WATANI International
16 January 2011
Kameel Seddiq, secretary of the Alexandria Coptic Community Council told Watani that despite all the signs preceding the Alexandria bombing, the magnitude of the attack was shocking.
It had been expected, Mr Seddiq said, that something would happen, but we never expected an assault of such magnitude. The Mujahedeen website had mentioned the churches that might be targeted and their addresses. It had also detailed, with high-resolution illustrations, the method for manufacturing a maximum-damage bomb. Yet security measures, even though they were significant, fell short of confronting the challenge. “I think the al-Qaeda threats were not taken seriously enough by the security apparatuses,” he said.
“City of culture” flirts with Islamists
In the past, Alexandria was dubbed “the city of culture”. During the first half of the 20th century, Mr Seddiq reminded, the city included a cemetery for atheists. “This is unimaginable today,” he said, “with non-believers widely seen as apostates. Alexandria changed with the hegemony of extremism over Egyptian society in its entirety, although this city in particular had the lion’s share. In the early 1970s, the Islamic Jamaat found in Alexandria fertile soil for wahabism and salafi thought (conservative fundamentalist Islam), since a great number of the mosques there were not subject to supervision by the Ministry of Endowments.
“How come the security apparatus failed to take on the salafis?” Watani asked. “Freedom of expression is sometimes abused,” Mr Seddiq said. “In this case it bred a climate of hatred and intolerance. As to why the State did nothing about it neither did it move to resolve Coptic grievances, I cannot disregard the probability that the State was flirting with the Islamists.”
Pessimistic
“We want constitutional articles stressing citizenship to be activated. Constitutional Article II, which stipulates that Islam is the State religion and Islamic sharia the principal source of legislation, invalidates all the articles defending the principles of citizenship, Mr Seddiq remarked.
Watani asked Mr Seddiq how he saw the remarkable change in the Copts’ method of protest. “It goes without saying,” he said, “that continuous pressure leads to outbursts of anger. New generations are less patient with persistent injustices. They hear a lot of promises that remain no more than hot air. Unless society deals seriously with the Coptic grievances, the situation could be further aggravated.”
“Following the New Year bombing, Mr Seddiq said, the Alexandria town council condemned the attack and called for the exposure of preachers who do not abide by the rule of the Ministry of Endowments and do not hesitate to incite hatred and agitate against Copts.
“I can’t help being pessimistic. After each incident of the kind, we hear words of condemnation and see attempts to calm down Coptic anger. And that’s all.”