Middle East leaders discuss popular desire for democracy, equality

(February 24, 2011) The political changes spreading across North Africa and the Middle East show the people's desire for democracy and equality, said Christian and Muslim leaders, including several from Egypt where popular demonstrations toppled the government of President Hosni Mubarak. Speaking on February 23^rd at the Rome-based Community of Sant'Egidio, Catholic bishops and Muslim leaders from around the region admitted they did not know exactly what the future would hold, but the grass-roots democracy movements seemed to indicate a growing recognition that when one religious or ethnic group suffers systematic discrimination, true democracy does not exist for anyone in the country. The religious leaders, scholars and diplomats participating in the Sant'Egidio discussion about Christian-Muslim coexistence in the Middle East stood for a moment of silence to honour the victims of the recent push for democratic reforms. Franco Frattini, Italy's foreign minister, told the group that unlike in Egypt and Tunisia where protests were largely peaceful, in Col. Moammar Gadhafi's Libya, "there has been horrible bloodshed with the deaths of more than 1,000 Libyans." The Egyptian protests, which saw Muslims and Christians standing side by side calling for democracy and constitutional reforms, demonstrated that "the more democracy and freedom there is, the more the freedom of each individual is respected and guaranteed," Frattini said. Mohammed Esslimani, a Muslim theologian, was in Cairo during the protests and read from the diary he kept filled with stories of Christians and Muslims standing together in Egypt and helping one another.