Social Violence: Blaming it on the Victims

A graphic video showing a group of men stabbing and killing a dog in Cairo’s Shubra district went viral. This sparked a wide host of reactions among social media users in Egypt. The dog defended its owner during a quarrel with other men by biting them, prompting the attacked men to sue the dog’s owner. Not only was the dog’s owner sentenced to a year in jail, the plaintiffs also demanded the killing of the dog as part of the reconciliation. This resulted in the horrific torture and stabbing of the dog in the middle of the street. Many commenters believed that the incident testifies to the inclination towards violence and aggression in Egyptian society, even adding that the aggressors are not different from Islamic State members.

Scenes showing the torture of street cats and dogs at the hands of Egyptian children and teenagers regularly pop up, but passers-by often meet them with approval, sarcasm, or indifference at best. They are eerily similar to reactions following sexual harassment.