The new year 2012 begins with Egypt engulfed in revolution-related turmoil and instability. Although 2011 is already gone, memories of the turbulent year can never be wiped off. Similar to 1919 and 1952 which saw nationalist revolutions,
The new year 2012 begins with Egypt engulfed in revolution-related turmoil and instability. Although 2011 is already gone, memories of the turbulent year can never be wiped off. Similar to 1919 and 1952 which saw nationalist revolutions, 1956, 1967 and 1973, which witnessed the Suez War, the Six-Day War, and the October War, 2011 will remain a momentous year in Egyptian history.
A few weeks from now, Egyptians will mark the first anniversary of the 25 January Revolution. Those 11 months were brimful with the reverberations of the revolution, positive and negative, happy and gloomy. They were awash with stories on heroes, martyrs and victims, as well as with violence, thuggery and terror. They left Egyptians divided between optimists who paint a rosy picture for a newly-born Egypt and pessimists who believe the revolution has been hijacked and the road to the longed-for civil, democratic State has been blocked off.
The revolution, therefore, continues to rage on and we are still far from stable. The shape of the future State looks blurred while the political arena is engulfed in disagreements and bargaining over the roadmap for the remaining six-month transitional period that should lead to handing over power to a civilian rule. Egyptians spend their evenings staring at TV screens, watching the extremist currents that have surfaced since the revolution break into their lives, ruining the authentic Egyptian values of moderation and promising to create another Egypt that is alien to many. No wonder ordinary people fall victim to fear and confusion.
The complications of the current situation should by no means distract us from looking into the balance sheet of 2011. It is self-evident that we stand to face major challenges; a host of problem files wait to be tackled. Major among them is the enforcement of the rule of law, and the enhancement of equality and citizenship rights for all Egyptians, and in particular Copts. These files were opened in the context of last year’s criminal, bloody acts which triggered waves of protest that were followed by government promises to introduce reforms, promises that yet await fulfillment. Essam Sharaf’s cabinet left office without meeting these promises, and Kamal al-Ganzouri’s current cabinet has not pledged any reforms on that head. Did they all bet that the Coptic collective memory would be too weak to remember the brutal attack against the Copts at Maspero, especially in the wake of other, later violent incidents in Egypt?
Yet the Maspero incident is only the tip of the iceberg. A far greater number of events need to be addressed adequately and rationally in order to avert grave consequences. This means that investigations should be conducted into the following incidents, the results announced, and the culprits disclosed and brought to justice:
• The bombing of the church of the Two Saints in Alexandria on New Year Eve 2011.
• The demolition and torching of the church in Sole in Etfeeh, Giza last March.
• The amputation of the ear of a Copt in Qena, Upper Egypt, last March.
• The burning of two churches in Imbaba last May.
• The demolition and torching of the church in Merinab, Aswan, last September.
• The outcome of the efforts of the commission formed by Dr Sharaf to investigate the re-opening of closed churches should be disclosed. The commission’s work was frozen last May, after extremists were able to abort the reopening of a church in Ain Shams in Cairo. The committee neither investigated the papers of the Ain Shams church nor continued its pursuit to open 40 closed churches it found due for reopening.
• The unified law for building places of worship waits to be passed. Seemingly, the government promises to issue the law as a tranquilliser to calm down Copts in the wake of every attack against them or their churches. In the immediate aftermath of the May Imbaba events, Dr Sharaf promised to issue the law in 30 days at the most. Following the Maspero massacre on 9 October he promised to issue it within the week. His promises vanished into thin air. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ordered the promulgation of a law that includes articles to resolve the problem of unlicensed churches, but no move was taken in that direction.
• The law banning discrimination, repeatedly promised by Dr Sharaf following every attack on churches, should be issued.
All these events and pledges are engrained in the memory of the Copts. Dr Sharaf left office without fulfilling the promises, and they should have been shifted to Dr Ganzouri’s cabinet along with many other responsibilities. But we have heard nothing from him yet on that head.