，回答吾友Dot的疑問：「點解佢地要炸埃及？」當時沒時間慢慢打中文，草草成（英）文。貼出之後又覺得都唔錯，現稍 作補充修定，賦予正統地位，以免埋藏在回應堆中，浪費掉。我寫野咁好，應該俾多D人讀丫嘛，嘻嘻！】


Why Egypt?

First of all, we have to understand that 'terrorism' is ultimately senseless. There are no fixed patterns, no specified 'objectives' (in our sense of 'project or business objectives'). The only and most obvious things that are close to 'objectives' are: 1. to ventilate their anger; 2. to scare the hell out of their opponent, hoping that the opponent would yield to what they ask for in the long run (or even immediately, as in the case of Madrid train bombing 2004).

Second, we have to appreciate the complexity of the Middle East and Arab World. Far from being a homogenious region, there are diversed interests politically, economically, and religiously. The unity and brotherhood of all Muslims is only imaginary. It has never been realised ever since the beginning of Islam. (Islam as a religion emerged from a state of bloody internal war!) To make things more complex, the Middle East is a region where religion and politics are messily intermingled together.

In the eyes of Islamic fundamentalists, the government of Egypt is a traitor of 'true Islam' -- its political stance is too friendly to the west, its relationship with Israel (the number one enemy of the Arabs) is too close. So are the rulers of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE阿聯猶). Thus, it should not be a surprise that the 'true Muslims' (fundamentalists) would want to teach them a lesson once in a while.

While the attack is on Egypt, please remember that it occurs at a tourist spot (similar to the Bali explosion in Indonesia). It aims at teaching the western-friendly Muslim government a lesson, to scare the shit out of western & Israeli visitors, and to threaten the economic activities (tourism) of the country.

What message does Al Qaeda want to deliver to the world? I would say that they want to tell the whole world (western, Arab, everybody) that they are still around & active, that you cannot track them down so easily, that they are more witty than you are. They want to tell those who imagine they are in control (USA, UK, etc) that the Arab Muslim fundamentalists are not going to let the western powers have their way.

Of course, I am not an expert in these things at all. Far from it. But I do know something about religious fundamentalism of the 3 great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) -- which, together, are contributing to a great portion of troubles in today's world. And the above is my informed speculation.

Religious fundamentalism (基要主義/原教旨主義) is a complex phenomenon. Any attempt to explicate it in a few paragraphs in unfair.

For a not-so-simple but comprehensive introduction to religious fundamentalisms (notice the plural!), I recommend: Karen Armstrong The Battle for God (2001). Great telling of history, good presentation of lots of facts, though you don't have to totally buy in to the interpretation of facts by this brilliant ex-catholic-nun. (For example, perhaps due to my background, and also due to my somewhat insider's knowledge, I am not totally comfortable with her putting all theologically conservative Christian institutions under the 'fundamentalist' umbrella. Just as many outsiders, she cannot distinguish between Evangelicals and Fundamentalists, which are in fact two widely different camps.)

For an in-depth and massive scholarly study on fundamentalisms, one may like to look at the 'fundamentalism project' (5 huge volumes, 1994-2004) by Martin Marty et al. (I have to confess that I have never read them; only seen them. Too massive! Just like 5 telephone directories!)

Why London？對「恐怖活動」的胡思亂想

Why London？

對「恐怖活動」的胡思亂想

正當整個不列顛的保安焦點都集中在蘇格蘭，正當G8+5峰會剛要正式進入議題，正當倫敦人還沉醉在成功申辦奧運的狂歡裡，倫敦給炸個措手不及。

聲東擊西，攻其無備，擾亂議題，製造焦點。

其部署之專業，對時機之拿捏，令人嘆為觀止。講得涼薄一點，他們的專業水平，比英美兩國的軍事行動可能更勝一籌，而且成本低得多。

無倫是2001年紐約九一一，或是2004年3月11日馬德理火車大爆炸，還是2005年倫敦市中心的連環炸彈，鋪天蓋地的傳媒報導總令我們同仇敵愾，從心底裡把恐怖份子媽叉一番。

是的，恐怖活動最恐怖之處，是他們的indiscriminate killing，是他們流無辜人的血。某某賢妻良母，一早吻別丈夫孩子上班去，不料一去不回身首異處。點解係佢？你們的國仇家恨關佢叉事？你們究竟要甚麼？

於是，恐怖活動的恐怖，同時也在於它激起被攻擊一方的逆向仇恨，挑動「反恐」情緒。

結果是雙方面更多的indiscriminate killing，流更多無辜人的血。冤冤相報，造成永不止息的暴力循環。

因著傳媒大幅報導，我們對倫敦連環爆炸看在眼裡痛在心裡，不值恐怖份子的所為，也喜見倫敦人互助互愛迅速站起來。

然而，在沒有西方人受害的世界各地，有人天天經歷比這更失驚無神更慘烈更有系統甚至更大規模的無辜殺戮，卻是無人記念；彷彿他們不是這世界的一份子，彷彿只有紐約倫敦或者頂多加埋馬德理的人命才是人命。

這大批大批終日惶恐度日的人，在伊拉克，在阿富汗，在巴勒斯坦也在以色列，在車臣也在莫斯科，…。（名單太長，未能盡錄。）誰來悼念他們中間的死難者？誰來為他們譴責暴力？他們又可以譴責誰？

他們所欠缺的，是鋪天蓋地的全球直播。

尊貴的貝理雅首相說，恐怖主義的根源，在於「貧窮，缺乏民主，和中東地區持續衝突」。這可能是目前西方世界（尤其是美英兩國）的官方觀點，或許也可以大致上解釋近年發生在西方社會身上的恐怖活動，但卻嚴重缺乏全球視野和歷史意識，更毫無文化自省可言。

我倒認為，恐怖主義的根源，在於：

1. 西方國家幾百年來的殖民霸權，無休止的軍事 / 經濟 / 文化侵略，把不跟從西方遊戲規則的民族壓成弱勢；

2. 把自己看成正義化身的極端世界觀，而且往往以「偽宗教語言」包裝；

3. 人類對暴力根深蒂固的迷思，誤信所謂redemptive violence，以為它能解決問題。

現在無論是民粹的「恐怖主義」還是官方以「反恐」為名的「國家恐怖主義」，都本是同根生，都同樣相信暴力有其救贖功能，都同樣認為自己是替天行道。

那三樣，其中任何一樣都已經構成世界的死症；三樣溝埋，糾纏不清，咁點？

Make Poverty History 掃走貧窮

This is what 'Make Poverty History' is all about:

一張圖片，盛載了「掃走貧窮」的精義：

世界經濟失衡，
所謂「富裕」地區（包括香港）的少數人口，
佔用了世界上絕大部份的資源
（生態上/物質上/經濟上/權力上），
並且透過世界銀行和國際貨幣基金等等機構，
以大量「貸款」，「援助」所謂第三世界的貧窮國家，
同時又不斷鞏固一個剝削第三世界的國際經濟秩序，
以維持本身消遙充裕兼放任的生活方式。

於是，貧窮國家的債務永遠攤還不了，
不但成為當前全球最急切需要解決的政治經濟死結，
更令世界上三分之二的人
天天朝不保夕地死去活來。

為今之計，
是把第三世界債務一筆勾消，
給世界上大部份人口一個喘息和重新開始的機會。


2005年7月2日，
廿二萬五千人在愛丁堡參與「掃走貧窮大遊行」，
呼籲幾天後在當地舉行的「八大工業國高峰會」
正視這債務問題。

我不在愛丁堡，無緣親歷其境，只能看媒體報導。

由此進入看BBC報導

欲深入淺出認識世界債務問題，又沾染一點神學反思，
我極力推薦愛丁堡大學敬愛的羅邁喬教授這本小書:

Michael Northcott:
Life After Debt: Christianity and Global Justice (London: SPCK, 1999)

另有：
非洲經濟困局一覽(BBC)
非洲債務問題知多D（BBC)


另順帶一提：
有中文媒體把Make Povery History翻譯成「讓貧窮成為歷史」，
那是用中文字生硬拼湊而成的「非中文」句子，
而且完全喪失了本來英文短句所表達的能量。

其實，簡單一句「掃走貧窮」已經足以表達
make poverty history的意義和力量了。