WATANI International
23 August 2009
Recent sectarian events have, sadly, revealed that fanatic thought has spread widely among the men in the street and even among some intellectuals. A new dimension of discrimination against Copts has come to express itself in the sectarian violence and hate crimes committed against Copts by people who belong to no particular political group but who are moved to attack Copts through sheer fanaticism. This has nothing to do with the traditional, longstanding manifestations of discrimination, which include denying Copts their rights to build churches, assume top posts, and be granted appropriate space in the media and education system. Since the issue is one which is concerned with prevalent thought and awareness in the first place, Watani reviewed the opinions and views of intellectuals and human rights activists on the question.
Into the abyss
Baheieddin Hassan, director of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights, warns that Egypt is rapidly descending into an abyss, and asks if it is not about time to bid farewell to national unity. Dr Hassan reminds of the record of sectarian strife over more than three decades, and stresses that it originated with the dispute over the Khanka Church in 1972. “Of the many incidents of sectarian violence that followed, the most serious was the Kosheh massacre on the last day of 1999, which claimed the lives of 21 people,” he says.
Dr Hassan poses a series of questions over the similarities between the current situation and that of the 1970s. He points at the rampant fanaticism, and the government’s stance of long turning a blind eye to the recommendations made by the Oteifi committee which investigated the events of Khanka, and which had recommended taking positive action to correct Copts’ complaints.
The victim and the offender
The slogan of ‘national unity’ typically used at times of crisis between Muslims and Christians comes under fire from Youssef Sidhom, editor-in-chief of Watani, who argues that national unity is but a cosmetic term frequently employed to paint a rosy picture of a gloomy reality. He proposes instead adopting ‘citizenship rights’ to signify rights presumed by each person born in Egypt regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion or political affiliation.
By the same token, Mr Sidhom slams the government’s persistence in using the term ‘sectarian division’ to pin equal responsibility on Muslims and Christians regardless of who is the victim and who the offender.
“Christians in Egypt,” Mr Sidhom says, “have uncountable grievances”. He stresses the need for a revolution in the education system in terms of school curricula and teachers’ outlooks and thinking. He says that he heard from Muslim parents about a teacher who told their children not to play with Christian classmates because they were ‘infidels’. Finally, Mr Sidhom blames liberal intellectuals for their failure to transmit their message to the decision-makers in the country, and calls for an end to treating the Coptic issue as a security concern and repositioning it in its right place on the social agenda instead.
Their own law
Egypt’s defeat in the Six Day War with Israel dealt a blow to Nasserism and nationalism and brought religious loyalties to the fore, Mohamed al-Sayed Saïd, board chairman of al-Ahram, stresses. The Islamic programme later encouraged by Anwar al-Sadat in the 1970s, he says, promoted narrow-minded groups that excluded Christians and justified violence against them. In many places in Upper and Lower Egypt, extremists imposed their own law and forced Christians to pay the jizya, or tax imposed by Islamic law on non-Muslims living under Muslim rule. Dr Saïd, however, blames the Christian far right for reciprocal fanaticism and what he calls seeking help from the outside world.
As a member of the guidance office of the Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel-Moniem Abul-Fotouh blames the State for the rise of extremism, pointing out that by suppressing moderate Islamic currents it was only encouraging the fundamental Wahabi Islam imported from the Arabian Peninsula.
Positive discrimination
The security forces play no positive role in most sectarian incidents, rather giving the green light to the assault on Christians, Mamdouh Nakhla who heads the al-Kalima (The Word) Centre for Human Rights says. Mr Nakhla decries the fanaticism in schools, indicating that children are taught not to accept ‘the other’. He strongly advocates positive discrimination favouring Christians to help heal their wounds.
The struggle for a secular state that would allow for coexistence among people with different religious affiliations is paramount, lawyer and activist Nigad al-Boraie stresses. He suggests the elimination of religion from school curricula. “Each party should offer some concessions,” he says. “Muslims should accept Christians’ right to build churches and Copts for their part should reintegrate into society.”