Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
Religion is not the important thing that separates those people, it's that one group is oppressed and the other is well-off. It's pretty much the same as in Israel really.
Religion is just a tool. It helps separate the groups, and it's a way for those in power to guarantee that they have a significant support group in the country. Because if you frame it as a religious difference, those who have the same religion as you will side with your regime in the fear that otherwise the other side will kill them.
It's basicly a variation of divide and conquer. Ageless tactic.
If it wasn't religion, the ones in power would just use something else. Like ethnicity.
Libya for example was long ruled with similar strategies by Gaddafi. Create strife between groups and have everyone thinking that you're the one thing holding it all together.
Funny thing is, people will tolerate other religious groups just fine if it's all about the religion and not money, land, and power. (Which is why secularity is so important in governance.)
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Then what is being used to determine why one group is kept down? It's not just a coincidence that all the oppressed people just happen to be Sunni/Shia. When one sect routinely marginalizes the other, with which sect is which varying between countries it seems like religion very much is the driving factor.