WATANI International
2 May 2010
Still hopeful
“You will have to answer for a million and half people on Judgement Day, Mr President” was the title of an article by Mahmoud al-Kohdairi published on the opinion page of the Cairo daily independent Al-Masry al-Youm. The article was on the Palestinian cause and how there must be someone strong—in this case President Hosni Mubarak—to persist in defending the Palestinians. But the question here is: what about Copts and their flagrantly usurped rights? Is no-one answerable for them? Are they left to the extremists to trifle with their lives and destinies as these extremists see fit? Aren’t the Copts part of your people too, Mr President? These Copts felt happy and optimistic when you took over the presidency, believing that you would make major changes after Anwar Sadat’s assassination at the hand of Islamists in 1981. Your Coptic sons trust your wisdom and expect you to maintain their rights just as you do with other people’s.
Nader Alexan, Sohag
Not a single Copt
I recently read a piece of news in Watani that General Mohamed Abdel Salam al-Mahgoub, the minister of local development, had issued a decision to replace most of the management in different governorates, but after reading the list of names I was surprised because there was not a single Coptic name among them. A few days later, President Mubarak issued a presidential decree to promote 93 judges to be councellors, and again when I read the list I did not find any Coptic name. Was there not a single Copt who deserves to be included in these lists? Whatever happened to equality and citizenship rights?
Maurice Anwar, Fayoum
Sons of the pharaohs
I totally agree with columnist Ahmed Ragab, who wrote: “We call the Egyptian national football team ‘The pharaohs’ because we are really the sons of the great pharaohs who were described by Plato as his ‘teachers in thought and philosophy’.” These words are very apt today, with the rise of movements that stress the Muslim character of Egypt as opposed to its pharaonic one. Yet it is extremely telling that Egyptians, when they need to identify themselves through a distinct national character, describe themselves as pharaohs.
Zarif Kamel, Cairo