Religious bigotry in Egypt swine cull?

It's probably less religious bigotry than indifference to a marginalized minority, combined with popular outcry to DO SOMETHING. That's why New Labour didn't mind killing millions of livestock in reaction to foot and mouth disease.

A few "Pig News" headlines from across the islamic world:

"Istanbul's Last Pork Butcher Fights Islamist Crackdown on Swine"
April 10, 2008; Bloomberg

"Muslims with Machetes Attack Pig Farms" (Jakarta, Indonesia); October 21, 2004; San Francisco Chronicle

"Muslim Outrage as Pig Farm is Allowed to Stay Open" The Sikh Times, Dec. 29, 2008

Pot: see kettle

I'll have to agree with the Egyptian government that all pigs and their "farming" industry should be terminated IF they are violating agriculture rules of the country. Of course, this should apply to all animal "farms", not just pig farms. Since the animals are healthy the government should see that the slaughter benefits the "farmers" as much as possible.

From the first article I cited above:

"Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has clamped down on the pork industry since 2004, closing all but two of the country's 25 pig farms and revoking slaughterhouse licenses. Kozmaoglu, unable to add to his meat supplies, spends most of his time shuffling paperwork as he seeks permission to reopen his abattoir.

``I don't know what I can do if they don't give it to me; this business is my life,'' Kozmaoglu says as he watches a news bulletin on Greek television.

"He's one of about 2,000 ethnic Greeks remaining in Istanbul. Most Greeks left the city after Turkish mobs attacked their homes and workplaces in 1955. Others were expelled in 1964 after fighting between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus.

"Before the 2004 crackdown, Kozmaoglu was one of four pork butchers in Istanbul. All of his competitors quit handling pigs after losing their slaughterhouse permits. The state granted Kozmaoglu temporary licenses to let him kill the swine on outlawed farms, but those have now been cut off, he says.

"In 2004, the Agriculture Ministry assumed the power to issue livestock handling permits previously controlled by local authorities. The ministry has refused applications for pig facilities, citing a failure to meet sanitary or other standards. [...]

"The pork crackdown began in 2004 after 40 people contracted food poisoning at a restaurant in Izmir on the Aegean coast, said Zafer Ustundag, one of two remaining pig farmers in Turkey. Raw pork was found mixed with the raw beef and cracked wheat used to make the Turkish dish ``cig kofte.''

`Overzealous Officials'

"THE MINISTRY USED THE FOOD-POISONING SCARE AS AN EXCUSE TO SHUT DOWN THE PORK INDUSTRY, says Tahsin Yesildere, former head of the Turkish Veterinary Medical Association's Istanbul branch. . . . "

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/020640.php
_______________________

It seemed to me that I had seen another bit of islamic "Pig News" from Turkey recently. Then I remembered: Turkish officials demolished the old Halki monastery in turkey on the pretext that it wasn't really a monatery, but a "pig farm" (according to government officials). I see the google cache when I run a search but for some reason I can't pull up the article.

You'll have your confirmation when America decides to kill non-industrial pigs for "being in the open and exposed to the virus"

These animal slaughters are almost always an exercise of political power on behalf of a favored constituency against a less favored one.

In Egypt it is Muslim v. Non-muslim; in America it will be Industrial Ag vs. Independent Farmers.

The result is exactly the same, a set-back for the less connected constituency.

Since pigs are generally unclean, and unfit for human consumptiion, would it not be better to encourage a healtier diet for all people of this earth. Nuts, chicken, duck, vegtables are all good sources of nutrition.

Wild boar should be relegated to the forests, not kept in concrete boxes, or fed garbage, as the article above talks about.

Since pigs are generally unclean, and unfit for human consumptiion, would it not be better to encourage a healtier diet for all people of this earth. Nuts, chicken, duck, vegtables are all good sources of nutrition.

I've found that if you heat the flesh of swine to a sufficient temperature, it becomes quite edible, even fit for human consumption. The problem you might be having is in failing to cook the pig flesh. I hope this clears things up!

Seeing as how the Egyptian government responded to the bird flu crisis by slaughtering both muslim and christian farmers' birds en masse, I doubt it's bigotry.

They saw it worked the first time around and applied the same solution this time around. Bad science, sure. Bigotry no.