Blog 1: Christians force Muslims to flee, 2/7/14

Summary
Thousands of Muslims have been forced to flee their homes on Friday, February 7 due to intense  antagonism by Christians. The Muslims have been chased out of Bangui, the capitol of the Central African Republic. Last March, several Muslim rebel groups united to overthrow the president of the CAR and have been blamed for numerous atrocities, including looting and killing sprees. The CAR is predominantly Christian, although the rebel group's crimes, not their religion, led many Christian citizens to retaliate against the groups. The Christian fighters attempted to overthrow the rebel government in December, which led to over 1,000 people dead. The Muslim leader has stepped aside, but this has not stopped Christians' hatred for anything that has to do with the Muslim rebels. Many of those suspected to be involved have been tortured and killed. Now the hatred has taken on a religious turn, and all Muslims in the country are being targeted by the Christians. The Muslims escaped from the capitol today in a convoy protected by armed Chadian soldiers. Their destinations are the neighboring countries of Chad and Cameroon. Entire Muslim communities in other parts of the country are surrounded by the Christian "anti-Balaka" groups and remain in danger from violence as well as diseases such as cholera. The interim president of the country has voiced her support of the Christian soldiers.

Analysis
This situation illustrates the concept of "othering," which is separating yourself from other people whom you view as different from yourself, and whom you usually view in a negative way. 99.99% of the Muslim population in the CAR had nothing to do with the crimes of the rebel government, yet they were targeted with hate crimes because the Christians had grouped them all together and associated them with the rebels. This allowed dormant religious tensions to erupt, and the Muslim community as a whole became a scapegoat for the anger of the Christian nation.

On a less intense level, othering occurs every day between the rich and the poor, among different races, genders, and political parties. It happens whenever we use the words "us" and "them," and can lead to terrible things which the antagonizing group believes are completely justifiable. It does not only occur in the dominate group; a poor person can just as easily form an opinion about all rich people as a rich person can form an opinion about all poor people.

Source
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/02/07/world/africa/ap-af-central-african-republic.html?rref=world&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=World&pgtype=article