{"id":15610,"date":"2017-08-25T12:49:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T07:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=15610"},"modified":"2017-08-25T12:50:54","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T07:50:54","slug":"humble-muslim-vendor-becomes-a-folk-hero-in-brazil-city-legislature-votes-to-make-kenawy-honorary-citizen-kenawy-has-now-become-a-byword-in-the-brazilian-media-for-tolerance-who-when-confronte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=15610","title":{"rendered":"Humble Muslim vendor becomes a folk hero in Brazil; City legislature votes to make Kenawy honorary citizen; Kenawy has now become a byword in the Brazilian media for tolerance — who, when confronted with violence, declined to strike back \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO Aug. 25 (TNS):<\/strong>\u00a0When video went viral of a racist attack on a Muslim street food vendor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilians wondered gloomily: had their country also been swept up in a global wave of xenophobia?<\/p>\n

The answer \u2014 a flood of love transforming the humble vendor into a folk hero and, on Thursday, the recipient of a city award \u2014 was a heartwarming no.<\/p>\n

But the truth may be a little more complicated.<\/p>\n

It all began August 3 when Muhammad Ali Abdelmoatty Kenawy, 33, was manning the cart from which he sells Arab-style meat pies and hummus in the thronging center of Copacabana.<\/p>\n

Suddenly a thick-set, bald man carrying two sticks appeared, screaming at Kenawy, who came to Brazil three years ago and has since become universally known as \u201cthe Syrian refugee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGet out of my country!\u201d yelled the assailant. \u201cI\u2019m a Brazilian and my country is being invaded by these miserable human bombs that kill children!\u201d<\/p>\n

Thin, with neat dark hair and glasses, Kenawy did not attempt to fight back, merely picking up food that had been spilled when his cart came under attack.<\/p>\n

The incident might have got even uglier, except that among the growing number of bystanders was 19-year-old Beatriz Bastos de Souza, who intervened, and then began filming on her mobile phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man started to kick the cart and then started to kick and punch Muhammad,\u201d she said Thursday. \u201cThere were three or four of them, not just one, and I went into the middle saying, \u2018Please stop.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Deeply depressed, Kenawy avoided work for the next two days. \u201cThat man didn\u2019t break my cart,\u201d he told. \u201cHe broke my happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bastos de Souza, however, left determined to do something. After Kenawy refused her pleas for him to file a police complaint, she showed officers her video of the fracas. \u201cThey said, \u2018Delete it, nothing will come of it,’\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

So Bastos de Souza, who works in a travel agency, sent the video to Brazil\u2019s biggest news organization,\u00a0Globo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

They also didn\u2019t respond. But the video made it to a smaller news outfit and all of a sudden, \u201cmy video was everywhere,\u201d she said. The effect was extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Soon Kenawy was doing a sit-down interview on\u00a0Globo<\/em>. Thousands of people organized on Facebook to buy his pies and Rio Mayor Marcelo Crivella personally handed him a hard-to-get vendors\u2019 license. On Thursday, the city legislature voted to make Kenawy an honorary citizen of Rio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Brazilians were kind, but after this, wow,\u201d Kenawy said in amazement. \u201cI can\u2019t express my feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenawy has now become a byword in the Brazilian media for tolerance \u2014 the Syrian war survivor who, when confronted with violence, declined to strike back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe displayed the desire for peace and prosperity that is shared by all those seeking refuge in Brazil,\u201d said city lawmaker Wanderson Nogueira, who sponsored the municipal honor for Kenawy.<\/p>\n

Barely five minutes go by at Kenawy\u2019s Copacabana corner without passersby or drivers shouting out \u201cCongratulations, Muhammad!\u201d or stopping to pose for a photo.<\/p>\n

But for starters, Kenawy is not a refugee from Syria. Although his family has Syrian roots, he is an Egyptian citizen and moved in search of a better economic future when his restaurant had to close.<\/p>\n

In Brazil, he didn\u2019t even apply for asylum, instead obtaining a permanent residency card after marrying a local woman with whom he now has a three-month-old son.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t in a war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What he is, is an archetypal poor, hard-working, ambitious immigrant. In Rio, he started selling pies from a tiny table, then the cart. Now he dreams of a food truck.<\/p>\n

Bastos de Souza said Kenawy had upset a smalltime \u201cmafia.\u201d And one of the many people milling around Kenawy\u2019s cart said it was unfair that the newcomer had taken a corner previously held by locals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Brazilians get thrown out, is that fair?\u201d asked the man, who did not want to be identified.<\/p>\n

But whatever the details, the Egyptian\u2019s fairy tale story has delighted Brazilians. Buffeted by recession, bloody crime and corruption, they\u2019re glad to be reminded of their better angels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what happened was a portrait of the different Brazils \u2014 the welcoming Brazil and the prejudiced Brazil,\u201d said singer Juli Mariano, 50, who demonstrated support by buying a pie Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think the welcoming version won.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the city legislature voted to make Kenawy an honourary citizen of Rio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO Aug. 25 (TNS):\u00a0When video went viral of a racist attack on a Muslim street food vendor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilians wondered gloomily: had their country also been swept up in a global wave of xenophobia? The answer \u2014 a flood of love transforming the humble vendor into a folk hero and, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,842],"tags":[843,108,733],"class_list":["post-15610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-rio-de-janeiro","tag-brazil","tag-tns","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15610"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15613,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15610\/revisions\/15613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}